Introduction

“Life Change” will lead you into a challenging examination of sin and righteousness. You will struggle with sin throughout your life. Your identity in Christ beckons you to a life of holiness, but your heritage as a sinner living independently of God continues to influence your attitudes and actions. “Life Change” addresses both resisting sin and pursuing growth in holiness.

“Life Change” starts with an inventory of your personal values. What you truly value in any given circumstance determines your attitude and actions. The tool examines seven broad categories of sin, called the seven deadly sins. These categories describe tendencies in which personal values conflict with biblical principles and God’s will. Each person has unique tendencies to sin. Identifying your personal tendencies to sin will help you resist those tendencies. Confessing sin keeps personal sin tendencies from remaining hidden and therefore opens up opportunities for gaining support to resist sin. The exercise called “A Letter from Your Tempter” provides a creative way for you to confess areas of sin to others.

The second part of the “Life Change” tool turns to positive growth. Exercising a spiritual discipline will enable you to experience dependence on God in a new way. Examining the fruit of the Spirit will encourage you to see how God has already been transforming you and to set your sights on new areas for growth.

Though “Life Change” may be used profitably by individuals, it has been designed to be done in a small group. This process can solidify the sense of community you experience with a group that has been together for a short time, or it can deepen that sense with a group that has been together longer. Given the sensitive nature of the content that people will be exploring in these exercises, care should be taken when the content is shared with a group. Coed groups may want to consider splitting up times into single-sex groups for sharing times. Some of the content from the “Life Change” exercises may need to be adjusted for sharing in a group setting.

You will do the “Life Change” exercises in private. Each exercise provides instructions. You will get out of the exercises what you put into them in terms of time and focused attention. May this process be a significant time for you to increase your understanding of your growth in righteousness!

Belief and Practice

In this exercise, you will identify several biblical beliefs that you have learned to practice in some area of your life. You might not practice a belief perfectly, and you might not practice it in every area of your life. Nonetheless, it is an area in which you have experienced significant growth.

For instance, maybe your faith has helped you lessen your anxiety about work deadlines. Or perhaps God has convicted you and helped you change from having a cynical demeanor to one of encouragement when you relate to your relatives.

The following pages contain a list of biblical principles that may help you identify areas of past growth. It is not an exclusive list, so feel free to choose other biblical principles that apply to your own experience. Choose up to three biblical principles that you have come to believe and practice. Record them on page 80, and in the appropriate space, describe the process by which you grew to practice that belief. Consider the influence that Scripture, prayer, and other believers played in your life-change experience.

Biblical Principles

Liberality

Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:42)

Mercy

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)

Simplicity

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19)

Contentment

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. (Matthew 6:25)

Hope

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Christian Fellowship

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Faith

But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:5-6)

Temperance

Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more… . You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:19,22-24)

Edification

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29)

Humility

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

Perseverance

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Praise

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

Prayer

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)

Contemplation and Reflection

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:2-3)

Forbearance

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. (Colossians 3:12-13)

Industriousness

If a man will not work, he shall not eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10)

Purity of Speech/Doctrine

Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. (2 Timothy 2:16-17)

Hospitality

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)

Fidelity

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. (Hebrews 13:4)

Confession

Confess your sins to each other. (James 5:16)

Sympathy

Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. (1 Peter 3:8)

Evangelism

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15)

Loyalty

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

Generosity

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? (1 John 3:17)

Love

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:16-19)

Principle #1
Practice:

 

Principle #2
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Principle #3
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Spiritual Discipline Exercise — Thanksgiving

Now that you have spent some time considering how God has been transforming your life, take time to offer thanks to Him. You may decide to take a half hour one morning this week to pray or journal, listing all that you are thankful for. Or spend a few minutes every day, perhaps before bed or after you wake up, and thank Him. One thing to thank Him for is His commitment to transforming you to be more like Christ.

Seven Deadly Sins

Slowly read the definitions of each category of sin and the descriptions of how each manifests itself in a person’s life. As you read, underline any phrases, lines, or sections that describe your behavior. Be honest.

After you have worked through all seven, take time to review what you underlined. There may be many areas of sin that God wants to address in your entire life. The key now is letting Him reveal what He wants you to address right now. However, we are often blind to our own sin. The Spirit may bring to mind some areas of sin, or He may use recent interactions with others to point out areas to you.

Identify one or two of the seven that you would say are the predominant sin categories you are currently struggling with. Make notes for yourself describing the personal dynamics of those particular areas of sin. For example, if you struggle with greed, the personal dynamic may be as follows: “When I’m around my old college buddies and see the cars they drive and the homes they live in, I find myself obsessed with having those nice things too. I don’t desire to have more than they have or to be better than they are. I particularly want to enjoy the luxuries of a car and a house like theirs.”

You may want to include in your notes descriptions of those sins from various angles in your life. For instance, how does the struggle with greed show up at work? With friends? With family?

Be prepared to share with the group the areas of sin with which you struggle. You won’t have to go into detail about the dynamics of those areas of sin at this point, only the category (envy, greed, and so on). Also, if you are in a coed group, you will probably separate into single-sex groups for this discussion.

Envy

Envy is being dissatisfied with our lives, talents, and gifts and focusing on the circumstances of another’s life. It begrudges someone their status, material possessions, or the relationships and good will that they have earned from others in the community.

—Kaye Briscoe King

When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang:

“Saul has slain his thousands,

and David his tens of thousands.”

Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. (1 Samuel 18:6-9)

With respect to envy, many of them are wont to experience movements of displeasure at the spiritual good of others, which cause them a certain sensible grief at being outstripped upon this road, so that they would prefer not to hear others praised; for they become displeased at others’ virtues and sometimes they cannot refrain from contradicting what is said in praise of them, depreciating it as far as they can; and their annoyance thereat grows because the same is not said of them, for they would fain be preferred in everything. All this is clean contrary to charity, which, as Saint Paul says, rejoices in goodness.

—St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, VII

Manifestations:

Actively trying to dissuade others from admiring or accepting anyone we envy. Setting up an unfair rivalry or competition with that person. Being happy and satisfied when bad fortune befalls another. Belittling and planting seeds of doubt about another’s character. Gossiping. Devising ways of destroying someone, sometimes with a long-range plan. Being dissatisfied with our physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual selves. Being unwilling to be content with our station or lot in life. A person can become our flash point for an obsession. We encourage criticism and antagonism against the person through sarcasm, teasing, or cutting him down. Envy can be masked as contempt for a person’s culture, position, and talents or for someone who is in authority over us.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Greed

Greed is a desire for inordinate amounts of personal possessions or status. Greed uses others for our personal gain in spite of any harm that this manipulation may cause them.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

This is greed: living to possess anything—stamps, dolls, autographed balls, books, CDs, paintings, figurines, toys, property, cars, contacts/acquaintances, whatever—with the primary objective of owning, the preoccupation with having, the obsession of getting, and/or the dedication of too much of our lives or the investment of too much of our hearts.

—Dr. William Backus

Now you can see, my son, how brief’s the sport
of all those goods that are in Fortune’s care,
for which the tribe of men contend and brawl;
for all the gold that is or ever was
beneath the moon could never offer rest
to even one of these exhausted spirits.

Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto VII

Manifestations:

Putting possessions in place of God. Being ambitious and disdaining morality, the law, or the rights of others. Pursuing status, material possessions, reputation, or power. Believing that all’s fair in competition and, thus, becoming ruthless and unjust. Being too possessive or protective of our children, spouse, or friends. Being self-centered. Refusing to set boundaries. Avoiding conflict by not correcting or disciplining children for fear they will not love us. Deliberately engaging others in illegal or unethical activities. Manipulating others … to do our will through threat of physical violence, withdrawal of affection, cajoling, or whining. Letting control and power be motivating forces in our lives. Being too eager to give advice or possess authority. Attempting to have others in debt to us so we can exert power. Using flattery, gifts, favoritism, or even covert bribery to win support, affection, or authority.

Backing down from personal standards or refusing to be involved with or defend people of lesser means or position; fearing being stigmatized by leaders or the wealthy. Being dishonest by stealing or fencing stolen goods, cheating on exams, falsifying records, or evading taxes. Being narcissistic. Believing we are entitled to something because of who we are. Wasting possessions, talent, or natural resources. Living beyond our income in order to impress others or sustain our present standard of living. Embezzling. Gambling in such a way that gambling controls us. Intriguing or conspiring. Borrowing, sponging, weaseling, or playing on the good will of others in order not to use our own money, time, or talent. Being stingy or being indifferent to the homeless and hungry. Failing to engage in teamwork in our workplace or at home.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Lust

We lust when we seek another god or material satisfaction to fill the emptiness in our lives. Lust is an excessive, driving desire for personal sexual gratification, disregarding God’s intended purpose for sexuality, in order to fulfill our own inordinate needs.

—Kaye Briscoe King

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

Lust is often defined as the desire for inappropriate physical intimacy with a person, or the image of a person (such as computer-generated images), other than a spouse. It is a sin that many people must guard against throughout their entire lives.

However, within marriage, there is an additional element of lust that is often overlooked. When a husband feels lonely and demands that his wife engage sexually with him to fulfill his desire for intimacy, he is sinning. In Ephesians, Paul lifted the bar for marriage higher than it has ever been before or since. He said a husband ought to tenderly care for his wife’s best interest, not primarily with a view to his own desires:

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church. (Ephesians 5:28-29)

Sexual intimacy can become the focal point of marriage, even for the believer. If a husband uses manipulation to persuade his wife to enter into sexual activity with him, he may be lusting after his wife. For instance, a husband comes home after work loaded with flowers and eager to help cook dinner, wash the dishes, and clean up the house. Then he initiates physical intimacy with his wife, and she asks to postpone it until tomorrow. The husband suddenly changes demeanor and becomes very short with her. He withdraws from her and goes to bed without a word. Could it be that he wanted only her body? Was he lusting after her physically while not truly caring for her interests before his own? Did his longing for physical intimacy interfere with his ability to see what would be loving for her?

In other words, lust may include an inappropriate pursuit of your spouse. If we are consumed with a pursuit of sexual intimacy beyond its proper role as an expression of love between husband and wife, we are struggling with lust.

Hostility toward sex also falls under the category of lust, as the following manifestations describe. It is no more godly to be obsessed against sex than for it.

Manifestations:

Misusing sex for personal gratification. Violating the church’s marriage laws, such as those concerning adultery. Lack of consideration for one’s partner in the marital relationship. Indulging sexually outside marriage in thought, word, or deed, alone or with others. Acting or fantasizing that leads to sexual perversion or addiction. Frequenting adult movie houses or reading sexual magazines. Engaging in voyeurism or indecent exposure. Molesting children. Raping. Engaging in prostitution or other promiscuous activities. Sodomizing. Stimulating sexual desires in others. Being immodest with intent to seduce. Condemning sex as evil in itself. Repressing sex. Refusing to seek help or adequate instruction for problems concerning sex. Prudery. Deliberately inflicting pain (whether mental, sexual, or emotional) on others. Tormenting animals. Holding someone against his or her will. Teasing. Denying that one’s own sexuality is a gift from God. Being unwilling to inform our own children about sex.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Sloth

Sloth is the act of refusing to use our natural gifts and talents for emotional and spiritual growth. It is laziness or an unwillingness to perform our duties, work, and studies or pay attention to our needs and those of others.

—Kaye Briscoe King

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right. (2 Thessalonians 3:10-13)

If once they failed to find in prayer the satisfaction which their taste required … they would prefer not to return to it: sometimes they leave it; at other times they continue it unwillingly… . These persons likewise find it irksome when they are commanded to do that wherein they take no pleasure. Because they aim at spiritual sweetness and consolation, they are too weak to have the fortitude and bear the trials of perfection. They resemble those who are softly nurtured and who run fretfully away from everything that is hard, and take offense at the Cross, wherein consist the delights of the spirit.

—St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, VII

Fulfilling our responsibilities requires some effort on our part. God designed human beings to work. Even in Eden, Adam was given responsibility: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). Human beings have labor as a fundamental, divinely mandated purpose.

Spiritual growth also requires effort. If people desire to experience the abundant Christian life while remaining idle in their faith, they will be disappointed. Consider Paul’s example of exertion:

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Manifestations:

Neglecting our family, such as being unwilling to follow through on relationships, courtesies, and concern for family members. Avoiding working through conflict. Procrastinating when we do not find immediate payoffs. Living in a dream world. Avoiding social obligations or becoming busy with irrelevant tasks in order to avoid important commitments. Spending an inordinate amount of time on rest, recreation, television, reading, etc. Always looking for easy answers and shortcuts to solutions. Putting pleasure above all else. Not assuming responsibility for our work by wasting time,... producing inadequate work, not meeting deadlines, or leaving our tasks for others to complete.Avoiding spiritual growth. Ignoring the needs and concerns of our employees. Not treating people of lesser means with dignity and being unwilling to go out of our way to accommodate those in need. Lacking concern for injustice done to others. Being unwilling to undergo hardships without complaining....Failing to fulfill spiritual and religious obligations, such as attending church regularly.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Gluttony

Gluttony seeks happiness, pleasure, and security in the obsessive use of drink, drugs, sex, smoking, work, or any activity that is harmful to ourselves or others.

—Kaye Briscoe King

While you may not find yourself craving food compulsively, gluttony may still be a concern. Gluttony is often associated with food, but basically it is a pursuit of pleasure. Whereas lust is concerned more with intimacy and the satisfaction that comes with feeling connected with another person, gluttony pursues physical pleasure for its own sake. Gluttony involves an addiction to a physical pleasure.

