The renewing of the mind is not a side issue or a matter of personal improvement—it is the very heart of spiritual warfare and the only path to genuine transformation in Christ. As Paul commands in Romans 12:2, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This is not a suggestion for spiritual growth; it is a dividing line between walking in the flesh and walking in the Spirit, between inheriting the riches of Christ and remaining bound to the world’s system.
The World’s System: The Real Enemy
The world is not neutral. Its system of thought—what Paul calls “the spirit of the age”—is inherited by every person simply by existing in it. This system includes not only secular philosophies and cultural trends, but also religious traditions, institutional patterns, and even scriptural distortions passed down through generations. These are not harmless customs; they are the very means by which “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Corinthians 4:4). The world’s system is designed to keep you from seeing the glory of Christ and to foster a carnal mind that is fundamentally hostile to God (Romans 8:7).
Conformity to this world is effortless—unless you actively resist, you will be shaped by its patterns. Every belief system is, at its root, religious: it either upholds God’s testimony concerning His Son or it twists, suppresses, and denies it. The world’s wisdom stands in direct opposition to the wisdom of God revealed in Christ.
The Natural Man: No Neutral Ground
Scripture is unambiguous: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Your natural mind, shaped by the world’s system, cannot and will not submit to God’s truth. It is not merely ignorant; it is enmity against God. This is why spiritual blindness persists even among those who are outwardly religious. The flesh, strengthened by inherited ideas and self-effort, cannot receive spiritual things.
The spiritual man, on the other hand, begins with the cross. He recognizes, with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) and has become a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The wisdom of God is not hidden from us but hidden for us in Christ, accessible only as we deny ourselves and embrace the cross.
The Cross: The End of the Old, the Beginning of the New
The cross is not a mere symbol—it is God’s judgment upon everything of Adam: your flesh, your inherited traditions, your best efforts, and even your religious zeal. Through the cross, “the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14). The law’s demands and sin’s dominion are terminated. You are not called to improve the old man, but to recognize that he has been condemned and put to death with Christ.
This is the battleground of the mind. As Paul writes, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The real warfare is not against external accusations, but against the deeply rooted ideas and imaginations that oppose God’s testimony.
Repudiating the Flesh: Freedom Through the Cross
When you acknowledge that you have been crucified with Christ, you are liberated from the compulsion to defend your own ideas, traditions, and religious identity. You are free to repudiate everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God—even if it masquerades as spirituality. This is not self-improvement; it is the wholesale condemnation of the old self and its ways. Only then can your mind be renewed and your thinking aligned with God’s hidden wisdom in Christ.
Unlearning Religious Tradition: The Cost of Clinging to the Old
Many believers, even after years in the faith, remain bound by religious traditions and institutional teachings that are nothing more than the world’s wisdom dressed in spiritual language. These traditions are not neutral—they are strongholds that must be cast down. If you cling to them, you forfeit the reality of your inheritance in Christ and remain trapped in a cycle of fleshly effort and spiritual frustration.
To accept the world’s system, even in its religious form, is to lose access to the spiritual blessings that are yours in Christ. You cannot walk in the Spirit while holding onto the flesh. The cost is nothing less than the loss of genuine transformation, the forfeiture of your inheritance, and the collapse of the assurance that comes from justification by faith alone.
The Fatal Error of Legalism
Legalism—seeking sanctification by works, law-keeping, or human effort—does not subdue the flesh; it strengthens it. When you attempt to use the law as a tool for holiness, you set aside the cross and sow to the flesh. The result is not righteousness, but strife, division, jealousy, and every work of the flesh. This is not a secondary issue. To abandon Christ crucified as your only ground is to undermine the very foundation of the gospel and to make void the love of God.
God is not looking for your love for Him, tainted as it is by sin and self. He is looking to shed abroad His love in your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). True sanctification is the fruit of receiving, not achieving.
The Only Path to Transformation
The way forward is not to try harder, but to condemn the flesh to the cross and receive your inheritance in Christ as a free gift. Only as you stand in the finished work of Christ—reckoning yourself dead to the world and alive to God—will your mind be renewed and your life transformed. This is not theoretical; it is the only way to walk in the Spirit, to experience spiritual blessing, and to stand victorious in the true warfare of the Christian life.
If you refuse this path—if you cling to the world’s wisdom, inherited traditions, or the strength of your own flesh—you will remain blind, powerless, and cut off from the riches of your inheritance. But if you embrace the cross, repudiate the flesh, and receive the renewing of your mind, you will discover the hidden wisdom of God, walk in true spiritual victory, and inherit every blessing that is yours in Christ.
