弗四22~24 在从前的生活样式上，脱去了旧人，这旧人是照着那迷惑的情欲败坏的；而在你们心思的灵里得以更新，并且穿上了新人，这新人是照着神，在那实际的义和圣中所创造的。

　　以弗所四章二十二至二十四节清楚地告诉我们，在基督里的信徒有两个人—旧人和新人。旧人借着我们天然的出生，乃是属亚当的；新人借着新生、重生，乃是属基督的。

　　照着我的观察，在基督里的信徒以及爱基督的人，极少有人过着不断脱去旧人，穿上新人的生活。在我们的日常生活中，我们主要是过伦理的生活，自然而然顾到对错。那些过这样一种伦理生活的人，尽所能要作对的事，避免作错的事。

　　你天天过怎样的生活？你的日常生活是新人的生活么？……在你的婚姻生活中，你的实行是凭着新人或凭着旧人爱你的妻子或丈夫？我们不该以为在旧人里爱人能得神称义。那样的爱是照着律法，照着旧的经纶，不是照着神新约的经纶，也不是照着新造。一位弟兄可能非常爱他的妻子，但他的爱也许属旧造，不属新造（箴言生命读经，三五至三六页）。

　　Eph. 4:22-24 …Put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.

　　Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us clearly that a believer in Christ has two men—the old man and the new man. The old man is of Adam through our natural birth, and the new man is of Christ by a new birth, regeneration.

　　According to my observation, very few believers in Christ and lovers of Christ live a life of continually putting off the old man and putting on the new man. In our daily life we mainly live an ethical life, spontaneously caring for matters of right and wrong. Those who live such an ethical life try their best to do what is right and to avoid doing what is wrong.

　　What kind of life do you live day by day? Is your daily life a life of the new man?… In your married life is it your practice to love your wife or husband by the new man or by the old man? We should not think that loving in the old man is justified by God. That kind of love is according to the law, according to the old dispensation, not according to God’s New Testament economy and not according to the new creation. A brother may love his wife very much, but his love may be of the old creation, not of the new creation. (Life-study of Proverbs, p. 25)

　　我们来到圣经跟前，需要有这种领悟。我们读圣经，不是凭着旧人，就是凭着新人。许多基督徒照着旧人，以天然的方式研读神的话。……我们若仅仅运用心思从神的话得知识，就是凭着旧人读。

　　凭着新人读圣经则大不相同。在新人里的人甚至在读圣经以前，就运用他的灵接触主。他也许认罪说，“主，很亏欠，我这么活在我的旧人里，没有运用我的灵接触你，没有凭着我的新人，就是你新造的人而活。主，赦免这罪。”当我们这样就近圣经，运用我们的灵，就有极深的感觉和感受，我们是在就近、摸着并接触神。我不是说，圣经是神；但我们来到圣经跟前，该是来接触神。

　　箴言里有许多叫人过正确为人生活的详细训辞，每则训辞都是珠宝。即使人接受这一切珠宝，并且成功地持守这些珠宝，他也不过是凭着修养自己而建立自己成为完全人。但主耶稣说，无论谁要跟从祂，就必须否认己（太十六24）。

　　我们来到神的话跟前，必须学习作就近神的人，不是要接受格言和教训，乃是要接受滋养和光照，使我们认识，照着神的经纶，我们该一直凭着基督复活的大能，就是终极完成的灵，也就是基督复活的实际，模成祂的死（腓三10）。

　　我们必须拒绝自我修养，并且定罪天然人的建立。我们需要将圣经从教导我们培养己并建立天然人的书，转为满了生命、灵、属灵滋养和属灵光照的书。这要拆毁我们的己，破碎我们天然的人，并以三一神终极完成的灵供应我们。这样，我们过生活就不是凭着我们天然的人、我们的旧人和我们的己，乃是凭着主耶稣，就是活在我们灵里的生命和人位。

　　我们需要学习每天在日常生活中运用我们的灵，尤其是在我们研读圣经时。我们需要在我们的灵里祷告，将自己从心思转向灵。我们若这样来到圣经跟前，就会凭着新人来摸主的话，圣经对我们就成了一本生命和灵的书（箴言生命读经，三六至三七、四○至四一页）。

　　参读：箴言生命读经，第四、六篇。

　　We need to have this realization when we come to the Bible. We may study the Bible either by the old man or by the new man. Many Christians study the Word in a natural way, according to their old man…. If we merely exercise our mind to get knowledge from the Word, we are reading it by the old man.

　　To read the Bible by the new man is very different. Even before coming to the Bible, a person in the new man exercises his spirit to contact the Lord. He may confess, saying, “Lord, I am sorry that I live so much in my old man, not exercising my spirit to contact You, to live by my new man, as one of Your new creation. Lord, forgive this sin.” When we approach the Bible in this way, exercising our spirit, we have the deep feeling and sense that we are approaching, touching, and contacting God. By this I do not mean that the Bible is God but that in coming to the Bible we are coming to contact God.

　　In Proverbs there are many detailed precepts for man to live a proper human life and … every precept is a gem. Even if a person accepts all these gems and is successful in keeping them, he will only build up himself to be a perfect man by cultivating the self. But the Lord Jesus said that whoever would follow Him must deny himself (Matt. 16:24).

　　We must learn to come to the Word of God as those who are approaching God, not to receive proverbs and teachings but to receive nourishment and enlightenment, so that we may know that, according to God, we should always be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10), which is the consummated Spirit, who is the reality of the resurrection of Christ.

　　We must reject self-cultivation and condemn the building up of the natural man. We need to turn the Bible from a book that teaches us to cultivate the self and to build up the natural man to a book that is full of life, spirit, spiritual nourishment, and spiritual enlightenment. This will tear down our self, break our natural man, and supply us with the consummated Spirit of the Triune God. Then we will live a life not by our natural man, by our old man, and by our self but by the Lord Jesus, who is our life and person living in our spirit.

　　We need to learn to exercise our spirit every day in our daily life, especially in our Bible study. We need to turn ourselves from the mind to the spirit by praying in our spirit. If we come to the Bible in this way, we will be touching the Word by the new man, and it will become to us a book of Spirit and life. (Life-study of Proverbs, pp. 26, 28-29)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Proverbs, msgs. 4, 6