Consider the saying “Some eat to live, I live to eat.” You may put in the place of eating any activity of physical pleasure: “Some men enjoy sexuality with their wives as a natural part of their relational intimacy; I am obsessed with my wife as an object of pleasure.” Any number of things that result in physical pleasure can be the object of a glutton’s desire. It is quite possible that both a lust for intimacy and a gluttonous desire to experience sexual pleasure are involved.

Addiction to one object of physical pleasure might not be the only expression of gluttony. Shrewd gluttons realize what Søren Kierkegaard wrote about in Either/Or. Kierkegaard explained that physical pleasure reaches its pinnacle if the person diversifies the experience of pleasure from various objects. If the glutton pursues pleasure in moderation from various objects, he will more fully experience the pleasure from each source. So gluttony can be hidden by the diversity of pleasure sought. For example, you get a massage, go out for a good meal, and retreat home for sex with your spouse. Having all of these experiences in a given day is not in itself sinful. However, if you rely on these diverse objects of pleasure to escape the struggles of life, you are misguided. One way to test your heart is to determine how you might feel if these pleasures were removed from your life. Would you demand from God that He return your meat entrees, or would you be content with bread and potatoes?

Manifestations:

Being self-indulgent in any pleasure—such as food, drink, drugs, or sex—that may lead to an addiction or, at the minimum, interfere with our social or vocational abilities. Being a perfectionist or demanding unrealistically high standards. Exaggerating our self-importance or being preoccupied with fantasies involving power, wealth, and reputation. Acting as if we are superior to others. Neglecting our health through lack of rest, recreation, exercise, wholesome diet, or balanced lifestyle. Refusing to care for our teeth. Refusing to seek counseling and face our participation in the addictive or dependency processes. Manipulating in order to sustain our addiction.

Becoming rigid and intolerant. Condemning others’ pleasures as evil to squelch our own attachment to pleasure. Being a religious fanatic about sex in order to help ourselves detach from an inactive addiction that we have just under the surface. Denying the seriousness of our attachments and how the object of these affections consumes a great deal of our time. Substituting addictions for reality in order to block out pain, suffering, and our circumstances. Allowing them to become our false gods while turning our back on God. Being unwilling to accept help because of our love and loyalty to our attachment. Neglecting our spiritual walk. Having a tendency to become manic and unrealistic. Lacking self-discipline. Looking for a shortcut to success in order to get something for nothing. Having an over-attachment to grief because of past failures and feelings of unworthiness. Refusing to use things of the world in a balanced way.

Gluttony changes into an addiction when the attachment and any ensuing illnesses become a means of escape from intimacy and the responsibilities of our relationships with God, self, and others.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Pride

Pride occurs when we push God aside, become the center of our own universe, and act as if the world revolves around us and is under our control. It is a rebellion against God’s sovereignty.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1, NET)

As these [young Christians] feel themselves to be very fervent and diligent in spiritual things and devout exercises, from this prosperity … there often comes to them, through their imperfections, a certain kind of secret pride, whence they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with themselves. And hence there comes to them likewise a certain desire, which is somewhat vain, and at times very vain, to speak of spiritual things in the presence of others, and sometimes even to teach such things rather than to learn them. They condemn others in their heart when they see that they have not the kind of devotion which they themselves desire; and sometimes they even say this in words, herein resembling the Pharisee, who boasted of himself, praising God for his own good works and despising the publican.

—St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, II

Pride at its essence is an attitude that denies the existence of God. It is an attempt to exert oneself as an independent being. However, when we foster such an attitude, we are merely deceiving ourselves. In a culture where independence is so highly valued, pride is often hard to notice. We fail to realize that any movement we make with an independent attitude is rooted in pride.

When we think that we can, through will alone, accomplish a goal, we are deceived. Even “Christian” behavior can be done pridefully, in independence. If we try to live up to some status quo of behavior in our church community on our own power and merit, we are deceived. We are ignoring the reality that the Almighty gives us life and breath.

Besides being dependent upon God’s sovereignty, we are also dependent on other people. We are not individual islands. To say to oneself, It’s just me and God, is a form of pride. To be Christian is to be part of the body of Christ. We must not think we can live the Christian life as God intended in isolation from other Christians. We need others to sustain us.

Manifestations:

Depending on ourselves rather than on God. Expecting others to treat us as if we are a god. Being self-absorbed and leaving no time for God. Refusing to love and trust God; refusing to accept forgiveness from others, ourselves, or God, because we judge ourselves as not perfect (as we should be, since we are taking God’s place). Pitying ourselves because we think our sins make us less respectable.

Attempting to control or predict the future by using spiritualism, astrology, fortune-telling, black magic, or superstition. Not practicing gratitude for others’ gifts, knowledge, or good works.

Being territorial about our status. Acting as if we were better, further advanced, or more virtuous. Practicing hypocrisy (judging others harshly for faults that we ourselves possess). Refusing to recognize our own sins because to admit wrong or lack of perfection reveals that we are less than we think we are. Discounting our sins by minimizing or rationalizing: “Boys will be boys,” or “That is just natural for women to do,” or “That is the way teens normally act.” Being too sensitive and refusing to see that we can grow from constructive criticism. Refusing to receive guidance from our community.

Refusing to take responsibility for … what we have done. Being unwilling to make amends and restitution. Lying or deceiving to escape discipline. Letting someone else take the blame because he is dispensable and we are not… . Exaggerating, interrupting, talking too much or in hyperbole. Taking center stage in an attempt to claim wisdom or abilities that we do not possess. Behaving ostentatiously in order to focus attention on ourselves. Having inordinate shyness because we feel we are not perfect. Being performance driven. Refusing to admit wrong or apologize in order to save face and avoid damage to our status in the community.

Refusing to accept less than excellence in food, drink, lodging, or another’s performance. Being aggravated by the irritating habits of others. Being a bigot and saying our customs, race, religion, dress, and culture are superior to those of others. Overspending time and money on how we present ourselves, our home, or office in order to impress others. Showing superiority by thinking that we should not have to do what others do, such as work, chores, etc. Taking credit for our abilities and accomplishments rather than giving God or others credit for thoughts, insights, etc. Having to be the only one who has a credible idea or plan. Reinforcing our superiority by being overbearing, argumentative, and opinionated. Being legends in our own minds.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Anger

Anger becomes a sin when it takes the form of rebellion, revenge, or retaliation; causes harm to self or others; or sets an obstacle in the way of our relationship with God.

—Kaye Briscoe King

When their delight and pleasure in spiritual things come to an end, they naturally become embittered, and bear that lack of sweetness which they have to suffer with a bad grace, which affects all that they do; and they very easily become irritated over the smallest matter—sometimes, indeed, none can tolerate them… .

There are other of these spiritual persons, again, who fall into another kind of spiritual wrath: this happens when they become irritated at the sins of others, and keep watch on those others with a sort of uneasy zeal. At times the impulse comes to them to reprove them angrily … and set themselves up as masters of virtue… .

There are others who are vexed with themselves when they observe their own imperfectness, and display an impatience that is not humility; so impatient are they about this that they would fain be saints in a day. Many of these persons purpose to accomplish a great deal and make grand resolutions; yet, as they are not humble and have no misgivings about themselves, the more resolutions they make, the greater is their fall and the greater their annoyance, since they have not the patience to wait for that which God will give them when it pleases Him.

—St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, V

But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. (James 3:8-10)

One of the most common ways anger tempts the believer is with the simple phrase “I’m right.” The issue is not always who is logically correct. The person who struggles with anger may well be “right” most of the time. However, we shouldn’t impose our judgments in any manner we choose, even if our judgments are correct (and often they aren’t). We are called to love, not to be “right.” Sometimes loving others involves communicating what is right and what is not, but that communication shouldn’t be guided by a passion-filled anger.

Manifestations:

Hating God. Refusing to allow Him into our lives. Turning our backs on a personal relationship with Him. Refusing to use our talents and gifts or pursue the mission God has given us. Blaming others (God, parents, spouse) and not accepting responsibility for the negative conditions we have brought on ourselves and the inner decisions we have made that have contributed to our unhappiness.

Being cynical. Purposely trying to ruin someone’s reputation. Gossiping. Using profanity, grumbling, or attacking someone verbally (such as quarreling, nagging, rudeness, or raging) or physically (such as hitting, torture, or murder). Harsh or excessive punishment of children or others over whom we have authority. Forcing our will on others. Seeking revenge and retaliation.

Turning our anger against ourselves, such as through self-mutilation, overeating, bulimia, anorexia, or pushing ourselves to overwork or be perfect.... Refusing to let anger emerge and thus causing depression. Allowing anger to manifest itself in disease and conditions harmful to the body. Self-pity.

Anger is out of order when we refuse to forgive and are unwilling to let go of bitterness or love another as God does. We refuse to love the unlovable or our enemies. Anger in the form of passive-aggressive behavior is demonstrated when we ostracize another person, spoil another’s pleasure (by snubbing or being moody or uncooperative), or physically or emotionally sabotage someone.

—Kaye Briscoe King

Spiritual Discipline Exercise — Silence and Solitude

In order to identify areas of sin that the Spirit is prompting you to address, make time in your schedule this week for solitude. Go to a park, on a hike, or for a drive by yourself. You know best how and where you experience solitude and peace from life’s demands. Ask the Lord for wisdom. Seek to understand what the Lord wants you to change in your attitudes or actions. Use the space below to note your one or two main categories of sin as well as how you play out those categories in your life.

A Letter from Your Tempter

We all face temptation to sin every hour of every day. Sometimes the tempter is us, our self-centered flesh. Sometimes the tempter is the world around us: media images, cultural expectations, the “system” at work, and so on. And sometimes, the Bible tells us, the tempter is “the prince of this world” (John 12:31)—the Devil and his servants.

What if you could read the instructions a supervising demon gives your personal demon about how to tempt you? C. S. Lewis played out this “what-if” in his famous book The Screwtape Letters. Here’s a sample from that book:

My Dear Wormwood,

Let him assume that the first ardours of his conversion might have been expected to last, and ought to have lasted, forever, and that his present dryness is an equally permanent condition. Having once got this misconception well fixed in his head, you may then proceed in various ways… . You have only got to keep him out of the way of experienced Christians (an easy task nowadays), to direct his attention to the appropriate passages in Scripture, and then to set him to work on the desperate design of recovering his old feelings by sheer will power, and the game is ours. ...If you can once get him to the point of thinking that “religion is all very well up to a point,” you can feel quite happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.

In the following exercise, you will write a fictional letter about yourself, as though a senior demon were instructing your personal demon in how to tempt you. The point is to get you thinking about how temptation and sin work in your life. What lies does the tempter feed you? In what situations are you most vulnerable to the tempter’s voice? What sins do you frequently fall into or struggle with, and how does that occur?

As a believer, you are experiencing the Holy Spirit’s transformation process. The Spirit opens your eyes to your sin, convicts you of it, and leads you to repentance. When you spend time in this kind of reflection, you become aware of the sin in your life.You realize that the Enemy loves to use whatever means possible to promote you to sin. Both your strengths and weaknesses can be twisted to sinfulness. For example, one of your strengths might be that you are a gifted encourager of other believers. How might your personal tempter twist this strength to make it an area of sin? Likewise, in an area of your weakness, perhaps pornography, what is your tempter’s strategy? How does pornography rob you from experiencing joy in Christ?

Before you begin writing your letter, ask God to help you grow more godly and holy as a result of this reflection. Next, imagine a letter that your personal tempter’s boss might write to your tempter about you and your vulnerabilities. Use the material you identified last week in the “Seven Deadly Sins” exercise to help identify your areas of greatest struggle. Think also of your strengths and how your tempter could render them ineffective. Knowing yourself the way you do, write as one wishing and plotting for your downfall. How would your tempter set you up to be rendered useless for the kingdom of God? How would he make use of your flesh and the world around you? Jot some notes.

Then choose one specific sin you struggle with, and write your letter about that. Your goal is to learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit’s conviction and evaluate how sin affects your life. Your goal isn’t to understand and write about every area you struggle with. If you cultivate an attitude of attentiveness to the Spirit of God and His conviction of sin in your life, you will experience a lifetime of growth in your struggle against sin. Therefore, choose only one area and try to clearly describe the dynamics of how your flesh, the world, and the Enemy tempt you in that area.

Think about yourself in practical terms. How does it happen that you are prone to react in anger toward your kids? How is it that you find yourself spreading gossip instead of remaining quiet? The letter ought to go beyond the behavior to the root of the sin. Why do you do it? What payoff do you get or expect to get? What lie are you falling for? What selfish motive makes you susceptible? Why do you let the world’s pressure get to you in this area?

Be as transparent and vulnerable as you can appropriately be with your group. The more transparent you are, the more meaningful this exercise will be for you and them. Your group leader will probably have men and women separate into two subgroups when these letters are read, so you don’t need to worry about material that you don’t want to share with members of the opposite sex.

Also, confidentiality will be extremely important when these letters are read. The information in the letters must never be shared without permission, even to one’s spouse. A breach of confidentiality in the group will often bring with it enormous tension, conflict, and loss of trust.

Try to keep your letter to one single-spaced page so everyone will have adequate time to share his or her letter. As a good rule of thumb, your letter will answer the following questions about your area of sin:

•  When are you most susceptible to temptation in this area?
•  What consequences can you associate with the sin?
•  What payoff do you feel you get or might get from the sin? In other words, when you are tempted, what do you think you will gain or what benefit will you receive as a result of giving in?
•  How do you tend to rationalize this area of sin? What does the reasoning process look like when you are rationalizing?

