 |
||
 |
||
Jim's PERSPECTIVESeptember 30, 2013“And be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 (King James II Version) Four words stand out in the above passage: “conformed,” “age (world),” “transformed,” and “mind.” The word for “conformed” means to put on the form, fashion, habits, feelings, principles, dress, style, of others, specifically those of “the age (the world),” or, the material, transitory, and ephemeral cosmos. This would imply people of the world, rather, those familiar and comfortable with “the ways of the world,” as differentiated from those who “know God.” But that is not to say that if one knows “the ways of the world,” then one does not know God. Many Christians have been taught that we are to be “in the world, but not of the world.” This quotation is not actually in scripture, although there are many biblical injunctions to separate oneself from the world, and warnings of the dangers and pitfalls of adopting the lifestyles, mindsets, and affectations of “the world” (John 15:19, Colossians 2:8, James 4:4, 1 John 2:15, et al.). Granted, the world can be a brutal and hostile place at times, but it is also a beautiful creation of God that was (and is) meant to be a blessing to and for us. Do not forget that when God created the world, he said, “It is good.” However, Christians believe that the world is currently in a fallen state, and that we, along with the world itself, are awaiting a time when it will be converted back to a renewed, pristine, sin-free creation (see Romans 8:19-23) that eventually will work the way it was intended. In my opinion, some of us have confused “Be not conformed to this world….” with “Come out from among them and be ye separate….” (2 Corinthians 6:17). This understanding—or, rather, notion—wrongly interpreted as turning away from technological, as well as other cultural, developments of the modern age would seem to downplay and dismiss God’s original command in Genesis 1:28 to “…Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it….” I see this as a provisional authorization from God to be creative and innovative, to invent and to accomplish for the betterment and benefice of humankind. In its extreme version, “Be ye separate….” might serve, for some, as a license to become isolated from other individuals and groups that are not like themselves. John Wesley used an expression that I have always enjoyed: “plundering the Egyptians.” This refers to making use of the best of scientific and cultural developments of other, not necessarily “Christian,” peoples for one’s own Christian purposes. In Acts 10:35 we are told that “In every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him” (KJV). If you take my definition of righteousness: “that which is used according to the purpose for which it was created,” it would not be a stretch to assign “righteousness” or “right-ness” to someone born in China who dedicates himself or herself to discover a cure for cancer, or one born in Africa who sets out to invent a new musical form. The real question becomes “Is it possible for a person who is not specifically Christian to know “truth” or to know “the good?” I say yes, but that all roads of truth and righteousness originate in God in Christ and ultimately will be traced back to him. The word translated as “transformed” is the key to understanding this entire monologue. Transformation means, literally, to be changed from one thing into something else. It actually means to move from a human-dictated, self-directed, world-oriented perspective to a perspective that is led, controlled and governed by the Spirit of God and the precepts found in scripture—the Bible—fashioned in the likeness of Jesus Christ, and patterned by the principles of the Reign of God. In short, it means taking one’s cues from the Kingdom and not from this present, temporal unreality. For Christians—those born of God’s Spirit—both “conforming” and “transforming” are summed up in 2 Corinthians 3:10: “…Having beheld the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror, (we) are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, or, in other words, “from one degree of glory to another.” And the agent of such conforming and transforming is the Spirit of the Living God. God works the process of change, not we ourselves. In my understanding, this process of God-inspired and God-directed change is also the key to a renewed mind. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). - Jim Radford |
||
|
©2013 Jim Radford. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
|
