Confessions for Life; I Have the Mind of Christ, Part 2
David W Palmer
(1 Corinthians 2:16 NKJV) … We have the mind of Christ.
As a new Christian, one of my concerns was about hearing from God accurately and continually. I wanted to be sure that I was really following the Good Shepherd and hearing his voice. I also wanted to be assured that he was guiding me in what I was learning from his word. So, when I found this passage of Scripture, I was both relieved and over-joyed. Instinctively, I took this promise to heart and confessed it until my mind was renewed with it: “I have the mind of Christ.” And, I have been standing on it ever since.
At the time God gave me this revelation, I had been reading a book that highlighted a New Testament prayer that goes with this promise; what’s more, we can pray it for others and ourselves (See: Eph. 1:16–21).
This was also like a green light for the way forward, as I had begun to realize that some of what we were traditionally praying, and for what we were automatically praying from our own minds, was unwise and counterproductive. It would be ineffective and even hurtful to God if our prayers were based on ignorance of what Jesus had achieved for us, or if our prayers were based on unbelief or fear simply because of ignorance of his covenant promises—not having heard the word on the issue; and thus our prayer would show disbelief in what Jesus had paid so highly for us to have. For example, praying that God would send Jesus to die for our sins would be counterproductive; he has already done it, and his Bible says he will definitely not do it again (See Heb. 6:4–6). We can’t please God without faith, so no doubt, praying in unbelief or fear would not give him pleasure.
For example, praying to become like Jesus, or that he would heal me, is unnecessary, as it is already covered in his promises—as an achievement of Jesus for us. I realised that it wasn’t my job to pray for them—even though James does say that the prayer of faith will save the sick—but to renew my mind to the truth. For example, I should invest in mind-renewal with these truths of Scripture:
I was formed with Christ into his image when I was born again: (Romans 8:29 APE) “And those whom he foreknew, he also fashioned in the likeness of the image of his Son, that he would be The Firstborn of many brethren.”
I am already raised up with him and seated with him at Father’s right hand: (Ephesians 2:5–6 NKJV) “Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), {6} and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
So as I said, I was both relieved and overjoyed when he revealed to me through his word that I already have the mind of Christ. This meant that for me to think his thoughts was now not foreign; it was who he recreated me to be. Thankfully, he has set in place a Biblical prayer to help in this process. Other prayers that we hear and copy, or that we pray out of our own un-renewed minds—although quite well meaning and sincere—may be counterproductive; but this one isn’t, and we should pray it like Paul did—for ourselves and others:
(Ephesians 1:16–21 NKJV) … my prayers: {17} that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, {18} the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, {19} and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power {20} which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, {21} far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
The Holy Spirit led Paul to model this prayer for us; it is necessary, and it works in tandem with the new birth and mind renewal. He led me to pray this continually. This was a learning companion to Bible study, meditation in the word, and renewing my mind with the truths thus revealed. This, I believe, is part of what it means to have the mind of Christ; he has given us the authority to access his thoughts and revelations of his word—thus having the privilege of knowing his mind.
Again through Paul, the Holy Spirit shows us his intention for those who are born again, who are in Christ Jesus, and who walk in the Spirit:
(1 Corinthians 2:9–10 NKJV) But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” {10} But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
God’s plan is for us to live in relationship with him in faith and to enjoy all the benefits Jesus achieved for us in his death, burial, and resurrection. This involves first receiving the revelation he talks about in this passage—revelation of “The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” Then, the faith that comes by hearing these revelations will lead to us possessing in the here and now the things revealed. And as we have seen, this depends on praying the prayer of Ephesians 1 and other NT prayers, studying and meditating in his word, and then renewing our minds with what he reveals to be true—even if our intellect and flesh struggle to accept it.
Let’s now read on in this chapter of the Bible to see how the Holy Spirit flows from his point about receiving revelation from his Spirit to his concluding summary: “We have the mind of Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 2:11–16 NKJV) For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. {12} Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. {13} These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. {14} But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. {15} But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. {16} For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
“We have the mind of Christ” is a spiritual truth in the new creation. As he says, this may sound like “foolishness” to the “natural man,” but it is clearly the truth. Our responsibility is simply not to try to reason a way around this to side with our flesh or religious traditions. They would rather say, “God’s ways are past finding out.” Yes, to the natural man they are; but we have a “new [born again] man” that is neither the “natural” man or the “old man.” Our responsibility is to renew our minds to the truths revealed in God’s word by the Holy Spirit. Thus, we put off the old man and his fleshly, limiting, imprisoning beliefs:
(Ephesians 4:21–24 NKJV) … the truth is in Jesus: {22} that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, {23} and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, {24} and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Not only does this passage exhort us with the true Biblical way to live in God’s reality, but it also brings up some other NT truths with which we need desperately to renew our minds: in the new birth, God created you as already righteous and holy—“the new man which was created … in true righteousness and holiness.” So, we don’t need to pray that we could become holy or righteous; that would be asking God to do something that he has already done for us in the new birth—whether we know it or not. We simply renew our minds to the truths he has revealed and confess what he says we are. Thus, we put off the old man and put on the new.
Scripture reveals that this whole process is about two men: the old one who thinks in line with the unregenerate, fleshly, worldly old life that was in the devil’s kingdom; and the new man, who is born again into Jesus’s image, given his righteousness, and is already holy, whole, blessed, and sanctified. Our challenge is in believing what God has done for us, renewing our mind with it, and feeding it into our hearts until it overflows in confessions of assured faith. Then, we can live in that reality.
In the process, we hold fast to our confession of the truths of Scripture. God will watch over his word to perform it; his truth will set us free, our minds will be renewed, and we will walk in holiness, wholeness, and righteousness, etc. by faith. This is the living by faith that justifies us before God.
Today, based on the Scriptures we have looked at today and others we have seen in this series, Let’s pray the prayer of Eph. 1 etc., and let’s make the following confessions:
“I have the mind of Christ.”
“I am one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17).
“I am born again; I am a new creation in him” (John 3:3–7, 2 Cor. 5:17).
“I am the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:21).
“He has recreated me holy and un-blameable in his sight” (Col. 1:22 KJV).
“By his stripes, I am healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13 NKJV).
“My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19 NKJV).
“Jesus is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30 KJV).
Remember:
(Colossians 1:9–10 NKJV) For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; {10} that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
(Colossians 1:12–14 NKJV) Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. {13} He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, {14} in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
(1 Corinthians 1:30 AKJV) But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.