For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:25)

We have seen in other places that the Lord is our Shepherd (Ps 23:1, 80:1), our Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14) and our Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). Here we see that as our Shepherd, He guards our souls. What an assuring thought!

While sometimes the term “soul” refers to a person or people in general, in Peter’s writings it refers to the inner man, the moral center of his life, the essence of who he is as a moral entity before God. This is where the battle for Christian morality is waged with the world system. “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).

Theologians struggle to distinguish between the physical, moral and spiritual aspects of us humans who are made in the image of God. Certainly the apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, envisioned a tripartite view of humanity when he wrote, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 5:23). But the overlap and interrelationship between the three aspects of our humanity defy precise explanation. Suffice it to say each affects the others.

Peter focuses on the soul, but what happens in our soul also affects the spirit in us, and is acted out in our physical bodies and minds. Some have suggested the body is the physical entry point of temptation to the soul, as the physical brain is the window to the soul. Be that as it may, our souls, whatever the means of temptation, are the target for the world’s temptation. And for this we need protection.

To be sure, believers have already “obtain[ed] as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). And it is their responsibility to “entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Peter 4:19). The example of OT Lot should be instructive, “for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds” (2 Peter 2:8). This is serious business, and righteousness does not preclude overwhelming temptations. The crucial promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13 is rooted in God being the Guardian of our souls. He is constantly at work protecting us from the satanic, roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) whose goal is to consume God’s sheep. Our Guardian is our protector.

Lord, knowing You are my Guardian gives me confidence to resist temptation.