Spiritual Disciplines

Choose one spiritual discipline listed below or some other discipline that you have never consistently exercised. Exercise that discipline consistently throughout the coming week. During the week, think about how the discipline affects your dependence on God, and note your conclusions on page 100. Be prepared to discuss your experience of the exercise in the next session.

Practicing these disciplines is not a formula for sanctification, but it can be a great way to refocus your attention on God and others.

Types of Spiritual Disciplines

• Scripture: Reading, memorizing, meditating on verses
• Prayer: Praying silently, taking prayer walks, reading written prayers and liturgies
• Fasting: Abstaining from food to focus on God and prayer
• Journaling: Writing to God, tracking growth, expressing thoughts and feelings
• Silence and solitude: Taking time to be alone in absolute silence before God
• Stewardship: Managing your resources according to godly principles (for example, generous giving)
• Service: Finding opportunities to do acts of service for the benefit of others
• Evangelism: Sharing the gospel regularly through various means
• Confession: Confessing sin individually and in a group
• Simplicity: Limiting your lifestyle in order to free yourself for God
• Worship: Partaking in corporate and individual worship
• Learning: Reading, taking courses, participating in discussion groups
• Meditation: Contemplating biblical truth in order to better understand the character of God and its relevance to your own life
• Fellowship: Developing a partnership with other believers as an encouragement to your pursuit of personal holiness and corporate witness for Christ

Notes from the Spiritual Disciplines Exercise

The Fruit of the Spirit

In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul lists nine character qualities that comprise the fruit the Holy Spirit bears in a believer’s life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Read about each quality and respond to the questions about each. Identify friends, family members, and members of your small group who exhibit that quality.

Love

As pride can be seen as the root of all sin, love is the root of all godly deeds: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:78)

Unfortunately, love often lacks the force it ought to have for believers because the English word love has lost much of its meaning as used in Scripture. People use the word in many ways to refer to a variety of sentiments expressed toward an even wider variety of objects.We have a critical need for our understanding of love to be biblically, rather than culturally, informed. However, cultivating love requires more than simply correcting our misunderstandings; it requires a personal reorientation.

Our world caters to our self-centeredness.Yet the love we find in Scripture, exemplified most profoundly in Christ’s life, is an others-oriented love:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

If we are to cultivate love, we must learn to shift our focus from ourselves to those around us. None of us will fully rid ourselves of our ever-present preoccupation with self. And indeed, we benefit greatly from loving God and our neighbor. But cultivating love requires that we learn to love for the sake of the other rather than merely for our own benefit.

Biblical love is not just others-centered in our thinking but also in our actions. Love physically gives to others. It listens to those in pain and offers words of sympathy. It offers encouragement in the form of a smile. It gets its hands dirty helping a neighbor fix a car. In short, one who loves lays down self-interest for the interest of the other.

1. Do you currently have any relationships in which you love another for his or her sake, not just your own? How would you describe that relationship?

2. How do you seek to demonstrate others-oriented love in those relationships?

3. List those you know (including members of your group) who exhibit love. Describe how they demonstrate that characteristic.

4. How does observing love in those people spur you on to love similarly?

Joy

Those around us often understand happiness in terms of the absence of undesirable elements of life —pain, suffering, disappointment. In contrast, Christian joy is a response to the presence of something positive in our lives—the presence of Christ through the Spirit, along with the hope we have in Him. This presence and hope enable us to have joy in the midst of pain, suffering, and disappointment.

Joy comes from knowing that though we will experience the hardships that come with living in a fallen world, our present experience is nothing like the future that awaits us. As Karl Barth once said in the face of distress, Christian joy proclaims “a defiant ‘Nevertheless!’”⁵

Even Christ’s experience on the cross involved joy:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Cultivating joy, like cultivating love, requires us to move beyond ourselves. We must move beyond our present circumstances, beyond our short-term pains and pleasures. Cultivating joy requires that we not pursue it as an end in itself but rather that we pursue God and one another in other-directed love. When we do so, we find that joy is a by-product. As John Stott writes, “The self-conscious pursuit of happiness will always end in failure. But when we forget ourselves in the self-giving sacrifice of love, then joy … comes flooding into our lives as an incidental, unlooked for blessing.”

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your
gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (Philippians 4:4-5)

When joy characterizes our lives, we aren’t shaken by the tides of our circumstances. We still grieve during times of loss and rejoice in times of celebration. We’re not stoic, lacking any expression of emotion. But we don’t despair in times of loss, nor are we overly taken by temporal success. A joyful person has a strong awareness of God’s good providence.

1. In what circumstances has a sense of joy been most evident in your life?

2. What circumstances most “steal” your joy?

3. How might others help you cultivate joy in your life?

4. List those you know (including members of your group) who exhibit joy. Describe how they demonstrate it.

5. How does observing joy in those people spur you on to joy?

Peace

Our contemporary definition of peace can be misleading. We think of peace as the absence of conflict, but Scripture gives a much richer perspective. Biblical peace involves total well-being, wholeness, and harmony. Cultivating that kind of peace in our lives and relationships is hard in a fragmented world like ours. A fallen world is full of obstacles to personal wholeness, unity with our brothers and sisters, and justice in the world. God has provided the way of ultimate reconciliation through Christ: “He himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). We can be agents of reconciliation as we walk by the Spirit: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).

Though conflict is common in human relations and is necessary to a certain degree, it should not be an end in itself. Christians should aim not to be in conflict, either internally or interpersonally. Peacemakers pursue harmony in relationships. They aren’t necessarily averse to conflict, but they want it to lead to resolution.

Internal peace comes from integrity. Peacemakers avoid living double lives. They seek to integrate areas of their lives. If possible, they want to work, go to church, and live in the same community, so as not to have unrelated sets of relationships. People characterized by peace are not secretive because they have nothing to hide.

1. What are some practical ways you can embody God’s peace in your life context (for example, in your home, church, and community)?

2. How can you avoid acting as though your attitudes and actions in one area of life don’t affect other areas? How can you avoid being a different person in different settings?

3. List those you know who exhibit peace internally and in relationships. Describe how they demonstrate it.

4. How does observing peace in those people spur you on to peace?

Patience

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. (James 5:7-11)

Time has become a commodity, and to some people, time is the most valuable commodity they have. We speak of spending time, saving time, wasting time, and buying time. Many professionals attend seminars that will teach them to invest their time wisely in order to get the greatest possible return on their investment. Yet in this world where we view time as a commodity and spend it expecting results, we are called to cultivate patience. Patience requires a willingness to lay aside our to-do lists and our incessant demands for quantifiable results for the sake of others’ needs, our own spiritual development, and the worship of God. A patient person does not hoard time.

Another aspect of patience is restraint from taking matters into our own hands. Patient people, when circumstances necessitate, are willing to wait. They wait for clear direction from the Lord when confused about a job opportunity. They wait for a child to finish explaining an incident before rushing to judgment. They restrain their anger when their son embarrasses them in public. They wait for God’s healing hand after the disappointing breakup of a relationship.

1. What circumstances consistently test your patience?

2. How do you typically react to those circumstances?

3. How might such circumstances help you cultivate patience?

4. How can you cultivate patience? How can others help you cultivate it?

5. List those you know who exhibit patience. Describe how they demonstrate it.

6. How does observing patience in those people spur you on to patience?

Kindness

When autonomy and self-sufficiency are cherished, little room is left for kindness. Philip Kenneson observes that “kindness is a particular manifestation of love’s other-directedness. Kindness seems to manifest itself as a certain way of being helpful to those who need help. Such helpfulness stems first of all from God’s helpfulness, of which the Christian is imminently mindful.”

For the self-sufficient individual, to seek such help is to admit one’s inadequacy, and to be offered such help is an affront to one’s sense of independence. Cultivating kindness involves the reciprocity of freely giving and receiving grace between needy people, not independence but interdependence. As with all of the Spirit’s fruit, kindness is essentially an expression of other-directedness in that it calls us to be freely available to those around us.

In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus demonstrates the close connection between love and kindness. The Samaritan finds a victim of assault and robbery, personally bandages him, takes him to an inn, cares for him that evening, and then pays for his ongoing care. After telling the parable, Jesus vividly makes His point about the connection between love and kindness with a final question:

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37)

1. What keeps you from expressing kindness to others? What aspects of your culture, personality, or personal heritage (family and cultural background) hinder you?

2. List those you know who exhibit kindness. Describe how they demonstrate it.

3. How does observing kindness in those people spur you on to kindness?

Goodness

When the rich young ruler called Jesus “good teacher,” Jesus reminded him that “no one is good—except God alone” (Mark 10:17-18). Like all of the Spirit’s fruit, goodness is a reflection of God’s character. However, many people in our time consider goodness to reside in the nature of humanity. What those people fail to recognize is that the only good inherent in humanity is what remains of the image of God placed in us at Creation (see Genesis 1:26-27). Goodness always has God as its source.

The London Times once asked a number of writers to submit essays on the topic “What’s wrong with the world?” G. K. Chesterton’s reply was the shortest and yet the most profound. His reply simply read, “Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely, G. K. Chesterton.” Such an acute awareness of our fallenness leaves no room for the kind of self-affirmation and self-actualization prevalent in our society. John Stott affirms this truth:

Christian believers are able to affirm only those aspects of the self which derive from our creation in God’s image (e.g. our rational capacity, moral responsibility, and capacity for love), while at the same time denying (that is, disowning and repudiating) all those aspects of the self which derive from the fall and from our own personal fallenness. These Christian forms of self-affirmation and self-denial are very far from being expressions of a preoccupation, let alone an infatuation, with ourselves.”

We are not inherently good, but the Holy Spirit who indwells us is. Only through deferring to His power and presence in our lives can we develop the characteristic of goodness.

In John’s gospel, Christ defines goodness by referring to Himself:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.” (John 10:11-12)

In this passage, a good person not only avoids thinking maliciously about others but he also goes so far as to make personal sacrifices for them. Onlookers can see that a good person acts for others’ well-being. Further, good people aren’t fickle in their intentions. People don’t say of the good woman, “She let us down, but she had good intentions.” The good person follows through on good intentions.

1. In your mind, what qualifies a person as a “good person”?

2. If you consider yourself a “good person,” in what sense do you think you are good?

3. List those you know who exhibit goodness. Describe how they demonstrate it.

4. How does observing goodness in those people spur you on to goodness?

Faithfulness

Few words come nearer to capturing God’s character than the word faithful. All of salvation history testifies that God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. In light of His unyielding faithfulness to His people, being called to imitate Him in this respect is an exceedingly high calling.

Cultivating faithfulness is difficult in a world like ours that downplays the significance of commitment and is obsessed with instant gratification. We must have what Eugene Peterson has called “a long obedience in the same direction.” Faithful husbands and wives keep their promises “until death do us part.” Faithful students finish all their assignments on time. Faithful employees do not fudge on their work but rather press on diligently to complete a high-quality product. Faithful parents don’t throw their hands up and give in to their children’s disobedience; they continue to train and discipline them.

For Christians, faithfulness involves more than fulfilling one’s commitments. It involves consistent dependence on God’s power. The pages of Scripture are filled with tragic stories of men and women who sought to chart their own course rather than remain steadfast in following God’s direction. The entire history of Israel demonstrates that when memory grows short, commitment and dependence grow weak. Our faithfulness to God in the present requires a profound appreciation of His faithfulness to us in the past and an unreserved confidence in His promises for the future.

1. What are some of the most significant ways God has demonstrated His faithfulness to you?

2. What are some of God’s faithful acts that you often forget to be thankful for?

3. In what areas do you struggle the most with being faithful to your commitments?

4. How can others help you cultivate consistency to follow through with your responsibilities?

5. List those you know who exhibit faithfulness. Describe how they demonstrate it.

6. How does observing faithfulness in those people spur you on to faithfulness?

Gentleness

All of our lives are, to some degree, ambition-driven. We want to be significant and have our lives count for something. These desires aren’t necessarily evil, but if left unchecked, they can choke out the fruit of gentleness. In a world where those who wield power are the ones who make a difference, ambition-driven Christians can easily give in to the seduction of power.

Our culture tells us, “If you want to get anything done … if you want to make an impact, you have to be in a position of power to do so; otherwise, you are doomed to ineffectiveness, and ultimately, failure. Hence, people who want to make their mark on the world will have to make peace with doing so by using the world’s ways, which are usually the ways of power and coercion.”

Gentleness, meekness, and humility involve “the strength to refrain from power and coercion.” Those who are gentle are not the opposite of those who are strong. They simply refrain from using their strength for intimidation or manipulation. They realize that by being gentle, they can encourage and edify another. A gentle person is one by whom others don’t feel threatened when they’re vulnerable. They will reveal their fears and confusion because they know that this gentle person does not inflict pain on those who are vulnerable.

If someone tells about his demotion at work, the gentle man does not accuse the person of poor performance. (“Well, you must not have worked hard enough.”) The gentle woman does not condemn her friend who admits to hitting her child in a moment of anger. (“How dare you do such a thing!”) The gentle person will try to channel personal strength toward helping others, not condemning them.

1. Can Christians be ambitious and at the same time cultivate gentleness? If so, how? If not, why not?

2. How does an initial response of gentleness rather than correction communicate love to someone who reveals a failure or sin?

3. How does that initial gentleness provide a platform for later influence in the person’s life that can lead to repentance?

