The Renewal of the Mind

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he lays out his vision of true humanness. We’ve spoken about this a bit in earlier postings, especially when we spoke about humans as the imago Dei, the image of God.

God created humans in His own image (Gen. 1:26-28) so that they could be the people in whom and through whom He himself took care of His creation. This image-bearing task, however, required human beings to be filled with God’s wisdom. Humans, in other words, would need to think well to govern well.

This is why, in Paul’s densest analysis of human sinfulness, the argument climaxes with him saying: “And because they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a debased mind” (Rom 1:28).

To avoid a debased mindset, human creatures have “to think” rightly; in other words, they need mind that is set on the things of God. While a debased mind is the problem, in Romans 12:1-2 Paul holds out the solution: “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).

The question remains, however, as to how the mind is renewed. For this, one needs to turn again to Romans. In Chapter 1, Verses 18-25, we see that the key to the renewal of the mind is, perhaps surprisingly, worship.

In other words, as Paul says (Rom. 1:20-24), true humanness is sustained by true WORSHIP of the one God, and this is characterized by “glorifying” God and “giving thanks” (Rom. 1:21).

To say it another way, humans were designed to be sustained in their humanness by worship of the true God, and particularly through ascribing to him glory and by giving him thanks!

Come join us at Ooltewah United Methodist Church as we learn day by day and week by week how to be transformed by the renewal of our minds!