Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 1 Study # 6
September 22, 2019
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The final stage of the "follow-through" is an "incipient and progressive renewal of the mind".
Introduction: In our study last week we looked, again, at the larger context and construct of Paul's insistence that we "be not configured to the construct of this age". The meaning of that insistence is that we steadfastly refrain from defining "Life" in terms of physical pleasure, emotional security through human relationships, and spiritual identity through the recognition that we gain in the eyes of men.
God is "the living God" and He, alone, has the ability to pour His "Life" into, and through, us. He has not promised that in this "life" we shall have an exclusive experience of physical pleasure. He has not promised that in this "life" we shall have any real security because of the people we know and with whom we have, at least, some degree of harmonious relationships. Nor has He promised that in this "life" we shall have any real spiritual status because others recognize and applaud our abilities. Instead, He has promised us "resurrection" once the processes of evil and corruption destroy our bodies and "sufficient grace" during these processes; He has promised us His enduring presence with us at all times ("I will never leave you, nor forsake you") so that we have no need of "fear" and can relax in the security His presence will provide regardless of the attitudes men take toward us; and He has declared to us that we are "His children" ("Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God") so that we have status in His eyes, not by reason of our abilities and actions but according to His boundless mercy, and, thus, have no need for status in the eyes of men.
This is the larger context and construct and the insistence that we "be not configured to this age" boils down to rejecting any and every form of "life" that comes from anyone but Him.
But, this is only the first half of the "follow-through" on the "presentation of our bodies as living sacrifices. This evening we are going to look at the other side of that coin.
- I. "Be Transfigured".
- A. Paul's word, translated "transformed" by both the Authorized Version and the NASB, is used four times in the New Testament.
- 1. Two of those times are Paul's (Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18).
- 2. The other two are found in records of the same illustrative event (Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2).
- B. The "illustrative event" serves to give us the proper direction of thought to Paul's uses of the word [metamorphoo].
- 1. Paul's word was "coined" to identify a process that alters the essence of a person/thing and the English term, metamorphosis, [which means "a complete change of form or substance" (as in the transition of a worm into a butterfly)], has retained, at least in some contexts, this original meaning.
- 2. In the New Testament there are two records of the same event (Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2) which is known to us as "the Transfiguration".
- a. This "transfiguration" event was the outcome of Jesus' declaration that some of His disciples would actually witness "the Kingdom of God come with power" (Mark 9:1) or "the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom" (Matthew 16:28).
- b. In that event, what the disciples "witnessed" was an outward "transfiguration" of Jesus' physical appearance and His conversation with Moses and Elijah and a bright cloud out of which a voice came which identified Jesus as "My Beloved Son".
- 3. This "illustrative event" became the basis for our understanding of Paul's meaning.
- a. In Romans 12:2, he simply commands this "transfiguration" and gives us the methodology of the process.
- b. In the companion passage in 2 Corinthians 3:18 he explains: 1) how the process works ("from glory to glory"), and 2) the methods involved ("beholding the glory of the Lord" and the active agency of "the Spirit of the Lord").
- c. Thus, what Paul is insisting upon is a "reconfiguration" of our "substance" (not our appearance -- earthen vessels remain earthen vessels): we take on the "glory" of the Lord.
- II. "By The Renewing of Your Mind".
- A. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said that the "process" involved an "open face" as our attention is turned to "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord" and "the active agency of the Spirit of the Lord".
- B. In the text before us, he was a bit more specific as to what he meant by "an open face" and "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord".
- 1. His basic meaning involves what he calls "the renewing of your mind".
- 2. But there are some "issues" involved in this "renewal".
- a. First, there is the actual process: 2 Corinthians 10:5.
- 1) The primary orientation of the word "mind" is "thoughts" regarding the Love/Faith issues of life (what is valuable and what is true).
- 2) The "process" involves exchanging former, untrue, "thoughts" for "new and true" thoughts.
- 3) But, this process involves "an open face", which has powerful implications regarding our intellectual honesty (there are no "thoughts" that are "out of bounds" for evaluation and/or discarding)...throughout "life".
- b. Then, the "boundaries" are established.
- 1) Which "thoughts" are to be "discarded"? [Answer: any/every thing that puts "Life" in the hands of "the world, the flesh, and/or the devil"; i.e., anything that claims to possess the ability to give "Life" that is not God, Himself.]
- 2) Which "thoughts" are to be "nailed down"? [Answer: every true meaning of the words of the apostles and prophets.]
