Romans 12.2b-Paul Commands His Christian Readers To Permit Themselves To Be Transformed By Renovating Their Minds
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 24, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:2b-Paul Commands His Christian Readers To Permit Themselves To Be Transformed By Renovating Their Minds
Lesson # 399
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:1.
As we noted in our study of Romans 12:1, the apostle Paul appealed to his Christian readers in Rome on the basis of the merciful acts of the Father on their behalf to offer their bodies as a sacrifice-alive, holy, extremely pleasing to the Father, which is their reasonable service to the Father.
Last evening we began to note Romans 12:2 and in this passage Paul issues a prohibition to his Christian readers in Rome to not be conformed to the cosmic system of Satan.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans 12:2 by noting the command Paul issues to his readers in Rome on the heels of this prohibition to permit themselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit by renovating their minds.
Sunday we will note the purpose of this command which is so that they could discern the will of God for their lives, which he describes as “good”, “extremely pleasing” to God and “perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
“But” is the strong adversative conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a statement that stands in direct contrast with the idea of the Christian conforming his behavior in accordance with the standards of this present age in which Satan is the ruler of the earth and his world system dominates and controls all of humanity.
“Be transformed” is the second person plural present passive imperative form of the verb metamorphoo (metamorfovw) (met-am-or-fo-o), which is in the passive voice and means “to be transformed.”
The word speaks of the process performed by the Holy Spirit in the believer who is obeying the Spirit’s voice, which is heard through the Word of God and deals with conforming the believer into the image of Christ in an experiential sense.
This process is also accompanied by prayer.
The verb speaks of the process of growing to spiritual maturity and becoming like Christ in an experiential sense.
This process of being transformed into the image of Christ through the Spirit begins inwardly in the soul and manifests itself in the believer’s words and actions.
So this verb speaks of a change that begins from within the soul and expresses itself outwardly in one’s words and actions and one’s lifestyle.
It refers to accomplishing in time the Father’s plan to conform the justified sinner into the image of Christ, which Paul speaks of Romans 8:29.
In Romans 8:29, Paul teaches that God the Father first foreknew the Christian and then predestinated the Christian to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ, thus indicating that predestination is based upon God’s foreknowledge.
Romans 8:28-29, “In fact, we know without a doubt that for the benefit of those who are characterized as divinely loving God the Father, He (the Spirit), as an eternal spiritual truth, always works each and every circumstance together for the good, for the benefit of those who are, as an eternal spiritual truth, the chosen ones, in accordance with His predetermined plan. That is, whom He knew in advance, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son in order that He Himself would, as an eternal spiritual truth, be the firstborn among many spiritual brothers.”
This work of conforming the Christian into the image of Christ began the moment the Christian expressed faith alone in Christ alone.
It continues after salvation in the believer who obeys the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the communication of the Word of God and it will be completed at the resurrection of the church.
The Father’s purpose for extending us grace, for crucifying us with Christ and burying us with Him as well as raising and seating us with Christ at His right hand is so that we might become conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ.
The sole objective of God the Father saving us, justifying, sanctifying and glorifying us through His Son Jesus Christ is so that we might become like His Son Jesus Christ and by doing so bring many sons to glory.
His purpose for giving us a new nature, the nature of Christ, the mind of Christ and the Spirit of Christ is so that we might become like His Son Jesus Christ.
In Romans 12:2, the verb metamorphoo involves the believer appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
In Romans 8:28, the adjective agathos, “the good” meant, “divine good of intrinsic quality and character” and referred to conforming the Christian into the image of Jesus Christ with respect to our Lord’s character.
Paul used agathos in the same way in Philippians 1:6.
Philippians 1:6, “I am confident of this very same thing, namely that, the One (God the Holy Spirit) who began in all of you a good work that is divine in quality and character, will bring it to completion up to the day of Christ who is Jesus.”
In Romans 12:2, the verb metamorphoo is directly related to agathos in Romans 8:28 and Philippians 1:6 since it refers to the process of the Spirit reproducing the character of Christ in the believer in an experiential sense, which is denoted by agathos.
In Romans 12:2, the verb metamorphoo is directly related to the believer denying self and taking up his cross daily and is related to dying to self.
In order to become like Christ, we must experience and endure with joy undeserved suffering, which is designed to test our obedience to the Father and manifest the life and power of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives.
This too is related to the verb metamorphoo in Romans 12:2 since the process of transforming the Christian experientially into the image of Christ involves experiencing underserved suffering (2 Corinthians 12:9-10; 3:17-4:18).
In Romans 12:2, the verb metamorphoo involves the believer considering himself crucified and have died with Christ but alive to God (Romans 6).
In Romans 12:2, the verb metamorphoo is directly related to fruit bearing since it refers to this process (John 15; Galatians 5:22-23).
Therefore, in Romans 12:2, the verb metamorphoo means “to be transformed” and refers to the process performed by the Holy Spirit in the believer who is obeying the Spirit’s voice, which is heard through the Word of God and deals with conforming the believer into the image of Christ in an experiential sense.
It also involves prayer both in learning and applying the Word of God.
This is a “customary present imperative,” which is a character building command to the effect of “make this your habit.”
The permissive passive voice of the verb metamorphoo emphasizes that Paul’s Christian readers in Rome must make a conscious choice to permit the Holy Spirit to reproduce the character of Christ in their lives by obeying His voice, which is heard through the teaching of the Word of God.
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
“By the renewing of your mind” is composed of the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun anakainosis (a)nakaivnwsi$) (an-ak-ah-ee-no-sis), “by the renewing” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun nous (nou$) (noose), “mind.”
In Romans 12:2, the noun anakainosis means “renovation” rather than “renewal” since the former means to make new whereas as the latter to restore a former state.
This renovation of the believer’s mind is accomplished by the Holy Spirit when the believer prayerfully obeys His voice, which is heard through the Word of God.
It involves not only learning and obeying the Word of God but also prayer since prayer must accompany learning the Word and applying it.
This renovation is related to the command in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit and the command in Colossians 3:16 to let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you.
Ephesians 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”
Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
This renovation of the believer’s manner of thinking is referred to in Romans 8:5-6 and is called submission to the Spirit.
Romans 8:5-6, “For you see those who at any time exist in the state of being in submission to the flesh are, as an eternal spiritual truth, preoccupied with the things produced by the flesh. However, those in submission to the Spirit, the things produced by the Spirit. In fact, the mind-set produced by the flesh is, as an eternal spiritual truth temporal spiritual death. However, the mind-set produced by the Spirit is, as an eternal spiritual truth life as well as peace.”
The apostle Paul teaches in Romans 12:2 that this transformation of the believer’s character, or in other words the reproduction of Christ-like character in the believer begins with his or her thinking or thought process, their manner or way of thinking.