Romans 12.2c-Transforming The Believer By Renewing His Mind Fulfills The Father's Purpose By Giving Him The Capacity To Discern The Father's Will
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday September 27, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:2c-Transforming The Believer By Renewing His Mind Fulfills The Father’s Purpose By Giving The Believer The Capacity To Discern His Will
Lesson # 400
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.
Then we noted in Romans 12:2 Paul’s 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.
This morning we will note the purpose-result of this command, which is that Paul’s Christian readers in Rome 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.”
“So that you may prove” is composed of the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), “so that” and the present active infinitive form of the verb dokimazo (dokimavzw) (dok-im-ad-zo), “may prove” and the accusative second person plural form of the personal pronoun humeis (u(mei$), which is humas (u(ma$), “you.”
In Romans 12:2, the verb dokimazo means “to discern” what is the right decision to make when faced with a particular decision or choice after testing the various choices or decisions that could be made to determine if they are in accordance with the will of God.
It means “to discern” in the sense of perceiving by the intellect and recognizing, apprehending clearly and distinguishing mentally what is the right decision to make when faced with a particular decision or choice after testing the various choices or decisions to determine if they are in accordance with the will of God.
So Paul is commanding his Christian readers in Rome to permit themselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit by renovating their mind so as to discern the will of God when faced with a particular decision to make after testing the various choices to determine if they are in accordance with the will of God.
He is saying that the believer can discern the will of God in the sense of the correct decision to make in any given situation, as a result of having their character transformed into the image of Christ by having their mind renovated.
The renovation of the mind is accomplished by the Holy Spirit in the believer who prayerfully obeys His voice, which is heard through the Word of God.
Therefore, Paul is saying that the believer can only discern what the will of God is in any given situation through having their character transformed into the image of Christ by renovating their mind.
This renovating of the mind is by learning the will of the Father from the Holy Spirit who teaches the believer the will of God through the Word of God and prayer.
Discernment refers “to the capacity to perceive clearly and hence to understand the real nature of something.”
It is concerned with practical matters like speaking (10:14; 11:9; 12:23; 22:12) and general prudence and discernment concerning how to live rightly in relationships.
Discernment can be referred to as “tact” and the ability to understand relationships and situations with a view to practical action.
Tact is a keen sense of what to say or do to avoid giving offense and is the skill in dealing with difficult or delicate situations.
Discernment refers to the faculty to discern, discriminate, and have acuteness of judgment and understanding in any given situation.
We must learn discernment from the Holy Spirit who teaches us discernment by making the Word of God understandable and guiding us in its application.
Psalm 119:66, “Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments.”
Spiritual discernment refers to the ability to separate, distinguish between what is God’s will and what is evil in any given situation (Hebrews 5:12-14).
Spiritual discernment refers to the power or ability to grasp and comprehend what is obscure to the soulish man (1 Corinthians 2:1-16).
In Philippians 1:9, Paul prayed that the Philippians divine love might be accompanied by discernment.
Philippians 1:9, “Now, this I make it a habit to pray that your divine-love might continue to flourish yet more and more by means of a total discerning experiential knowledge.”
In Romans 12:2, dokimazo functions as a “purpose-result” infinitive indicating that the transformation of the believer’s character into the image of Christ by renovating their mind accomplishes what the Father intended in that it provides the believer the capacity to discern the Father’s will with regards to any situation.
The personal pronoun humeis is a reference to Paul’s Gentile and Jewish Christian readers in Rome.
This form of the personal pronoun humeis is used in a distributive sense meaning that Paul is addressing “each and every one of” his Jewish and Gentile Christian readers, which emphasizes that this is the will of God for all Christians regardless of race or gender or social status.
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.”
“What” is the nominative neuter singular form of the interrogative pronoun tis (tiv$) (tis), which refers to the will of God in any particular situation or in other words, decisions or actions that are in agreement with the will of the Father.
“The will of God” refers to the will of the Father with regards to what He desires of the believer in a particular situation or when faced with a particular decision.
In Romans 12:2, the apostle Paul is addressing the “viewpoint” will of God with the believers in Rome meaning what God wants the believer to think and do in a particular situation.
When the believer renovates his mind by learning and obeying the Spirit’s voice, which is heard through the Word of God, he acquires the capacity to discern what the Father desires of him in any given situation.
“That which is good” is the articular nominative neuter singular form of the adjective agathos (a)gaqov$) (ag-ath-os), which describes a decision made or an action performed by the believer after his conversion that is in accordance with the Father’s will.
It describes this decision or action as being “intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent.”
“Acceptable” is composed of the nominative neuter singular form of the adjective euarestos (eu)resto$) (yoo-ar-es-tos), which refers to those decisions and actions made by the believer after his conversion that are “extremely pleasing” to God the Father since they are in accordance with His will.
“Perfect” is the nominative neuter singular form of the adjective teleios (tevleio$) (tel-i-os), which means “perfect” in the sense that it meets the highest standard, which is the Father’s will.
The believer’s decision or action that is in accordance with the Father’s will is perfect in the sense that it cannot be improved upon and fulfills the purpose for which God saved, sanctified and justified the believer.
When the believer does the Father’s will, it is good, pleasing to the Father and perfect because it fulfills the purpose of Christ’s crucifixion, spiritual and physical deaths, His resurrection and session as well as the purpose of the various ministries performed by the Holy Spirit on the believer’s behalf.
It also fulfills the Father’s eternal purpose for the believer in electing and predestinating them.
It also enables the believer to experience the purpose for which the Father delivered the justified sinner from the sin nature, personal sins, Satan and his cosmic system, i.e. salvation.
It also enables the believer to experience the purpose for which the Father set apart him to do His will exclusively, sanctification.