To Make Disciples Is to Transform Minds

Making disciples means

actively cooperating with the Spirit

in his work of transforming people

to become more like Jesus Christ.

How do we do that?

One aspect of the process of making disciples is changing how people think.

Again, how do we do that?

Let’s dig into 1 Corinthians 2 for some insights.

A Way Forward

In the preceding post, we explored God’s great purpose for you. Building on 2 Corinthians 3:18, we concluded that God the Spirit is present and active in the lives of those who are ‘in Christ,’ transforming them degree by degree to be more ‘like Christ’ as they actively cooperate with him in his transforming work.

How would Corinthian Christians learn what it means to cooperate with the Spirit?

My premise is that other references to the Spirit in the Corinthian letters informed and directed them. Therefore, we need to locate those references and discern what they mean.

What are those references to the Spirit in 1 and 2 Corinthians?

Pneum* Words

The Greek word for Spirit is pneuma. Two related words are pneumatikos and pneumatikōs, usually rendered “spiritual” and “spiritually,” respectively. These words appear 73 times in the Corinthian letters. I will refer to these as “pneum* words.”

The pneum* words have a broad spectrum of meanings, so care must be taken.

First, pneuma is used generically for “spirit.” Depending on the context, the array of meanings can refer to the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:10), a human spirit (2:11a), the spirit of the world (2:12), or an evil spirit.

Second, “spiritual” and “spiritually” are two terms often misunderstood and misused.

Contrary to modern thinking, “spiritual” is not some vague and plastic word that can be shaped to mean anything we want. In Listening to the Spirit in the Text, Gordon Fee rightly states:

… spirituality is defined altogether in terms of the Spirit of God (or Christ). One is spiritual to the degree that one lives in and walks by the Spirit; in Scripture the word has no other meaning, and no other measure.

Let’s look at those segments of the Corinthian letters where there are clusters of pneum* words. The first of these clusters is 1 Corinthians 2.

This post is quite condensed, and some familiarity with 1 Corinthians 2 will pay dividends. So, please pause and take a few moments to read this chapter.

1 Corinthians 2

We encounter the first pneum* word in 2:4 and twelve more times in this chapter (i.e., 10 [2x], 11 [2x], 12 [2x], 13 [3x], 14 [2x], 15).

As we read through 1 Corinthians 2, we also detect several words associated with the mind and thinking. These include:

• “wisdom” (sophia in 2:1, 4, 5, 6 [2x], 7, 13),
• “know/understand” (ginōskō in 2:8, 11, 14, 16),
• “teach/instruct” (diaktos in 2:13 [2x]),
• “discern/appraise” (anakrinō in 2:14, 15 [2x]), and
• “mind” (nous in 2:16 [2x]).

These observations strongly suggest the interaction of the Spirit and the human mind is significant in this section.

Now, let’s look at how the Spirit transforms our thinking.

Analysis

Here is an outline of 1 Corinthians 2 with some brief comments:

2:1-5               Human wisdom versus the Spirit and power of God. 

Paul does not contrast human wisdom with God’s wisdom, as if pitting two types of wisdom against each other. When Paul proclaimed the Gospel of “Jesus Christ and him crucified,” the Spirit and power of God transformed lives. Those radical results spoke for themselves in ways human wisdom could never do.

2:6-10a          God’s wisdom is hidden and unknowable apart from God.

God’s wisdom is radically different from human wisdom and, although “secret” or “hidden,” is now revealed to us by his Spirit (2:10a).

2:10b-12        The Spirit provides the potential for understanding God’s wisdom.

The Spirit is the One by whom “we may understand what God has freely given us” (2:12). We “may or might understand” is not the same as we “understand.” The “may” or “might” translates the Greek subjunctive mood, indicating that “the verbal action [to understand] as uncertain but probable.”[1] This wisdom is available to us by the Spirit but might not be understood. So, how can we understand it?

2:13-16          Spiritual persons understand God’s wisdom.

In these verses, we are told that God’s wisdom is spiritual truths taught in spiritual words that are spiritually discerned. As noted above, a person is “spiritual to the degree that one lives in and walks by the Spirit.” In other words, “spiritual” people are those ‘in Christ’ who actively cooperate with the Spirit in his transforming work.

Paul sums up this state of active cooperation with the Spirit as “we have the mind of Christ” (2:16).

What can we learn from this chapter to enable us to actively cooperate with the Spirit in his transformation of our minds?

Insights

How can we intentionally cooperate with the Spirit in his work of transforming our minds? Here are five proposals—you might have more.

1.         Acknowledging the presence of the indwelling Spirit.

Some might be unaware of the Spirit’s presence, and others might not think much about it. We need to develop an intentional and intelligent awareness and sensitivity to him. Ask the Father to make the Spirit’s presence and desires better known to you.  

2.         Immersing our minds and hearts in Scripture. By “Scripture,” I am referring to the Old Testament.

In 1 Corinthians 2, we note Paul quotes the Old Testament twice in 2:9 and 2:16 (i.e., Isaiah 64:4; 40:13, respectively) and incorporates two more subtle echoes in 2:3-5 (i.e., Zechariah 4:10) and 2:6-8, 10-11 (i.e., Daniel 2:20-23).[2] Paul’s thinking is informed and directed by a wise understanding of the Old Testament.

We think nothing of watching a movie, plugging into YouTube, or reading a magazine for an hour or two and how it influences and shapes our thinking. Consider spending that time reading and thinking about Scripture or some other more beneficial activity, allowing the Spirit to shape your thinking by Scripture.

3.         Immersing our minds and hearts in the New Testament.

The apostle writes in 2:12-13,

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

This is reminiscent of the words of the Lord Jesus regarding the work of the Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-14). I leave you to read and reflect on those texts within their contexts.

Apostles and those closely associated with them were divinely entrusted to write the New Testament to preserve “the “words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words” (1 Corinthians 2:13). Again, let the Spirit reshape your thinking as you immerse yourself in the reading of the holy text. 

4.         Obedience through an intelligent responsiveness to the Holy Spirit and the Bible. 

Through the intentional awareness of the indwelling Spirit and the message of the Old and New Testaments, our thinking begins to align with the Spirit—our minds are transformed. The result is that more and more, “we have the mind of Christ” (2:16).

5.         Other Biblical Texts.

In this post, we have limited ourselves to the Corinthian letters, but the Bible has much more to say about actively cooperating with the Spirit—for instance, Isaiah 11:2; Acts 6:3, 10; Romans 8; 12:1-2; Ephesians 1:7; and others.

What can you add? You can write me using this link. 

The next post in this series will explore the Spirit’s work in transforming how we use our bodies.

BACK TO What is God’s Great Purpose for You? 

Notes: 
[1] Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 461.
[2] See Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, “I Corinthians,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI/Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic/Apollos, 2007), 700-3.

Image credit: Depositphotos.com