Featured Gospel Nonconformity Is Essential!

You will give an account to Christ some day for these idle words that do not have anything to do with the subject of my thread and uselessly waste one of the total number of comments allotted for this thread.

You are wrong. The command not to be conformed is distinct from the command to be transformed. Both are essential.

 

To understand why you are wrong, consider the difference between the following:

This is what the Holy Spirit inspired:

Rom.12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

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According to what you teach, in effect, this is what your teaching implies about what should have been said:

Rom.12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

*2 And be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God [text modified according to the wisdom of Aaron]."

By what you say, the inspired words "be not conformed to this world: but" are essentially meaningless, superfluous words that can be disregarded because all that matters is that we be transformed. Your teaching in effect is that being transformed is to take place and can take place without the obedience that the command to not be conformed to the world requires.

You are wrong. You are on very dangerous grounds. You are not wiser than God. Those words are not superfluous words.

Those words are an essential command from our infinite God. They must be obeyed. No one will be transformed who disregards what God has explicitly said.

Change your mind and honor God by acknowledging that He is right and you are wrong.

 

Your question appears to be based on a serious mishandling of Romans 12:1-2:

12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The commands in Rom. 12:2 are commands from God to Christians.

No one is automatically "a transformed individual with a redeemed mind" instantaneously at the moment of salvation--otherwise, there would be no need to command brethren not to be conformed and to be transformed.

Furthermore, the imperatives in Rom. 12:2 are present tense imperatives that signify that God commands Christians continually to do these things.

 

Those who live by the Spirit and walk by Him will heed everything that He has said in His Word. They will be diligently obedient to His command not to be conformed to this world.

Because God has commanded us not to be conformed to this world, we have to do so as He energizes us both to be willing and to be doing His good pleasure (Philip. 2:13).

 

This reminds me of what Scripture tells us about Moses:

Heb. 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Moses had to make a choice not to be conformed to the pleasure-seeking ways of the Egyptians that were sinful; the Spirit did not make the choice for him--he had to make that choice.

Similarly, Spirit-filled Christians have to obey God's command not to be conformed--such nonconformity is not something that the Spirit will just "zap" them with if they walk in the Spirit and are led by Him. We are going to have to choose to obey.

 

Yes, when we are properly yielded to Him (Rom. 12:1), God will always direct us in the paths of obedience to His commands (Rom. 12:2). He will not deny Himself or anything that He has said.

Notice that preceding Philip. 2:13, Paul commands believers to work out their own salvation:

Philip. 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Neither Paul nor any other Bible writer teaches that people work in order to be saved; they all teach that those who are saved must work out their salvation to its fullest expression and its intended ends in their renewed lives.

 

Yes, you have already made that point multiple times, and no one has disputed that point. There is no need for you to keep repeating something that no one has questioned or disputed.

Your doing so uses up more of the maximum number of comments allowed in this thread. Please refrain from making this point again.

 

In the context of a discussion board, where the number of comments is limited, it is not helpful for you to keep repeating something that does not advance the discussion. The point of this thread is not who gets the glory; it is what we must do in obedience to God so that He gets the glory that He deserves, desires, and demands from our renewed lives.