According to the word in 1 Peter 2:25, Christ is also the Overseer of our souls. The Greek word for overseer means “one who oversees a particular condition or situation.” As the Overseer of our soul, our being, He is looking after us and watching over us. He always follows us, watching over us. No human being, whether he or she be our parent or spouse, can accompany us and oversee us constantly. Only the Lord Jesus can oversee our soul all the time. How blessed we are to have such an overseer!
According to our experience, the Lord as the Overseer is the One who cares for us. For Him to oversee us means that He takes care of us. As the Overseer, the Lord does not govern us or rule over us; rather, He cares for us as a mother oversees her child with the purpose of caring for the child and meeting his every need.
Christ’s shepherding of His flock includes His caring for their outward things and also their inner being, their soul. He takes care of the things concerning their soul by overseeing their soul. Christ indwells us to be our life and everything, but He is also overseeing, observing, the condition and situation of our inner being.
In verses 19 and 20, Peter says, “This is grace, if anyone, because of a consciousness of God, bears sorrows by suffering unjustly. For what glory is it if, while sinning and being buffeted, you endure? But if, while doing good and suffering, you endure, this is grace with God.” Based upon what he says in verses 19 and 20, Peter goes on to say in verse 21, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you a model so that you may follow in His steps.” Christ’s living on earth was a model of this grace. We were called to follow Him in His steps, taking Him as the model of our Christian life.
Verse 21 opens with the words, “For to this you were called.” The word this in verse 21 refers to the unjust sufferings, the suffering for doing good, mentioned in verses 19 and 20. This means that we were called to suffer unjustly. We would be happy to hear that we have been called to the kingdom and to God’s glory. These are marvelous things. But probably very few of us, whether young or old, have realized from verse 21 that we have been called to suffer unjust treatment.
Verse 21 clearly says that we have been called to suffer unjustly because Christ suffered on our behalf and left us a model so that we may follow in His steps. Literally, the Greek word rendered “model” means “a writing copy, an underwriting (used by students to trace letters and thereby learn to draw them).” The Lord has set His suffering life before us so that we can copy it by tracing and following His steps. This does not refer to a mere imitation of Him and His life but to a reproduction of Him that comes from enjoying Him as grace in our sufferings so that He Himself as the indwelling Spirit, with all the riches of His life, reproduces Himself in us. We become the reproduction of the original writing copy, not a mere imitation of Him produced by taking Him as our outward model.
As we read 2:18-25, we see that Peter was very rich in the experience of Christ. In this portion he speaks of grace, the model, the Substitute, the Shepherd, and the Overseer. Christ is the life within us, and He is also the model for us to follow. If we live by Christ as our inward life, that is, by the indwelling Christ Himself, we will become a reproduction of Christ. At the same time, we will experience Him as the Substitute saving us, as the Shepherd leading and guiding us, and as the Overseer caring for us. May we all practice to enjoy Christ according to what is revealed in these verses. May we all enjoy Him as grace, as the model, and as the wonderful Savior, Shepherd, and Overseer.