Eph.4:20-23 – But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
This passage gives us a look inside the process of being continually transformed by the Lord. Paul calls this process renewal, the work of the Spirit and the Word of God in this beautiful work of transformation. God works on us through our spirit and our mind at the same time. When your spirit is being infused with the power of God He quickens the Word of God in our mind. The Spirit and the Word work in tandem in our lives. This comes as no surprise because the Trinity is always working together. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit and Jesus is the Word who became flesh. They are working in our lives in unison to make all things new in us. This is how Jerome describes the work of renewal in our lives.
“We are not being renewed in our thinking process apart from the renewal of our spirits. Nor are we renewed in our spirits without thinking. We are being jointly renewed “in the spirit of our mind.” Hence as we sing psalms in the spirit, so we also sing them in our thoughts. As we pray in the spirit, so we also pray in our thoughts. The renewal of “the spirit of our mind” means that when the thought is clear and pure … then the spirit is rightly joined to it. They are so coupled as if by a cohesive glue that we no longer speak simply of spirit but of the spirit of our mind.”
The new birth is just the beginning of this process. Our spirits are made alive by the Holy Spirit when we hear the gospel. The Word and the Spirit together gave us this new birth. Our spiritual growth works the same way, we soak ourselves in the Word of God and pray in the Spirit. These spiritual disciplines are what Paul was talking about when he said to clothe ourselves with Christ. He is making all things new in our lives as we cooperate with the Word and the Spirit and their beautiful plan of renewal in our lives.