4. List those you know who exhibit gentleness. Describe how they demonstrate it.

5. How does observing gentleness in those people spur you on to gentleness?

Self-Control

The final quality mentioned in Paul’s list of the Spirit’s fruit may seem out of place. The others share a common theme of other-centeredness. Yet at the conclusion of the list we find what most translations call self-control.

In the Greek world of Paul’s day, self-control was a chief virtue, foundational to developing all other virtues. If one was to master the virtuous life, he first must learn to master his own emotions and desires; he must learn to be controlled by nothing. Yet when Paul identified this virtue as a fruit of the Spirit, he used the term differently from the way others used it. In calling self-control a fruit of the Spirit, Paul attributed the control of the self not to the individual’s work but to the Spirit’s work in that individual’s life. For Paul, self-control meant to be controlled by God.

When we understand self-control in this way, we see that perhaps the best way we can cultivate this fruit is not necessarily through more concentrated efforts of our will. Instead, we should do what we can to nourish the other aspects of the Spirit’s fruit, all of which call us to forget ourselves in the service of others and in the worship and service of God.

1. In what areas do you struggle to control desires or emotions?

2. How can others help you cultivate control over those areas?

3. List those you know who exhibit self-control. Describe how they demonstrate it.

4. How does observing self-control in those people spur you on to having self-control?

Spiritual Discipline Exercise — Worship

Take some time this week for worship. The fruit of the Spirit is merely a reflection of God’s glory in our lives. As you contemplate the fruit of the Spirit, remember that those characteristics don’t originate in us but in our glorious Creator and Savior. Set aside a time in which you focus not on your current circumstances or personal relationships or the tasks on your schedule but upon the character of God. Express your appreciation for His continuing work of sanctifying you.

Introduction

Norman Vincent Peale once said that the New Testament “contains procedures by which anybody who intelligently applies them can develop power in his mind and personality.”¹ Today many popular pastors have also gone this route, believing that victory over sin is in the mind. The believer simply has to have mental cognition of his righteousness in Christ and then he will be free to live according to that awareness.² Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, speaks of the mind and thoughts of the regenerate person in the process of sanctification quite frequently. The question then is sanctification simply a matter of mind over matter? Can anyone be sanctified by their mind, regenerate and unregenerate? Is sanctification simply the “power of positive thinking”? This essay will look at the verses in Romans that discuss the mind and related terms to see what the role of the mind is in sanctification.

The immaterial person – cognition, thoughts, the mind - is a recurring theme in the book of Romans. The term νοῦς (mind) is used twenty-four times in the New Testament. Of these all but three (Luke 24:45; Rev. 13:18, 17:9) are used by Paul. Nearly a third of these found in the Pauline corpus are in Romans (1:28, 7:23, 7:25, 11:34, 12:2, 14:5). In addition to this term νοῦς, there are several other places in Romans that speak of some type of mental activity that is involved in sanctification. Paul uses the term λογίζομαι in 6:11 exhorting believers to consider or reason themselves to be dead to sin. Further, there is a discussion of the intentions of the mind in 8:6-7, where Paul employs the term, φρόνημα, which is a term only found in Romans. Finally, there is the puzzling passage in 7:14-25 discussing double-mindedness. This essay will look at these passages to gain insight as to how the mind is to be employed in sanctification. It will begin briefly with the unregenerate mind in 1:28 to see if anyone can sanctify themselves with their mind and to show the contrast between the mind of the unbeliever and the believer. In 6:11 we will explore what it means to “consider yourselves dead to sin.” Next will be a discussion of 7:14-25, which will be limited to a study of the implications on the mind depending on the various views of this passage. In 8:6-7 we will look at what a mind is that is “set on the flesh” versus the “mind set on the Spirit.” Finally, in 12:2 we will look at what is meant by renewing the mind and how that aids in sanctification.³ Admittedly, this a fragmented study because it only zeros in on those passages that specifically deal with the mind. Other passages may indirectly speak of the role of cognition. Indeed, this epistle was written so as to be understood by the reader, especially in regards to the believer’s new identity, and many books have been written on the psychology of Paul.⁴ While this is a phenomenal area of study, this essay will be limited only to a discussion of the mind and related terms as they are explicitly stated in the epistle. Of course the immediate context of these occurrences must be taken into account. The main questions this thematic study seeks to answer are can the νοῦς set the believer “loose” from sin, and if so how does the mind aid the believer in the process of sanctification?

Romans 1:28

Romans 1:18-32 shows how God has given sufficient evidence of Himself through creation. Yet, despite this general revelation, humanity actively rejects God. The unbeliever, having a limited knowledge of God,⁵ did not lead to gratitude as it was intended, so the thoughts, feelings, and willingness of man⁶ were darkened (Rom. 1:21). Not thanking God left the reasoning of man futile. Their initial understanding of God became flawed. As man continued downward in the futility of their minds, their bodies and desires became perverted and dishonorable as God continually gave them over⁷ to their foolish thoughts and acts (1:24-7). The final result was that God gave man over to a “worthless mind” (1:28). While in 1:21 man’s thoughts ( διαλογισμοῖς) were directed towards futile things ( ματαιόω),⁸ here in 1:28 the unbeliever’s entire mind ( νοῦς) becomes worthless ( ἀδόκιμος). This progression is helpful to understand the mind and how it can degenerate. It begins with a limited knowledge of God but because it fails to thank God, it results in foolishness. That foolishness leads to impure, lustful desires leading their bodies to do dishonorable things. These actions lead to a further degradation of the thoughts of a man, rendering the whole mind worthless. Because mental and moral faculties are affected, resulting in the total degradation of the mind, the mind must include both mental and moral judgments.

Questions Surrounding Romans 1:28

First of all, the power of positive thinking, as espoused by Norman Vincent Peale, does not match up with what Paul tells us here in Romans 1:18-32. The unregenerate person cannot develop power in his mind to do good. The knowledge that God supplies of Himself to humanity is insufficient to bring them to salvation. The person is still held accountable because they took what little knowledge of God they had and rejected it. So, the first understanding of the mind is that only those who are justified by faith in Jesus can be freed from this degradation. A question that will be answered later is how the mind is affected by justification (which in turn affects sanctification). Now does this process of the degradation of the mind occur only in the unbeliever, or can it occur in the believer as well?⁹ And if it does occur, is God actively giving the believer over resulting in further degeneration, or is the believer protected in some way from complete degradation? Romans 12:2 suggests that it does occur in the believer resulting in the necessity to continually renew the mind. This will be discussed later in this essay.

Word Study of Νοῦς

Νοῦς, as was just discovered, refers to the mental and moral faculties of a person. But where does this term come from? Classical Greek has a variety of meanings, including the “power of spiritual perception” to “disposition” to “insight.”¹⁰ Philo, who wrote from c. 20 B.C. –ca. 50 A.D. employed νοῦς as “inner or moral attitude”¹¹ and as “understanding.”¹² In the Septuagint νοῦς is found thirty times. The closest equivalent to νοῦς in Hebrew as translated from the Old Testament is לֵב while it is also sometimes translated from לֵבָב. However, these two Hebrew words are often translated in the Septuagint as καρδία (heart). This is because these Hebrew terms referred to the “totality of man’s inner or immaterial nature.”¹³ Typically, καρδία refers to emotions and feelings while νοῦς refers more to mental activity. Because the Hebrew terms referred to both the heart and mind, a decision had to be made when translated to Greek. When the context in the Hebrew Scriptures referred more to mental activity νοῦς was used, and καρδία was chosen otherwise.¹⁴ Stacey also notes that Paul took the original Aristotelian meaning of νοῦς (seat of mental activity) and incorporated some of the Old Testament connotation to it by adding to it a dimension of moral judgment and volition.¹⁵ As noted above νοῦς is an almost exclusive Pauline term. Undoubtedly, it is of theological and doctrinal importance to Paul. While νοῦς is incorporating some of the Old Testament meaning, it also has “finer distinctions,” which are necessary for Paul to make his arguments clear.¹⁶ Myer’s study shows that Paul uses νοῦς in a variety of ways to suit his purposes from “a faculty of reflexive thought and moral judgment,” to a faculty “which determines the direction and purpose in choices,” and also the “point of contact” with “divine elements,” such as the Holy Spirit.¹⁷ This first usage is in view in Rom. 1:28. This word study will help in understanding the remaining occurrences of νοῦς in Romans.

Romans 6:11

Chapter 6 of Romans really begins the topic of sanctification. Typical of Paul’s style, he uses primarily the indicative mood in verses 1-10 and then concludes in 11 with an imperative. 6:11 begins with the pleonastic construction οὕτως καὶ. Οὕτως functions to summarize what was previously stated.¹⁸ Καὶ makes the construction emphatic, giving it a translation of “so also.” Moo sees οὕτως as comparative and correlates to 6:10.¹⁹ Thus, 6:11 reads: in the same way (that Christ died to sin once and for all but lives for God)²⁰ you also consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The comparison is difficult because while Christ actually died to sin once and for all, the believer is to consider himself dead to sin. Yet, in 6:2 Paul tells us that we have died to sin. Why doesn’t Paul tell the believer in 6:11 to simply “die to sin” rather than consider themselves dead to sin? This phrase, “dead to sin” ( ἀπεθάνομεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ) is used for the first time in 6:2, and interestingly Paul assumes that the believer already knows this. It must be concluded that this death to sin was explained in chapter 5, since chapter 6 is linked to 5. Chapter 5 explains that the one who has accessed by faith (5:2) the grace of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus (5:10) will reign in life (5:17). Through Jesus Christ the one who obtains this grace by faith, there is a transfer of reign from death (because of sin) to life (5:17). The believer has been saved from the wrath (5:9), the condemnation (5:18), and the reign of death (5:17), which were the results of sin. Paul elaborates on this transfer of reign in 6:12-23. Since 6:11 is not only a comparison to 6:10 but also a summary of 6:1-10, the best way to understand “consider” ( λογίζεσθε) is to understand the purpose of the passage of 6:1-11. Verses 6:1-2 shows that Paul’s concern for believers is why they would continue in sin when they have been freed from it. This is a fundamental question of sanctification. Therefore, Paul’s exhortation to “consider yourselves dead to sin” is not a contradiction of 6:2 but is an appeal to the believer to align himself mentally with the reality of what Christ accomplished. Note Paul did not say “be dead to sin because you have been made to sin.” He uses the term λογίζομαι, which is a function of the mind. This is the first second-person imperative in the book of Romans. In the first five chapters Paul is explaining how God has justified the believer in Christ. Now Paul’s first command to the believer is to consider or reason himself dead to sin. Λογίζομαι has already been used by Paul. In Romans 2:3 it has the force of “think, believe, be of the opinion.”²¹ In 2:26 most translations translate this occurrence as “regarded.”²² Verse 3:28 has a connotation of “evaluate, estimate, look upon as, consider.”²³ Chapter four is the “ λογίζομαι” chapter. It is used here by Paul eleven times in twenty-five verses. This chapter employs λογίζομαι as it was historically understood – as an accounting term – “ to place into one’s account.”²⁴ Most translate λογίζομαι in all of these occurrences as “credit” (NET, NASB) or “reckon” (NRSV). The subject in all of these occurrences is God. With all these varieties of uses in Romans (let alone the entire New Testament), just what is the connotation of λογίζομαι in 6:11? Because the subject in 6:11 is the believer, it cannot be said that the believer can credit himself as dead to sin. Chapter 4 clearly establishes that placing righteousness into one’s account can only be done by God and is through the death and resurrection of Christ. The force of λογίζομαι in 6:11 then is similar to 3:28, to consider or regard. However, considering that this is the first second-person imperative in the epistle, 6:11 quite easily can be understood as climactic to all that Paul has written to this point. The connotation of λογίζομαι then goes beyond considering to a “deliberate and sober judgment on the basis of the gospel.”²⁵ The believer is to let his mind dwell on the truths of the gospel as Paul has explained thus far. There have been two ends of the pendulum with many views in between on understanding what 6:11 means. On one end there is the idea that we are not really dead to sin but Paul is telling us to pretend that we are.²⁶ This suggests that we are not really dead to sin, but chapter 5 has just explained how faith in Christ transferred the believer from death caused by sin to life. Thus, pretending is not the right sense here because there is a reality to the believer’s death to sin. Some go too far, though, to suggest that the believer is in actual experience completely free from sin.²⁷ Cranfield suggests that there are several levels to understand being “dead to sin.”²⁸ The first is in a forensic sense, that all of the believer’s sins are bore upon Christ’s body and put to death by Christ’s death on the cross. The second is an eschatological sense, where this death will be fully realized. And there is the moral sense, whereby the believer daily dies to sin. The passage in 6:1-11 clearly speaks of sanctification, the present time of the believer. However, “dead to sin” points back to the first sense, of the forensic or judicial sense. Namely, it speaks of the gospel that Paul has been expounding on.

While, this is a discussion on the mind, it must be noted that the considerations of the mind in the process of the mind are only as good as the thoughts they dwell on. The reasoning of the mind is the first step in the process of sanctification.²⁹ If understanding is faulty sanctification will be deficient. Thus, pretending to be dead to sin may lead the believer to disillusionment in the Christian life, not fully understanding what Christ has accomplished for the believer. The person who believes they are actually sinless may have to continually construct false ideas of sin in order to say that they have avoided sin, or many take no ownership of their sin, saying it was not the “real me.”³⁰ The proper understanding that a believer must have in 6:11 is to meditate on how God has freed him from sin. They must then live in light of that truth.

Again, this mental first step towards sanctification can only be accomplished in a believer. This is evidenced by the last two words of 6:11, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. “In Christ Jesus” has been understood in various ways and has different intended meanings depending on context.³¹ There is both a forensic relationship through Christ as well as an on-going personal relationship with Christ that is in view here. The phrase shows that only those who are united to Christ are able to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God.

