Be Transformed: Romans 12:1-3

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

When Jamil was about eight years old I saw him with this object in his hand. The object had several movable parts that Jamil continually twisted in his hands. I asked him what the object was, and he told me that it was a transformer. Honestly, I had no idea what a transformer was. Jamil demonstrated to me that he could move the parts around and create different shapes and life forms. I learned that Transformers was a toy line and cartoon series. An individual toy’s part can be shifted to change it from a vehicle, a device, or an animal to a robot action figure and back again.

In the book of Romans the apostle Paul tells us who and what we are as sinners and citizens of the world. He tells us that God has done everything needed so that we can be saved from our sins. Through Jesus Christ we are justified—made right with God and given admission into the kingdom of God. We do not have the power to transform ourselves. Rather, we place our lives in God’s hands so that He transforms us into the person that He wants us to be. In this article I want to talk about our need to be transformed, God’s work in our transformation, and our duty to submit to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

Let us begin by stating that every human being is a social being by means of how God created us to be. In Genesis 1-3, we read that God created a man and gave him work to do. Then, God saw that it was not good for the man to be alone so God created a help meet for him. The man and the woman enjoyed each other and they were compatible in every way. The couple was made in God’s image and they conformed to God’s character and His moral requirements for human life. All was well until the Serpent (Genesis 3) convinced them to do things differently. They could make up their own minds about what was best for them. They had the right to choose for themselves how they wanted to live their life. God said that they should not eat fruit from the tree in the middle of the Garden. The serpent said that the decision was not God’s decision to make. They had the right to make the decision for themselves.

The first couple followed the advice of the serpent, and they were immediately transformed. They were no longer human beings created in the image of God conformed to His image. Their nature was changed from that of a sinless nature to a sinful nature, conformed to the image and nature of the evil one. God drove them out of the garden, and they and all of their descendents were separated from God. The entrance to the garden was blocked so that they could not come into God’s presence. They no longer had their daily meeting with God. They had to make their own way. Isn’t it hilarious that the serpent tells us that we can make better choices than God can? Yet, the serpent (the devil, Satan) offers the human race no advice to help human being to make good decisions. He offers no help when we are faced with the various problems of life that we encounter. Jesus gives us the reason that the devil does nothing to help us. In talking with the religious leaders of His day Jesus said to them, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44, NASB). Did you get that? The world under the influence of the devil lives by the devil’s lies and his intent for people to destroy (murder) one another. “‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy’” (Jn. 10:10). In the world there is certain death. How can we have life? The purpose for Paul’s letter to the church at Rome was to tell the believers that there was hope of life both in duration and quality of life.

Paul begins his letter to the Romans with a profound statement that gives him purpose for preaching the gospel. He writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16, NASB). Romans 1-11 Paul states that God has shown mercy to the human family by the offering of His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sins. The sacrifice of Jesus makes entrance back into the garden possible. Jesus gives us our only access to the Father. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” (Jn 14:6, NASB). We can come into the presence of God because Jesus died so that we could be made right with God if we believe in Him. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). The death of Jesus made possible entrance into the kingdom of God who has shown us mercy because of God’s love for His creation. “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NASB).

The toy that Jamil held in his hands could be transformed, but the toy did not have its own power to transform itself. Jamil could decide what he wanted the toy to be transformed into. In like manner, we human beings were created in the image of God. God has never deviated from His design and purpose for human life. Romans 1-11 give us the theology of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Romans 12 tell us the practical living out of our renewed relationship with God. What are we supposed to do in view of God’s mercy in reconciling us unto Himself?

Paul writes, “I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Rom. 12:1, NASB). In the Old Testament the Law required that the people offer sacrifices to God. Now that Jesus has died the old sacrifices have ceased. The author of Hebrews explains. The author writes, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4, NASB). Since Jesus died once and for all sins, we no longer need to worship God through the offering of sacrifices and gifts. Instead we are to offer ourselves to God. This means that God does not want anything from us since everything belongs to God. When we believe the gospel and give our lives to Jesus Christ we become the sacrifice that we offer to God. Our sacrifice to God is our “spiritual service of worship” (Rom. 12:1).

Our second duty that Paul names is that of changing our way of living. We are in the process of maturing in our relationship with God. There are two things that are required of us so that we change in character and conduct. First, we do not conform to the world. This means that we no longer hold to the philosophies, methodologies, and standards that the world holds to. From a human point of view these things are good. They are the means by which we are able to attain a good life in the world. What we must acknowledge is the fact that our philosophies, methodologies, and standards are unable to bring peace among people groups. They cannot offer real and lasting solutions to all the problems that we encounter in the world. There remain lies, murder, greed, envy, and other character traits that cause people to hold hostilities toward each other. Nothing that the world has to offer can stop human cruelties to one another. So, Paul offers us a better way.

We must be transformed. Let us not forget that we cannot be transformed until we have stopped being conformed. We cannot be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ as long as we remain conformed to the image of the devil. Paul say that being transformed is a personal decision to daily put off the old self, which is a sinful nature (Gal. 5:19-21), and put on the new self which bears the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). It is not possible for one to be controlled by the desires of the flesh and the Spirit at the same time. There is a war going on in our bodies because the flesh and the Spirit are enemies of each other competing for our lives. We must take responsibility for who wins the battle. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). How do we renew our mind? We can we have the mind of Christ and “prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (v. 2) by continuing in the words of Jesus (Jn 8:31-32: The problem for us is that we do not have the power (ability) of our own selves to transform ourselves. What are we to do?

The ability to hold to the word and wisdom of God is given to the believer by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus gave the apostles their assignment to preach the gospel, He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to be with them (See John 14:15-17, 26). In Acts 2 we have an account of the Holy Spirit empowering the 120 witnesses to speak for God and from that time till the present day believers have depended on the Holy Spirit for wisdom, guidance, and everything needed to live for Jesus, obeying His commandments and making the gospel known to people everywhere even in the face of opposition.

We cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ if we conform to the world. We cannot be effective witness if we are not transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17, NASB). The believer no longer conforms to the world because the believer has been transformed. They have the mind of Christ and do the will of the Father in heaven.