The Renewing Of The Mind

THE RENEWING OF THE MIND

According to Watchman Nee

I. THE RENEWING OF THE MIND

A. Mind

1. Two ways of translating

a. mind

b. understanding

2. In Greek --> it is the word nous

Used 24 times in New Test.

Romans 1:28; Romans 7:23; Romans 7:25; Romans 11:34; Romans 12:2; Romans 14:5; Romans 17:9; I Cor. 1:10; I Cor 2:16; I Cor. 14:14-15; I Cor 14:19; Eph. 4:17; Eph 4:23; Phil 4:7; Col. 2:18;

I Tim 6:5; II Tim 3:8; Titus 1:15; II Thes 2:2; Rev. 13:18; Luke 24:45

3. A believer must have a renewed nous to progress in their spiritual walk.

B. Man is composed of three parts pg 1-2

1. Spirit

a. Gives God-Consciousness

b. God makes things known to us through the intuition of the spirit.

c. Enables us to have communication with God

2. Soul

a. Lies between spirit and body and serves as a medium between the two.

b. Gives Self-Consciousness by which we can sense ourselves.

3. Body

a. Gives World-Consciousness

b. Communicates with the world around us.

II. THE HEART OF MAN

A. Heart of man

1. According to the Bible is:

a. The conscience of man's spirit

b. Plus, the mind in his soul.

2. The administrator of the spirit --> it expresses everything that is in the spirit. pg 2

3. The point of mutual interaction for the spirit and the soul, the place of intersection.

a. Anything that wants to enter the spirit must pass through the heart.

b. Anything that is expressed from the spirit must come out through the heart.

4. Scriptures

a. Prov 4:23 "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."

b. Matt 12:34 -35 "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh"

c. Matt 15:18-19 "things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart"

5. This is where our personality lies; it is our true self and the real "I". pg 3

6. According to the Bible, God gives us a new spirit and a new heart, not a new soul. pg 5

a. Ezek 36:26 “A new heart will I also give you and a new spirit will I put within

you"

b. Psalms 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit

within me.”

B. Operations of the heart

1. We are saved by believing in the heart. Romans 10:9 "believe in thine heart"

2. God blesses those who are upright in heart. Ps 7:10 "My defence is of God, which

saveth the upright in heart." Ps 64:10 "all the upright in heart shall glory"

3. God will judge the hidden things of the heart. I Cor 4:5 "manifest the counsels

of the hearts"

In order to have a good heart, we must have a good mind.

III. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NOUS AND A CHRISTIAN pg 7

A. A believer has a new spirit and a new heart.

1. The conscience and mind which is within the heart is new.

a. The conscience may not remain new continually or afterwards

(1) The function of the conscience is recovered to its original state, so

that he now hates sin and dislikes sinning.

(2) If one sins or tolerates sin over and over again and does not listen to his

conscience, after repeated sins the conscience will no longer rebuke;

it will lose its function. pg 8

b. The mind may not remain new continually or afterwards. pg 8

The mind works like the conscience stated above.

2. The nous is not renewed though it is within the mind. It must be renewed continually.

B. What is the nous?

1. Human being have

a. A brain

(1) Physiological aspect

(2) Everything related to physical

(3) Flesh --> gray and white matter

b. An intuition

Sometimes we feel we have it; sometimes we feel we do not have it. It seems that sometimes something urges us and sometimes it stops us. This is the intuition within us. pg 9

(1) Spiritual aspect.

(2) Our spirit receives its feeling from God.

c. A nous

(1) Psychological aspect

(2) Everything related to intellectual

(3) Our soul, through nous translates the intuition so that we may understand

what is conveyed to us.

(4) Controlled by intuition

(5) Falls between our brain and our intuition

2. The nous is:

a. Not the mind.

b. A big portion of the mind.

3. Then, the three faculties with which man gains knowledge:

a. With the body, it is the brain.

b. With the soul, it is the nous.

c. With the spirit, it is the intuition.

4. No mater how strong the intuition of a believer is and how good his brain is, if something is wrong with his nous:

a. He will live without any principle from morning to night. pg 9