Renewal of the Mind

Salvation is a question of being renewed in one’s mind. If our fear of God does not result in a renewed mind, it is in vain. The state of our mind leaves a deep impression on our nature; so if our mind is renewed, our whole nature is being renewed. Peter’s words to the men of Israel were: “Be renewed in your minds”; and this appeal still goes out to each individual Christian: “Be renewed in your mind!” It begins with having the one and only right mind, which is the mind of Christ, and it continues with being renewed in it. We are permitted either to choose the mind of Christ, or reject it; so the choice is up to us.

The people of Israel were elected by God to leave Egypt and con­quer the land of Canaan. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, and the Rock that followed them was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not well pleased with most of them. The ac­count of this serious occurrence which was written for our exhorta­tion, proves that they profited little from all God’s mercy with which they were so abundantly blessed. God was not well pleased with most of them. They took the tabernacle of Moloch with them, and the star of their god Ramphan, which hindered them from believing. Their hearts were in Egypt, their minds had not been renewed, and they were slain in the wilderness. They lacked a broken spirit and a contrite heart. All those who lack these things will fall sooner or later, even though they have much knowledge and share the same food and the same drink, but not the mind of Christ. All their temptations and battles should have led them to become well-pleasing to God; how­ever, instead of giving up their lusts so they could believe, they held on to them, and their minds were not renewed. For the people of Is­rael, giving up their lusts meant taking possession of the land of Ca­naan; for us it means partaking more and more of the mind of Christ.