第四週■週四

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晨興餧養

彼前二25『你們好像羊走迷了路，如今卻歸到你們魂的牧人和監督了。』

詩二三3『祂使我的魂甦醒，爲自己的名引導我走義路。』

基督在木頭上受死，乃是作我們的救贖主，（彼前二24，）現今祂在復活的生命裏，在我們裏面乃
是作我們魂的牧人和監督，因此祂能指引我們，並以生命供應我們，使我們照着祂受苦的榜樣跟隨祂的腳蹤行。（21。）照着彼前二章二十五節，基督是我們魂的牧人和監督。我們的魂是我們內裏的所是—真人位。主是我們魂的牧人和監督，藉着顧到我們裏面各部分的益處，並監督我們真人位的光景，而照其需要牧養我們。（彼得前書生命讀經，二二七頁。）

在〔詩篇二十三篇〕基督牧養的第二階段，祂使我們的魂甦醒（復興並變化—羅十二2，弗四23），並引導我們（照着靈）走義路（以滿足義的要求—羅八4）。我們要成爲義的，就是照着神公義嚴格的要求，在神面前與人事物都是對的，就需要魂得着復興並變化，好使我們的心思、情感和意志是正確、平衡的。（聖經恢復本，詩二三3 註1。）

信息選讀

我們的難處是我們好像羊走迷了路。但現今我們已經歸到、轉回我們魂的牧人和監督。我們不該以爲彼得在彼前二章二十五節用魂作靈的同義辭。…牧人照顧羊羣物質的需要，我們的牧人基督照顧我們魂的需要。…我們都有靈，而靈是我們裏面的器官。但我們這人是魂。所以，基督主要是藉着照顧我們的魂而牧養我們。祂照顧我們的心思、情感和意志。

我們也許以爲我們的難處在於身體。毫無疑問，身體的確給我們許多難處。然而，我們真正的難處在魂裏。我們的心思、情感和意志都有難處。不信的人是在魂裏遊蕩的人，他們沒有牧人照顧他們。但我們不一樣，我們有一位牧人照顧我們的魂。我們不但有主的生命在我們裏面，我們也有祂作我們的牧人。祂現今在我們的魂裏牧養我們。

我要請你們照着你們的經歷來看主的牧養這件事。你是在靈裏，還是在魂裏經歷主的安慰，並感覺祂的安慰？…你若說，祂的安慰是在靈裏，你的回答就不是照着聖經。你進入主的恢復以前，也許不知道你有人的靈。但你進到召會生活中以後，就看見了關於人的靈的啓示。但這啓示現今對你也許成了一種新的傳統。說基督的安慰在我們的靈裏，乃是照着關於靈的新傳統說話。許多時候我們說到轉向靈，可能期望我們一轉向靈，就會萬事順利。事實上，甚至我們轉向靈以後，許多事可能也不順利。彼得從經歷知道，要說基督是我們魂的牧人。所以，彼得在二十五節沒有告訴我們，基督是我們靈或我們身體的牧人；他清楚的說，基督是我們魂的牧人。

〔彼得前書〕是寫給受許多逼迫之苦的猶太基督徒。表面看來，逼迫與我們外面的身體有關。事實上，逼迫是針對魂的。因爲受苦的是我們的魂，所以我們的魂需要主的牧養。需要這種照顧的，不是我們的身體，主要的也不是我們的靈。需要主作牧人的，乃是我們的魂—我們的心思、我們的情感、和我們的意志。（彼得前書生命讀經，二二七至二二九頁。）

參讀：新約總論，第五十七篇。

WEEK 4 — DAY 4

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Morning Nourishment

1 Pet. 2:25 For you were like sheep being led astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Psa. 23:3 He restores my soul; He guides me on the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Christ was our Redeemer in His death on the tree. Now He is our soul’s Shepherd and Overseer in the resurrection life within us. Therefore, He is able to guide us and supply us with life that we may follow in His steps according to the model of His suffering (1 Pet. 2:21). According to verse 25, Christ is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Our soul is our inner being, our real person. Our Lord, as the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, shepherds us by caring for the welfare of our inner being and by exercising His oversight over the condition of our real person. (Life-study of 1 Peter, p. 190)

In the second stage of His shepherding, Christ restores (revives and transforms) our soul (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23) and guides us (to walk according to the spirit) on the paths of righteousness (to fulfill the requirement of righteousness—Rom. 8:4). To be righteous, that is, to be right with persons, matters, and things before God according to His righteous and strict requirements, we need to be revived and transformed in our soul in order to be proper and balanced in our mind, emotion, and will. (Psa. 23:3, footnote 1)

Today’s Reading

Our problem was that we were like sheep being led astray. But now we have returned, turned back, to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. We should not think that in 1 Peter 2:25 Peter uses soul as a synonym of spirit…A shepherd takes care of the physical needs of his flock, and Christ our Shepherd takes care of the needs of our soul…We all have a spirit, and the spirit is our inward organ. But our being is a soul. Therefore, Christ mainly shepherds us by taking care of our soul. He takes care of our mind, emotion, and will.

We may think that our problems are with the body. No doubt, the body does give us many problems. Nevertheless, our real problem is in our soul. Our mind, emotion, and will all have problems. Unbelievers are wanderers in the soul, and they do not have a shepherd to take care of them. But our situation is different in that we have a Shepherd who takes care of our soul. Not only do we have the Lord’s life within us, but we also have Him as our Shepherd. He is now shepherding us in our soul.

I would ask you to consider this matter of the Lord’s shepherding according to your experience. Do you experience the Lord’s comfort and sense His comfort in your spirit or in your soul?…If you say that His comfort is in the spirit, your answer is not according to the Bible. Before you came into the Lord’s recovery, you may not have known that you had a human spirit. But since you have been in the church life, you have seen the revelation concerning the human spirit. But this revelation may have now become to you a new kind of tradition. To say that Christ’s comfort is in our spirit is to speak according to a new tradition concerning the spirit. Many times we speak of turning to the spirit, perhaps expecting that when we turn to the spirit, everything will be all right. Actually, even after we turn to the spirit, many things may not be all right. From experience Peter knew to say that Christ is the Shepherd of our souls.
Therefore, Peter does not tell us in verse 25 that Christ is the Shepherd of our spirit or of our body; He clearly says that He is the Shepherd of our souls.

This Epistle was written to Jewish Christians who were suffering much persecution. Apparently, persecution is related to our body outwardly. Actually, persecution is aimed at the soul. Because it is our soul that suffers, it is our soul that needs the Lord’s shepherding. It is not our body that needs this kind of care, nor is it mainly our spirit. It is our soul—our mind, our emotion, and our will—that needs the Lord as the Shepherd. (Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 190-192)

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 57