The aim of this book is, accordingly, intensely practical. It aims to help those who are “seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness” to find them and to fully live in them. It also hopes to be of help to leaders of groups that seriously intend to carry out all aspects of Christ’s Great Commission by training people to do all things he said (Matthew 28:18-20). (Pg 26, Para 1)
The vision is clear, and no one open to it can mistake what it means. But while all is clear and desirable, we must admit that, in many historical periods as well as today, Christians generally only find their way into this divine life slowly and with great difficulty, if at all.(Pg 10, Para 2)
a. 圣经里陈述的生命，与我们现实的生活经历有太大的出入。
I believe one reason why so many people do in fact fail to immerse themselves in the words of the New Testament, and neglect or even avoid them, is that the life they see there is so unlike what they know from their own experience. This is true even though they may be quite faithful to their church in the ways prescribed and really do have Jesus Christ as their only hope. Therefore the clear New Testament presentation of the life we are unmistakably offered in Christ only discourages them or makes them hopeless. (Pg 10, Para 2)
b. 当今基督徒的“问题”：“拥有清楚的愿景（Vision），但是却没有用对的途径和方式来接受这生命。”
“The vision is clear but we do not approach and receive that life in the right way.
We do not approach and receive that life in the right way. We do not comprehend and convey the wisdom of Jesus and the Bible about the human being and about its redemption by grace from the destructive powers that have come to occupy it in all of its primary dimensions. (Pg 10, Para 4)
i。 我们没能接受“灵命塑造”是有规律的过程 （有条理的步骤）。
We need to understand spiritual formation is an orderly process.The secret of transformation into Christlikeness is to realise that if you change the inside (through grace and also our active engagement),the outside will follow.
ii。规律的过程 Orderly process －作者在第五单元谈到这三个步骤：愿景，意向和途径， Vision, Intention and Means.
Although God can triumph in disorder, that is not his choice. And instead of focusing upon what God can do, we must humble ourselves to accept the ways he has chosen to work with us. These are clearly laid out in the Bible, and especially in the words and person of Jesus. (Pg 10, Para 6)
The perceived distance and difficulty of entering fully into the divine world and its life is due entirely to our failure to understand that “the way in” is the way of pervasive inner transformation and to our failure to take the small steps that quietly and certainly lead to it. This is a hopeful, life-saving insight. (Pg. 10. Para 7)
i。A central issue in theology ： Soteriology—the understanding of salvation 作者认为当今基督徒在品格上的软弱，可以追根究底到我们在近代神学上对于“救赎论”了解的偏差，值得我们深思。
The problem of understanding of salvation : now generally understood, being "saved"—and hence being a Christian—has no conceptual or practical connection with such a transformation (transformation into Christlikeness - spiritual formation in Christ) .
a. Misconception : You can be right with God in ways that do not require transformation and in ways that do not routinely support and advance transformation. These ways may involve (1) professing right doctrine, (2) a specified form association with a denomination or group, or—on the more liberal side—(3) a kind of vague—or even intense—sympathy with what one takes Jesus to stand for.我们引用以上这三种方法，逐渐取代了真正的心灵转化。
b. Misconception : justification is the entirety of salvation 认为称义就是我们今天理解救恩的全部。
c. Misconception : a pervasive passivity view of grace我们认为恩典是要求我们被动，不需要努力的。
ii. The proposal (not something new, but in line and turn us back to the teaching of Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley and many more great christian leader/theologian)
We have to go back to the understand of Soteriology a comprehensive view, inclusive of “Justification, Regeneration, Sanctification (Discipleship / spiritual formation) and finally the Glorification ” “救恩概括了称义、重生、成圣和荣耀的过程”
b. We have to talk about Regeneration and Sanctification (Discipleship) : 成为“耶稣基督的门徒”是“重生生命”自然的流露和阶段。
Being a disciple (apprentice, student) of Jesus is the status into which regeneration naturally brings us, just because of the nature of the belief in Christ through which regeneration expresses itself. Now discipleship to Jesus has as its natural outcome transformation of character—the hidden realities of heart, mind, soul, body and social atmosphere—in such a way that conformity to his commands becomes the easy, routine, standard way the well-developed disciple comports himself or herself.
c. Grace 重新认识“恩典”: That enables us to get grace right. Grace is God acting in our life to bring about, and to enable us to do, what we cannot do on our own. (2 Tim. 2:1) Inductive study of scripture, once again, will make this unmistakably clear. Grace is inextricably bound up with discipline in the life of the disciple or apprentice of Jesus. Discipline in the spiritual life is doing something in our power that enables us to do what we cannot do by direct effort—because in this way we meet the action of God (grace) with us, and the outcome is humanly inexplicable. This is what it means to speak of discipline as "a means to grace."
