Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
This is the second in a series of posts on Romans 12:2 which command us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Again, at first glance, the verse seems to put the burden on me to accomplish this transformation. But what exactly does Paul mean here when he says, "be transformed"? The Greek word is metamorphoó (μεταμορφόω) and means to change, transfigure, transform. It means "changing form in keeping with inner reality – properly, transformed after being with; transfigured."1
"Transformed after being with!" Don't you love that! As I am intentionally with the One who is always with me, I am transformed. Thayer's Greek Lexicon puts it this way: "we are transformed into the same image of consummate excellence that shines in Christ."
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)
As I was doing this study, I came across this startling note from Archbishop Richard Chenevix Trench's New Testament Synonyms which perfectly illustrates the kind of transformation God is looking for. Trench is describing the difference between the root meanings of the two contrasting Greek words used in this verse, translated "conform" [schema] and "transformed" [morphè]. Do not conform … but be transformed ...
"'If I were to change a Dutch garden into an Italian, this would be [a change of schema;] but if I were to transform a garden into something wholly different, say a garden into a city, this would be [a change of morphè]' ... He paraphrases the present passage: 'Do not fall in with the fleeting fashions of this world, but undergo a deep abiding change, by the renewing of your mind, such as the Spirit of God alone can work in you (2 Cor. 3:18).'" -- quoted in Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges [emphasis mine]
What a word picture! Transforming a garden into a city is indeed a "deep abiding change." The world is always searching for Eden. The utopia where we will finally get all that we wish we'd had and never got and are told we deserve. Whether it is love, attention, a perfect childhood with a nice, normal family and a mom and dad who loved and cared for us. A good job and a house and car. Successful, beautiful children and grandchildren. Whatever it is, the unrenewed mind craves it. Isn't letting go of the craving for Eden a big part of this transformation?
If I, as a Christian, am still conforming to the world's ideas of my "best life," I may just be rearranging the plants in my garden. Even worse, as a survivor of narcissistic abuse, I may be rearranging the plants in somebody else's garden. God doesn't want this change of morphè, the transformation, the renewal of my mind and thinking, in order to control me, to subjugate me, but rather to set me free. God desires a new-creature, inside-out change that "the Spirit of God alone can work in me" because He loves me.
And suddenly I realize, this morphè can't be done in the garden at all, even in an artfully rearranged garden. Because, unfortunately, a garden, the Garden, is the place where the schism between God and Man first happened.
As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there. Hosea 6:7
God's good and pleasing and perfect will, his passionate goal, is to forget the Garden, the place of hiding from God, of wanting to arrange the garden myself and be my own god, the place where all this pain started. God wants to plow the garden under - and build something completely different, something new. The new thing God wants to build in place of the Garden is a city, the City of God, where we are with Him, in His Presence, forever. The place where we can be "transformed after being with."
Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." Revelation 21:1-3
Fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Romans 12:2 (The Message)
So much more, so much more in this verse, I will continue the series next time.
1All the definitions of words in this series come from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and HELPS studies by Discovery Bible unless noted.
Photo, Monarch Life Cycle 14 of 20, by Sid Mosdell https://flic.kr/p/8knhYC
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