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#6.8 BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND FOR FORGIVENESS

Greek Word Study on μετανοέω, metanoeo, 'to repent'
Greek Word Study on μετάνοια, metanoia, 'repentance'

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Introduction 6.8

If you are a Christian who has struggled with sin in your Christian walk, making the same mistakes over and over again, then this study on how to repent is of the utmost importance to you. The more you become like Jesus, the less sin will be a problem in your life. This process of repentance will take you through that transformation - but be warned: it is no quick fix. True repentance is a slow ongoing process, dealing with each sin in your life as God reveals them to you. Total and utter destruction of each sin is what is required.
This bible study gives the eighth of nine steps to repentance, and teaches us that we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind to manifest our forgiveness. This is the eighth necessary step to putting on "the new man" (Ephesians 4:24) in us, which is the spirit of Christ: "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14), building us up in faith and love. A true repentance will break your spiritual chain and set you free. It will set in motion "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2) which will set you free from the law of sin and death.

#6.8 Be Transformed by the Renewing of our Mind for Forgiveness

ROMANS 12:1-2 (Paul)
1 I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed to this world: but be transformed1 by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:3 (Paul)
3 Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 (Paul)
18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:16 (Paul)
16 For which cause we do not faint; for though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

EPHESIANS 4:23-24 (Paul)
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
24 And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

COLOSSIANS 3:9-10 (Paul)
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

1 PETER 2:2
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

Note: From the day that we first believe, our Christian life ought to be one of continual transformation, from "the old man", which is our sinful self, into "the new man", which is Jesus Christ. This process sees Christ growing in us from "a babe" (1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Peter 2:2), until we become like Jesus. The fact that this is God’s will for each of us is revealed through several scriptures:

(Matthew 10:25) "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord."
(Romans 8:29) "For whom he did foreknow, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."
(1 Corinthians 15:48) "As is the heavenly, such are those also who are heavenly."
(1 Peter 2:21) "For even for this you were called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps."
(1 John 2:6) "He who says he abides in him aught himself also to walk, even as he walked."
(1 John 4:17) "As he is, so are we in this world."

It is no quick transformation, but is a process that takes place over a long period of time. The word translated be transformed1 (Gr. μεταμορφοῦσθε, Gtr. metamorphousthe) is the second person plural, present imperative passive, of the verb "metamorphoō", I transform. We have a similar word in English, "metamorphosis", which physically would mean "a change of shape", but spiritually "a change of character". A physical example of a metamorphosis would be a caterpillar when it is transformed into a butterfly, while a spiritual example would be a sinner, with the character of the Devil, when he is transformed into a saint with the character of Jesus. This would see us transformed from a life according to the flesh (Romans 8:1; 8:5; 8:8; 8:13), to a spiritual life of total faith. The present imperative indicates a command to continue to do something (DFH p92; JWW p74; WP p51), while the passive voice indicates that something is being done to us, rather than us doing something ourselves (DFH p69; JWW p69). So this word "metamorphousthe" would be more accurately translated "keep on being transformed", confirming that the transformation is a long process, rather than an instantaneous one. So as we study and read the word of God, "we all with open face beholding ... the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). We grow from "faith to faith" (Romans 1:17), as the word of God is "written ... with the spirit of the living God; ... in the fleshy tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3:3).

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