3.Youtube video time 1 hr : 13 min : 30 sec - 1 hr : 18 min : 30 sec 里 , 在问答环节里，听众问了作者两个关于哲学里“人观” ：一元论 （Monist － 人只有物质存在），二元论（Dualist － 心意和肉体-mind & body 有别）和三元论 （把人分为灵、魂，体）的问题。在此，我们也可以给在中文书“袁序”（第x页）里，质疑作者相信三元论的询问，有了圆满的答案。作者坚信二元论，这也是他在哲学研究里专门研究的课题，同时他认为根据圣经的教导和心灵形塑的需要，他必须把心灵(Spirit) 和魂(Soul)的特征教导清楚和区分，好让我们可以具体了解这两个向度。他并不支持三元论的观点。
第一单元，灵命塑造导言：「內里更深处」与耶稣的道路
1.人的心灵都是形塑而成的，根据过去经验或所作之选择而培育出来的。
The human spirit is an inescapable, fundamental aspect of every human being; and it takes on whichever character it has from the experiences and the choices that we have lived through or made in our past. That is what it means for it to be “formed.”
Our life and how we find the world now and in the future is, almost totally, a simple result of what we have become in the depths of our being— in our spirit, will, or heart. From there we see our world and interpret reality. From there we make our choices, break forth into action, try to change our world. We live from our depths—most of which we do not understand.(Pg 13, Para 2-3)
我们的心灵既然被形塑而成，就能被重塑和转化。这是人类最大的需要。
The greatest need of collective humanity—is renovation of our heart. That spiritual place within us from which outlook, choices, and actions come has been formed by a world away from God. Now it must be transformed. (Pg 14, Para 3)
Disagreements have only to do with what in our spirit needs to be changed and how that change can be brought about. (Pg 14, para 4)
耶稣基督就是答案...
2.耶稣的革命 Jesus came to start a world revolution—one person at a time.
a. 耶稣推行的革命，是针对人的内心和心灵而进行的。没有循改革社会制度和法律的途径去进行－试图从我们生存的外在形式着手。
The revolution of Jesus is in the first place and continuously a revolution of the human heart or spirit. It did not and does not proceed by means of the formation of social institutions and laws, the outer forms of our existence, intending that these would then impose a good order of life upon people who come under their power.(Pg 15, Para 3)
The Way of Jesus tells us, by contrast, that any number of systems—not all, to be sure—will work well if we are genuinely good. And we are then free to seek the better and the best. (Pg 15, Para 5)
c.We are all Kingdom’s Beachheads。 耶稣的门徒将要在失败、沦落的人性中为祂建立*滩头堡* （桥梁，衔接点）
They were, instead, to establish beachheads of his person, word, and power in the midst of a failing and futile humanity. They were to bring the presence of the kingdom and its King into every corner of human life simply by fully living in the kingdom with him. (Pg 15, Para 6)
d.教会不是神的国，耶稣的革命不是在地上的社会制度。
Churches are not the kingdom of God, but are primary and inevitable expressions, outposts, and instrumentalities of the presence of the kingdom among us. They are “societies” of Jesus, springing up in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the furthest points on earth (Acts 1:8),(pg 16, para 1)
3.属灵运动的兴起和流行
a.人的灵性是复杂的，只有神能完全的认识我们。
The hidden dimension of each human life is not visible to others, nor is it fully graspable even by ourselves. We usually know very little about the things that move in our own soul, the deepest level of our life, or what is driving it. Our “within” is astonishingly complex and subtle—even devious. It takes on a life of its own. Only God knows our depths, who we are, and what we would do. (Pg 17, Para 3)
b.按照人性的需要，后现代兴起了对属灵经历的追求
From the cultural and artistic uprisings of the sixties to the environmentalisms and countless “spiritualities” of the nineties—from pop-culture new age to the postmodernisms of the academy—the swelling protest from the human depths has recently been shouting at us that the physical and public side of the human universe cannot sustain our existence.(Pg 18, Para 4)
c. 属灵，灵命并不全都是“好的”，我们要分辩
The language of “spiritual,” “spirit,” and “spirituality” has become increasingly common today, and it cannot be avoided. But it is often unclear in meaning, and this can be dangerous. It can lead us down paths of confusion and destruction. “Spiritual” is not automatically “good.”(Pg17, Para 5)
In sharp contrast, spirituality and spiritual formation are often understood today as entirely human matters. The “beyond that is within” is thought to be a human dimension or power(Pg 19, Para 2)
e. 灵命的形塑是不可能靠自己找到解决方案的
So spiritual transformation, the renovation of the human heart, is an inescapable human problem with no human solution(Pg 20, Para 4)
4. 耶稣基督是唯一的道路
a. 基督教灵命的重塑，是超自然的，是重生的生命
The spiritual renovation and the “spirituality” that comes from Jesus is nothing less than an invasion of natural human reality by a supernatural life “from above.” (Pg 19, Para 1)
b.灵命的重塑专注在耶稣基督身上。
