POSTED 01 SEPTEMBER, 2006

The Work of the Holy Spirit:
Perfection of the Mind

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

delivered live at Shavuot 2006, Orlando, FL

In my first teaching, which dealt with the perfection of the heart, I began to speak about our need to have the center of our beings transformed into the character of our Messiah Yeshua. A transformed heart brings forth love, compassion, and mercy toward others, and is concerned about the salvation of the world. When we as individuals experience salvation we are to have a heart that orients itself toward God, and then every other aspect of our being begins to be changed. After the heart, the first area of ourselves that must experience transformation is the mind.

One of the challenges that we all face as a part of the fallen condition of humanity is that none of us will ever reach complete perfection. Even if we are redeemed souls who believe that Yeshua is the Savior, we will by-and-large be looking for that day when we wake up and we will be “entirely perfect.” Whether one is Jewish, Christian, or even Messianic, we largely adhere to an Aristotelian idea of perfection. The classical definition of perfection as given by Aristotle is that something is perfect when it “lacks nothing in respect of goodness or excellence” and “cannot be surpassed in its kind” (IDB).[1] The problem with this definition is that total goodness or excellence cannot exist in the fallen world in which we live. Even as Believers in Messiah Yeshua, we will not ever be “perfect” in this context because we live in a fallen world and will often slip up at times.

Of course, this does not mean that we are to not seek perfection, or be striving to overcome sin. Yeshua Himself taught, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). But this is something that we are to strive for in our daily walk of faith, as opposed to having it simply imparted to us. Notice that Yeshua issues this as a command. Perfection is something that must be sought out.

In the Scriptures themselves, we see a somewhat different portrayal of perfection than Aristotle’s definition. In the Hebrew Tanach, the term commonly indicating “perfection” is tamim (~ymT). This can mean “whole, entire,” “intact,” “free of blemish,” and “blameless” (CHALOT).[2] In relation to human character, it is most often rendered as “upright” or “blameless.” In the Greek Septuagint and Apostolic Scriptures the term teleios (teleioß) is used, primarily “pert. to being mature, full-grown, mature, adult” or quite possibly even “to being fully developed in a moral sense” (BDAG).[3] What all of these concepts indicate is that one who is striving to be “perfect” wants sinful behavior removed from his or her life, wants to be mature, and wants to be developing as an adult in the faith, able to deal with complicated ideas.

In Yeshua’s repetition of the Shema of Deuteronomy 6, He says that the greatest command is to “LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND” (Matthew 22:37; cf. Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). One aspect of our faith that I think is frequently overlooked and downplayed is the need for us to worship God with our minds. When we come to gatherings such as this and assemble in worship, many of us are singing loudly, we are raising our hands, some are even dancing in the aisles, but do we ever seriously consider what it means to worship God with our minds? Do we know what it means to have a transformation of our minds?

After our heart, the mind is clearly the first part of our beings that is to experience transformation. If one examines Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount and His sayings about one being angry with a neighbor, one having lustful inclinations, or simple hate for others, you can be rest assured that the Lord does place a high priority on our thoughts. It is not solely enough for us to commit a sinful act to be guilty; it is sufficient for us to have thoughts of committing a sin for us to be guilty. While some of us may watch science fiction shows where human telepaths are used to probe the thoughts and feelings of criminals or potential criminals, and we might shake our heads about how ludicrous and subjective it might be, God probes our minds all the time. He knows what each one of us is thinking right now. He knows if our thoughts are focused on Him, His Word, and the work that He has assigned us to do—or if we are thinking things that will take us away from Him and damage the relationship that He desires with us.

I hope that every day you wake up and you spend several moments in one-on-one time with the Lord. I hope that you pray for Him to give you a heart toward other people, and that you can properly represent Him in our sin-cursed world. But how many of you pray that He gives you a mind that can focus on Him?

End of sample excerpt.

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J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical Languages Award for Greek. He is author of numerous books, dealing with a wide range of topics that are important for today’s Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on theological issues, and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries of various books of the Bible.

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