 By James H. Cagle |
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, though it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2: 5-8 KJV).
The “mind” is the same as “nous” or intellectual responsibility, and according to Bullinger, is “The spiritual organ of mental perception and apprehension, the organ of conscious life, the organ of consciousness preceding the act, or recognizing and judging the fact. It is generally the organ of thinking and knowledge, i.e. contemplation.”
When a person gets saved they receive the Spirit of Christ who has a mind (Rom. 8:27) meaning a mental inclination and purpose. But in order for the Christian to live the life of Christ they themselves must develop the mind of Christ. Because a person lives as they think (Pro. 23: 7), one cannot live and be Christ like until they begin to think like Christ.
Because the carnal mind, which is a thought process governed by sinful nature and is at enmity with God (Rom. 8: 7), and because the mind of Christ is not a gift given at the moment of regeneration, but is the result of a Christian changing their old way of thinking to thinking according to the mind of God as revealed in His Word, then the Christian’s life will only change as they allow their thinking to change. Before there is the fruit of repentance in our life there must be repentance in the heart as we change the way we think about Christ. Paul wrote, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12: 2). A Christian cannot with unholy thoughts live a holy life. We cannot think one way and live another way.
The mind of Christ is the standard of thinking for the Christian, just as His life is the standard for Christian living. Paul said he had the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2: 16), though he did not claim perfection in Christian living (Phil. 3: 12), and due to human limitations no Christian experience approximates to perfection in this life.
Most often we try to live right before we learn to think right and our failure to live right causes us discouragement. But when we learn that in order to live like Christ we must change our thinking to where we’re thinking like Christ we are on our way to victory. And we begin to think like Christ as we meditate in God’s Word (Ps. 1: 2). And we know how Christ thought because we know what and how He spoke and what He did.
Transformation means, “Our whole mental make-up needs to be refashioned so that we may fit into God’s ways, and His will may be done in our lives.” – J.C. Metcalfe
