开始之前，要交代两个概念 ：
为什么称为“重塑”， 什么需要重新塑造？ Why it is called Renovation of the heart, not formation of the heart ?
作者认为我们每个人的心灵都已经被塑造而成型了，透过我们对环境，文化和机遇的反应形塑而成。 希特勒和特里莎修女的心灵都是经历了被塑造的过程。 所以，我们需要探讨“心灵”如何能重新被塑造 (reform/renovate) , 然后被转化 (transform)。
Terrorists as well as saints are the outcome of spiritual formation. Their spirits or hearts have been formed. (Pg 19, para 5)
2. 作者写书的用意，不是搞纯学术和建构一套系统神学，而是实践应用和生命的改变。 他透过具体的方式讨论每一个内在的向度；帮助我们明白，了解它们的特质，并知道如何的去保守它们。 他的教导是与圣经的教导一致，也符合我们真实经验和客观知识。
作者写此书的目的 ：
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)
PRELUDE :-
本书要从“作者序”Prelude开始看起，因为他叙述了这本书要处理当今基督徒的“问题”是什么。
1. 当今基督徒的光景：我们深知道圣经里所陈述那丰盛而又有深度的生命，只是我们在信仰生活上感觉到无限的无力感。
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)
iii。我们没能明白，正确的“进路”是要持续不解地经历内心的转化；另一方面，我们也没能循序渐进，安静而坚稳地逐步走上这条路。
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)
“2. 这里我想加入一段插曲（不在书里）：也就是作者Dallas Willard 难得陈述他对“救赎论”神学的看法。我认为这段演讲可以帮助我们知道作者的神学前提和从另一方面来看这本书要带来的改变／提醒。 （如果大家觉得很困难，可以跳过这插曲）
or article at : Spiritual Formation as a Natural Part of Salvation
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)
b. 许多人都在宣讲灵命转化。每各人意见虽有不同，但分别只在于人的心灵里面有 ＊什么＊ 需要改变，以及 ＊如何＊ 带来改变而已。
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)
b. 当人的内心深处经历神圣的更新，社会结构自然会出现转化。假如我们真是良善的，许多体制都能行之有效。
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.” (Pg 17, Para 5)
d. 这些教导的背后最大的错误，就是认为灵命的形塑只是纯粹是人为的；是其中一个向度和自我潜在的能力。完全从“自己”延伸出来。
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)
Download Summary Chapter 1