Christian spiritual formation is focused entirely on Jesus. Its goal is an obedience or conformity to Christ that arises out of an inner transformation accomplished through purposive interaction with the grace of God in Christ.(Pg 22, para7)
c. 基督徒的灵命塑造，基本上指的是在圣灵催策之下，形塑人的内心世界，使它变成像基督内心样式的过程
that spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself. (Pg 22, para 6)
d.单靠在行为上努力遵行耶稣的吩咐，是不可能做到的，反而还会导致人做出明显错误甚至荒谬的事情。
External manifestation of “Christlikeness” is not, however, the focus of the process; and when it is made the main emphasis, the process will certainly be defeated, falling into deadening legalisms and pointless parochialism.(pg 23, para 2)
e. 心灵的重塑是个轻省的担子。 不是学习怎么做，而是成为怎样的人。
We must understand that spiritual formation is not only formation of the spirit or inner being of the individual, though that is both the process and the outcome. It is also formation by the Spirit of God and by the spiritual riches of Christ’s continuing incarnation in his people-–including, most prominently, the treasures of his written and spoken word and the amazing personalities of those in whom he has most fully lived. Spiritual formation is, in practice, the way of rest for the weary and overloaded, of the easy yoke and the light burden(Pg 24, Para 1-2)
i.作者用活出“爱”来做个例子 - 中文18页第五段到19页第三个段落 （Pg. 25, Para 6-7)
f. 恩典： 恩典不会排除方法，方法也不会抗拒恩典，两者是相辅相成的。
God has provided a methodical path of recovery. Grace does not rule out method, nor method grace. Grace thrives on method and method on grace. Spiritual formation in Christ is therefore not a mysterious, irrational—possibly hysterical—process: something that strikes like lightening, whenever and wherever it will, if at all.(Pg 25, Para 4-5)
g. 基督徒普遍错误认为恩典是被动领受的。然而，我们希望达致神期望的灵命成长果效，就必须寻觅神所命定的蒙恩典的途径，看重他，与神同工。
Spiritual formation is something we human beings can and must undertake—as individuals and in fellowship with other apprentices of Jesus. While it is simultaneously a profound manifestation of God’s gracious action through his Word and Spirit, it is also something we are responsible for before God and can set about achieving in a sensible, systematic manner.(Pg 25, Para 7)
“Understanding is the basis of care. What you would take care of you must first understand,… if you would care for your spiritual core - your heart or will- you must understand it. That is, you must understand your Spirit”(23页，1段）
2. 挑战： 当代对于“人的本性”问题的激烈争辩, 和与圣经对于人性的教导是背道而驰的。
It is the academic that today governs the idea systems of our world and opposes traditional views of human nature— specifically, the Judeo-Christian or biblical understanding of human life....say that there is no such thing as human nature, or that human beings do not have a nature.
(24页，5-6段）
a. 基督徒对于“人性”的课题必须要具体了解，要不然我们谈什么属灵生命的重塑和成长，都会显得空洞和缺少真实性。
We must deal with it if we are to have anything useful to say about spiritual formation and about the spiritual life that Jesus brings. Otherwise what we say will have no relation to the concrete existence of real human beings。 (25页，2段）
b. 我们的周遭和主流思维对于人性存有强烈的偏见，认为人只是物质，本质上人就像张白纸，是社会的建构才限制人，把人分男女、黑白、黄红。
It is a field where strongly armed prejudices— assumptions about what must be the case, “don’t bother me with facts”—…human being is purely physical, just an animal—…human beings do not actually have a nature and that all classifications of them (25页，3-4段）
The human heart, will, or spirit is the executive center of a human life. The heart is where decisions and choices are made for the whole person. That is its function. (27页，2段）
c.这中心可以三个词来形容，他们指的是同样的东西，这是你我最基本的成分。
心 Heart ： refers to its position in the human being, as the center or core to which every other component of the self owes its proper functioning. Heart suggests location and vital function.
意志Will ： refers to that component’s power to initiate, to create, to bring about what did not exist before. Will represents the ability to choose to live inside or outside God’s kingdom.
灵 Spirit ： refers to its fundamental nature as distinct and independent from physical reality. This term suggests unbodily personal power. (26页，2段）
4. 人的六个基本面向
When we take a closer look at the whole person, we find that there are six basic aspects in our lives as individual human beings— six things inseparable from every human life. These together and in interplay make up “human nature.” (28页，1段）
a. 理想的基督徒属灵生命：
The ideal of the spiritual life in the Christian understanding is one where all of the essential parts of the human self are effectively organised around God, as they are restored and sustained by him.
