The Mind of Man
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Understanding
1 Corinthians 14:14 “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.”
As we will see in this section there are three main components that make up the mind of man i.e. the understanding, the emotions and faith. The first and main component which we will discuss is our understanding. The reason we say that the understanding is the main component of the mind, is because whenever the bible speaks of the understanding of an individual it is in fact referring to the mind as a whole. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul differentiates between the spirit and the mind of the believer, by explaining that it is possible for the spirit of the believer to be doing something that does not involve the mind of the believer and visa versa. The word translated “understanding” in this passage can also be translated “intellect” or “mind”. When scripture refers to the understanding of an individual it is referring to the reasoning aspect of our thinking i.e. our ability to comprehend, and it is in fact God who gives us that ability (2 Timothy 2:7).
Emotions
Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”
The second component of our minds that we will discuss is our emotions. So what are our emotions? Our emotions are given to us by God to express our feelings. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul speaks of one such emotion i.e. anger and he counsels believers to allow themselves to display that emotion when it is appropriate to do so. There are numerous emotions mentioned in scripture such as sorrow for example (2 Corinthians 7:10), but we will not discuss all of them here as in this section I wanted to just highlight the truth that emotions form part of the make up of the mind of man and what their purpose is. Emotions are reliant on the understanding component of our minds for they are reactive to our understanding. In other words we become angry when we have understanding of a particular situation that we perceive to be unjust for example. Normally emotions are of short duration, because they are very often reliant on the circumstances that people find themselves in, and so as their circumstances change so do the emotions they display. For example there is an emotion of cheerfulness or happiness which is expressed when circumstances are favourable to the saint (James 5:13). This particular emotion is not be confused with joy of the spirit however, which is one of the nine fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22). Because as one of the fruit of the spirit, joy is constant in the life of the believer and is not at all reliant on whether circumstances are favourable or not. Emotions in and of themselves are neither righteous nor sinful, but rather are given by God to allow us to express the right feelings at the appropriate moment. When a person allows their emotions to govern their behaviour however, i.e. one who is always angry for example, then that display of emotion becomes sinful and more often than not there is a spiritual (demonic) influence that drives that excessive display of emotion.
Faith
Romans 4:19-22 “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. (20) He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. (22) And therefore “It was accounted to him for righteousness.”
The third part of the mind of man which we will discuss is our faith and more specifically our faith in God. God endows every human being born into the earth with the gift of faith, and that faith resides in the mind of man. It is because all men are endowed with the gift of faith that children have what is often referred to as childlike faith (Mark 9:42). The faith given is primarily for the individual to be able to appropriate the promises of God in their lives, including the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. When believers are born-again God imparts an additional measure of faith to the individual, which allows them to operate in the gifting that they have received in the body of Christ (Romans 12:3-4). So how does an individual exercise the faith that resides in their minds? In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul uses Abraham as an example to teach us about that concept. The context of the above example is that God had given Abraham His word that he and Sarah would have a son in their old age. And so we see that the first step in exercising our faith is that God must reveal his word (promise) to us. In other words God must give us understanding of His word. For example, because God does not give unbelievers understanding of the gospel of salvation, they cannot exercise their faith to be saved (Mark 4:11-12). Paul then goes on to teach us in this passage that Abraham became fully convinced that God could do what He had promised. In other words Abraham became fully convinced in his mind that God’s word was true (Romans 14:5). Some will ask the question what it means to be fully convinced in one’s mind about the truthfulness of God’s word. It simply means that all doubt is removed, and so whereas the individual may have been in two minds about a subject before, they have now become single minded on the subject i.e. they are now fully convinced in their minds (James 1:6-8). And so we see that the second step in exercising our faith is to renew our thinking to become fully convinced about the truthfulness of God’s word on a particular subject. To become fully convinced in our minds as to the truthfulness of God’s word is the same thing as believing in His word. When that happens the saint’s thinking becomes fully focused on the reality of God’s word to the exclusion of the natural reality of their circumstances. In the above example we see that Abraham no longer considered either his or Sarah’s physical conditions and became completely focused on what God had said on the subject. And so we see that it is only when we are fully convinced in our minds that our faith is then finally activated. Some get to this point and go no further. For example when Jesus walked in the flesh, there were many scribes in Judea who believed (i.e. they were fully convinced) that He was the Messiah, but the scripture teaches us that they did not confess Him because they feared the Jews and didn’t want to give up their places in the Jewish synagogues (John 12:42-43). In other words they chose not to act on that which they believed. And so we see that the third and final step in exercising our faith is to make the wilful decision to act on that which we believe. The apostle Paul cautions the saints in this area however, for he warns us not to act before we are fully convinced, because to do so would not be an act of faith and in fact those actions would be considered sinful (Romans 14:23). Nevertheless for those saints who are fully convinced the next step is to act on that which they believe. The apostle James put it this way, “by works (our actions) faith is made perfect (or complete)” (James 2:22). It is only when our faith is completed i.e. fully exercised, that it releases the power of God which transforms our natural circumstances to line up with the reality of God’s word. In other words our circumstances are changed to conform to God’s word. And so when Abraham and Sarah finally acted on God’s word, Isaac was conceived.
The Mind of Man
The above diagram is an illustration of the various parts of the mind of man and how they function in relation to each other. And so as we can see the understanding, the emotions, and faith of man make up the various components of the mind of man.
Michael E.B. Maher
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