When the scriptures discuss the mind of Christ, they are speaking about the Holy Spirit revealing the very things of God to us. Man has come up with many things about our covenant and the heart and the purpose of our Heavenly Father. Many have been taken from the old covenant and placed into the new covenant. The way God dealt with people in the old covenant (the Law), is not how He deals in the new covenant of grace and faith.
Because we've misunderstood what the Father is doing now, we've made many grave mistakes in our walk with Him. When Paul wrote to the Churches in the Epistles, he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God Himself. He wrote in Romans 12:2 (Amplified) saying, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs), but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude) so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the things which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
As Christian people, we haven't always taken what Paul was saying to the Church here. When he said not to be conformed to the world and its external customs, he was talking about our having our own ways of judging how to serve God. As Christians, we have adapted to the carnal idea of how we're to serve God even now. We've set up certain religious customs and ideas that are totally man made and not God's will at all.
The only way to renew our mind is to allow the Holy Spirit to interpret the Word in our lives. God makes it very clear in 1Corinthians 2:9 (Amplified) that the Holy Spirit isn't trying to keep us in the dark, but He's here to bring light. Thus, it says, "But on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, (all that) God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him, )who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed)." He didn't say that God didn't want us to know these things, but that the carnal, natural man wouldn't understand them. Verse 10 reveals God's will now toward the new covenant man saying, "Yet to us (the Church) God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the (Holy) Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the divine counsels and things hidden beyond man's scrutiny)."
Paul goes on about how these things aren't taught by human wisdom, but by the Holy Spirit (Who is really the mind of Christ in 1Corinthians 2 (Amplified). He declares that the natural man or the nonspiritual man (those who are carnally minded) cannot receive those things because they're spiritually discerned. He says in Verse 14 that we must learn about renewing our minds, "By allowing the mind of Christ (the Holy Spirit) to reveal to us, the truth of God's Word to our new man, the born again Spirit."
We've allowed the carnal mind (the world's way of thinking) to remove almost all of the supernatural things of God out of our lives including the gifts of the Spirit, the healing of our bodies, the prayer language, the blessings, the fellowship with our Heavenly Father, the truth of our complete cleansing from sin, the fact of our righteousness and the perfection of our Lamb in our place. The carnal mind just cannot understand the perfection of our place of total deliverance.
We can only make sense of it and actually live in and it through faith and the Holy Spirit. We want to believe we were saved by grace, but then we want to take back what grace has done and live by works and rituals. 1Corinthians 2:16 (Amplified) declares that, Nobody has known the counsels and purposes of God and nobody could instruct Him or give Him knowledge." Then he goes on to say that now, by the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ and hold the very thoughts, feelings and purposes of His heart.
These things have already been deposited in our new, born again spirits we we received Jesus as our Lord. Through the Holy Spirit, our spirit has been made one with Him. All of the knowledge of the new birth and the covenant of grace and faith, has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Read all of Romans 5:2-5 (Amplified) to see what the Holy Spirit is saying to you in your heart. Romans 5:2 (Amplified) says that, "Through Him also we have (our) access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor) in which we (firmly and safely) stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God."
The carnal mind will put this promise off for until we reach heaven. But, the renewed mind (the mind of the Spirit) will receive by faith and walk in it now. The carnal Christian will never say the Word isn't true, but will exclude almost everything that is supernatural until we reach heaven. These things are spiritually discerned. How can we be born again of a supernatural Father, filled with the supernatural Holy Spirit, raised in the Image of a supernatural Lord and not be supernatural people?
Religion (man's idea of how to serve and walk with God) has kept us in a place of never being good enough to be pleasing to our Father. We always need to read more, pray more, give more, do more good works and even then don't measure up to God's standards with religion. God judges us by Christ's standards. The Father doesn't see our mistakes, but He only sees Jesus' success. All of our mess was consumed by His sacrifice and anytime God looks at us, He sees Jesus.
The mind of Christ will always point us back to Jesus declaring, "It is finished." There's nothing left for us to finish if it's already done. All we're required to do is to believe in Him by faith. Jesus said in Mark 16:17 (Amplified) that, "And these things will accompany those who believe; in My Name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new languages" and other things.
This comes down to those who believe in His Name. We've believed in His Name to be born again, but do we believe that in His Name we can do the other things His Name has brought into subjection? Jesus said that "The Word I speak are Spirit and Truth, but when we read a spiritual truth, do we receive it as Spirit or do we just read it in the natural like any other book?
Grace, and all that grace has to offer, came to those who will believe. But, just as salvation came to all who believe, it only comes to the extent that we allow the truth to move into our lives. The power of His Name is above all things. But, to what extent depends on the degree we will believe.
People have said that there are many ways to interpret the Bible, but that's not true! If God was to give instructions differently to each person, then how would we even know which way to go? Could one person be saved (as some have said) by other gods? They say that there are many avenues to god and many name of god, but they all lead to heaven. Is this true? Of course it isn't true! How do we know? Jesus said that, "I Am the way, I Am the door and the only way to the Father is by Me."
We all agree then, that the Word is the instructions of God to mankind. To someone who hasn't renewed his mind by the Word, this simply means that when you die, you'll go to heaven. Well, this is true, but is Jesus only Lord when you die? Or, is He Lord now while we're here on earth too? All the differences in the Church (God's family) today come because of the different degrees of the maturity of the renewed mind. It's available to everyone who is saved, but open to those who seek. 1Corinthians 2:13 (Amplified) tells us, "And we are setting these truth forth in Words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Holy Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language (to those who possess the Holy Spirit)."
So you see, the "Wisdom of the Word and the mind of Christ is available to all who will listen, but the carnal mind (the natural man) does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God" according to 1Corinthians 2:14 (Amplified).
Can we be born again and still be carnal minded? Yes, we can. That's why Paul said we must renew our minds. James talks about being born again and having an unrenewed mind in James 1:8 (Amplified) saying, "(For being as he is) a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute) (he is) unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, decides)."
When we read God's Word by the light of the Holy Spirit, He will never remind you of who you were, but only of who you are now. He will never remind you of your sin, but will reveal your right standing with the Father. James 1:22-25 (Amplified) says, "But be doers of the Word (obey the message) and not merely listeners to it; betraying yourselves (into deception by reasoning contrary to the truth) For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his (own) natural face in a mirror." Verses 24-5 goes on, "For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law (the law of liberty) (the new covenant of grace) and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets, but an active doer (who obeys) he shall be blesses in his doing (his life of obedience)."
In the last days before Jesus comes back, God is revealing by the Holy Spirit to His people, a nation of kings and priests unto our God. The carnal mind, in its religious pride, will not receive the fullness of Jesus' sacrifice. The carnal man or the carnally minded man still wants to receive everything based on his good works. He believes that if we would only be good and not sin or do anything wrong, then God would bless us. We point out the faults of others to make ourselves look better because we all miss it from time to time. We excuse ourselves from the spiritual things by proclaiming that they've all passed away. This is the unrenewed mind (the mind of reasoning) at its best.
Don't get bogged down by tradition and doctrines of men. Allow the mind of Christ to be manifest in you. Let the Holy Spirit reveal Jesus to you in all of His glory for His Name's sake. When we see ourselves as God sees us, we look so much better. When He sees us, He sees Jesus and Jesus Is Perfect. As a matter of fact, when we see other through the mind of Christ, they look beautiful to us because we now see them like He does.
Jesus doesn't see us as some unfinished work. He sees us as, Raised together with Him and seated together with Him in Heavenly places , at the right hand of the Father, " according to Ephesians 2. See yourself there with Him according to the truth of the sacrifice of Jesus.
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