Renewing of your mind

2. be not conformed] Same word as 1 Peter 1:14; (E. V. not fashioning yourselves) The Gr.
noun (schema) on which the verb rendered conform is based indicates a form external
rather than internal, transient or unreal rather than solid and lasting:a figure. It occurs 1
Corinthians 7:31, (E. V. the fashion of this world,) and Php 2:8, (E. V. in fashion as a
man.) In the last passage the reference is to the Lords Manhood not as unreal but as, in a
certain sense, external, i.e. as distinguished from the real but invisible Deity which lay, as it
were, within the veil or robe of the real and visible Humanity.Here the verb indicates that a
true Christians conformity to this world could only be (1) conformity to a transient thing, a
thing doomed to destruction, and (2) illusory in itself, because alien from the mans true
principles and position.A similar reference is plainly traceable in 1 Peter 1:14.
Be not conformed . . . but be ye transformed.Here the English is somewhat misleading. It
would naturally lead us to expect a similar play upon words in the Greek. But it is not so;
indeed, there is a clear distinction between the two different words employed. It is the
difference between an outward conformity or disguise and a thorough inward assimilation.
The Christian is not to copy the fleeting fashions of the present time, but to be wholly
transfigured in view of that higher mode of existence, in strict accordance with Gods will,
that he has chosen.
This world.Not here the same word as that which is used, e.g., in 1John 2:15-17, but
another, which signifies rather the state of the world as it existed at the Coming of Christ, as
opposed to the newly-inaugurated Messianic reign. To be conformed to this world is to act
as other men do, heathen who know not God; in opposition to this the Apostle exhorts his
readers to undergo that total change which will bring them more into accordance with the will
of God.
By the renewing of your mind.The mind (i.e., the mental faculties, reason, or
understanding) is in itself neutral. When informed by an evil principle, it becomes an
instrument of evil; when informed by the Spirit, it is an instrument of good. It performs the
process of discrimination between good and evil, and so supplies the data to conscience. The

mind here is not strictly identical with what we now mean by conscience; it is, as it were,
the rational part of conscience, to which the moral quality needs to be superadded. The
renewed mind, or the mind acting under the influence of the Spirit, comes very near to
conscience in the sense in which the word is used by Bishop Butler.
Prove.As elsewhere, discriminate, and so approve. The double process is included: first,
of deciding what the will of God is; and, secondly, of choosing and acting upon it.
What is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.The will of God is here, not
the divine attribute of will, but the thing willed by God, the right course of action. Are we to
take the adjectives good, and acceptable, and perfect (with the Authorised version), as in
agreement with this phrase, or are they rather in apposition to it, that we may prove the will
of God, that which is good, and acceptable, and perfect? Most of the commentators prefer
this latter way of taking the passage, but it is not quite clear that the former is impossible,
that good, and acceptable, and perfect thing, or course of action which God wills.
Acceptable, that is to say, to God Himself.