Eight years ago, US News & World Report published an article1 that pondered why so many beneficial resolutions go unfulfilled every year. People resist change, even when it is for their good. The article concluded that the key to change lies in the mind. The author almost sounds biblical.
In Romans 12:22, Paul explains that transformation occurs as the mind is renewed, and this kind of transformation is in contradistinction to conformity to the world. Conformity to the world clouds our judgment and prevents us from knowing and doing God’s will. There is an antidote, however—that is biblical transformation.
Biblical transformation—the kind that Romans 12:2 urges us to experience—is inward or internal. One highly respected Greek dictionary defines it as “change inwardly in fundamental character or condition.”3 Only an inward change in one’s fundamental character can equip one to determine the mind and will of God.
Biblical transformation takes place through the renewing of the mind. The mind includes our faculties of perception, thinking, and planning. Unfortunately, when it comes to morality, our minds do not work properly—essentially, like compasses whose needles are broken. Because our understanding has been darkened, our minds, like poisoned fountains, spew out things that are futile (Ephesians 4:17). Wrong ways of thinking so rabidly resist demolition that they are referred to as “strongholds.” Normal warfare will not succeed against such strongholds. What can?
Biblical transformation utilizes the power of truth. We who have learned Christ learned the truth that is in Christ (Ephesians 4:20-21). The new man was created in “righteousness and holiness of the truth” (v. 24, my translation). When speaking the truth in love, we help others grow into greater likeness to Christ (v. 15), but when we swallow the cunning, deceitful arguments of tricky men, we remain immature (v. 14). In Romans 1:18-25, people suppress the truth and eventually exchange the truth for a lie. Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), is a question that must be answered, not one to be shrugged off as unattainable. So, what is truth? Scripture is truth (John 17:17). Responding believingly to truth leads to salvation (Ephesians 1:13). Obedience to truth, with the Spirit’s help, purifies the soul (1 Peter 1:22).
Biblical transformation relies on the Spirit of Truth. Scripture is truth, but the Spirit of Truth discloses and applies that truth to us. He glorifies Christ by revealing to us the things taught by Christ (John 16:13-14). Remember the truth that is in Jesus? How are you going to know that truth? You will know it only as you allow the Spirit of Truth to disclose that truth to you. One writer goes as far as to say that “the transformation of believers is wholly attributable to [the Spirit’s] work in their lives.”4 By the Spirit’s help, basking in the glory of the Lord transforms us into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18).
In short, you will be personally transformed into Christ’s likeness as you allow the Spirit of truth to disclose and apply truth to your thinking. That very transformation then aids you to identify and denounce ungodliness and worldly lusts (Titus 2:12). This, in turn, encourages the spiritual discernment necessary to place your body at God’s disposal in a manner that is worthy of Him. All of these “stops” along the pathway are fueled by appreciation for mercies received.
The pathway just described has a goal in mind: “that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). This is the pathway every believer must walk if he or she is to know God’s will in life.
And what is that will? God’s will looks different for every believer. As someone has said, Abel walked with God and died. Enoch walked with God and never died. Noah walked with God, and everyone else died.5 For each, the result was different, but the essence of their commitment was the same. Each surrendered himself to the Lord. Each resisted conformity to his sinful culture. Each allowed truth to renew his mind and transform his perspective.
I urge you to ask God what His will is for your life. Is it possible that God wants to use Romans 12:1–2 to call you to a heightened surrender of yourself to Him? We live in a time when there is a growing need for laborers. The fields are white, but the laborers are few. Hundreds of churches are searching for pastors. Mission works overseas are shuttering their doors because of a lack of manpower. Millions—perhaps billions—have never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. Is it God’s will for none to go—or so few to go? Where are those who are answering the call of God for missions? Where are those who desire the “position of a bishop” (1 Timothy 3:1)? Is it possible that some are not doing the will of God because they have gotten off the pathway that leads to knowing His will?
I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that today you present your bodies to God in an act of sacrificial worship, that you refuse conformity to sinful culture around you, and that you allow yourself to be renewed by truth.
1 https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2015-12-29/why-80-percent-of-new-years-resolutions-fail.
2 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
3 William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 639.
4 Colin G. Kruse, 2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, 2nd edition, Vol. 8, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2015), 137.
5 Bruce K. Waltke with Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001), 155.
Click here to view part 1 of this series: Appreciating Mercies Received.
Click here to view part 2 of this series: Placing Our Bodies at God's Disposal.
Click here to view part 3 of this series: Refusing Conformity to Sinful Culture.