God’s full salvation includes many items. When we receive the Lord Jesus by repenting of our sins and believing in Him, we are justified according to God’s righteousness and regenerated with God’s life (Rom. 3:24; 1 Pet. 1:3). As Romans 5:10 reveals, the process of God’s full salvation includes first, our reconciliation to God through the death of His Son and second, our being “much more…saved in His life.” An important aspect of being saved in God’s life is the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2). In order to be fully saved in the divine life, our mind must be renewed.
The basis for God’s renewing of our mind is the creation of the one new man through Christ’s death on the cross (Eph. 2:15; 4:24). We should put off our old man (v. 22) and put on this one new man created by Christ. The key to this putting off and putting on is our being renewed in the spirit of our mind, that is, allowing our regenerated spirit, which is filled with the new life of God, to infiltrate and change our old mind (v. 23). This process of renewing leads to transformation (Rom. 12:2).
A basic characteristic of a renewed mind is that it thinks differently. The fallen mentality of the world is characterized in Romans 12:2 as being “fashioned according to this age,” which the apostle Paul exhorts the believers not to do. When we turn our mind to and set it on our regenerated spirit (8:6), the world’s influence on our thinking diminishes, and our thoughts become the thoughts of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5). We should be encouraged and not lose heart, because every day we can turn to our spirit and allow our inner man – including our mind –to be renewed until we are transformed into the glorious image of Christ (2 Cor. 4:16; 3:18). In this way, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16; cf. Phil. 2:5), where our mind expresses God’s thoughts.
Further Reading:
Witness Lee, God’s Salvation in Life, Chapter 2 (Nook, Print).
Witness Lee, The Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s Life, Message 1 (Print).
Holy Bible Recovery Version, all verses mentioned in this post and their corresponding footnotes (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
(Most references in the Further Reading can also be viewed on www.ministrybooks.org.)
“Today we see further that regeneration is the base of God’s organic salvation. This base is of two aspects: first, it is the base for us to grow in the divine life; second, it is the base for us to be built up in the divine life.”
“God renews us that we may become His divine, new creation.”
“In God’s organic salvation, regeneration is a washing, and renewing is the continuation of the washing of regeneration.”
Amen! Lord wash and renew us to be Your divine new creation!