The Mind of Christ – Dwells Upon

The Mind of Christ – Dwells Upon.

“Who is able to understand the mind of Lord Yahweh? Who is able to be His teacher? We, however, have the mind of Christ!” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

“We have…” (Greek, “echomen”), which means ‘are having,’ ‘are keeping,’ or ‘are holding;’ to have and to keep on having, an action in progress; a process that is now taking place; the present state is a continuing state. So the literal translation is, “We, however, are having the mind of Christ.” Through the Holy Spirit, we now are new creatures who were given the capacity to learn how to think like Jesus.

… the mind of Christ.” (Greek for mind is “nous,” which means the highest knowing faculty of the soul, the spirit and understanding behind all we think and do). Through the Holy Spirit, then…

We are being given the capacity to think the thoughts of the Anointed One;

We have the growing ability to reason, to be logical, and to think things through like Jesus;

We are being infused with the ability to understand God’s wisdom;

We are being equipped with the moral intelligence of the Lord;

We are being given access to the reasoning behind the actions of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit;

We are in the process of perceiving spiritual matters as Christ perceives them;

We have an increasing ability to understand life from God’s perspective;

We will be continually inspired to develop the divine common sense and street-smart shrewdness that Jesus was known for;

We are gaining insight into what truly matters according to the thinking of God;

We have a growing ability to reflect and ponder according to the will of Christ;

We enjoy an ongoing co-mingling of our mind with Christ’s mind, until the end, when the new will have completely replaced the old, and those two minds will be indistinguishable.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is gracious, whatever is admirable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise… dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8).

Dwell – (Greek, “logizesthe”), literally means to use your reason as you take full account of something; to deliberate in a sensible way as you consider the worth of something; to personally measure what counts in the eyes of God. In this passage, to dwell on these spiritual realities is to fix your mind on them, to meditate on them, to fill your mind with them, to focus deeply on them. To dwell on these heavenly realities is to dwell within them, to find a home inside these godly attributes, to think about these things to the extent that you are living into them. To dwell upon these things also means that your mind is creating a home for them to reside deep within you. To dwell upon is to allow these spiritual realities to become a part of your life, dwelling in you and shaping you. These virtues are not merely “passing fancies,” but fixed in your mind to the extent that they become a part of your character. The root word for “logizesthe” is the meaningful Greek word “logos.” So, to dwell on these aspects of divine goodness means we are to become “logos-like” in the life of the mind, to think and reason like the heavenly Logos. To be logos-like is to truly use the mind of Logos-Christ which has been given to us. To be logos-like is to stimulate the mind of Christ within by filling it with that which fills the mind of Christ Himself. To be logos-like is to think deeply about those realities that are pleasing to God and would draw us into a personal relationship with Him.

The mind is like a spacious mansion that attracts all kinds of visitors, some of them welcomed as honored guests and others are to be considered unwelcome at all costs. The doorkeeper to the mansion is to be vigilant and disciplined while discerning which visitors to turn away and which to welcome with open arms. If the wrong visitor is allowed entrance, the results will be disastrous, a complete destruction of the house. If entertained long enough inside the mansion, the harmful guest will become a squatter and will not be willing to leave. If the destructive guest somehow sneaks into the house, the doorkeeper needs to take drastic action and remove that guest permanently. The welcome guests are those who will enter the house only to benefit the resident and improve the house, and will bring love and joy and peace. Those welcome guests are focused on what’s best for the residence, improving the atmosphere and actually increasing the value of the house. The doorkeeper to each person’s mind is the person who follows the directions of Jesus, a Christ-follower who has the discernment and strength of will to close the door to unwelcome visitors to his mind. The wise doorkeeper has a certain mental discipline that can be called a holy stubbornness for that which is wholesome and godly. The wise doorkeeper to the mind knows what to include as occupants.

Let’s look at the guests who need to be welcomed into one’s mind versus the unwelcome visitors who only seek to destroy:

… whatever is true and faithful vs. whatever is untrue and unfaithful;

… whatever is honorable and noble vs. whatever is dishonorable and ignoble;

… whatever is righteous and just vs. whatever is unrighteous and unjust;

… whatever is pure and genuine vs. whatever is impure and fake;

… whatever is lovely and gracious vs. whatever is ugly and disgraceful;

… whatever is admirable and commendable vs. whatever can not be admired or commended in any way;

… that which is virtuous and morally excellent vs. that which is filled with vice and mediocrity;

… that which is worthy of praise and respect vs. that which is not worthy of any kind of praise or respect whatsoever.

Lock the Door. Has there ever been a time in history when discernment has been so important, when there have been so many unwelcome visitors banging on the doors of our mind? You name it: Internet, television, pornography, social media, violent video games, mindless entertainment, warped cultural events. Ask God for the discernment needed to sense the intentions of the visitors, whether they are of the Enemy or of the Savior, whether they are rooted in good or evil.

Hear and Do. To make sure the Philippian Christians understood the whole point of this teaching, Paul closed this passage with a key Hebraic principle: “Practice what you have learned…” (4:8).  The Greek word for practice is “prassete,” which means to keep on practicing, make it an ongoing daily effort to put these aspects of goodness into one’s lifestyle. Keep converting thought into action. Paul is saying that dwelling on something isn’t merely a cognitive experience, some abstract exercise in the mind that remains disconnected to the way one lives. Remember to complete the hearing with the doing. Flesh out the spiritual realities. Put these divine qualities into action. All these spiritual realities are intended to be practiced in daily life, becoming a part of one’s character. To fix one’s mind on these aspects of divine goodness results in those aspects becoming a fixed part of who we are in Christ. “Be doers of the Word,” says St. James in letter (1:22), and not hearers only.” We could add to that, “and not thinkers only.”