What Were You Thinking?

Sanctification is a transformation of the believer into the image of Christ. If believers are going to please God, they must involve themselves in the process of spiritual transformation. The goal of this article is to suggest some basic truths regarding Biblical transformation as expressed in Romans 12:2. Paul asks two questions. First, into what should a believer be transformed? Second, how can a believer achieve spiritual transformation?

Transformed into What?

“Into what should a believer be transformed?” Paul answers this question negatively and positively. Negatively, a believer is commanded to “be not conformed to this world.” “Conformed” carries the idea of fitting into a mold.1 “World” is “age” or “era.” Believers are not to fit into the mold created by this age. The thought processes of sinful people can create a mold into which believers can allow themselves to be pressed. When a believer blends into the unbelieving environment, he loses the ability to have influence for Christ (i.e., he fails to be salt and light).

Positively, Paul commands that believers “be transformed.” This conveys the idea of changing inwardly from one form to another.2 Believers must be changed from the mold of this age into something else. Paul indicates the image into which believers are to be changed in the broader context of this passage. In Romans 8:29 Paul uses a different word for “transformed.” Believers are predestined to be “conformed” (i.e., changed, transformed) to the image of His Son. Christ’s sinless life provides the content of the believer’s transformation. When the believer is changed in this way, he gains influence in the sinful world in which he lives (i.e., becomes salt and light).

Transformed … How?

The second question is, “How can a believer achieve spiritual transformation?” There are at least two inadequate methods used to effect transformation. First, some suggest that people are transformed by changing their will. They make a list of rules and make the incentive for obedience great enough to comply. This method produces only an external conformity. People behave in a particular way because they want to avoid the punishment for violation of the standard. This kind of “change” is only temporary. Once the external incentive is removed, the “change” disappears. There are many examples of young people who showed their true colors after leaving the disciplined structure of their home. External conformity is not genuine transformation.

Second, some suggest that people are transformed by emotional appeals. They tell a few moving stories and ask people to change. They plan an emotionally charged service with little depth of Biblical truth. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to maintain the level of emotional fervor that produced the “change.” The motivation for change vanishes with the change in emotion.

While both will and emotion play a part in the transformation process, they are inadequate in and of themselves because they only cause temporary change. The transformation lasts only as long as the incentive for obedience or the emotion lasts.

The proper means by which this spiritual transformation occurs is stated in Romans 12:2. Lives are changed “by the renewing of [the] mind.” True Biblical transformation involves a change of thinking. Believers need to replace sinful thinking with Biblical thinking. Scripture teaches several significant facets of this process of renewing one’s mind.

First, it is a spiritual process. In order to think Biblically, the believer must know God’s thoughts, but only the Holy Spirit can truly know the mind of God (1 Cor. 2:10–12, 16). No amount of human skill or effort can transform lives apart from the Holy Spirit’s involvement. Paul’s command to be transformed is in the passive form. God transforms believers as they submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, believers must acknowledge the need for dependence upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the transformation process.

Second, it is a continual process. The tense of the command to “be transformed” indicates that it is a continual activity. Therefore, renewing the mind is also a continual process. Renewing the mind is a lifelong process for every believer. “Christians progressively take on the perfection of Jesus Christ through the Spirit’s operation.”3 Therefore, believers must properly interpret and apply Scripture.

Unfortunately, believers sometimes fill their minds with things from this world that desensitize them to the need for transformation. Believers should be praying for God to make them more aware of the need to continually change, not filling their minds with things contrary to it.

Third, it is an internal process. True spiritual transformation is an internal change of mind that results in a belief that a godly lifestyle is correct. Therefore, we must change our minds with the truth of Scripture. When our thinking is genuinely changed, behavioral change will naturally follow. There are at least two implications to this truth. First, we do not succeed when all we achieve is external conformity. Second, we become frustrated because we cannot seem to achieve victory over the sin. We may even give up trying, because we never analyze and change the sinful thinking into Biblical thinking that produces Christlike living.

Fourth, it is a mental process. It is the mind that is renewed. Sinful thinking that fits the mold of the world is natural to every man. Renewed thinking that is consistent with the image of Christ is not. It takes work to renew one’s mind. Spiritual transformation requires study of God’s Word. The better one understands theology, the clearer Christlike thinking becomes. It is shameful for a believer to say, “Don’t make me think, just tell me what to do.” Believers should be committed to serious Bible study.

It is not enough, however, to know Christlike thoughts and to see how they differ from the world’s thinking. We must accept Christ’s thinking as true and implement Christ’s thinking into our lives. For example, the world thinks that one should love in order to get something back. Christ loves without hypocrisy (Rom. 12:9). When a believer thinks that love without hypocrisy is correct, he will act in a way that is consistent with that thought.

Fifth, it is a noticeable process. As the mind is renewed, one’s behavior is changed (Col. 3:1–17). The believer lives according to a godly standard because he is convinced of its rightness. Believers will rejoice with those who rejoice rather than envying them (Rom. 12:15). Believers will associate with people of low position rather than guarding social position (Rom. 12:16). Believers will be truly humble rather than conceited (Rom. 12:16).

Sixth, it is a beneficial process. God’s will is good, acceptable, and perfect. The purpose of transformation through renewed thinking is to prove or demonstrate something through testing. By living a transformed life the believer demonstrates that Christlike thinking is good (useful, helpful), acceptable (well pleasing to God; see v. 1), and perfect (mature, complete, having reached its purpose). When a believer is transformed by the renewing of his mind, he fulfills the purpose for which God called him— conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

Romans 12:2 provides basic truths regarding the spiritual transformation process. It teaches that spiritual transformation demands a continuous and vigorous refusal to fit into the mold of the world’s pattern of thinking. It also demands genuine change through the enabling of the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ. This change is accomplished by “renewing one’s mind.” This spiritual transformation process is not an option exercised by an elite few. It is commanded for all saints. Therefore, every believer should seriously study the Bible and make relevant application to his life. Transformation through renewed thinking is the only way to fulfill the purpose for which God saved us! We ought to regularly ask, “What was I thinking?”


Dr. Andrew Hudson is professor of New Testament at Maranatha Baptist Seminary, Watertown, Wisconsin.

(Originally published in FrontLine • July/August 2012. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)

  1. BDAG, 979. []
  2. BDAG, 639–40. This Greek word is similar to our English word “metamorphosis.” []
  3. Ibid. []