文/司布真 译/羊咩咩
你们蒙了重生，不是由于能坏的种子，乃是由于不能坏的种子……
【彼得前书1:23】
彼得格外恳切地劝诫分散在各处地圣徒要彼此相爱“以毫无虚假之心切实相爱”。他睿智地引出这个论点，不是基于律法、本性、也不是基于哲理，而是基于上帝植根于他百姓里面崇高而神圣的生命性情。
正如一些睿智的教师，在教导和培养王子的君王精神和尊贵行为时，通常是以王子尊贵的身份和出身为出发点。同样，神的百姓是荣耀的后裔，是拥有高贵血统的王子，是万王之王的儿子，是真正而古老的贵族，彼得对他们说：
“你们要彼此相爱，因为你们是蒙了神的重生，是出于不能坏的种子；因为你们的血统，是创造万物之主的后裔；因为凡有血气的都要凋谢、消逝，但你们却永不朽坏，永远长存。”
以谦卑之心认出我们重生之后的真正尊贵并且在生活中践行之是有益的。何为基督徒？如果你将之与君王比较，前者在皇族的尊贵之外又加了一份神圣的圣洁。君王的高贵在于他的王冠，而圣徒的高贵在于内在的生命和性情。他重生那一刻起就远远不同于其他人，正如一个人不同于其他终将消亡的野兽一般。因此，他作为囧别于众人的一个，作为被拣选出来，被至高恩典所分别出来的人，作为被列在独特选民中的一个，他理所应当要在所行的各样事上与其身份相称，他不再像其他世人一样卑躬屈膝，也不再随从今世之子的风俗。
哦！基督里的信徒啊，让你生命里的尊贵和将来的荣耀来约束你活在圣洁之中，躲避邪恶的诱惑吧！
英文原文
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.”
1 Peter 1:23
Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love each other“with a pure heart fervently”and he wisely fetched his argument, not from the law, from nature, or from philosophy, but from that high and divine nature which God hath implanted in his people.
Just as some judicious tutor of princes might labour to beget and foster in them a kingly spirit and dignified behaviour, finding arguments in their position and descent, so, lookingupon God’s people as heirs of glory, princes of the blood royal, descendants of the King of kings, earth’s truest and oldest aristocracy, Peter saith to them,“See that ye love one another, because of your noble birth, being born of incorruptible seed; because of your pedigree, being descended from God, the Creator of all things; and because of your immortal destiny,for you shall never pass away, though the glory of the flesh shall fade, and even its existence shall cease.”
It would be well if, in the spirit of humility, we recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived up to it. What is a Christian? If you compare him with a king, he adds priestly sanctity to royal dignity. The king’s royalty often lieth only in his crown, but with a Christian it is infused into his inmost nature. He is as much above his fellows through his new birth, as a man is above the beast that perisheth. Surely he ought to carry himself, in all his dealings, as one who is not of the multitude, but chosen out of the world, distinguished by sovereign grace, written among “the peculiar people” and who therefore cannot grovel in the dust as others, nor live after the manner of the world’s citizens.
Let the dignity of your nature, and the brightness of your prospects, O believers in Christ, constrain you to cleave unto holiness, and to avoid the very appearance of evil.