So has the mind of the believer been altered because of his union with Christ? Or is the mind of the believer the same as before his regeneration? Back in 1:28 we discussed how the unregenerate mind was left worthless. How does one get from a worthless mind to a mind that is able to ponder the truths of God? 1) In one sense it seems that the mind of the believer is the same as it was before conversion because Paul tells the believer to understand what has happened to him because of the gospel. If the person’s mind was changed, there would be no need to explain to him what had occurred for he would already know. The purpose of Romans is to explain what was accomplished through the gospel and for it to be understood by the reader. The question is can a believer be sanctified without first mentally comprehending the truth of the gospel? There must be some alteration of the mind, though, to get a person with a degenerated, fallen mind to be able to comprehend the truths of God. Although Paul does not address this explicitly, grace must have allowed the worthless mind to have faith in Christ. So, perhaps there is an initial dose of understanding given upon justification that must be cultivated in order for the believer to be sanctified. In other words while a believer may not know much about the gospel, sanctification begins with (and is a continual process of) understanding the gospel and the implications it has for his daily life.

Romans 7:14-25

“With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”³²-DR. JEKYLL

Robert Louis Stevenson, who grew up in a strict Scottish Calvinist church, identified with the inner struggle of Paul in Romans 7:14-25. So he wrote the infamous Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to express the war waging in his members, whereby the evil desires (Mr. Hyde) sought to overpower and destroy the good (Dr. Jekyll). All of us can identify with this – the conscience struggling to make a moral decision. However, the question for the purposes of this essay is whose mind is being described in 7:14-25? Is it the believer’s mind? Is it the unbeliever’s mind? Can it be both? What follows is not an attempt to answer the “I” question in this passage. Rather, the views will be analyzed in regards to the mind and what each view says about the role of the mind for the believer in sanctification.

Pre-Christian Paul

This view holds that Paul speaks here of his torment before his conversion. While there are even more modifications within this camp, we will look only at the view that Paul is speaking of himself before his experience with Christ at Damascus and is looking back at his former Jewish legalistic self in light of his present union with Christ.³³ This is consistent with our previous discussion of 6:11. Perhaps Paul is dwelling on his former state in light of his present state in Christ. Proponents of this view look to Romans 8, where Paul speaks of the mind set on the Spirit. Because the Spirit is not mentioned in 7:14-25, this passage for these proponents is describing a non-believer. Thus, there are no implications for the mind of the believer according to this view. Although believers struggle with sin, proponents of this view would not see this passage as descriptive of what is happening within them as a believer. Thus, 7:14-25 is of no help to the mind of the believer, except to remind them of where they once were and to be thankful that God has saved them from that struggle.

Post-Conversion Paul

This view sees the aorist tense verbs in 7:7-13 and their shift to the present tense in 14-25 as significant that Paul is now speaking of himself as a believer. Proponents of this view (including Augustine and Luther) see Paul’s struggle as an accurate assessment of one in union with Christ. They see Paul’s “wretched man” statement as not “as bad as it could be, only that it is not as good as it should be.”³⁴ They see the references to the law not being the Mosaic Law but the law of Christ, so Paul is not putting himself back under the Law.³⁵ This view is also consistent with Paul’s exhortation in 6:11 because according to these proponents it shows a proper perspective of what the Christian life looks like as one progresses in his sanctification. The believer, upon genuine reflection of his sanctification, should see that he is still far from the goal. The benefit from this view on the mind of the believer is that believers can identify with this passage. This view gives the believer encouragement to know that Paul also felt this way. It also puts the focus on Christ, as it sheds light on how dependent the believer is on grace to be freed from the struggle within. The danger of this view is that it could lead believers to a negative view of themselves. That is, there is a tendency in the Reformed camp that “normal” Christian experience consists of feeling bad for one’s self. This can be unhealthy and perhaps not the intention of Paul in this passage.

The Rhetorical View

Another view sees the “I” as not autobiographical. Proponents see that Paul includes himself but is not speaking in a purely autobiographical sense. Rather, Paul is describing a person, regenerate or unregenerate, who tries to live righteously through the Mosaic Law. The references to the law are for them is the Mosaic Law, and Paul would not speak of himself as a believer being under the law. The purpose of the passage for these proponents is that anyone – a believer, a non-believer, and Paul himself – who tries to attain righteousness through the Law will become the “wretched man,” fighting an unwinnable fight. There are strengths to this view in reference to the mind, for it includes both the mind of the believer and unbeliever. This is a strength because it seems that both regenerate and unregenerate people have inner struggles of the conscience in making moral decisions. It puts the focus on the Law, trying to please God by following rules, and always falling short. This is in line with the questions asked by Paul in 7:7 and 7:13 – is the Law sin or did it become sin? Paul is answering His own question that the Law is not bad, but it further exposes our sin. Thus, the more one tries to live by the Law, the more sin will be revealed. Another strength of this view is that it sets the believer up for chapter 8, where one learns what it is to set one’s mind on the Spirit. One disadvantage of this view is that it does not adequately answer the use of the personal pronoun, ἐγὼ, especially the emphatic αὐτὸς ἐγὼ in 7:25. Why would Paul be so emotional in this passage (as evidenced by the “wretched man” comment in 7:24) if he were not referring to himself?

Romans 7:23 Exegesis

In the midst of this hotly debated passage, we find another instance of νοῦς in 7:23. Paul says that he sees a “dissimilar law (different from the law of God in 7:22) in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that is in my members.” There are two forces at work in the mind of the believer,³⁶ the law of God and the law of sin. “Members of the body” waging war does not mean that Paul’s hands and feet are attacking his mind. Rather, it is the law of the members, which is further explained as the law of sin in the members. This shows that all the damage caused by the Fall (as described in Rom. 1:18-31) to a person’s mind are still prevalent in the believer. This is the process of sanctification – to renew the mind over and against the sinful desires of the body. Paul has not yet told the believer how to do that, except for briefly in 6:11. At this point Paul is pointing out that there are two forces within the mind of the believer. Myers notes that the stronger of the two desires is the “desire of the members to please sin.”³⁷ This refutes claims that sanctification is simply mind over matter. Even in a regenerate mind sin will be the stronger of the two forces. This truth is reiterated in 7:25, this time transitioning the term “law in the members” to flesh. Paul makes this shift to set up his next discussion, walking by the Spirit and not according to the flesh.

Looking back at the unregenerate mind in 1:28, it seems that the mind of the believer has been “upgraded.” Prior to conversion, the unregenerate person had some limited knowledge of God. Upon conversion the believer “delights in the law of God” (7:22). Something great and cosmic must have occurred in the mind to cause so great a change. However, the sinful desires remained in the believer. Christ freed the believer from its power, authority, and condemnation. Yet, the sinful desires still reside within us while a new capacity for delighting in the law of God is added in our minds. This seems to be the heart of sanctification and why the mind is so crucial in that process. If there are battling forces in the mind – one for good, the other for evil – then a crucial step towards sanctification is in renewing the mind, empowering it for good. As will be discussed later, the mind of the believer by itself will sin because the law of God in them is weaker than the law of sin. What has happened in the mind of the believer is a new capacity for serving God. However, as will be seen in chapter 8, only the Spirit can overcome the law of sin in the believer’s mind.

Is the Christian mind more schizophrenic than the unbeliever’s mind? Yes. There are two natures in the mind of the Christian, while only one in the mind of the unregenerate.³⁸ Although there may be some struggling in the conscience of the unbeliever, Romans 1:18-31 shows that the unbeliever is in actuality spiraling downward. Further, 1:18-31 shows that the decisions of the unregenerate person are never righteous because they do not please God but man. Thus, the unregenerate mind has only one nature, the law of sin. The regenerate mind carries these sinful desires over (yet is free from condemnation) into its state as a believer. The regenerate person’s mind has the ability to delight in the law of God and still retains its sinful desires. Thus, the Christian mind is dual-natured, while the unregenerate mind has one nature. Perhaps this is why Paul cries, “wretched man that I am!” He understands that as a believer left on his own, he still will choose sin. This is even more tortuous than the person described in 1:18-31 because this time Paul knows what is good and does not do it. This causes great anguish. But Paul immediately thanks God for giving him the ability to serve the law of God with his mind although there is tension with the flesh (7:25).³⁹

Romans 8:6-7

In Romans 7 we found that the mind was given the “capacity to serve God, not the enablement.”⁴⁰ Now in Romans 8 Paul gives the believer the enabler to serve God, the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. While this study is a look at Romans, this teaching of Paul in Romans 8 is entirely consistent with the Gospel writers understanding of the New Covenant.⁴¹ Two things must occur for salvation to be complete: 1) Christ’s death and resurrection forgives sin and gives new life; 2) the Holy Spirit then must come to allow internal obedience to God. One without the other would be incomplete. Christ without the Holy Spirit would give forgiveness but no empowerment to serve God. The Holy Spirit without Christ would empower one to serve God but there would be no forgiveness of sins.

It is here in this discussion of the Spirit that we find the term φρόνημα. Φρόνημα is found only here in Romans 8:6-7 in the New Testament. While most English translations use the word mind (NKJV, NRSV, NASB, NIV), φρόνημα is not the mind itself⁴², but the thoughts of the mind because it comes from the verb φρονέω, “to think” and means the same as the infinitive φρονεῖν used as a noun.⁴³ Thus, φρόνημα is contained within νοῦς. Paul contrasts the person whose way of thinking is fixed⁴⁴ on the flesh verses the person whose outlook is of the Spirit. As noted above Paul sets up the transition from the law of the members to flesh in 7:25. Flesh is not equivalent to the law of sin in the members. Paul is not teaching Gnosticism. Note that in 7:25 flesh serves the law of sin. Flesh is not sinful, but sin has brought it under bondage.⁴⁵ However, the law of God in the mind of the believer is not the same thing as the Spirit. Again, the mind of the believer now has the capacity to delight in the law of God, but the Spirit is what enables the mind to serve God. Paul is describing a different battle that the believer must understand for sanctification – flesh versus the Spirit. In 7:14-25 Paul described the believer’s mind in its “natural” state, without the aid of the Spirit. It has the capacity to serve God but is overpowered by sinful desires. In chapter 8 Paul is showing how the believer can overcome its sinful desires – through the Holy Spirit.

Flesh is best understood in what it is being contrasted with in chapter 8. Verse 8:3 highlights this contrast. It says that God accomplished what the law could not because it was weakened by the flesh. While flesh can refer to the whole man (Rom. 7:18), because of the contrast with God, it is best seen as the “creaturely nature of man.”⁴⁶ Moo speaks of the flesh here as the ‘this-worldly’ orientation” of people.⁴⁷ Those that live according to the flesh in chapter 8 include non-believers or believers who live according to the values of “this world.”⁴⁸ Although verse 9 tells us that believers are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit, verses 12-14 imply that some believers are living under obligation to the law and not the Spirit. So, if the believer is controlled by the Spirit, how does he then live at times according to the flesh? Verses 6-7 show that when a person sets his mind on death caused by sin (8:6a), when he is hostile to God (8:7a), or when he does not submit to the law of God (8:7b), he is living according to the flesh. The role of the mind in this passage then is to set one’s thoughts on life and peace (8:6b) and to submit to the law of God (8:7b). Strikingly, there are no imperatives in this chapter. Paul does not command the believer to do anything. The implications from this chapter are to realize that as believers our thoughts should be set on the Spirit (as explained above) as we are now “Spirit beings”. The mind is the point of connection with the Spirit. It is where we can process the truth and experience of the Holy Spirit, which in turn allows us to please God. There are no formulas, no specifics on how to keep one’s thoughts according to the Spirit. It seems to be another instance of simply understanding and meditating on this awesome provision of God.

