로마서 12:2

As to his outward relationships, he was not to be conformed to the world. Neither was this to be an outside mechanical nonconformity, but the result of being renewed in mind, so as to seek for and discern the will of God, good and acceptable and perfect; the life being thus transformed.

Here it is not the man personally devoted to God but a negative guard from external influence, and the direct contrary positively carried on by the renewing of the mind, the end being the thorough discernment of God's will. Thus, in order to prove practically that good and acceptable and perfect will, there is need on the one hand of being continually on the watch against the course of this age, the spirits and habits of men where opinion rules.

In the age to come there will be no such discordance enjoined nor right nor even possible; for the world will be under the direct and displayed government of God in Christ the Son of David and the Son of man, the power of evil being publicly put down and expelled. But now it is otherwise in this present evil age, when divine life has to swim against the stream.

Aion is the word used, not kosmos. We well know what we mean when we speak of the course and spirit of the age. This is just the meaning of "world" here. The contrast is between the drift and progress of the natural mind according to the current of the world's ways, and the distinct assertion of the will of God as the regulating principle of ordinary life.

In the second verse, nonconformity to the world is pressed upon the conscience as a responsibility. But, like all other Christian responsibilities, it owes its rise to the truth which fills to the full the joy of the believer in the known love of Christ. True joy in the Lord renders the soul in which it dwells incapable of enjoying what the world esteems pleasure.

"This world" has its own standards, methods, and objectives. While unsaved, we doubtless partook of its character in these things. But the knowledge of Christ calls for a complete transformation. Shall we now think of conforming ourselves to a world guilty of the rejection of Christ? — a world lax in its standards, unholy in its methods, and selfish in its objectives? God is not in all its thought: the comfort and ease and indulgence of the flesh is its exclusive occupation. To be conformed to it is but weakly submitting to its fleeting vanities and folly.

We have two prefixes in verse 2, "con" and "trans". Con, as a prefix means "together with"; trans, "apart from". Hence, I am not to be together with this world but wholly apart from it, if I want to accomplish the will of God.

Sometimes we see conformed Christians — sadly conformed to this age, and their bodies continually bearing witness to the fact. Sometimes too we see reformed Christians, trying with a good deal of laborious effort to imitate Christ and do as He would do. What is set before us here is the transformed Christian, the transformation proceeding from the mind within to the body without.

Our verse does not speak of what God has done, or is doing, for us. It speaks of what we are to do. The responsibility is put upon us. We are not to be fashioned according to this age: we are to be transformed. Both these things, the negative and the positive, are to be worked out day by day. The renewing of our minds, and the transformation effected thereby, are not things accomplished in a moment once and for all, but something to be maintained and increased all through life.

Since the divine instructions to us are that we be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we may well enquire how we may get our minds renewed. The answer is, by getting them formed according to God's thoughts and forsaking our own. And how shall this be? By soaking them in God's Word, which conveys to us God's thoughts. As we read and study the Word in prayerful dependence on the enlightening of the Spirit of God, our very thinking faculties, as well as our way of thinking, become renewed.

Here then is opened up before us the true way of Christian saintliness. We are not set to laboriously fulfil a code of morals, or even to copy the life of Christ. We are brought into contact with that which alters our whole way of thinking, and which consequently transforms our whole way of living.

In the only place it is named in Scripture it is said to have taken place in the spirit of the mind (Eph. 4:23), and a different word is used for renewing, ananeō, for it is new in an abiding sense. In Romans 12:2 it is anakainōsis, to be renewed in a fresh way.

The Apostle Paul tells us that notwithstanding all the labours and afflictions which were his, he experienced a daily renewal. "Though our outward man perish," he writes, "yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16); and what he says immediately after gives us the secret of this: "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." The latter engrossed his attention, for Christ is the Centre of them all.

