the sum total of godless men and things conceived of as separated from God, only that by this expression the essentially fleeting nature of that type is more distinctly set forth. Such, then, is the normal type to which, in all circumstances, we must seek to rise with the mind first, then with the conduct. “Of course, clergymen abuse theatres, etc., but where is the harm? ‘The renewing of the mind,’ then, is only, in such an interpretation, a theological way of putting the simpler English thought, a change of estimates, a new set of views; or if that word be too shallow, as indeed it is, a new set of convictions. The word fashioned (suschematizo), used only here and 1 Peter 1:14, is related to the English word mold. And what the Apostle is thinking about here is, as I take it, principally how the body of Christian truth, if it effects a lodgment in, not merely the brain of a man, but his whole nature, will modify and alter it all. "Perfect" means it cannot get any better. "Commentary on Romans 12:2". An outline of the possibilities, and therefore the duties, of the Christian, is set forth here, in these three thoughts of my text, the renewed mind issuing in a transfigured life, crowned and rewarded by a clearer and ever clearer insight into what we ought to be and do. A Christian's attitude towards the world.—. If the person be metamorphosed, as the word originally implies, from a state of nature to a conformity with Christ, it will certainly appear, and the state of the heart will be evident from the life. Go to. He approves of nothing but obedience to His own commands. This is in apposition with what precedes, and not a qualification of it as the E. V. indicates. Not surely by leaving him to fight it out with them, but by creating within him a taste for higher pleasures, and the society of the good. Paul’s “world” was a grim, heathen, persecuting world; our “world” has got christened, and goes to church and chapel, like a respectable gentleman. The Apostle uses in his positive commandment, ‘Be ye transformed,’ the same word which is employed by two of the Evangelists in their account of our Lord’s transfiguration. This is the spirit of the world, a thing in my heart and yours to be struggled against, not so much in the case of others as in the silent battle done within our own souls. Subordinate motives indeed a believer may feel; but a desire of pleasing and honouring God, and a fear of dishonouring or displeasing him, will operate with the greatest force; and that too, in opposition to carnal considerations, no less than in aid of them. Having a disposition to obey him, the mind will be prepared to understand his precepts. The logical relation of this clause to the preceding is doubtful, as the original ( וי ̓ ע פן ̀ הןךילב ́ זוים) admits of its being regarded as expressing either the design or the result of the change just spoken of. An apostolical exhortation, Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind; that is, "Be ye regenerated and changed in your whole man, beginning at the mind or understanding, by which the Spirit of God worketh upon the inferior faculties of the soul." Given the character of a man's surroundings, and we can gauge the force of his temptations and difficulties. Not the beautiful world of nature, nor the social world merely, nor the world of intellect, nor the world of commerce. aion) is the spirit of our age that seeks to exclude God from life ( 1 John 2:15). If a man be baptised, and, heartily believing the Christian religion, doth sincerely endeavour to live up to it; if his faith in Jesus Christ be so strong that, by virtue thereof, he overcomes the world and the evil customs thereof; if, knowing the laws of our Saviour, he so endeavours to conform himself to them that he doth not live in any known wilful transgression of them, but in the general course of his life walks honestly and piously, and endeavours, in holy conversation, to keep a good conscience both towards God and man,—such a man, however he came into this state, and with whatever infirmities it may be attended—of which infirmities yet he is deeply sensible, and fails not both to pray and strive against them—yet he is a good man, and gives a true evidence of his regeneration, though he have not all the marks and qualifications that he may meet with in books. Strip the man of the nineteenth century of these externals, and how much is he like the man of ages since! BibliographyBurkitt, William. If you and I really believed what we say we believe, that Jesus Christ has died for us, and lives for us, and is ready to pour out upon us the gift of His Divine Spirit, and wills that we should be like Him, and holds out to us the great and wonderful hopes and prospects of an absolutely eternal life of supreme and serene blessedness at His right hand should we be, could we be, the sort of people that most of us are? https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hal/romans-12.html. or which he will approve. By the renewing of your mind. Why, we all know how often a whole life has been revolutionised by the sudden dawning or rising in its sky, of some starry new truth, formerly hidden and undreamed of. "Commentary on Romans 12:2". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/romans-12.html. In the dust. Once they are combined (Ephesians 2:2), “in accordance with the time-state of this matter-world.”