Renewing Your Mind
Prove God&s Will
Mark 3:35
Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister
and mother.
NIV
The surprise may be the fact that this transformation is the result of renewing our mind. As I indicated above, this process means to think upon the things of God by learning sound, correct doctrine. Remember that God is truth. Paul writes about God’s truth frequently. Paul uses the term “truth” 49 times in the NKJV. Many of the other versions translate a variety of words as “truth” producing a much higher usage statistic. For example, The New Living Translation uses “truth” 67 times in Paul’s letters. Jesus prays to the Father to “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17).
Paul wants us to be sanctified by the Word of God, the Bible. The Bible sanctifies us as we learn to correctly understand God’s Word and then apply it to our lives. In other words, we are to learn the truth, place it in our minds, and then teach our minds to apply this truth to our actions. We will look at the balance of this verse and then return to the idea of renewing your mind.
When we renew our minds we “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” There are a number of ways to view and interpret this phrase. The idea of proving is one of “proving acceptable or correct,” “to approve.” Many commentators want to use this verse to distinguish between God’s “perfect” will and God’s “permissible” will, indicating that God’s perfect will is that which He has foreordained as the true, final outcome of the world, but His permissible will is that which He allows, and then uses for His perfect purpose (i.e., Rom 8:28). And, while this view of God’s Will is correct, this is not what Paul has in mind in this verse.
God’s Will is Perfect, and Good, and Acceptable. It may be nothing else. God’s Plans and Decrees and Purpose were formed in eternity before creation. His Plans assure that all things will be accomplished as He has deemed. Since God is a God of Truth, His Will must be truth. Thus, His Will is Perfect, Good, and Acceptable.
