The means by which a believer’s transformation comes about is the renewal of the mind. Paul’s word for renewal exists nowhere outside of the New Testament prior to the writing of the Book of Romans, which means that he probably coined the term. Indeed, renewal only elsewhere appears in Titus 3:5, in which Paul explains that salvation is possible by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. Hence, the continual process of sanctification is impossible apart from the inner work of God’s Spirit.
Mind often refers to one’s way of thinking. A natural outgrowth of spiritual transformation is a new outlook on life. Believers no longer look at things the way that they did before their conversion, but to see them from God’s eternal perspective: while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). This way of thinking prompts the believer to reject a self-serving desire for that which is fleeting in order to selflessly pursue the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33).
Tomorrow, we will discuss the purpose of the believer's transformation and renewal.
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