… the process leading to that ideal end, and its result is love of God with all of the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and of the neighbour as oneself.(28页，3-4段）
b. 理清一些概念 ：整体和部分的互相联系
They have parts, these parts have properties, which in turn make possible relationships between the parts to form larger wholes, which in turn have properties that make possible relationships between larger wholes, that form still larger wholes, and so on. This basic structure of created reality applies to everything (29页，4段）… what the human being is, it is simply a whole of a certain kind, consisting of parts with properties and functions that give rise to the properties and functions of whole persons. (30页，2段）
c. 整体“分析单位”是整个人，六个“面向”是人性的部分，也是人类独特的能力范围。
life— the “unit of analysis” for our study— is the whole person in its social and spiritual context. The six “aspects,” as we have called them, are distinct ranges of abilities, or things all human beings— but not squirrels or brussels sprouts— can and must do (30页，3段）
d. 六个面向的初步介绍(31页－39页）-这几页值得读两遍，作者将会接下来用一个面向一个单元来继续探讨。
i。思想（mind）
ii。感觉（mind）
iii。意志（心，灵）
（讲到意志和试探：Without the inner “yes” there is no sin, for only that “yes” (or “no”) is just us. The thought of sin is not sin and is not even a temptation. Temptation is the thought plus the inclination to sin— possibly manifested by lingering over the thought or seeking it out. But sin itself is when we inwardly say “yes” to the temptation, when we would do the deed, even though we do not actually do it.） (33页，2段）
我们可以把灵魂类比成一个衔接整个公司运作的电脑系统 ： The soul is somewhat like a computer that quietly runs a business or manufacturing operation and only comes to our attention when it malfunctions or requires some adaptation to new tasks. It can be significantly “reprogrammed,” and this too is a major part of what goes into the spiritual formation (re-formation) of the person. (39页，3段）
灵魂和心（意志，灵）： for all of the soul’s vastness and independence, the tiny executive center of the person— that is, the spirit or will— can redirect and re-form the soul, with God’s cooperation. It mainly does this by redirecting the body in spiritual disciplines and toward various other types of experiences under God. (39页，5段）
Action never comes from the movement of the will alone. Often..what we do is not an outcome of deliberate choice and a mere act of will, but is more of a relenting to pressure on the will from one or more of the dimensions （面向) of the self. The understanding of this is necessary for the understanding and practice of spiritual formation, which is bound to fail if it focuses upon the will alone. (42页，1段）
以肉体为念的生命，其控制次序 ： 身体->灵魂->心思->心->神
以圣灵为念的生命，其控制次序 ： 神->心->心思->灵魂->身体 （重生的生命）
the body serves the soul; the soul, the mind; the mind, the spirit; and the spirit, God. Conversely, the life “from above” flows from God throughout the whole person, including the body and its social context. (44页，4段）
d. 基督徒与以色列：你可能会问作者为什么要把基督徒的属灵重塑与以色列的历史来做类比，其用意？我认为作者透过陈述以色列进入应许之地的历史，帮助我们看到我们得救、重生和继续踏上属灵重塑的过程里，神的恩典与我们的努力之间积极的互动关系。
What was then true of the Promised Land of the Israelites was then and is now true of individual human beings who come to God. The Israelites were saved or delivered by grace just as surely as we are. But in both cases “grace” means we are to be, and are enabled to be, active to a degree we have never been before. Paul’s picture of grace is, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed” (2 Corinthians 9: 8) (47页，2段）
We must see the soul and the person in its ruined condition, with its malformed and dysfunctional mind, feelings, body, and social relations, before we can understand that it must be delivered and reformed and how that can be done. One of the greatest obstacles to effective spiritual formation in Christ today is simple failure to understand and acknowledge the reality of the human situation（75页， 2段）
1. 我们先要了解和拥有这个神学概念 ：个人灵魂在神眼中拥有的重要价值
If we were insignificant, our ruin would not be horrifying. G. K. Chesterton somewhere says that the hardest thing to accept in the Christian religion is the great value it places upon the individual soul. （52页，5段 － 53页，1段）
i。C.S. Lewis 对个人价值的观察，值得我们深思 － 他说得合乎中道。
