Romans 12.2a-Paul Prohibits His Christian Readers From Conforming To The Standards Of This Present Age Ruled By Satan
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 23, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:2a-Paul Prohibits His Christian Readers From Conforming To The Standards Of This Present Age Ruled By Satan
Lesson # 398
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:1.
As we noted in our study of Romans 12:1, the apostle Paul appealed to his Christian readers in Rome on the basis of the merciful acts of the Father on their behalf to offer their bodies as a sacrifice-alive, holy, extremely pleasing to the Father, which is their reasonable service to the Father.
This evening we will begin to note Romans 12:2 and in this passage Paul issues a prohibition to his Christian readers in Rome to not be conformed to the cosmic system of Satan.
Also, in this passage, he issues a command on the heels of this prohibition to be transformed by the renewing of their minds.
The purpose of this command he teaches is so that they could discern the will of God for their lives, which he describes as “good”, “extremely pleasing” to God and “perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 presents the result of Paul’s readers responding to his appeal in Romans 12:1 to offer their bodies as a sacrifice-alive, holy, extremely pleasing to the Father, which is their reasonable service on the basis of the merciful acts that the Father performed on their behalf through the Son and the Spirit.
In other words, in order for the believers in Rome to offer their bodies as a sacrifice-alive, holy, extremely pleasing to the Father on the basis of the Father’s work on their behalf, they must obey both the prohibition and the command in Romans 12:2.
This passage teaches that the believer can never offer his body as a sacrifice-alive, holy, extremely pleasing to the Father if he does not obey the prohibition and the command in verse 2.
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
“Do not be conformed” is composed of the negative particle me (mhv) (may), “not” and the second person plural present (deponent) passive imperative form of the verb suschematizo (susxhmativzw) (soos-khay-mat-id-zo), “do be conformed.”
The verb suschematizo is a compound word composed of the noun schema, which denotes outward appearance, form or shape and the prefix sun, “with,” which indicates a personal assimilation to or conformity with the pattern indicated.
The meaning of the word is to form or mold one’s behavior in accordance with a particular pattern or set of standards.
In Romans 12:2, the verb suschematizo means “to conform to” and speaks of conforming one’s behavior according to the standards of the present age, which is Satanically inspired and dominated by Satan’s cosmic system.
The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, “not.”
Together, they form a prohibition.
The Roman believers are the subject of this prohibition.
Paul employs me and not ouk since the latter is much stronger than the former and would indicate that his readers were conforming their behavior to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system.
Thus, by employing me instead of ouk, he does not believe that his readers were conforming their behavior to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system, which ouk would indicate.
Therefore, the particle me indicates that this has not taken place but is used with the verb suschematizo to prohibit Paul’s readers in the future from conforming their behavior to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system.
Also, further indicating that the prohibition here in Romans 12:2 does not imply that the Roman believers were conforming their conduct to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system is that the present imperative of the verb suschematizo with the negative particle me has the force of a general precept.
It makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
Thus, Paul’s readers were “not” presently disobeying this prohibition.
Furthermore, the context of the epistle further indicates that the Roman believers were not conforming their behavior to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system.
In Romans 15:14-15, Paul writes to the believers in Rome that he was convinced that they were full of goodness and filled with knowledge and able to admonish each other, thus, his teachings in this epistle would serve as a reminder to them.
Romans 15:14-15, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God.”
Therefore, Paul is simply performing preventive maintenance by employing this prohibition in Romans 12:2.
He is in effect warning the believers in Rome to not conform their conduct to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system.
Thus, he is simply stating a general precept for his readers to follow in the future that would protect their fellowship with God.
This is a “customary present imperative,” which is a command for action to be continued, action that may or may not have already been going on and is often a character building command to the effect of “make this your habit.”
The verb suschematizo is a deponent verb meaning that although it has a passive/middle form, it has an active meaning.
This would indicate that Paul is appealing to the volition of his readers in that he does not want them to conform to the standards of this present age that is under the deception of the devil, which is similar to the apostle John’s warning in 1 John 2:15.
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
“To this world” is composed of the articular dative masculine singular form of the noun aion (ai)wvn), “to world” and the dative masculine singular form of demonstrative pronoun houtos (ou!!to$) (hoo-tos), “this.”
In Romans 12:2, the noun aion means “age” referring to the particular period of human history in which the devil is the temporary ruler over planet earth.
It is used in relation to the present age in which the devil is the god of this world idiomatically expressing what one might refer to as “the spirit of the age,” the philosophies and ideologies which dominate this period that are Satanically inspired.
The word then refers to the spirit of this age in which the devil rules over the earth, which seeks to be independent of God and the Bible.
It is an age in which people characteristically seek self-gratification regardless of the consequences or cost to self or others.
This Satanic age is characteristically self-centered, self-pleasing, self-indulgent, self-concerned and indifferent to needs of others.
It is also an age in which when men display concern for the needs of others, it is either because they seeking to gain merit with God through their good deeds, which God rejects since these deeds are not done in His power or they are deeds that they perform to gain power over people and again approbation from them.
The prevailing, popular thinking and culture is in continual rebellion against God and His authority and seeks to conform all the world’s inhabitants into its godless “world view.”
This Satanic world view permeates the thinking of mankind, molding, corrupting and degrading and in the process affecting all culture and every institution of man.
The noun aion differs from the noun kosmos, “world” in that the former speaks of a particular period of human history in which the devil and fallen angels rule this world whereas kosmos refers to the devil’s world system.
The noun aion can also refer to the age in which the devil’s viewpoint prevails over men in contrast to the Messianic age and the eternal state to come whereas kosmos is the system he has in place to propagate his viewpoint of this Satanic age.
Trench writes that aion is “that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations, at any time current in the world, which it may be impossible to seize and accurately define, but which constitute a most real and effective power, being the moral, or immoral atmosphere which at every moment of our lives we inhale, again inevitably to exhale.” (Synonyms of the New Testament, page 204)
In Romans 12:2, the noun aion functions as a dative of rule specifying the rule or conduct a person follows or the standard of conduct to which he or she conforms.
The word denotes that Paul is prohibiting his readers from conforming their behavior “to the standards” of this present age in which the devil is the ruler of the earth.
Therefore, up to this point in our study of Romans 12:2, Paul is prohibiting his readers from conforming their behavior in accordance with the standards of this present age in which Satan is the ruler of the earth and his world system dominates and controls all of humanity.