… The direction, therefore, is, “Be not like the men of this world, whose all is the present. By the renewing of your mind - [ humoon (Greek #5216) is probably not genuine; nor is it needed, for without it the sense is the same.] To be inwardly like men of the world in the governing principle of our lives, i.e., to have a worldly spirit, a spirit occupied with worldly things, mercenary, earthly. Transformation by the renewing of the mind. We have already said that we are not to seek in this verse, as Meyer does, the idea of the sanctification of the soul, as completing the consecration of the body. That ye may prove - Know by sure trial; which is easily done by him who has thus presented himself to God. John Piper Nov 14, 2004 14 Shares Sermon. This good, and acceptable, and perfect will is far, far out of the sight of the carnal eye, out of the sound of the worldly ear, out of the touch of the worldly hand; but is made manifest to the spiritual eye, listened to by the spiritual ear, and laid hold of by the spiritual hand. (R. S. Candlish, D.D. He lifts his eyes, and, like Christ Himself (John 5:19-20), "he sees what his Father shows him" to be done. It is clear, then, that that conformity is forbidden which interferes with our being transformed. Consider the ultimate consequence which the Apostle regards as certain, from this central inward change, viz., the unlikeness to the world around. If He appear in the horizon, it is only as a fleeting vision, a passing phantom. : And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Doubtless, if they had kept it, they would have found by experience--. BibliographyPhilpot, Joseph Charles. 2 For I bear them witness that b they have a zeal for God , c but not according to knowledge . We have a choice to not conform to this world. “Good ,” ἀγαθὸν, is useful, advantageous, beneficial; “acceptable ,” εὐαρεστον, is what is pleasing to and accepted by God; and “perfect ,” τέλειον, is complete, entire, without any defect, or just and right. To be indistinguishable from men of the world in our--. ), 1. This change comes by learning and obeying God's word. The method of Christianity is not excitement, but incitement. Now it is a matter of world-wide experience, verified by each of us in our own case, if we have ever been honest in the attempt, that the power of self-improvement is limited by very narrow bounds. The way to escape from our worldliness is not so much to struggle with it hand to hand, but to supersede it, as it were, by the entrance into us of a new affection; by giving our hearts to another, even to Him who has already entered for us within the veil, and who now and ever liveth to be our Intercessor and our life. (M. Davies, D.D. I. If all would separate from the vices and follies, the amusements and gaieties of the world, Christ would be glorified. "The 1599 Geneva Study Bible". 1599-1645. Any man that has ever tried to cure himself of the most trivial habit which he desires to get rid of, or to alter in the slightest degree the set of some strong taste or current of his being, knows how little he can do, even by the most determined toil. For there is no medium between spirituality and carnality, between the image of Christ and conformity to the world. Only by this expression the essentially fleeting nature of that type is more distinctly set forth. It is a voluntary commitment that every Christian should make out of love for the Savior, but it is not one that every Christian does make. BibliographyBengel, Johann Albrecht. "God is my co-pilot," does not give God His rightful place. The passage seems to assert that to find out and discriminate the will of God with respect to those things that He requires and forbids, it is necessary to be renewed in the mind. A certain kind of seaweeds that lie at the bottom of the sea, when their flowering time comes, elongate their stalks, and reach the light and float upon the top, and then, when they have flowered and fruited, they sink again into the depths. (A. Maclaren, D.D.). 4. Applied to religion, it means what is consistent, which is carried out; which is evinced in all the circumstances and reactions of life.Acceptable - That which will be pleasing to God. It is safe, prudent, to conform to the fashion of the world, to swim with the stream, to desert the sinking vessel, to avoid the stricken deer or howl with the wolves. Any man that has ever tried to cure himself of the most trivial habit which he desires to get rid of, or to alter in the slightest degree the set of some strong taste or current of his being, knows how little he can do, even by the most determined effort. There should be such a change as when a drop or two of ruby wine falls into a cup, and so diffuses a gradual warmth of tint over all the whiteness of the water. The doctrinal foundation for the Christian life has been laid down in the first 11 chapters. And be not conformed