“To remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. . . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations— these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” (52页,4段)
ii. 说明了，为什么即使人处于堕落状况，他在神眼中仍是价值崇高，值得拯救的；也说明了，那些未蒙启迪或不愿去明白的人，察觉不到他现在和将来会是多么可怖，需要被拯救。（53页，2段）
2. 现在的教育，不能解决人性的邪恶；教育只是沦为一种社会的运作和手段。
Those who are supposed to know are lost in speculations about “causes,” while the real sources of our failures lie in choice and the factors at work in it. Choice is where sin dwells. （53页，3段）
i。我们只懂得施肥，而否认杂草和害虫的存在
We are like farmers who diligently plant crops but cannot admit the existence of weeds and insects and can only think to pour on more fertilizer. （53页，4段）
3. 灵魂的堕落情况
3.1。在教会里灵魂堕落的情况
i。罪恶阻碍属基督的人作祂的子民，罪恶会造成极大的影响。
The extent to which sin, in a form everyone plainly recognizes as such, undermines even the efforts of Christ’s own people to be his people. That is its power. （55页，2段）
The presence of vanity, egotism, hostility, fear, indifference, and downright meanness can be counted on among professing Christians. Their opposites cannot be counted on or simply assumed in the “standard” Christian group; and the rare individual who exemplifies them— genuine purity and humility, death to selfishness, freedom from rage and depression, and so on— will stand out in the group with all the obtrusiveness of a sore thumb. （56页，2段）
The initial move toward Christlikeness cannot be toward self-esteem, because of confusion about what self-esteem means, and because, realistically, I’m not okay and you’re not okay. We’re all in serious trouble. That must be our starting point. Self-esteem in such a situation will only breed self-deception and frustration （57页，5段）
ii。神之所以为神，挫败了人的自尊心。 （61页，4段）
4。 灵魂的堕落
4.1. 问题核心 ：不怕神，否认神，这个事实
i。使徒保罗对症下药，指出了问题的核心 － “他们眼中不怕神”，否认神。
(Romans 3: 10-18) The very last statement from this collection of Old Testament diagnoses of the human condition goes to the core of the matter: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” （60页，1段）
ii。当人的心灵（意志）偏离神，他的灵魂就开始堕落。人性的邪恶就是他把自己当作神。
The slide into pervasive soul corruption begins with the heart (or will) deflecting the mind from God.
BUT IN TAKING ONESELF in practice (or humanity taking itself in practice) as God, the great world-historical force of denial comes into play. It is this that accounts for the perpetual human blindness to the obvious. We can never understand human affairs at any level without taking it into account. （62页，2段）
iv。否定事实（回避，或欺骗自己），是远离了神的人唯一可以继续生存下去所必需拥有的特征。
In a world apart from God, the power of denial is absolutely essential if life is to proceed. The will or spirit cannot— psychologically cannot— sustain itself for any length of time in the face of what it clearly acknowledges to be the case. Therefore it must deny and evade and delude itself. Paul’s brilliant and inspired insight into the root of human evil—“ There is no fear of God before their eyes” （63页，2段）
v。心思脱离了事实，必然的结果就是欲望，随着思想倒进了这堆垃圾中。
the mind is now uprooted from reality. It is committed to the truth of a falsehood. “Garbage in, garbage out” is an old story, and then the strong desires,garbage out” is an old story, and then the strong desires, or “lusts” (epithumiais), plunge right into the garbage along with thought. （63页， 3段）
4.2. 欲望；感官享受占据了中心位置 Sensuality becomes central
The human body becomes the primary area of pleasure for the person who does not live honestly and interactively with God (63页,4段)
i。感官刺激不能满足我们。 自我满足的渴望，使人放纵无度。
it turns out that sensuality cannot be satisfied. It is not self-limiting. That is partly because the effect of engaging in the practices of sensuality is to deaden feeling （64页，3段）
Underneath it all is the radical evil of the human heart— a heart that would make me God in place of God. （67页，2段）
4.3 失丧 (Lost) ：失去了其原本的定位，比如找不到锁头的钥匙。 To be lost means to be out of place, to be omitted.
i。堕落的灵魂，就是失丧了的灵魂 （67页，3段）
ii。这课题的混乱，是因为我们按照失丧的结果来思考 (比如说：你失丧，所以你下地狱）。
Considerable confusion on this topic has resulted from trying to think of being lost in terms of its outcome. Theologically, that outcome is hell— a most uncomfortable notion. Certainly, if you are lost in any sense there is little likelihood of your arriving where you want to be. 失丧的光景与失丧的结果是有分别的。我们不是因为去错了地方而迷失，我们是因为迷失儿去错了地方。（67页，4段）
iii。罪没有使我们失去价值，而是因我们选择罪恶我们失丧了。
Sin does not make a person worthless; choosing a path of sin makes a person “lost.”
