Paradigm Shift

and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.  Ephesians 4:23-24 NASB

In the spirit of your minds – What comes first—the chicken or the egg?  What comes first—a change in thinking or a change in behavior?  Paul’s Greek message seems to suggest that the new man begins with a change in thinking, but many examples from the Semitic world support the idea that changes in behavior results in new thinking.  Perhaps transformation can occur in either direction and Paul suggests this “thought to action” pattern because he is writing in a Greek-speaking world.  Nevertheless, we should recognize the counter example of na’aseh ve-nishma (“we will do and we will hear) in Exodus 24:7.[1]  Perhaps what truly matters is the change; the direction is only secondary.

Paul’s statement reveals another Greek priority: the place of cognition.  Paul doesn’t write, “in your spirit,” but rather “in the spirit of your minds.”  In Hebrew we might have written only the first part, “in your spirit,” because the Hebrew view of human being focuses on the essential relationship between God’s animating breath (spirit) and our living being.  The Greek paradigm shifts this equation.  For the Greeks, cognition is the focal point of human existence.  The real is the rational.  Man is the measure of all things.  Mind over matter.  Our contemporary Western world is built on this idea.  In fact, for all practical purposes, the “spirit” has been exiled from the modern world.  Mircea Eliade calls this the non-religious man.[2]

But it is only in the modern societies of the West that nonreligious man has developed fully. Modern nonreligious man assumes a new existential situation; he regards himself solely as the subject and agent of history, and he refuses all appeal to transcendence. In other words, he accepts no model for humanity outside the human condition as it can be seen in the various historical situations. Man makes himself, and he only makes himself completely in proportion as he desacralizes himself and the world. The sacred is the prime obstacle to his freedom. He will become himself only when he is totally demysticized. He will not be truly free until he has killed the last god.[3]

Certainly Paul did not endorse this extension of Greek cognition.  When he writes, “in the spirit of your minds,” he is thinking in Hebrew, not Greek.[4]  In the Hebrew worldview, “mind” is a kind of summary of several Hebrew terms: lēb, lēbāb, yēṣer, nepeš.  Every one of these terms has divine overtones.  In other words, it’s not possible to think of human beings in Hebrew terms without including a divine connection.  Every word used to describe what it means to be human has its roots in the divine creative act.  Putting on the “new self” isn’t just thinking differently about the world.  It is thinking about the world from the perspective of the God of Israel.  That’s why Paul adds, “in the likeness of God.”  His audience, once part of the polytheistic culture of Ephesus, is exhorted to adopt a singular point of view; the point of view elucidated in the Hebrew scriptures.  In other words, become “Jewish” in thought and action.

It’s important to recognize that Paul’s idea of becoming Jewish in the first century is not the same as conversion to Judaism today.  Paul argued quite strongly that inclusion in the Messianic community did not mean conversion to orthodox Judaism (Acts 15).  What it meant was adopting a worldview based on the teachings of the Messiah on the Torah.  For those coming from a pagan culture, this change meant adopting a Jewish way of living.  For Jews, it meant recognizing Yeshua’s role in God’s plan.  Pagans converted.  Jews accepted.  The practices outlined in Acts 15 involve leaving behind pagan rites and rituals—and slowly relearning what it meant to live according to Moses.  Thought processes were involved, but what really mattered was change in behavior.  Give up some ways of behaving by replacing them with other ways.  Then the worldview will change along with the actions.

Paul is extremely anxious for his reading audience to adopt a new way of living.  This new way of living is based on righteousness, holiness, and truth.  Those terms are defined by the Tanakh, and so are the actions that come from them.  The new way of living is really adopting a very old way of living.  It’s not getting rid of ancient instructions.  It’s making those ancient instructions contemporary.

Topical Index: new man, mind, heart, inclination, self, conversion, Ephesian 4:23-24

[1] For further exegesis, see https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/mishpatim/we-will-do-and-we-will-hear/

[2] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/626643-a-non-religious-man-today-ignores-what-he-considers-sacred-but

[3] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9878015-it-is-easy-to-see-all-that-separates-this-mode

[4] For another investigation of this verse, see https://skipmoen.com/2022/10/an-act-of-creation/