- The word rendered “conformed” properly means to put on the form, fashion, or appearance of another. Not, surely, its expressly sinful practices; for when these are meant, they are branded with their own names. A heart in love with the fashions and follies of the world is ill-suited to appreciate the arguments for humility, prayer, etc. BibliographyDunagan, Mark. εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν: this is the purpose of the transforming renewal of the mind. Even thus the world hangs like a deadly atmosphere over every single human soul, brooding over it, flapping its wings like the monstrous evil bird in the fable, or penetrating and entering into it like a subtle poison, to sap the springs and sources of its vigour and its life. (Ephesians 5:3) Neither are we allowed to "run with the pack", merely on the weekends. There is not one principle in the human heart, or one action of our lives, which is not depraved by sin. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God,” John 7:17. But they who are partakers of the Gospel salvation, are under the influence of a far nobler principle, the love of Christ: the thought of Christ having died for them, fills their hearts with admiration and gratitude: it inspires them with an ardent desire to testify their sense of his kindness: and forms a powerful incentive to holy actions. In describing this process we must go back one step further in the metaphors than in the case to which we before alluded. . The latter view compels us to take ‘well-pleasing’ in the sense of agreeable to men. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God,”, Haldane's Exposition on the Epistle to the Romans. "Commentary on Romans 12:2". It is the character of those who are dead in trespasses and sins, that they walk according to the course of this world, acting conformably to those maxims which regard only the present life; and they who mind earthly things are described as the enemies of the cross of Christ; but the conversation of believers, as being pilgrims and strangers, is in heaven. It means what God demands of us, in whatever way it may be made known. There are now, indeed, no idolatrous banquets, no savage gladiatorial conflicts in the blood-stained arena of the amphitheatre, no midnight orgies to some disgraceful deity. Magee. Yet in the receding background our present age darkens into a darkness almost as deep as heathenism itself. There are two terms in the original language for the expression the world. God"s will calls for self-denial, but I want self gratification; it requires obedience, but my carnal mind is the essence of disobedience; it demands many sacrifices, but my coward flesh revolts from them; it bids me walk in the path of suffering, sorrow, and tribulation, but my fleshly mind shrinks back, and says, "No, I cannot tread in that path!". But the world and the fashions of it are passing fast away; a few short years, and we shall all be where the applause or censure of men shall be alike indifferent to us--upon our dying beds. Ephesians 5:8-10). You have higher things to mind (Colossians 3:1-3; Philippians 3:20). The commerce, the governments, and even the Churches of the world, are mainly conducted on selfish principles. The perfection of our nature is found in the pursuit, to the furthest point, of the characteristics of our nature, and so, by reason of diversity, there is the greater harmony, and, all taken together, will reflect less inadequately the infinite glories of which they are all partakers. 1865-1868. Transformed (metamorphoo) is very similar to the English word metamorphosis. And be not conformed — Neither in judgment, spirit, nor behaviour; to this vain and sinful world — Which, neglecting the will of God, entirely follows its own; but be ye transformed — Regenerated and created anew; by the renewing of your minds — Of your understandings, wills, and affections, through the influence of the Spirit of God, Titus 3:5 . But this positive commandment is only one side of the transfiguration that is to be effected. Although, of course, I am not talking about mere conventional dissimilarities; and though I know and believe and feel all that can be said about the insufficiency, and even insincerity, of such, yet there is a broad gulf between the man who believes in Jesus Christ and His Gospel and the man who does not, and the resulting conducts cannot be the same unless the Christian man is insincere. In ours, perhaps, it is the love of money. anakainosis. Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament. Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible. These two operations fit into one another: the one effecting that supernatural birth by which the Son becomes a servant, the other that supernatural birth by which the servants become sons. Hodge's Commentary on Romans, Ephesians and First Corintians. That ye may prove - Know by sure trial; which is easily done … 2. Every converted person is truly and really changed, thoroughly sanctified and renewed, endowed with new dispositions and affections; yet this conversion and renovation is not a substantial, but a qualitive change, a change not in the substance of the faculties of the soul, but in the quality of those faculties. Here the whole point is that the true nature of man demands the repudiation of ‘the world’s’ claims, and so far as the man tries to meet those claims, he is not acting upon or satisfying his true nature. ], [According to the established maxims of the world, we should seek above all things the favour and esteem of men; we should avoid every thing that may make us appear singular; and on no account testify our disapprobation of any practice that is sanctioned by general custom. . That ye may prove — Know by sure trial; which is easily done by him who has thus presented himself to God. The meaning of the word here, as usually, is to appreciate, discern. BibliographyNicol, W. 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