Ephesians 4:22-24 KJV
22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So then why does the Bible speak in terms of renewing the mind? Not more?
Romans 6:6-11 KJV
6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7) For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11) Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
These are our marching orders. "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God".
What is it about the mind?
Reckon ye . . . Account in your mind that this is true . . .
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 KJV
17) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new.
18)
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
Ephesians 4:21-24 KJV
21) If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24) And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Our new creation . . . the new you . . . is now like God Himself.
But we have to reckon this true. It IS true, but we don't think of it as being true, and feel enslaved to this world, or to our flesh, or to sin. We've been freed from sin,
IF we are born again.
So then why does the Bible speak in terms of renewing the mind? Not more?
Because we've already been made new in Christ. The new creation is are real and true thing. We aren't going to become "more born again". But we need to come to think this way. To realize in our mind . . . where we make our choices, where we form our opinions and perceptions, to realize that our hearts are no longer desparately wicked and incurably sick, to realize, we've been born again, recreated in God's pattern, righteous and holy.
And if we will think that way, believing this to be true, we will live that way, according to what we believe.
Talk about renewing the heart, sure, sounds good, but what does that really mean?
Do you have a new "inner man"?
Romans 7:22-25 KJV
22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Much love!