And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
be not.
Exodus 23:2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
Leviticus 18:29,30 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people…
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations…
be ye.
Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Ezekiel 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
prove.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Ephesians 5:10,17 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord…
good.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 7:12,14,22 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good…
Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple…
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.
Verse 2. - And be not conformed to (rather, fashioned after; the verb is συσχηματίζεσθαι this world; but be ye transformed (the verb here is μεταμορφοῦσθαι) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove (or, discern) what is the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (So, rather than as in the Authorized Version; the epithets acceptable and perfect not being properly applicable to the will of God; and the translation given above being close to the original.) It is a matter of no importance for exegesis that ancient authorities leave it uncertain whether the verbs at the beginning of this verse should be read as imperatives (συσχηματίζεσθε and μεταμορφοῦσθε) or as infinitives (συσχηματίζεσθαι and μεταμορφοῦσθαι). In the latter case they depend, with παραστῆσαι in ver. 1, on παρακαλῶ. The meaning remains unaffected. As to the words themselves, Meyer's assertion that they stand in contrast only through the prepositions, without any difference of sense in the stem-words, is surely wrong. St. Paul is not in the habit of varying his expressions without a meaning; and he might have written μετασχηματίζεσθε (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14; Philippians 3:21) instead of μεταμορφοῦσθε or συμμορφοῦσθε (cf. Philippians 3:10) instead of συσχηματίζεσθε. And there is an essential difference between the senses in which σχῆμα and μορφή may be used. The former denotes outward fashion, which may be fleeting, and belonging to accident and circumstance; the latter is used to express essential form, in virtue of which a thing is what it is; cf. Philippians 3:21, and also (though Meyer denies any distinction here) Philippians 2:6, 7. The apostle warns his readers not to follow in their ways of life the fashions of this present world, which are both false and fleeting (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:31, Παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου), but to undergo such a change of essential form as to preclude their doing so. If they become συμμόρφοι with Christ (cf. Romans 8:29), the world's fashions will not affect them. The phrase, "this world" or "age"(τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, may be understood with reference to the rabbinical division of time into αἰὼν οῦτος, and αἰὼν μέλλων, or ἐρχόμενος; the latter denoting the age of the Messiah. The New Testament writers seem to regard themselves as still in the former, though to them it is irradiated by beams from the latter, which had already dawned in Christ, though not to be fully realized till the παρούσια (see note on Hebrews 1:2). The transformation here spoken of consists in the renewal of the mind (τοῦ νοὸς), which denotes the Understanding, or thinking power, regarded as to its moral activity. And Christian renewal imparts not only the will and power to do God's will, but also intelligence to discern it. Hence follows εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς, etc. (cf. Ephesians 4:17, 23; 1 Timothy 6:5; 2 Timothy 3:8; and also supra ch. 1:28, where the Gentiles were said to have been given up, in judgment, εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, when ἀδόκιμον may possibly mean undiscerning. See note on that passage). It is to be observed, lastly, that the present tenses of the verbs συσχηματίζεσθε and μεταμορφοῦσθε, unlike the previous aorist παραστῆσαι, intimate progressive habits. The perfect Christian character is not formed all at once on conversion (of Philippians 3:12, seq.; see also previous note on Romans 6:13, with reference to παριστάνετε and παραστιήσατε). So far the exhortation has been general. The apostle now passes to particular directions; and first (vers. 3-9) as to the use of gifts.