iv。失丧的人是错解了自己在神面前是怎样的人。
Lost persons, in Christian terms, are precisely the ones who mistake their own person for God. They falsely identify, and cannot recognize, what is closest to them— themselves. （68页，4段）
v。他们误以为自己的神就是随从自己的心意，这是唯一的合理途径。 自己就是宇宙的中心。
John Calvin said that “the surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves.”Yet self-obedience seems the only reasonable path for nearly everyone: “So blindly do we all rush in the direction of self-love, that every one thinks he has a good reason for exalting himself and despising all others in comparison.” （70页，3段）
vi。地狱：彻底失丧的人没法渴望得着神，不想要祂作神，他们最终会选择地狱作为归属。
Thus no one chooses in the abstract to go to hell or even to be the kind of person who belongs there. But their orientation toward self leads them to become the kind of person for whom away-from-God is the only place for which they are suited. It is a place they would, in the end, choose for themselves, rather than come to humble themselves before God and accept who he is. （70页，5段）
vii。失丧是人性和堕落灵魂的事实状况，有如人患上致命疾病，处在这状况，你也许还不知道。
Lostness is a factual condition of the self, of the ruined soul. You either have it or not, just as you either have or do not have a certain physical disease that can kill you. If you have that condition of lostness, you may not know it.（72页，2段）
The ruined soul must be willing to hear of and recognize its own ruin before it can find how to enter a different path, the path of eternal life that naturally leads into spiritual formation in Christlikeness.
Spiritual formation is not something that may, or may not, be added to the gift of eternal life as an option. Rather, it is the path that the eternal kind of life “from above” naturally takes. It is the path one must be on if his or hers is to be an eternal kind of life. （73页，3-4段）
ii。痛悔回改，是必要的。 只有这样，我们才能走向对的方向，才能实现生命的转化。
There is little hope for genuine change in one who is without remorse, without the anguish of regret. （74页，2段）
now we want to see clearly what goes on within the person who is “unruined,” as we might say. In particular, we must see what is the basic shift (given regeneration and forgiveness) that can lead to the reordering of the six universal dimensions of the human self in subordination to God. （77页，1段）
1. 舍己
i. 感谢主，人性有一个特点，就是它有复原的能力。就算本性堕落了， 它也能复原，更可贵和不可思议 （神的爱和信实的不可思议）
One of the amazing things about the human being is that it is capable of restoration, and indeed of a restoration that makes it somehow more magnificent becau se it has been ruined. This is a hopeful but strange thought. （77页，1段）
ii. 约翰.加尔文 用“舍己”来描述基督徒生命转化和灵魂复原的关键。
IT IS SUCH AN overall transformation of personality that Calvin captured under the heading “self-denial,” a term he used to summarize the entire Christian life. （78页，2段）
v。 结果就是，能依靠神的心意做你想做的 DOING WHAT YOU WANT— GOD’S WAY （或说，你想做的，也是一致于神的心意）
vi.舍己不是自义／自救的另一个技巧
Self-denial will then externalize itself in overt practices of group identity that may seem very sacrificial, but can leave the “mind of the flesh” in full control. (83页, 1段)
2. 计算代价 ： 背十字架所要付出的代价 VS 不背十字架需要付出的代价，这两方面都要考量。
to count the cost is to take into consideration both the losses and the gains of all possible courses of action, to see which is most beneficial. This done, Jesus knew, the trials of apprenticeship (discipleship) would appear to be the only reasonable path. （83页，4段）
不背十字架的代价是 ：
i. 不能 ：开一条新的出路，让灵魂日渐的恢复本性的良善
But to step with Jesus into the path of self-denial immediately breaks the iron-clad grip of sin over human personality and opens the way to a fuller and ever fuller restoration of radical goodness to the soul. It accesses incredible, supernatural strength for life. （95页，4段）
ii. 不能：经历生命和意志真正的被转化
脱下旧人，穿上新人的过程，会是越来越真实的
New vision becomes an attachment and takes on an ever greater reality as we progress; and that, in turn, pushes the old attachments toward the exits of our lives— which we then are not sad to see go. （84页，6段）
以致，我们可以要，神所要的，真正的“要”
We come to want to not want what we now want, and to want to not think of what now lives before our mind; and we come to want to be made willing for what we are not now really willing. （85页，1段）
iii. 不能 ：经历活在爱里的喜乐 Rejoice in love
“greatly rejoicing, with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1: 8, PAR). Jesus does not deny us personal fulfillment, but shows us the only true way to it. In him we “find our life.” （85页， 2段）
The “cross” we must take is laid upon all obsessive and partial desires, so that the broad reach of agape love can integrate for us a whole and eternal life with God and man. （85页，3段）
iv. 不能 ：拥有灵魂真正应该有的品格，就是施予和饶怒
