Christ, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (I Pet. 2:25).

Christ, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (I Pet. 2:25). 

He nurtures and cares for the souls of those who have believed upon His Name, strengthening them unto the warfare of faith. 

Psalm 23 and Psalm 80 are both “Shepherd Psalms”.  Psalm 23 reflects upon a lifetime of the Shepherd’s tender care.  Psalm 80 is a plea to the Shepherd of Israel to return, and “turn us again, and cause Thy face to shine”, evidencing, among other things, that the fulness of the time had not yet come (cf. Gal. 4:4). 

But now that sin has been put away by the Lord Jesus Christ, “going astray” is no longer the norm for the people of God and it is spoken of as something associated with our past. We WERE as sheep going astray and we have now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop (Overseer) of our souls.  This is the language of the work of salvation being brought to its consummation. 

In view of this, let us have done with doctrines that gloss the sin issue, as the times of ignorance has long passed, and the Day of salvation is now upon us. Believing men and women have been invested with new creatureship in Christ, enabling them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.