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After the fall, humanity became a walking dichotomy: God’s perfect creation but distorted in every way, including our minds. Part of what alienation from God means is that our minds are not right. Just because a person may know who God is, it does not mean his thinking is in line with God. The worst case of this in Scripture is the Devil and demons (James 2:19). Knowing God does not guarantee that our thoughts will lead to the right faith (Romans 10:16). Even after we become regenerated and are made right with God, our thinking continues to lag behind our identity in Christ.
The doctrine of progressive sanctification implies that our thinking will become more and more in line with how God thinks. The implication is our thinking is still not completely right, but can evolve incrementally.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:21).
The noetic effect of sin means our minds were darkened, futile, and foolish. Paul knew this, as we see in Romans 1:21. We also see him giving us some practical advice on how to overcome this problem in Philippians 4:8 by laying out a format to help us change our thinking. Most Christians know their thinking is off-center—not completely in line with God’s Word. I am not sure how aware they are of the depth of their depravity or how to correct their condition. The goal for them—and us—is to recalibrate our inferior Bible knowledge and the application of that knowledge. The more accurate we are with our theology and its proper application, the more holy we can be, the more sound we will think, and the more harmony we will experience with others.
While correct biblical knowledge and application are not everything, they are big things. We adjust and correct our practical faith in proportion to how we think about God and His Word. In a typical counseling session, part of my job is to help a person correct poor biblical thinking. They may know God, but they might be unaware of how various negative shaping influences have altered their thinking. I’m not only talking about the foundational shaping influence of being in Adam but also many shaping influences that have developed their minds before and after salvation.
The most obvious influence is the person’s parents or guardians. Other authorities are their genetic capacities and competencies, like IQ and DNA. Additionally, most of the people that I have counseled had negative relational and religious experiences. Sadly, religion has one of the most potent and adverse effects on a person who struggles with poor theological thinking.
One of the most potent shaping influences is fear. Fear is the most oft-repeated appeal in the Word of God. The Lord does not want us to live in fear. He knows we’re susceptible to fear’s encroachments, and one of the common ways a person fears is about God, e.g., their confidence in God’s Word regarding their salvation. Believers can genuinely doubt whether God has saved them. This debilitating tension is because their hearts were darkened, futile, and foolish. Then, God saved them. But as children of God, their minds were not perfected. They may not have learned how to apply the perfect righteousness that they received from Christ.
In such cases, their thinking needs to be changed and brought in line with the Word of God, the new authority over their minds. To help with that, I have created a fictional case study about a person who doubted his salvation. His name is Biff. In addition to questioning his salvation, Biff came to me struggling with depression and despair. The more we talked, the more I realized these were symptoms of a deeper problem. Underneath the depression was a heart of fear. But that was not the bottom of his struggles. With a few more directed questions and extended conversations, it became apparent that Biff had a culprit that motivated his fear. Biff was an unbelieving believer (Mark 9:24). Biff was not confident that God was satisfied with him.
Biff came from a legalistic religious culture. It was a fear-based culture of do’s and don’ts, lists, and rules. He was a rule-based practitioner of his religion with a genuine love for God, but he never could shake his poor theological premise of law-keeping. He layered his religious experience on top of a poor relationship with his father, which served as a pre-existing condition. Biff’s dad was quiet in speech and passive in action but never withheld his displeasure from his son when he felt Biff needed a stern lecture. Biff interacted with his dad very little unless he messed up, which is when he “got fussed at.” Experiencing love, grace, mercy, patience, and appreciation from another human being was a foreign idea for Biff. He brought this type of thinking into his rule-based religious experience. As you might suspect, being part of a religious movement that valued performance was perfect for Biff.
Though his dad never appreciated him, his religious culture did. In this new environment, Biff excelled in all the things they asked him to do. Through the preaching of the Word, he received a steady diet of rules and regulations, which he digested and imitated with zeal. The more rules that he obeyed, the more he felt appreciated. They told him what Bible to read, what kinds of clothes to wear, what types of music to listen to, what places were acceptable to go, what books were permissible, and what churches were approved to attend. He loved it. It worked. He was right with God and man. All he had to do was subscribe to their prescribed lists. Biff’s religion was ready-made for a person who had a strong desire to please.
And he was a quick study. He figured out the ropes and became a top-notch performer in his religious circle—but something was missing. Internally, Biff knew his thinking was off-center. As he read verses about how his relationship with God was not based on his works, he became confused (Titus 3:5). Though his religious culture affirmed a non-works, all of grace teaching, it was clear to him that what he did or did not do mattered more. He told me,
How could my works not matter to God when they were the raw materials for having any type of relationship with my religious friends? If I watched the wrong movie, listened to unapproved music, or went to a bad church, my approval rating among my friends tanked.
Without seeking to understand me or help me, they judged me and began to distance themselves from me. If I did conform to my Christian culture’s preferences, I could enter back into their good graces. If I did not, they would shun me because they said I was a dangerous influence on their friends. Then they would tag me with the “L” word, and I don’t mean legalist. I was a liberal. It is so hard to understand. Does God grade me this way? My friends were like my dad, and I began to think God was this way, too.
It was not long before Biff’s relationship with God grew cold. In time, he chucked his religion altogether and began living a liberal, licentious lifestyle. His religious friends did what he expected them to do: they judged him and then promptly separated from him. According to their legalistic calculating, it was a justified response because they warned him.
What his friends did not understand was their religion pushed Biff toward his crisis of faith. In Biff’s mind, his father, religion, friends, and God were all the same: right behavior was a condition for a relationship.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
By the time Biff came to me, he was spiritually distant, angry, and cynical. From Biff’s stunted perspective, God was on the sidelines. Trust was not a possibility. It was a trifecta of rejection: religion, family, and God—all based on his performance. Biff was depressed and discouraged. He had lost hope. We spent hours hammering out a new theology. Though he came to me outwardly distant, it became apparent that he wanted help. He was in search of the true and living God. He needed a change of mind.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Philippians 4:8).
I wanted Biff to change his mind about God’s acceptance of him. I wanted him to see that it was not based on his behavior but on the behavior of Jesus Christ. Biff’s behavior would never merit a proper and pleasing relationship with the Father, but Christ’s works would. I hoped Biff would understand the gospel practically. During one of our initial counseling sessions, I began to map out Philippians 4:8 for Biff. I wanted him to practically see how to move from stinking thinking to biblical thinking. You can follow the process laid out in the mind map with any bad thoughts you have. Here are the steps I mapped out for Biff.
By the time he reached the bottom of the page, his thoughts had changed from how Adam had shaped them because of the fall, bad parenting, and poor religion to a new kind of shape by the Word of God. He repented of his stinking thinking and began to think like an informed biblicist. You can do this too. If you’re not familiar with God’s Word, it may serve you to find someone who is, so they can help you adjust whatever thoughts need changing. If you are comfortable enough to do this alone, go for it. My appeal is that you share how God is changing your thinking.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).