GIVING AND FORGIVING ARE of course central to the divinely restructured life, as we take on the character truly suited to the human soul. （86页，3段）
支持我们继续有动力的来源是耶稣基督，
The necessary support for giving and forgiving is abundantly supplied by Jesus through the reality of the kingdom of God that he brings into our lives. He makes this available to us in response to our confidence in Him. （87页，4段）
爱神，时常经历祂的看顾，我们能摆脱“专顾自己”的重担
It is love of God, admiration and confidence in his greatness and goodness, and the regular experience of his care that free us from the burden of “looking out for ourselves.” （88页，2段）
v. 不能 ：让人性的六个向度彼此和睦共济，能爱得有力量和方向
EXPERIENCE-BASED CONFIDENCE IN God’s loving care allows all six dimensions of the human self progressively to come into harmony with each other and enables us to be generous in every respect to those around us. Only love of God frames and supports love of neighbor, giving it right direction and the power to carry out its aim of goodness within the kingdom. And love of God and neighbor gradually pulls the entire structure of the person into proper alignment. （88页，4段）
vi. 不能 ： 可以抗拒罪恶和引诱，它们不再能控制我们的每个向度，特别是社交、身体和情绪。
－老我是在这世界形塑而成，特别是我们的社交情境和身体。
From where we start, the substance of our selves, formed in a world against God, is ready to act otherwise in all of its dimensions, especially in the social and the bodily. （89页，4段）
－渐渐的，那怕我们的欲望未得满足时，我们也可以不被它控制，或有太多的反应。
Being dead to self is the condition where the mere fact that I do not get what I want does not surprise or offend me and has no control over me. （90页，1段）
－它们不再支配我们的情绪和思想
if we are dead to self to any significant degree, these rebuffs will not take control of us, not even to the point of disturbing our feelings or peace of mind. （90页，3段）
Apprentices of Jesus will be deeply disturbed about many things and will passionately desire many things, but they will be largely indifferent to the fulfillment of their own desires as such. Merely getting their way has no significance for them, does not disturb them.They are free to focus their efforts on the service of God and others and the furthering of good generally, and to be as passionate about such things as may be appropriate to such efforts. （91页，1 & 2段）
vii.不能 ：爱神爱人，在一切事上都由这份爱来引导。
What we surely can say is that those who are dead to self are not controlled in thought, feeling, or action by self-exaltation or by the will to have their own way, but are easily controlled by love of God and neighbor. They still have some sensitivity to self-will, no doubt, and are never totally beyond the possibility of falling under subjugation to it. Only a proper discipline and grace will prevent this from actually happening. But they no longer are locked in a struggle with it. （93页，2段）
viii. 不能 ：不再被愤怒、怨恨以及报复的念头所影响
TO ACCEPT, WITH CONFIDENCE in God, that I do not immediately have to have my way releases me from the great pressure that anger, unforgiveness, and the “need” to retaliate imposes upon my life. This by itself is a huge transformation of the landscape of our life. （94页，5段）
背十字架（舍己，向自己死）的，就是把以上的“不能”换成“能”，那是何等的恩典和美丽的方向。
我要以这句结束，激发彼此一起思考：
世界像是一件松身的衣服，只会与我们身上的某些地方轻轻接触。 － 圣法兰西斯
“wear the world like a loose garment, which touches us in a few places and there lightly.”－St. Francis of Assisi（90页，3段）
FIRST OF ALL, WE must be clear that such a transition as is envisioned in Christian spiritual formation can actually happen, and can actually happen to us. This, today, is not obvious. （97页，3段）
The essential to human beings as such, and therefore remains true until we pass from this life and take a new form. …such a view is false （101页，1段）
b. 他们认为如果不接受“可怜的罪人”的观念，我们就会高举自己，凭自己的功德。
Misunderstanding that, unless the “miserable sinner” account were true, we might rise to a position where we could deal with God on the basis of merit. (101页，2段）
Everyone must be active in the process of their salvation and transformation to Christlikeness. This is an inescapable fact. But the initiative in the process is always God’s, and we would in fact do nothing without his initiative. However, that initiative is not something we are waiting upon. （104页，4段）
－我们堕落的情况，不是没有能力去做，而是没有意愿（意向要）去做。所以是神主动，我们才能愿意去做。
“Depravity” does not, properly, refer to the inability to act, but to the unwillingness to act and clearly the inability to earn. （104页，3段）
iv。所以，问题的关键在于，我们愿意不愿意去改变。 那些认为不可能改变的论调是错误的。
The issue now concerns what we will do. The idea that we can do nothing is an unfortunate confusion, and those who sponsor it never practice it （104页，4段）
2. General Pattern 符合人性的改变模式
we also need to understand the general pattern that all effective efforts toward personal transformation— not just Christian spiritual formation— must follow.
