 |  |
While we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, it is to be "reasonable" service and
we are to give none offence, while doing all to the glory of God (I Cor. 10: 31, 32).
Metamorphoomai is the word translated "transfigured" in Matt. 17: 2, and occurs
also in II Cor. 3: 18:
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord."
This transfiguration is associated with the "renewing" of the mind. The word is a
compound derived from kainos, "new", and takes us back once more to Rom. 6: & 7:,
where, in the same context as the "yielding" of our members, we read of "newness" of
life and "newness" of spirit (Rom. 6: 4, 7: 6).
Following on from II Cor. 3: 18, which we have just quoted above, we read in
II Cor. 4: 16 of the "renewing" of the inward man. The presence of the word
"image" in II Cor. 3: 18 and the "renewing" of II Cor. 4: 16 find a full explanation in
Col. 3: 9, 10:
"Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created
him."
The reader will have observed also the presence of the words "put on" which have
already appeared in Rom. 13: 12 and 14. And so the wonder of the Word grows upon
us the more we study it, and the more we search for its treasures.
In this epistle to the Romans, the Apostle has dealt with tremendous issues, involving
predestination and foreknowledge, and the arguments of Rom. 9:-11: Yet, if we
imagine that we shall find a treatise on this aspect of the Will of God in Romans, we shall
be disappointed. Thelema, "Will" occurs four times in Romans, as follows:
A | 1: 10. Making request . . . . . that I may have a prosperous journey,
by the Will of God, to come unto you.
B | 2: 18. And knowest His Will and approvest (dokimazo) the things
that are more excellent.
B | 12: 2. That you may prove (dokimazo) what is
that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God.
A | 15: 32. Pray . . . . . that I may come unto you with joy,
by the Will of God.
Here, it will be perceived, the subject is just two-fold. In the opening and closing
members, it is simply the recognition of the Will of God that must always temper our
requests and plans--a thought so simple that a believing child can understand it. In the
central members it is a question of the approval of the Divine Will by man. In the first
passage, taught only by law, and unrelieved by mercy, man's approval is superficial--the
"form of knowledge and of the truth in the law" (Rom. 2: 20)--while in the second
passage we have the far deeper experience of Rom. 12: 2.