presents itself, not as a mere
republication of morality, not as merely a new stimulus and motive to
do what is right, but as an actual communication to men of a new
power to work in them, a strong hand laid upon our poor, feeble hand
with which we try to put on the brake or to apply the stimulus. It is
a new gift of a life which will unfold itself after its own nature,
as the bud into flower, and the flower into fruit; giving new
desires, tastes, directions, and renewing the whole nature. And so,
says Paul, the beginning of transformation of character is the
renovation in the very centre of the being, and the communication of
a new impulse and power to the inward self.

Now, I suppose that in my text the word 'mind' is not so much
employed in the widest sense, including all the affections and will,
and the other faculties of our nature, as in the narrower sense of
the perceptive power, or that faculty in our nature by which we
recognise, and make our own, certain truths. 'The renewing of the
mind,' then, is only, in such an interpretation, a theological way of
putting the simpler English thought, a change of estimates, a new set
of views; or if that word be too shallow, as indeed it is, a new set
of convictions. It is profoundly true that 'As a man thinketh, so
is he.' Our characters are largely made by our estimates of what is
good or bad, desirable or undesirable. And what the Apostle is
thinking about here is, as I take it, principally how the body of
Christian truth, if it effects a lodgment in, not merely the brain of
a man, but his whole nature, will modify and alter it all. Why, we
all know how often a whole life has been revolutionised by the sudden
dawning or rising in its sky, of some starry new truth, formerly
hidden and undreamed of. And if we should translate the somewhat
archaic phraseology of our text into the plainest of modern English,
it just comes to this: If you want to change your characters, and God
knows they all need it, change the deep convictions of your mind; and
get hold, as living realities, of the great truths of Christ's
Gospel. If you and I really believed what we say we believe, that
Jesus Christ has died for us, and lives for us, and is ready to pour
out upon us the gift of His Divine Spirit, and wills that we should
be like Him, and holds out to us the great and wonderful hopes and
prospects of an absolutely eternal life of supreme and serene
blessedness at His right hand, should we