The first phrase of verse 2 is a warning against worldliness. But as soon as we say worldly we have to stop and make clear what real worldliness is. When I was growing up in a rather fundamentalist church I was taught that worldliness was following such “worldly” pursuits as smoking, drinking, dancing, and playing cards. A Christian girl would say:

I don’t smoke, and I don’t chew,

And I don’t go with boys who do.

That is not what Romans 12:2 is about, however. To think of worldliness only in those terms is to trivialize what is a far more serious and far more subtle problem.

The clue to what is in view here is that in the next phrase Paul urges, as an alternative to being “conformed” to this world, being “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This means that he is concerned about a way of thinking rather than merely behaving, though right behavior will follow naturally if our thinking is set straight. In other words, the worldliness we are to break away from and repudiate is the world’s “worldview,” what the Germans call Weltanschauung, a systematic way of looking at all things. We are to break out of the world’s way of thinking and instead let our minds be molded by the Word of God.

The first phrase of verse 2 is a warning against worldliness. But as soon as we say worldly we have to stop and make clear what real worldliness is. When I was growing up in a rather fundamentalist church I was taught that worldliness was following such “worldly” pursuits as smoking, drinking, dancing, and playing cards. A Christian girl would say:

I don’t smoke, and I don’t chew,

And I don’t go with boys who do.

That is not what Romans 12:2 is about, however. To think of worldliness only in those terms is to trivialize what is a far more serious and far more subtle problem.

The clue to what is in view here is that in the next phrase Paul urges, as an alternative to being “conformed” to this world, being “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This means that he is concerned about a way of thinking rather than merely behaving, though right behavior will follow naturally if our thinking is set straight. In other words, the worldliness we are to break away from and repudiate is the world’s “worldview,” what the Germans call Weltanschauung, a systematic way of looking at all things. We are to break out of the world’s way of thinking and instead let our minds be molded by the Word of God.

The first phrase of verse 2 is a warning against worldliness. But as soon as we say worldly we have to stop and make clear what real worldliness is. When I was growing up in a rather fundamentalist church I was taught that worldliness was following such “worldly” pursuits as smoking, drinking, dancing, and playing cards. A Christian girl would say:

I don’t smoke, and I don’t chew,

And I don’t go with boys who do.

That is not what Romans 12:2 is about, however. To think of worldliness only in those terms is to trivialize what is a far more serious and far more subtle problem.

The clue to what is in view here is that in the next phrase Paul urges, as an alternative to being “conformed” to this world, being “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This means that he is concerned about a way of thinking rather than merely behaving, though right behavior will follow naturally if our thinking is set straight. In other words, the worldliness we are to break away from and repudiate is the world’s “worldview,” what the Germans call Weltanschauung, a systematic way of looking at all things. We are to break out of the world’s way of thinking and instead let our minds be molded by the Word of God.

speak or write by divine inspiration.

to predict with assurance or on the basis of mystic knowledge

Dreams or “night visions” (Heb. ḥezyôn laylâ, mare˒ ôṯ hallaylâ) were recognized as an important means of divine communication.

A supernatural visual manifestation, which may also involve the aural, that serves as a divine revelation of something otherwise secret.

a form of divine revelation that comes by means of a visible or visualized experience.

a vision was a means by which the word of the Lord was revealed

POWER.—In general the word means ability for doing something, and includes the idea of adequate strength, might, skill, resources, energy, and efficiency, either material, mental, or spiritual, to effect intended results

speak or write by divine inspiration.

to predict with assurance or on the basis of mystic knowledge

Dreams or “night visions” (Heb. ḥezyôn laylâ, mare˒ ôṯ hallaylâ) were recognized as an important means of divine communication.

A supernatural visual manifestation, which may also involve the aural, that serves as a divine revelation of something otherwise secret.

PENTECOST (ἡ πεντηκοστή) was one of the three great national festivals of Israel at which all the males of the people were required to present themselves every year before the Lord their God, with an offering according to their means

a form of divine revelation that comes by means of a visible or visualized experience.

PENTECOST (ἡ πεντηκοστή) was one of the three great national festivals of Israel at which all the males of the people were required to present themselves every year before the Lord their God, with an offering according to their means

a vision was a means by which the word of the Lord was revealed

There is evidence that in the time of Christ multitudes assembled for the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, not only from all parts of the Holy Land, but also from the Jewish communities scattered throughout the Roman Empire.

There is evidence that in the time of Christ multitudes assembled for the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, not only from all parts of the Holy Land, but also from the Jewish communities scattered throughout the Roman Empire. The attendance at the Passover would probably be the largest, while the numbers at Pentecost would embrace more Jews from foreign countries, the season being more favourable for travel.

the numbers at Pentecost would embrace more Jews from foreign countries, the season being more favourable for travel.

The religious movement known as “The Great Welsh Revival” is the latest and most widely known of these national awakenings. This revival covers a period of two years—from the early part of 1904 to the beginning of 1906. During that time it is estimated that over 100,000 professed conversion. Of this number some 60,000 can be accounted for as being in 1910 members in good standing in the Protestant churches of Wales. The immediate ethical results of the movement were remarkable. A great wave of sobriety over-swept the country so that the liquor trade suffered enormous financial losses; the decrease in criminal cases was no less remarkable; hundreds of outlawed debts were settled; goods stolen fifteen or twenty years before were returned to their owners; a phenomenal increase was recorded in the demand for good literature; feuds of long standing were healed; and sectarianism, a great curse of Welsh national life, was softened by a larger charity and a deeper consciousness of an underlying unity.