Romans 12:2

Paul has just explained how marvelous the mystery of the grafting in of the Gentiles to the blessings of Israel (11:17). At the conclusion to chapter 11 are praises to the Lord for His “depth and riches and wisdom and knowledge” (11:33). Following this are two quotes from the Old Testament, the second of which (11:35) is from Job 41:11, which reads “Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him?” Romans 12:1-2 serves as the proper response in light of God’s mercy and praiseworthiness. It begins with the inferential conjunction οὖν, which looks back not only to chapters 9-11 but to the entire epistle thus far.⁴⁹ The exhortation here in 12:1 to present⁵⁰ ourselves in service to God is out of gratitude for Him for what He has done for us. This is evidenced by διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ (by the mercies of God)⁵¹ and the conjunction looking back to all God has done for the believer as explained by Paul so far. Gratitude is the only proper motivation for serving God because people will not serve Him with “sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy.”⁵² As 11:35 shows, no one can give first to God so that He has to repay us. Instead God lavishly gives to us, and we serve Him out of gratitude. Paul exhorts the believer to present his body to God as an offering,⁵³ one that is living⁵⁴, holy, and pleasing to God. It is in light of this that we come to another occurrence of the mind. Romans 12:2 tells the believer to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This verse is linked to 12:1 with καὶ, which is appropriate because the call to presentation in verse 1 is “foundational to this resultant duty of inner transformation.”⁵⁵ In 12:1 Paul uses the aorist active infinitive παραστῆσαι, but in 12:2 he switches to the present passive imperative μεταμορφοῦσθε. The command to “be transformed” is in a continuous present sense. We are to be continually transformed. This transformation is in contrast to being conformed by this age or world. This world is opposed to God and is characterized by sin and death. Συσχηματίζεσθε, taken from the noun σχῆμα, connotes something that is outward.⁵⁶ This outward conformity from the world is in contrast with the transformation that is to take place from within. Believers are not to allow themselves to be conformed by the world but transformed by the renewing of their minds. W. E. Vine gives a comprehensive definition of mind here: “the seat of reflective consciousness, comprising the faculties of perception and understanding, and those of feeling, judging and determining.”⁵⁷ As we discovered in Romans 7 the mind of the believer has the capacity for the things of God, but only the Holy Spirit can enable that change, hence the use of the passive voice in μεταμορφοῦσθε. The mind has an active role in that transformation, evidenced by the use of the dative of means. Therefore, the mind must be intentionally renewed in the power of the Spirit. Also, μεταμορφοῦσθε is in the second-person plural. This suggests that mental renewal can only occur in a community of believers, “not simply as a private transaction.”⁵⁸ The purpose of renewing the mind is to test and prove the will of God. Transformation is about complete change, so mental renewal involves understanding the truths of God and applying those truths.⁵⁹ The mind is the link between the proclamation of God – the gospel, His truths revealed in His word – and the ability to live in light of those truths. The implication is that believers are to live in a constant cycle of attaining and affirming the truths of God as proclaimed in the Bible (mental renewal) and then going out and proving His will by our actions. The mind as described above is not only where thoughts dwell; it is also the place where actions are determined. Νοῦς is never neutral. “By νοῦς is meant “not the mind or the intellect as a special faculty, but the knowing, understanding, and judging which belongs to man and determine what attitude he adopts.”⁶⁰ This is consistent with our discussion of the mind to this point. The unregenerate mind is bent on evil; it is not morally neutral. The mind of the believer has two competing forces where the sinful desires overpower the mind that delights in the law of God. However, the Spirit overpowers the sinful desires. The role of the mind is to actively set its thoughts on the will of God – that which is good and well-pleasing and perfect – and to determine courses of action to prove the will of God in the believer’s life.

Conclusion

We have seen that the mind is of vital importance in the process of sanctification. The mind of the believer has been given the capacity to delight in the law of God, whereas the unregenerate mind only has a limited knowledge of God and is destined to total depravity. The believer is to use his mind to dwell on the mercies of the gospel and live consistent to what God accomplished for us, releasing us from sin. We find that the Christian mind has two competing forces, the law of God and the law of sin left from our former depraved state. The Christian mind now has the capacity for good but without the Spirit, the law of sin prevails. The Holy Spirit is what empowers the mind to serve God. The mind must set its thoughts on life and peace, in submission to God and not on human or worldly things. The role of the mind in sanctification is to actively seek (enabled by the Spirit) the moral will of God and to determine courses of action that tests and approves the truths of God. Thus, the mind is the medium through which sanctification occurs. It is the point of contact with the Holy Spirit, and when the mind is empowered by the Spirit it steers the members in service of God. We have also gained deeper insight to the questions posed at the beginning of this discussion. Can anyone be saved by renewing their mind? No, only through regeneration by faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection can the mind be given the capacity to please God. Is sanctification merely the power of positive thinking? No, while there is some benefit to this, it is futile without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. As believers we must focus on the positive, amazing way God has freed us from sin. But even the Christian mind without the Spirit will be overcome by sin. What is the role of the mind in sanctification? Believers must realize that their minds have been enhanced upon their conversion. The believer must utilize his mind in the process of sanctification by feeding it the things of God and not the things of the world that are opposed to God. The mind must be submitted to the Spirit of God so that it can be enabled to serve God. The mind is the headquarters for sanctification. The νοῦς can set the believer loose from sin but only through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

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Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1886. In Kreitzer, Larry J. The New Testament in Fiction and Film. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993.

Stoessel, Horace E. "Notes on Romans 12:1-2: The Renewal of the Mind and Internalizing the Truth." Interpretation 17.2 (April 1963).

Vine, W. E. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1981. In Hiebert, D. Edmond. "Presentation and Transformation: An Exposition of Romans 12:1-2." Bibliotheca Sacra 151 (July-September 1994): 309-324.

Wallace, Daniel B. Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1996.

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¹ Norman Vincent Peale, A Guide to Confident Living (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1950), 151.

² Neil T. Anderson, Victory over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ (Ventura: Regal Books, 1990), 42-3.

³ Romans 11:34 will not be studied, as it pertains to the mind of God. Verse 14:5 will also not be discussed because it refers to a detailed issue and not to sanctification as a whole.

⁴ S. Lewis Johnson, “A Survey of Biblical Psychology in the Epistle to the Romans” (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1949), 5. Johnson and others have found that there is a psychology prevalent in Paul’s letters, not a secular psychology but a psychology related to redemption.

⁵ Douglas J. Moo, Romans, The Niv Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 106-7. Moo shows that γινώσκω in 1:21 speaks of a limited knowledge and is not the same as in its normal usage such as in Gal. 4:9, Phil. 3:8, 10; 2 Cor. 5:16

⁶ Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and William Arndt, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 508,1b.

⁷ Johnson, 114. Johnson notes that παρέδωκεν does not mean that God permitted evil or caused man to be continually evil but that He “positively withdrew His restraining hand.”

⁸ Danker, Bauer, and Arndt, 621.

⁹ Romans 8:26-39 suggests otherwise. If one is saved the Spirit is working in them until completion.

¹⁰ Georg Bertram, "Φρονέω - Φρόνημα." In Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964), Vol. 4, 951.

¹¹ Philo and Charles Duke Yonge, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged, New updated ed. (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1993), 314.

¹² Ibid., 472.

¹³ R. Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 466, no. 1071d.

¹⁴ David Stacey, The Pauline View of Man in Relation to Its Judaic and Helenistic Background (New York: Macmillan, 1956), 226-7. In Yancey Carlos Myres, “The New Testament Doctrine of the Mind” (Th.M. thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1959), 15-6.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ Johnson, 112.

¹⁷ Myres, “The New Testament Doctrine of the Mind”, 17.

¹⁸ Danker, Bauer, and Arndt, 741, 1b.

¹⁹ Moo, Romans, 380.

²⁰ cf. Rom. 6:10.

²¹ Danker, Bauer, and Arndt, 597, 3.

²² Cf. NET, NASB, NRSV, ESV, NIV.

²³ Danker, Bauer, and Arndt, 1b.

²⁴ Ibid., 597.

²⁵ C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, vol. I (New York: T&T Clark International, 2004), 315. Cf. BDAG, 597, 2.

²⁶ F. F. Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans: An Introduction and Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963), 139. In Cranfield, vol. I, 315.

²⁷ Anderson, 84-5. Anderson teaches that a person simply has to agree with who they already are. The believer just has to acknowledge the truth that they are actually holy. It should go without saying that the believer is not really freed from sin if they have to mentally agree that they no longer sin. In other words, if Christ actually “zapped” the believer upon conversion to no longer sin, then there would be no need for mentally agreeing with it because the believer would already be sinless. Nothing more would have to be done.

²⁸ Cranfield, vol. I, 299-300.

²⁹ Ibid., 315.

³⁰ Anderson, 82-3. Many of these who teach this idea of sanctification appeal to Rom. 7:17 & 20, viewing sin and flesh as a foreign entity that is not a part of them. Thus, they cannot be held accountable for that sin and must simply continue to believe that they are actually holy.

³¹ Moo, Romans, 380-1. See footnote 150.

³² Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1886), 108. In Larry J. Kreitzer, The New Testament in Fiction and Film (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 90. Kreitzer looks at how Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was influenced by Romans 7:14-25.

³³ Johan Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), 241.

³⁴ J. I. Packer, "The Wretched Man Revisited: Another Look at Romans 7:14-25." In Romans and the People of God, ed. Sven Soderlund and N. T. Wright (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1999), 77.

³⁵ Ibid., 80. See also New English Translation - Novum Testamentum Graece New Testament, ed. Michael H. Burer, W. Hall Harris III, Daniel B. Wallace, NA 27th ed. (Dallas: NET Bible Press, 2004), 421, footnote 6.

³⁶ My view is somewhere between the autobiographical post-converted Paul and the rhetorical view. Both seem to allow for the mind of the believer have dual forces at work in his mind. The pre-conversion view is ruled out because it serves no purpose if that is the correct view. Paul would simply be digressing into a personal account of how he, too, was once a no good sinner. This view does not help the believer in their sanctification process.

³⁷ Myres, “The New Testament Doctrine of the Mind”, 43.

³⁸ Ibid., 38.

³⁹ Cranfield, vol. II, 593. Cranfield notes that this verse has been misunderstood that the believer should live in complacence to sin, but Cranfield notes that painful as the tension is there is hope in Christ, thus there is reason for thanksgiving.

⁴⁰ Myres, “The New Testament Doctrine of the Mind”, 39.

⁴¹ Darrell L. Bock, Jesus According to Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 83-4.

⁴² New English Translation - Novum Testamentum Graece New Testament, 422, footnote 6. The NET Bible translates φρόνημα as “outlook.”

⁴³ Bertram, "Φρονέω - Φρόνημα." In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids: Eerdman's, 1967), 232.

⁴⁴ Danker, Bauer, and Arndt, 1066.

⁴⁵ Johnson, 76.

⁴⁶ Ibid., 83.

⁴⁷ Moo, Romans, 478.

⁴⁸ Ibid., 485.

⁴⁹ Cranfield, vol. II, 595-6.

⁵⁰ Many have seen this aorist infinitive as a once-for-all action. However, the aorist only presents the occurrence of the action and does not have to mean it should only happen once (ExSyn, 554-5). Cf. Moo, 750.

⁵¹ This διὰ + genitive construction either shows agency (by) or means (through), so the mercies of God serve as the agent for our service (NET, NKJV, NRSV) or is the conduit through which we can serve Him (Moo, 748).

⁵² John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, ed. David W. Torrence and Thomas F. Torrence, trans. Ross MacKenzie (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 263. In Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, vol. II, 596.

⁵³ Danker, Bauer, and Arndt, 778, 1d.

⁵⁴ Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1996), 618-9. The participle ζῶσαν is in the predicate position and is best seen as a predicate adjective along with ἁγίαν and εὐάρεστον. This gives the reading more emphasis than the traditional reading “living sacrifice” (NET Diglot, 431, footnote 3).

⁵⁵ D. Edmond Hiebert, "Presentation and Transformation: An Exposition of Romans 12:1-2," Bibliotheca Sacra 151 (July-September 1994): 319.

⁵⁶ Ibid. Cf. BDAG, 981, 1.

⁵⁷ W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1981), 3:69. In Hiebert, "Presentation and Transformation: An Exposition of Romans 12:1-2," 321.

⁵⁸ Horace E. Stoessel, "Notes on Romans 12:1-2: The Renewal of the Mind and Internalizing the Truth," Interpretation 17.2 (April 1963): 167.

⁵⁹ Ibid.: 168.

⁶⁰ Stacey, The Pauline View of Man in Relation to Its Judaic and Helenistic Background, 226-7. In Myres, “The New Testament Doctrine of the Mind”, 16.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of spiritual growth? Some picture a solitary individual meditating or praying. While that concept accurately portrays one aspect of Christian spirituality, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Three Aspects of Transformation

The issue of spiritual transformation is not new in the Christian faith. It has been a primary issue, though perhaps given different labels, throughout church history. From the time the Spirit of God descended upon the believers in Jerusalem, God has been transforming the souls of individual believers in the context of local Christian communities.

Preaching has never been and never will be the only element needed for the transformation of Christians into Christ’s image. Nor are small-group Bible studies, personal Bible study, Sunday school classes, or even one-on-one discipleship sufficient for growing Christians when they focus solely on communicating biblical information. Therefore, a movement has grown that emphasizes transformation of the believer’s inner and outer life and not just transformation of the intellect. Three broad approaches to spiritual transformation have developed.

Fellowship Model

One approach is to create fellowship opportunities. Churches develop structured settings for members to build relationships with others. They may launch small groups that meet in homes. They may convert their Sunday school classes into times of social engagement. These groups enable believers to be intimately involved in one another’s lives. The fellowship model focuses on corporate prayer for one another, growth of interpersonal intimacy, and support for each other in times of need. This approach effectively connects believers within a church body.

Spiritual Disciplines Model

A second approach emphasizes disciplines such as meditation, prayer, fasting, and solitude. Such writers as Dallas Willard and Richard Foster have done excellent work on spiritual disciplines. This approach takes seriously the inner life and intimacy with God. However, when used in isolation, this approach can make people think spiritual transformation is a private matter. Even though the spiritual disciplines include communal elements (worship, service, and fellowship), some people treat the private exercises (silent retreats, journaling, meditating on Scripture, prayer, and fasting) as primary. That’s a mistake.

Counseling Model

The third approach relies heavily on personal introspection. Christian counseling emphasizes areas of surrounding sin or personal character flaws that cause interpersonal problems or destructive behavior. Counseling seeks to understand the roots of such problems by looking at one’s heritage and temperament. Usually in one-on-one interaction, the counselor probes for the root issues hidden beneath the surface problem. Discovering these deeper issues can shed light on a person’s consistent failure to make wise choices. This approach focuses on identifying and dealing with those internal obstacles that prevent spiritual growth. Dealing with the issues is a key component in spiritual transformation.

The Transforming Life Model—An Integrated Approach

The three approaches are all valuable, but when taken alone they each have weaknesses. The fellowship model can fail to guide believers toward growth. The spiritual disciplines model can neglect to emphasize authentic and intimate Christian community, which is necessary for growth. The counseling model can fail to value the role that spiritual disciplines can have in growth. It also risks focusing on deficiencies so much that the person never benefits from the resources of God’s grace. It can focus too intently upon the person’s sin and failure and not enough on God’s enabling power toward growth in holiness.

