Introduction
Throughout the writings of the apostle Paul, he confronts the issues that believers must overcome in their spiritual walk. Paul advises believers that which they should strive toward and that which they should leave behind. Romans 12:1-2 points believers to what they should strive for in life. Ephesians 4:17-20 points believers to what they should leave behind. God has given the believer what he does not deserve and does not give the believer what he does deserve.
Of all the believer has to offer to God, there is nothing God needs. While God needs nothing from humanity, humanity needs everything from God. What does the believer have to offer God, who needs nothing? Psalm 40:6 says, "In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required." (ESV) While God had given Israel a way to worship and a system of offerings, the actions alone did not offer God that which He wanted. The truth is, anyone could perform actions prescribed in scripture however, if the individual is not a believer and their heart is not in it, then it is worthless religion. God wants all that the believer is. God wants the believer's heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Luke 10:27)
Romans 12:1-2 Commentary
In Romans 12:1, Paul makes an appeal to his brothers in Rome. Paul's ability to appeal or urge his brothers in Christ to strive after Christ was remarkable. He would come along side his brethren in a loving way, showing them the truth of God's word, and then show them how to live that truth. He then slips in the reminder that God has been merciful. Paul is reminding the church in Rome of all the mercies God has given them. All that God has given us at the moment of salvation is how God shows his mercy and continues to show his mercy.
Since God has given more than one could ask for, the believer's response is to give one's body as a living sacrifice. One's body is more than the flesh; it includes all the body holds. While a person is alive on earth, it houses all that they are: soul, spirit, mind, heart, intellect, and emotions. The believer should not hold anything back from God. It is not simply just giving up something; it is giving God everything with excitement and joy.[1] Besides giving all that we are to God, it must be constant. When Christ died on the cross, it was for all time. Our sacrifice of giving our whole being to God must be constant. In addition, the believer must give the best of who they are to God. A living sacrifice, that is holy and acceptable to God is the believer who gives their whole self to God including the best of who they are. When Israel gave of their livestock, they gave an animal without blemish for sacrifice.
Worship in the Old Testament included the sacrifice of a spotless animal. The death sacrifice is no longer required because of the death of Christ. The believer's act of worship is now spiritual. William Barclay said, "take all the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the office, the factory, the shipyard, the mine; and offer all that as an act of worship to God."[2] Barclay continues to explain spiritual worship is a voluntary act, not something that is forced as in the act of slavery. "True worship does not consist of elaborate and impressive prayers, intricate liturgy, stained-glass windows, lighted candles, flowing robes, incense, and classical sacred music."[3] Spiritual worship or reasonable worship is living our daily lives continually for Christ growing in Christ.
Paul then gives one do not before he lists a number of do's. Zodhiates gives a fuller rendering of the one do not, "Stop being molded by the external and fleeting fashions of this age"[4] Continually returning to the ways of the world does not profit the believers life. If the believer is not to conform to the world, they must be transformed in the mind. Paul's desire for the believer is to stop living by fleshly desires and to start and continue to live by holy thinking, wisdom, and intellect; that will transform your whole being. The transformed life will look and feel different from that of the conformed life.
Paul then gives the test to discern if the believer has been successful in the transformation. First, one must understand this is not testing God or His will, it is testing oneself, and if that will is transformed into God's will. Paul sets a high standard to this test, it is not Paul's standard, but it is God's standard. God's standard is good, acceptable, and perfect. The standard cannot be Paul's standard nor the believers standard, as those standards are what cause conformity to the world. When the believer strives for the will of God, they will find themselves coming closer to that which is good, acceptable, and perfect. It is not something that will be attained in this life, but the believer will see changes in their spiritual formation as they renew their mind.
Ephesians 4:17-20 Commentary
In Ephesians 4:17-20 Paul points to what the believer should leave behind. When one examines this passage, there is found great reason to leave the old way of living. Paul begins this passage by getting the attention of the Ephesians by saying he is testifying. To testify means something important is about to be said. He is telling the Ephesians that he is speaking the truth and more important it comes from God.
Next Paul makes a simple statement that believers should not walk as unbelievers do. Many believers struggle on a daily basis with this basic and simple truth. However, Paul expands on this simple truth as to why believers should not walk as the unbelievers do. First, they do so in the futility of their minds. The mind of the unbeliever is not set on God or heavenly things. Their minds are filled with worthless things that do not matter.
In Ephesians 4:18 Paul shows the condition of the unbeliever. First, the unbeliever does not understand the truth because they live in spiritual darkness. Their spiritual darkness is a result of no life in God. This is a fore shadow of eternity for those who reject Christ as Lord and Savior. Their spiritual darkness will turn to the darkness of hell and their alienation from the life of God is death. The unbeliever's darkness, alienation, and ignorance are caused by the hardness of their heart. "Because men determine to reject Him, God judicially and sovereignly determine to blind their minds, exclude them from His presence, and confirm them in their spiritual ignorance."[5]
The condition the hard heart of the unbeliever results in a callous being. The unbeliever has no feeling to that which is wrong, untrue, or sinful. Because the unbeliever has no feeling, they have given themselves up to sensuality and impurity. Paul takes this further by saying they are greedy to practice this lifestyle. Imagine the church in Ephesus as they heard the letter read aloud. They must have flinched at every word as it was read. They are strong words specific in pointing to sin. Sensuality focuses on immoral sexual behavior. Impurity extends sensuality past the physical act to thoughts and suggestions. However, greediness places both of these sins on a pedestal creating sexual idols.
Paul begins and then ends this passage with a simple truth. "But that is not the way you learned Christ!" (Eph. 4:20) Paul is straightforward with this statement to the believers in Ephesus. They must understand the path they once walked is not the way of Christ. Paul recognized the hearts of believers had become hard like stone, and they were sinning freely. They were living so freely in sin, that they had no shame in the hideous sins they were committing. This lifestyle is the way of the world, not the way of Christ.
Conclusion
Spiritual formation is a way of life that is learned in Christ, a process that must consume the whole being of a person presented as a living sacrifice. Spiritual Formation is a process that transforms the believers mind conforming the whole being to the will of God. Spiritual formation is learned and lived through discipline of leaving the old life-style and clinging to the new life in Christ. Through discipline, hard and callous hearts will become alive. Those sins, which the believer once took plesure, will become horrible and intolerable. Then those horrible intolerable sins must be replaced with disciplines such as solitude, silence, and fasting.[6] The believer must recognize the physical and spiritual aspect of spiritual formation, for they work together for the believers to become more like Christ.
[3]MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Romans 9-16. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1994, 148.
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