诗一一九48 我要向你的诫命举手，这些诫命是我所爱的……。

　　提后三16~17 圣经都是神的呼出，对于教训、督责、改正、在义上的教导，都是有益的，叫属神的人得以完备，为着各样的善工，装备齐全。

　　约六63　　　 赐人生命的乃是灵，……我对你们所说的话，就是灵，就是生命。

　　向神的话举手，指明我们热诚欢乐地接受它，并对它说，阿们（尼八5~6）（圣经恢复本，诗一一九48注1）。

　　你若是一个守律法的人，必定会珍赏箴言这卷书中一切智慧人的话，认为这些话能帮助你作一个好的、或者更好的守律法者。若是这样，你就不过是把这一切箴言当成许许多多的律法，像许多犹太人一样，落在守律法的网罗里；他们不认识神在律法时代的目的，乃是要暴露堕落之人的软弱。

　　你若是这样一个人：爱主并追求基督，而非追求自我完全；爱整本圣经中主的话语，用祷告的灵来读经，不是要得着字句道理，乃是要寻求生命的灵与生命的话，不是要得任何帮助以自我修养，乃是要滋养你的灵，好使你过一种不是在属人美德上完全，乃是在神圣美德上，就是在神圣属性的彰显上是完全的基督徒生活；箴言这卷书就会给你金块和珠宝，加强你追求基督的生活，以完成神的经纶，就是产生并建造基督的身体（箴言生命读经，六至七页）。

　　Psa. 119:48 And I will lift up my hand to Your commandments, which I love…

　　2 Tim. 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

　　John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life;…the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

　　To lift up our hand unto the word of God is to indicate that we receive it warmly and gladly and that we say Amen to it (Neh. 8:5-6). (Psa. 119:48, footnote 1)

　　If you are a person who is a law-keeper, surely you will appreciate all the proverbs in this book as words of wise men, thinking that they could help you to be a good or even better law-keeper. If so, you just make all the proverbs many, many laws and fall into the snare of keeping the law as many Jews do, who do not know God’s purpose in the dispensation of His law, that is, to expose fallen man’s weakness.

　　If you are a person who loves the Lord and pursues Christ, not self-perfection, and who loves the Lord’s word in the entire Bible and reads it with a praying spirit, not for the seeking of the doctrine of letters but for seeking the Spirit and word of life, not to get any help for self-cultivation but for the nourishment of your spirit that you may live a Christian life which is perfect not in human virtues but in the divine virtues which are the expressions of the divine attributes, then this book will render you nuggets and gems to strengthen your life of pursuing Christ for the fulfillment of God’s economy in producing and building up the Body of Christ. (Life-study of Proverbs, p. 5)

　　神不是要我们只在字句上寻求知识、道理、真理、神学和所谓的启示；神乃是要我们寻求祂，使我们得着祂，并被祂自己所充满，作祂的彰显。祂是那灵，我们是在我们的灵里敬拜并接触祂。字句杀死人，唯有那灵赐人生命。主对我们所说的话，对我们该成为灵和生命（约六63）。我们若凭字句而不凭那灵和生命研读圣经，不论是读哪一部分，都会使圣经成为一本字句的书。今天大多数的基督徒，将那属于灵和生命的新约，当作属于字句的旧约。对使徒保罗而言，甚至旧约也像新约一样，是属于灵和生命。太多的基督徒将新约当作字句的箴言、训辞、劝勉和指导。我们的生命读经已使全部旧约神的话，成为灵与生命的书。借此我们必须领悟，箴言之于我们是如何，乃在于我们是哪一种人，以及我们以何种方式接受箴言。

　　我们新约信徒该相信，箴言是圣经中神的圣言的一部分。……我们该认识箴言是神的呼出，给我们吸入，叫我们从神得着生命的供应（提后三16）。……其次，我们读箴言时，该在灵里被神的丰满所充满（弗五18，三19）。我们该用重生的灵，在新约生命的灵里（罗八2），调和着祷告来读箴言，好用灵和生命，与话调和（参约六63）。

　　我能见证，只要与主交通几分钟以后，我就得着喂养、滋养与挑旺。然后我来读圣经，每个字都成了珠宝。我们都需要这样来读箴言。这样，箴言的每个字对我们都会成为灵和生命。每个字都会是活的，并且成了珠宝，加强我们追求基督的生活，以产生并建造基督的身体，完成神的经纶（箴言生命读经，七至九、二四至二五页）。

　　参读：箴言生命读经，第三篇。

　　God does not want us just to seek the knowledge, doctrine, truth, theology, and so-called revelation in letters. God wants us to seek after Him that we may gain Him and that He may fill us up with Himself for His expression. He is the Spirit, and we worship Him and contact Him in our spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The word spoken to us by the Lord should become the Spirit and the life to us (John 6:63). If we study the Bible by the way of letters, not by the way of the Spirit and of life, we make the Bible, regardless of what part, a book of letters. Most Christians today have made the New Testament of the Spirit and of life the Old Testament of letters. To Paul the apostle even the Old Testament was like the New Testament, of the Spirit and of life. Too many Christians have made the New Testament proverbs, precepts, exhortations, and instructions of letters. Our life-studies have made all of the Old Testament, as the Word of God, books of the Spirit and of life. By this we have to realize that what the book of Proverbs would be to us depends upon what kind of persons we are and by what way we take it.

　　As New Testament believers, we should believe that Proverbs is a part of the holy word in God’s Holy Scriptures.

　　We should realize that Proverbs is the breath of God for us to breathe in that we may receive the life supply from God (2 Tim. 3:16).

　　Next, we should read Proverbs by being filled with the fullness of God in our spirit (Eph. 5:18-19), in the New Testament Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), with our regenerated spirit, and by pray-reading to mingle it with spirit and life (cf. John 6:63).

　　I can testify that after just a few minutes of fellowship with the Lord, I am fed, nourished, and stirred up. Then when I come to the Bible, every word becomes a gem. We all need to read the book of Proverbs in this way. Then every word of Proverbs will become spirit and life to us. Every word will be living and become a gem to strengthen our life of pursuing Christ for the fulfillment of God’s economy in producing and building up the Body of Christ. (Life-study of Proverbs, pp. 5-6, 18)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Proverbs, msg. 3