This transformation can only be by the renewing of the mind. It is not a mere outward transformation by the adoption of some peculiar religious dress, such as that of a monk or nun, which, however plain, only calls attention to self. The difference between the world and the believer is to be displayed, not simply in dress, but in manner, and speech, and ways, as the result of having a different mind. The outward change is the result of an inward change of thought. We may raise endless questions as to what is right in dress, and manner of life, but the inward change — the renewing of the mind — would settle a thousand questions as to what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The mind of nature is reprobate, as has already been shown (chap. 1:28); but a believer has the mind of Christ. With respect to the instrumentality of thought and judgment, the faculties of the mind, like the members of the body, may be used either for good or for evil, for holiness or for sin. Now, the natural and ceaseless tendency of every man's mind is from God, and towards the world in some shape. But there is in a Christian a power of government competent to the control and management of that which is naturally averse from God, so as to turn it into an instrument of obedience to His will. This power is the living Spirit of God and of Christ.

The renewing of the mind, then, is the thing here insisted on. All the old ideas and motive principles which once swayed the judgment, while as yet the knowledge of God had no place in the heart, have now to be exchanged for new ideas, new views, new intents, and new objects, which appear and are contemplated in the light which that knowledge affords.

Now the Spirit, in calling us to a path of separation from the ways of men, lays down no lines of outward difference but what follows the mind renewed, and this in steps of enlarging obedience.

The first occurrence of the word gives us to see clearly what is meant by it; a complete outward change. ... It does not mean a change of nature, or of mind, but a transformation, an external and visible change. ... In Romans chapter 12 this transformation is brought about by the renewing of the mind, but in the passage in Corinthians it is said to be brought about by occupation with Christ in glory.

Transformation then does appear to be some exterior change, while the renewing of your mind would be the interior motive. So long as we keep in mind that any exterior change should spring from some interior change, all is well. Putting on the garb of a monk is hardly it; but if I put on the character of Christ as the result of the Spirit's working within, that is true transformation.

Verse 1 has spoken of "your bodies"; verse 2, "your minds." Let the mind be renewed by engaging itself with God's standards, ways, and objects: this is transformation. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Thoughts are clearly the spring of all conduct. While we were "of the world" our thoughts could only centre in the world: but now that we "are of God," shall we turn our thoughts back to the world again?

Which is better, to know the will of God, or to prove it in experience? Certainly the latter! But how may we prove it? On the negative side, by not conforming to the world: on the positive side, by being transformed by the renewing of the mind. The world's principles as to wise action are always those of expediency, material benefit, present comfort. If one is offered an attractive job with good salary a long distance from an assembly, he will likely accept it quickly if he is conformed to the world. If he is transformed, he will honestly put the Lord's interests first, for his renewed mind is reasoning from the Lord's viewpoint. Then he will prove the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Indeed, we may often be denied the absolute knowledge of His will in many cases; but at the same time be blessed in the experiencing of it. But this is only possible by means of a mind firmly set upon Him, accustomed to His presence and confident of His supreme wisdom and love. This is a complete contrast to occupation with the world.

Thus it is that we may prove the will of God for ourselves, and discover it to be good, acceptable and perfect. What is good before God will be good to us, since our minds will have been brought into conformity to His.

In v. 1, we learn that the presented body is acceptable to God. In v. 2, the will of God now becomes acceptable to me. I do not doubt the will is acceptable in itself but the wonder is, it becomes acceptable to me; but only after I have devoted my body to Him for service.

When the will of God is acceptable to us it makes a tremendous difference to our outlook. If we merely accept that will, that is another point entirely. We have to accept the will of God, for we cannot do anything else; but when the will of God is acceptable to us, it means we love the will of God, which is very much more than merely bowing to it.

Our renewing is according to the image of Christ. No lower standard is put before us. He Himself is the image of God. ... How important it is, then, that our thinking should be in the divinely indicated direction.

Our renewal, therefore, has in view Christ being "everything and in all" — the One who loved us and made us His own eternally through His sufferings and death; the One whose moral glory shines so perfectly in His lowly pathway, making God Himself known in His love and holiness.