Romans 12:1-2 talks about being transformed by the renewing of our minds. Here, Paul is talking about a principle of living. Romans 12:1-2 begins the ‘so what?’ of this letter that up to this point has systematically taught us the gospel. This short passage tells us how to respond to the gospel as a believer. I would like to briefly state what the epistle says, why we should find Romans 12:1-2 important because of it and then provide you with some thoughts on using this passage in your daily lives.
In a brief overview of the letter to the Romans thus far we learn:
Romans 1 and 2 teach us that God is great, and we are not. We have grievously sinned against a holy God and we deserve his righteous wrath. Romans 3-5teaches us that God’s righteous wrath against our sin must be accomplished and he has a plan to make peace with those he will call ‘his people.’ Romans 6,7,8 teach us that we must die to ourselves, placing our full faith in God’s way of reconciling, which is Jesus the Christ, his holy sinless son: fully God and fully man. Romans 9-11 discusses in general terms who will be included in the kingdom of God. Romans 12 to the end of the letter discuss how this works in community.
Theologian HGC Moule teaches us why we should find this important:
And the whole outline and all the details [of Romans 1-11] thus become to the believer things not only of duty but of possibility, of hope, of the strong interest given by the thought that thus and thus the beloved Master would have us use His divine gift of life. Nothing is more wonderfully free, from one point of view, than love and spiritual power. But if the love is indeed given by God and directed towards Him in Christ, the man who loves cannot possibly wish to be his own law, and to spend his soul’s power upon his own ideas or preferences. His joy and his conscious aim must be to do, in detail, the will of the Lord who is now so dear to him; and therefore, in detail to know it.
HCG Moule D.D., The Epistle to the Romans (emphasis mine)
Romans 12:1-2 is the fulcrum on which Christian living teeters: on one side its promise, on the other side its application. The Christian learns by renewing her mind. Having this mind (think Philippians 2) helps us to discern what is the commanded will of God (Romans 12:2; Deuteronomy 29:29), thereby growing up into Christlikeness, giving glory to God and becoming more sanctified! It is a beautiful process that the Holy Spirit via Paul is teaching us so that we are not without hope but can live in the joy of Christ.
However, we must learn how to do this and practice it. Let me state 3 important points before I focus on the last 2 clauses in Romans 12:2:
1) We are made holy and acceptable by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ – you can’t earn God’s approval
2) Stay away from the cultural thinking and logic of this age – we belong to Christ
3)Renewing our minds comes only through the intake of the Bible supplemented with fully biblical preaching and teaching which is primarily in the context of a church body – your own church body
Now our 2 clauses:
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The first clause “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God” assumes 2 things:
1) we know what we are testing
We are testing our renewed thinking, is it in line with God’s Word as written in the Scriptures? We are to do this with all things in this age. We are to test our pastor’s sermon – a humble pastor will invite you to do so because he knows he’s fallible. We are to test what we read from the Christian bookstore, and a grammatical-historical study of the Scriptures must be made – not ‘this is what it means to me.’ We first must understand what God was saying to the original audience before we can understand how to apply it to our lives.
2) we are able to discern the will of God
Can we really discern the will of God? Of course we can! The will of God is the commands, principles and precepts we find in the Scriptures! (Deuteronomy 29:29).
The second clause “what is good and acceptable and perfect” is simply our goal.
When we transform our thinking by renewing our minds with the written Word of God, we can be sure to think God’s thoughts after him. This is our goal. It is a lofty one. This is the ‘desk work’ if you will of sanctification. I would go so far to say that part of the practicum of sanctification is trials of many kinds.
Paul gives us this entire volume of the gospel and here in Romans 12:1-2 he is calling us to respond to “His divine gift of life” as Moule calls it in the above quote. We are called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. We can do so because we are holy and acceptable to God because of the work of Jesus. Amazing! We can be transformed by the renewing of our minds! You and I because of the finished work of Christ and of the Helper whom he sent who lives within us can transform hopeless thinking to hopeful thinking. We do not need to be conformed to the thinking of this age. We can cast off the compulsions, the depression, the anxiety, the hatred, the slovenliness and be transformed women. I don’t know about you but that sounds like a sweet deal to me! Also – also – it is a spiritual act of worship to our God. A friend of ours has an expression for this feeling: “Oooooweeeee!”