Therefore, Transforming Life brings in elements from all three approaches. The series tries to balance the inward and outward elements of spiritual transformation. Its theme is:

Experiencing divine power through relationships;

Striving together toward maturity in Christ.

We believe a particular context is essential to the transformation process. That context is authentic community in which people come to trust each other. Though one-on-one relationships can be effective, we believe that multiple relationships are more effective. While one individual can spur another toward growth, that one individual has limited gifts and abilities. Also, though we value the spiritual disciplines, we see them as means toward the end of complete transformation of the believer’s inner and outer life. Disciplines aren’t ends in themselves. Finally, we think believers need to seek greater understanding of sin’s dynamic in their lives. They need to see potential blind spots or obstacles to their spiritual well-being and learn to deal with the root issues beneath their areas of struggle.

Our working definition of the Christian’s transformation is:

The process by which God forms Christ’s character in believers by the ministry of the Spirit, in the context of community, and in accordance with biblical standards. This process involves the transformation of the whole person in thoughts, behaviors, and styles of relating with God and others. It results in a life of service to others and witness for Christ.

While the transformation process is an end in itself, the ultimate end is Christ’s glory. He is the One adored by those who experience His presence and are transformed by Him. They, in turn, seek to exalt Him in the world.

Because each person is unique, God’s formative process is unique for each. And though the Spirit of God is the One who transforms souls, each individual has personal responsibility in the process. Many spiritual disciplines can contribute, yet God is primarily concerned with transforming the whole person, not just patterns of behavior. For this reason, no one method (be it a traditional spiritual discipline or another method) is the single critical component.

Transforming Life depends solely on peer leadership. Groups don’t need to be led by trained ministers. Leaders are more like facilitators—they don’t need to have all the answers because group members learn from each other. The leader’s role is to create an environment that fosters growth and encouragement.

Still, all small-group ministries need consistent coaching for the lay leaders. The group leaders need ministers and pastors to train and encourage them. A small-group ministry will raise all sorts of issues for leaders to deal with as people become honest about their lives in a trusting community. A group leader may need guidance about how to respond to a group member who shares that he has been having an e-mail “affair” and has not told his wife. Another may feel discouraged when group members drop out. Still another may wonder how to deal with two group members who are consistently angry with each other. It’s important to provide support to those who take the risk to develop such an authentic environment for growth.

The Four Themes of This Series

Instead of aiming for competency in a set of skills or techniques, this series helps people identify the areas that must be developed in a believer’s life. In other words, while it’s necessary for a believer to know the “how-tos” of the Christian life, it’s not sufficient. Knowing how to do personal Bible study and how to share Christ with others are praiseworthy skills. Developing these skills, however, is not the end goal but the means by which we live out who we are as new creatures in Christ. That’s why this series addresses four critical components of the Christian life: identity, community, integrity, and ministry.

This series proposes that the Christian life involves:

knowing your identity in Christ

so that

you can make yourself known to others in a Christian community

so that

you can pursue a lifetime of growth in the context of community

so that

you are best equipped to glorify Christ by serving others.

Identity

To understand our need for transformation, we must understand who we are currently, both as individuals and as members of the body of Christ. Who we are has undoubtedly been shaped by our past. Therefore, we explore various aspects of our identity, such as our heritage and temperament. What do these tell us about who we are and what we value? The interaction during this study bonds us and builds trust among us. Our goal is not to analyze, criticize, or control each other, but it is to grow and affirm what God is doing in and through one another.

In Identity, we ultimately want group members to see themselves in light of their identity in Christ. However, many of the values we actually live out stem from such influences as temperament, family background, and culture. Not all of those values are contrary to our new identity in Christ. For example, the value one person places on honesty, which he learned from his parents, is affirmed by his identity in Christ.

It can take a long time––more than a lifetime allows––for the Spirit of God to transform our values to line up with our new identity in Christ. We cooperate with the Spirit when we reflect on what our values are and how well they line up with our identity in Christ as described in Scripture.

One of the most significant characteristics of our identity in Christ is that we are now part of the body of Christ. The Christian life cannot be lived in isolation.

Community

So, while talking about my place in Christ, I need to pay attention to our place in Christ as a community. Understanding our corporate identity in Christ is crucial for a healthy community transformation process. The Community study helps a group not only understand how a Christian community develops but also experience a growing sense of community.

In order to experience intimate community in the biblical sense, we must learn to reveal ourselves to others. We need to honestly, freely, and thoughtfully tell our stories. Our modern culture makes it easy for people to live isolated and anonymous lives. Because we and others move frequently, we may feel it’s not worth the effort to be vulnerable in short-lived relationships. However, we desperately need to keep intentionally investing in significant relationships.

Real involvement in others’ lives requires more than what the term fellowship has too often come to mean. Real involvement includes holding certain values in common and practicing a lifestyle we believe is noble, while appreciating that this lifestyle doesn’t make us perfect. Rather, this lifestyle is a commitment to let God continue to spiritually form us.

Community includes a group exercise, “Life Story,” that has been tremendously effective in building community and enhancing self-understanding. “Life Story” walks a person through the process of putting together a personal, creative presentation of the most formative relationships and experiences of his or her life. As people share their stories with each other, a deep level of trust and commitment grows.

Integrity

By the time a group has experienced Identity and Community together, members have built significant intimacy and trust. Now they’re ready to pursue a harder step. It’s the heart of our approach to spiritual transformation. Many believers greatly underestimate the necessity of intimacy and trust for successful growth in Christian holiness. But we must be able to share honestly those areas in which we need transformation. We can deal with deep issues of growth only in a community in which we’re deeply known by others. We need others who have our best interests at heart. They must also be people we trust to hold sensitive issues in genuine confidence.

Why does the pursuit of Christian holiness need to occur in community? There are at least two reasons. First, we need accountability in the areas of sin with which we struggle. When we confess our struggles to a group, we become accountable to all of the members to press on toward growth. Because the group is aware of our sin, we can’t hide it in darkness, where it retains a hold on our life and can make crippling guilt a permanent fixture in our walk. If we’re struggling, we have not one but several people to lean on. In addition, the corporate, or group, setting increases the likelihood of support from someone else who has struggled in the same way. In one-on-one accountability, one person may not be able to relate well to the other’s struggles. He or she may have different areas of struggle.

The second benefit of corporate pursuit of holiness is that without the encouragement and stimulus of other Christians, we’re often blind to the ways in which we need to grow. In the counsel of many who care for us, there can be greater wisdom. If some believers are blind to being hospitable, the hospitality of another believer can spur them on to develop that quality in their own lives. If some never think about how to speak encouraging words, the encouraging speech of another can become contagious.

Ministry

With Identity, Community, and Integrity as a foundation, believers are prepared to discern how God wants them to serve in the body of Christ. “Where can I serve?” is not an optional question; every believer should ask it. Nor is this a matter simply for individual reflection. Rather, we can best discern where and how to serve while in community with people who know our past, interests, struggles, and talents. The community can affirm what they see in us and may know of opportunities to serve that we’re unaware of.

How many terrific musicians are sitting in pews every Sunday because they lack the confidence to volunteer? Those gifted people might merely need others who know them well to encourage them to serve. Maybe someone’s life story revealed that while growing up she played in a band. Someone might ask, “What have you done with that interest lately?”

The Layout of Ministry

Each session contains the following elements:

•  Session Aims states a goal for you as an individual and one for the group.
•  Preparation tells what assignment(s) you need to complete ahead of time in order to get the most out of the group. For this study, much of the preparation will involve completing “Life Vision” exercises. The “Life Vision” exercises can be found on pages 75-125.
•  Introduction sets up the session’s topic.
•  Content provides material around which group discussions and exercises will focus. You should read the “Introduction” and “Content” sections before your group meeting so you’ll be prepared to discuss them.
•  Conclusion wraps up the session and sets the scene for the next one.
•  Assignment lists “homework” to complete before the next session meeting.

In this way, each session includes all three aspects of transformation: personal introspection, spiritual disciplines, and the experience of God in relationships. Through all of these means, the Spirit of God will be at work in your life.

Just over one hundred years ago, the renowned pastor and statesman Charles H. Spurgeon spoke these words to the then-largest congregation in all Christendom:

I believe that it is anti-Christian and unholy for any Christian to live with the object of accumulating wealth. You will say, “Are we not to strive all we can to get all the money we can?” You may do so. I cannot doubt but what, in so doing, you may do service to the cause of God. But what I said was that to live with the object of accumulating wealth is anti-Christian.¹

Over the years, however, the message being preached in some of the largest churches in the world has changed. Due, in part, to the rise of several ungodly philosophies and movements,² a new gospel is being taught today. This gospel has been ascribed many names, such as the “name it and claim it” gospel, the “blab it and grab it” gospel, the “health and wealth” gospel, the “word of faith” movement, the “gospel of success,” the “prosperity gospel,” and “positive confession theology.”³

No matter what name is used, though, the teaching is the same. Simply put, this egocentric gospel teaches that God wants believers to be materially wealthy. Listen to the words of Robert Tilton, one of the prosperity gospel’s most well-known spokesmen: “I believe that it is the will of God for all to prosper because I see it in the Word [of God], not because it has worked mightily for someone else. I do not put my eyes on men, but on God who gives me the power to get wealth.”⁴

Teachers of the prosperity gospel encourage their followers to pray, and even demand, of God “everything from modes of transportation (cars, vans, trucks, even two-seat planes), [to] homes, furniture, and large bank accounts.”⁵ By closely examining the faulty theology and errant biblical interpretation of the teachers of this movement, this study will prove that the prosperity gospel teachings regarding the acquisition and accumulation of wealth are ethically incorrect.

The Theology of the Prosperity Gospel

“Theology is important,” wrote scholar Millard J. Erickson, “because correct doctrinal beliefs are essential to the relationship between the believer and God.”⁶ A corollary to this statement is that an incorrect theology will lead to incorrect beliefs about God, His Word, and His dealings with men. The thesis of this paper is that the prosperity gospel is constructed upon a faulty theology. Consequently, many of its doctrines, including the teachings concerning wealth, are erroneous. While it is beyond the scope of this study to examine in detail all of the specific doctrines of prosperity theology, there are four crucial areas of error relating to their teachings on wealth that may be isolated and examined. These areas are the Abrahamic covenant, the Atonement, giving, and faith.

Prosperity Theology and the Abrahamic Covenant

The theological basis of the prosperity gospel is the Abrahamic covenant.⁷ While this is good in that prosperity theologians recognize that much of Scripture is the record of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, it is bad in that they do not maintain an orthodox view of this covenant. Prosperity theologians hold an incorrect view of the inception of the Abrahamic covenant; what is more germane to the present study, however, they hold to an erroneous view concerning the application of the covenant.⁸

Researcher Edward Pousson best stated the prosperity view on the application of the Abrahamic covenant when he wrote, “Christians are Abraham’s spiritual children and heirs to the blessings of faith.... This Abrahamic inheritance is unpacked primarily in terms of material entitlements.”⁹ In other words, according to the prosperity gospel, the primary purpose of the Abrahamic covenant was for God to bless Abraham materially. Since believers are now “Abraham’s spiritual children,” they consequently have inherited these financial blessings of the covenant.

Prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland wrote, “Since God’s Covenant has been established and prosperity is a provision of this covenant, you need to realize that prosperity belongs to you now!”¹⁰ Referring to the prosperity theology of Kenneth Hagin, author Harvey Cox wrote, “Through the crucifixion of Christ, Christians have inherited all the promises made to Abraham, and these include both spiritual and material well-being.”¹¹ To support this claim, prosperity teachers such as Copeland and Hagin appeal to Gal. 3:14, which says “that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. . . .”¹² While it is not an understatement to say that the problems with this argument are legion, two glaring problems need to be addressed. First, in their appeal to Gal. 3:14, prosperity teachers ignore the second half of the verse, which reads, “That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”¹³ In this verse Paul clearly was reminding the Galatians of the spiritual blessing of salvation, not the material blessing of wealth.

Second, prosperity teachers claim that the conduit through which believers receive Abraham’s blessings is faith. This completely ignores the orthodox understanding that the Abrahamic covenant was an unconditional covenant.¹⁴ That is, the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant were not contingent upon one man’s obedience. Therefore, even if the Abrahamic covenant did apply to Christians, all believers would already be experiencing the material blessings regardless of prosperity theology.

Prosperity Theology and the Atonement

A second cracked pillar upon which prosperity theology stands is that of a faulty view of the Atonement. Theologian Ken Sarles wrote that “the prosperity gospel claims that both physical healing and financial prosperity have been provided for in the Atonement.”¹⁵ This seems to be an accurate observation in light of teacher Kenneth Copeland’s comment that “the basic principle of the Christian life is to know that God put our sin, sickness, disease, sorrow, grief, and poverty on Jesus at Calvary.”¹⁶ This misunderstanding of the Atonement stems from two errors that proponents of the prosperity gospel make.

First, many who hold to prosperity theology have a fundamental misconception of the life of Christ. For example, teacher John Avanzini proclaimed that “Jesus had a nice house, a big house,”¹⁷ “Jesus was handling big money,”¹⁸ and He even “wore designer clothes.”¹⁹ It is easy to see how such a warped view of the life of Christ could lead to an equally warped misconception of the death of Christ.