A desirable state of being is envisioned (Vision), and an intention to realize it is actuated in decision (Intention). Means are applied to fulfill the intention (and the corresponding decision) by producing the desirable state of being (Means).(108页, 5段)
ii。 两个切实的列子： 学习语言的过程和戒酒者互助会
Example : LEARNING TO SPEAK ARABIC & ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS ILLUSTRATES （106 － 109页）
Indeed, this is the pattern of all human accomplishment, even that which— like spiritual formation— can only occur at the initiative and through the constant direction and upholding of God, or through grace. （109页，3段）
iv。没有意识到VIM在灵命塑造上的重要，说明了为什么许多基督徒会停滞不前
In a nutshell, is the explanation of the widespread failure to attain Christian maturity among both leaders and followers. Those who are Christians by profession— and seriously so, we must add— today do not usually have, are not led into, the VIM that would enable them to routinely progress to the point where what Jesus himself did and taught would be the natural outflow of who they really are “on the inside.” Rather, what they are inwardly is left substantially as it was, as it is in non－Christians, and they are left constantly to battle with it. That is why today you find many professing Christians circling back to non－Christian sources to resolve the problems of their inner life. （110页，3段）
2.1 VISION -Vision of life in the Kingdom
i。要有异象和愿景，就必须从认识“神的国”着手。
IF WE ARE CONCERNED about our own spiritual formation or that of others, this vision of the kingdom is the place we must start. Remember, it is the place where Jesus started. It was the gospel he preached. （111页，3段）
ii。神的国，就是神的意志得以有效运行的范畴，祂的旨意得以成就之处。
The kingdom of God is the range of God’s effective will （111页，4段）
iii。神意志得以运行之处的异象，就是我们转化了的灵命，活出基督样式的异象。
The vision that underlies spiritual (trans) formation into Christlikeness is, then, the vision of life now and forever in the range of God’s effective will— that is, partaking of the divine nature (2 Peter 1: 4) through a birth “from above” and participating by our actions in what God is doing now in our lifetime on earth. Thus, “whatever we do, speaking or acting, doing all on behalf of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father” (Colossians 3: 17). In everything we do we are permitted to do his work. What we are aiming for in this vision is to live fully in the kingdom of God and as fully as possible now and here, not just hereafter. （112页，2段）
2.2INTENTION －Intention to be a Kingdom Person
i。活在神的国的意向，在于“决定”切切实实的顺服和信靠耶稣、效法基督
we intend to live in the kingdom of God by intending to obey the precise example and teachings of Jesus. This is the form that trust in him takes. It does not take the form of merely believing things about him, however true they may be. Indeed, no one can actually believe the truth about him without trusting him by intending to obey him. It is a mental impossibility. To think otherwise is to indulge a widespread illusion that now smothers spiritual formation in Christlikeness among professing Christians （113页，3段）
ii。我们流露的行动，显示出我们有没有真的信靠耶稣基督
To believe them, like believing anything else, means that we are set to act as if they (the right answers) are true and that we will do so in appropriate circumstances. （114页，2段）
iii。可能，今天基督徒最难接受的就是承认在我们里面，还有许多的“不信任”和对基督的“怀疑”。
Perhaps the hardest thing for sincere Christians to come to grips with is the level of real unbelief in their own life: the unformulated skepticism about Jesus that permeates all dimensions of their being and undermines what efforts they do make toward Christlikeness.
… If you don’t intend to follow His advice, you simply don’t trust Him. （114页，3段）
iv。要有意向，就得要下定决心，开始采取行动。
AN INTENTION IS brought to completion only by a decision to fulfill or carry through with the intention. We commonly find people who say they intend (or intended) to do certain things that they do (or did) not do.（115页，1段）
v。没有意向要做决定，就是我们对于异象（Vision) 还很模糊，不够肯定和清晰
the robust intention, with its inseparable decision, can only be formed and sustained upon the basis of a forceful vision. The elements of VIM are mutually reinforcing. （115页，4段）
2.3MEANS
i. 有了“异象”和“意向”，方法就自然而然的下一步，去寻找可行的途径。
THE VISION AND the solid intention to obey Christ will naturally lead to seeking out and applying the means to that end. Here the means in question are the means for spiritual transformation, for the replacing of the inner character of the “lost” with the inner character of Jesus （116页，2段）
So the problem of spiritual transformation (the normal lack thereof) among those who identify themselves as Christians today is not that it is impossible or that effectual means to it are not available. The problem is that it is not intended. People do not see it and its value and decide to carry through with it. They do not decide to do the things Jesus did and said. And this in turn is, today, largely due to the fact that they have not been given a vision of life in God’s kingdom within which such a decision and intention would make sense. The entire VIM of Christ’s life and life in Christ is not the intentional substance and framework of their life. （119页，5段）
