Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Paul writes to the Roman church, pivoting from the call to offer their bodies as living sacrifice (12:1) to the practical demands of how they will think and judge (12:3).

The words — συσχηματίζεσθε (suschēmatizesthe) carries the prefix συ- ("together with"), meaning to be molded into the same shape as what surrounds you; the contrast μεταμορφοῦσθε (metamorphousthe) is a wholesale change of form, not a tweak. Both are passive imperatives: the agent is not the reader's effort.

The thread — The old-self/new-self movement appears in Ephesians 4:22 (putting off the old self corrupted by deceitful desires) and 2 Corinthians 5:17 (the old has passed away); 1 Peter 1:14 uses the same "do not conform" language against the passions of former ignorance.

Why it lands — The verse does not ask the reader to generate a new mindset by willpower; it asks them to stop defaulting to the age's patterns and to let their thinking be renewed so they can actually discern what God's will is.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.
Ephesians 4:22 to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
1 Peter 4:2 Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.
Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
John 15:19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.