A second error of prosperity theology, which also leads to a faulty view of the Atonement, is the misinterpretation of 2 Cor. 8:9. Without exception, this is the verse to which prosperity teachers appeal in order to support their view of the Atonement. The verse reads, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”²⁰ This problem with this interpretation is, of course, that in this verse Paul was in no way teaching that Christ died on the cross for the purpose of increasing anyone’s net worth materially. In fact, Paul was actually teaching the exact opposite principle.

Contextually, it is clear that Paul was teaching the Corinthians that since Christ accomplished so much for them through the Atonement, then how much more ought they empty themselves of their riches in service of the Savior. This is why just five short verses later Paul would urge the Corinthians to give their wealth away to their needy brothers, writing “that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack.”²¹ Commentator Philip E. Hughes wrote of 2 Cor. 8:9, “The logic implicit in the statement of this great truth is too obvious for anyone to miss it.”²² Apparently, however, the champions of the prosperity gospel have indeed missed it.

Prosperity Theology and Giving

One of the most striking characteristics of the prosperity theologians is their seeming fixation with the act of giving. Students of the prosperity gospel are urged to give generously and are confronted with such pious statements as, “True prosperity is the ability to use God’s power to meet the needs of mankind in any realm of life,”²³ and, “We have been called to finance the gospel to the world.”²⁴ While at face value these statements do indeed appear to be praiseworthy, a closer examination of the theology behind them reveals that the prosperity gospel’s emphasis on giving is built on anything but philanthropic motives. The driving force behind this emphasis on giving is what teacher Robert Tilton referred to as the “Law of Compensation.”²⁵ According to this law, which is supposedly based on Mark 10:30,²⁶ Christians need to give generously to others because when they do, God gives back more in return. This, in turn, leads to a cycle of ever-increasing prosperity.

As Gloria Copeland put it, “Give $10 and receive $1,000; give $1,000 and receive $100,000;... in short, Mark 10:30 is a very good deal.”²⁷ It is evident, then, that the prosperity gospel’s doctrine of giving is built upon faulty motives. Whereas Jesus taught His disciples to “give, hoping for nothing in return,”²⁸ prosperity theologians teach their disciples to give because they will get a great return. One cannot help but agree with author Edward Pousson’s observation that the stewardship of “the prosperity message is in captivity to the American dream.”²⁹

Prosperity Theology and Faith

A final area of prosperity theology that merits investigation is that of the doctrine of faith. Whereas orthodox Christianity understands faith to be “trust in the person of Jesus Christ, the truth of His teaching, and the redemptive work He accomplished at Calvary,”³⁰ prosperity teachers espouse quite a different doctrine. In his book, The Laws of Prosperity, Kenneth Copeland wrote that “faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function. . . . There are certain laws governing prosperity revealed in God’s Word. Faith causes them to function.”³¹ This is obviously a faulty, if not heretical, understanding of faith. Later in the same book Copeland wrote that “if you make up your mind . . . that you are willing to live in divine prosperity and abundance, . . . divine prosperity will come to pass in your life. You have exercised your faith.”³² According to prosperity theology, faith is not a theocentric act of the will, or simply trust in God; rather it is an anthropocentric spiritual force, directed at God. Indeed, any theology that views faith solely as a means to material gain rather than the acceptance of heavenly justification must be judged as faulty and inadequate.

The Biblical Interpretation of the Prosperity Gospel

As has already been demonstrated in this paper, the hermeneutics of the prosperity movement leaves much to be desired. Author Ken Sarles wrote of the prosperity teachers that their “method of interpreting the biblical text is highly subjective and arbitrary. Bible verses are quoted in abundance without attention to grammatical indicators, semantic nuances, or literary and historical context. The result is a set of ideas and principles based on distortion of textual meaning.”³³ Indeed, a survey of the volumes of literature produced by the prosperity teachers yields numerous examples of such misinterpretations. As was the case in the theological study of this movement, an analysis of all such examples of misinterpreted texts would fall beyond the scope of this study. However, it is possible to choose one verse as an example and to examine both the prosperity gospel and orthodox interpretations of the text.

A suitable verse for this study is 3 John 2.³⁴ In this verse, the Apostle John wrote, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”³⁵ This verse is interpreted by prosperity teachers to mean that God wants all believers to “prosper in all things.” Furthermore, their interpretation of this verse makes clear their claim that material prosperity is inseparably linked to spiritual growth. Oral Roberts, regarded by many to be the father of the prosperity gospel movement, claimed at the beginning of his ministry, during a time of search for direction, that God miraculously led him to 3 John 2, which he understood as a revelation of the prosperity gospel.³⁶

Another faith teacher who has built his ministry around this faulty interpretation of 3 John 2 is Kenneth Copeland. Author Kenneth Kantzer noted that “Copeland misinterprets this [verse] as a universal promise,”³⁷ and writer Bruce Barron remarked that “the Copelands use these words so often that they appear to be the key verse of their ministry.”³⁸ A careful study of 3 John 2, however, reveals that this verse is not a carte blanche approval of prosperity gospel teachings.

Those who use 3 John 2 to support the prosperity gospel are committing two crucial errors, the first contextual and the second grammatical. First, con-textually, one is wise to note that John’s purpose in writing 3 John 2 was not to teach doctrine; it was simply to open his letter with a greeting. This is not to say that doctrine cannot be derived from a nondoctrinal passage, for all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, but it is to say that one must be sensitive to the original author’s intent. Therefore, the claim that 3 John 2 teaches the doctrine of prosperity ought to be regarded as suspect at best. Second, one is wise to note the meaning of the word “prosperity” as it occurs in this verse. The term translated “prosperity” is a form of the Greek word eujodovw. This word, which is used only four times in Scripture, does not mean to prosper in the sense of “gaining material possessions,” but rather means “to grant a prosperous expedition and expeditious journey,” or “to lead by a direct and easy way.”³⁹ The wording of modern translations such as the New International Version even reflect this nuance of the word.⁴⁰ Therefore it is evident that teachers who understand 3 John 2 to teach prosperity theology are misinterpreting the text.

Conclusion

Through this study of the theology and the biblical interpretation of the prosperity gospel, one may discern five clear reasons why this movement’s teachings concerning wealth are incorrect:

1. The prosperity gospel is built upon a faulty understanding of the Abrahamic covenant.

2. The prosperity gospel is built upon a faulty understanding of the Atonement.

3. The prosperity gospel is based upon a faulty understanding of the biblical tachings on giving.

4. The prosperity gospel is based upon a faulty understanding of the biblical teachings on faith.

5. The prosperity gospel, in general, has been constructed upon faulty biblical interpretation.

Aside from these five specific theological and biblical arguments against the prosperity gospel, and without even considering the practical implications of this movement,⁴¹ there is perhaps one general, summary reason why the prosperity gospel is a wayward gospel: its faulty view of the relationship between God and man. Simply put, if the prosperity gospel is correct, grace becomes obsolete, God becomes irrelevant, and man is the measure of all things. Whether it is the Abrahamic covenant, the Atonement, giving, faith, or the biblical interpretation of any given verse, the prosperity teacher seeks to turn the relationship between God and man into a financial quid pro quo transaction. As scholar James R. Goff noted, God is “reduced to a kind of ‘cosmic bellhop’ attending to the needs and desires of his creation.”⁴² This is a wholly inadequate and unbiblical view of the relationship between God and man and the stewardship of wealth.

Note: This article was originally published in Faith and Mission Vol 16, p. 79ff. Published with permission.

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¹ Tom Carted, ed., 2,200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988), 216.

² While it is impossible to trace the prosperity gospel back to an exact starting point, there are at least three movements from which it draws its ideas. One is the experience-centered Christianity which was birthed in the mind of nineteenth-century theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher and has come to fruition in the form of the twentieth-century Charismatic movement. A second philosophy that gave rise to the prosperity gospel was the “positive thinking” school of Norman Vincent Peale. Indeed, scholar Harvey Cox wrote concerning the prosperity gospel that “it owed much to the ‘positive thinking’ of the late Norman Vincent Peale.” Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995), 272. The third modern movement that has influenced the prosperity gospel is simply the “American dream,” or materialism.

³ For the purpose of this paper, the phrase “prosperity gospel” will be used.

⁴ Robert Tilton, God’s Word about Prosperity (Dallas, TX: Word of Faith Publications, 1983), 6.

⁵ David Pilgrim, “Egoism or Altruism: A Social Psychological Critique of the Prosperity Gospel of Televangelist Robert Tilton,” Journal of Religious Studies, 18.1-2 (1992): 3.

⁶ Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985), 28.

⁷ This important covenant is mentioned numerous times in the writings of the prosperity teachers, i.e., Gloria Copeland, God’s Willis Prosperity (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1973), 4-6; Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974), 51; idem, Our Covenant with God (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1987), 10; Edward Pousson, Spreading the Flame (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 158; and Kenneth Copeland, The Troublemaker (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, n.d.), 6.

⁸ Prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland articulated his movement’s view of the inception of the Abrahamic covenant best when he wrote that “after Adam’s fall in the Garden, God needed an avenue back into the earth;... since man was the key figure in the Fall, man had to be the key figure in the redemption, so God approached a man named Abram. He reenacted with Abram what Satan had done with Adam. . . . God offered Abram a proposition and Abram bought it.” Kenneth Copeland, Our Covenant with God, 10.

⁹ Pousson, 158.

¹⁰ Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, 51.

¹¹ Cox, 271.

¹² Gal. 3:14a (NKJV).

¹³ Gal. 3:14b (NKJV).

¹⁴ That the Abrahamic covenant is an unconditional covenant can be demonstrated by four facts. First, the covenant ceremony in Genesis 15 was unilateral. In fact, Abraham was asleep. Second, no conditions are stated in the covenant. Third, in the restatement of the covenant in Gen. 17:7,13, and 19, the covenant is called “everlasting.” Finally, the covenant was confirmed despite Abraham’s continued disobedience and lack of faith.

¹⁵ Ken L. Sarles, “A Theological Evaluation of the Prosperity Gospel,” Bibliotheca Sacra 143 (Oct.-Dec. 1986): 339.

¹⁶ Kenneth Copeland, The Troublemaker, 6.

¹⁷ John Avanzini, “Believer’s Voice of Victory,” program on TBN, 20 January 1991. Quoted in Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1993), 381.

¹⁸ Idem, “Praise the Lord,” program on TBN, 15 September 1988. Quoted in Hanegraaff, 381.

¹⁹ Avanzini, “Believer’s Voice of Victory.”

²⁰ 2 Cor. 8:9 (NKJV).

²¹ 2 Cor. 8:14 (NKJV).

²² Philip E. Hughes, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishers, 1962), 300.

²³ Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, 26.

²⁴ Gloria Copeland, God’s Will Is Prosperity, 45.

²⁵ Theologian Ken Sarles rightly noted that “the Law of Compensation [is] the bedrock of the prosperity movement.” Sarles, 349.

²⁶ In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus stated, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life” (NKJV). Other verses that the “Law of Compensation” is based upon include Eccl. 11:1, 2 Cor. 9:6, and Gal. 6:7.

²⁷ Gloria Copeland, 54.

²⁸ Luke 10:35 (NKJV).

²⁹ Pousson, 159.

³⁰ J. D. Douglas, and Merrill C. Tenny, eds., The New International Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1987), s.v. “faith.”

³¹ Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, 19.

³² Ibid.,41.

³³ Sarles, 337.

³⁴ Sarles says that this is an “often quoted verse” in the prosperity movement. Sarles, 338. Hanegraaff wrote that 3 John 2 was a “classic example” of prosperity misinterpretation. Hanegraaff, 223. Gordon Fee called 3 John 2 “the basic Scripture text of the cult of prosperity.” Gordon Fee, “The ‘Gospel’ of Prosperity,” Reformation Today 82 (Nov.-Dec. 1984): 40. Bruce Barron wrote that 3 John 2 was “the ‘Old Faithful’ of prosperity proof texts.” Bruce Barron, The Health and Wealth Gospel (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1987), 91.

³⁵ 3 John 2 (NKJV).

³⁶ For a full account of Roberts’ miraculous revelation concerning 3 John 2, see Barron, 62.

³⁷ Kenneth S. Kantzer, “The Cut-Rate Grace of a Health and Wealth Gospel,” Christianity Today, vol. 29, June 1985, 14.

³⁸ Barron, 91.

³⁹ Joseph Henry Thayer, The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1981), s.v., “eiio86w.”

⁴⁰ “Dear Friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” (3 John 2, NIV).

⁴¹ There are numerous practical implications that arise from the prosperity gospel view on wealth. While it would take a lengthy treatise to explore and explain them all, three are important enough to be considered here. First, the prosperity gospel incorrectly implies that poverty is a sin. Teacher Robert Tilton even said that “being poor is a sin.” Robert Tilton, “Success in Life,” program on TBN, 27 December 1990, quoted in Hanegraaff, 186. Likewise, Kenneth Copeland wrote that “poverty is under the curse of the Law.” Copeland, Laws of Success, 51. Second, the prosperity gospel “appeals to the poor and the sick to put more faith in the ultimate fulfillment of their desires than in the Word of God.” Sarles, 343. Third, when the prosperity gospel does cause positive changes in a believer’s life, the prosperity teacher gets most of the credit, and when the believer does not experience prosperity, the blame is usually left upon that individual. For example, Robert Tilton offered several reasons why some believers did not experience blessings: “Individuals lacked faith, refused to follow his directions, and criticized Tilton’s ministry.” Pilgrim, 7.

⁴² James R. Goff, Jr., “The Faith That Claims,” Christianity Today, vol. 34, February 1990,21.