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In the Bible there are two ways of translating the word mind: in some places it is translated "mind," and in other places it is translated "understanding." But in Greek it is the word nous. This word nous is used twenty-four times in the New Testament. Their references will be listed below. After this we will see how nous is related to the believers. The believers must have a renewed nous. Only then can they progress before God; only then can they progress in their spiritual walk.
Man is composed of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. The Bible shows us that man not only has a spirit, but a body also; he not only has a spirit and a body, but a soul as well. Why must man have a soul even though he has a spirit and a body? The soul lies between the spirit and the body and serves as a medium between the spirit and the body. The soul is the part which interposes. Everything that God wants to make known to us, He makes known through the intuition of the spirit. The spirit gives us God-consciousness; it enables us to have communication with God and sense God. The body is given to us by God to communicate with the world; through the body we can feel everything in the world. God has also given us a soul, which gives us self-consciousness and by which we can sense ourselves. Human beings are not like angels who have only a spirit without a body. Human beings have a spirit and a body. Our soul, the buffer zone, is between the spirit and the body. Everything of our spirit and body is expressed through our soul.
Incidentally, I want to mention what the heart of man is so that we may understand what the mind of man is. What we usually call the heart, according to the Bible, is the conscience in man's spirit plus the mind in his soul. This is the heart. The spirit is the organ for communicating with God, for being intimate with God, for understanding the will of God, and for knowing God. The heart is the administrator of the spirit; it expresses everything that is in the spirit. Everything the spirit has is expressed by our heart. The heart is composed of man's conscience plus his mind. The whole Bible speaks about the heart in this way. Therefore, the heart is the point of mutual interaction for the spirit and the soul, the contiguous place and the place of intersection. It is like the central exchange of the telephone company where all the lines intersect and all the calls pass through. Anything that wants to enter the spirit must pass through the heart before it can enter. Anything that is expressed from the spirit must also come out through the heart, because the heart is the place of mutual interaction, the point of contact, and the place of mutual reception. The spirit reaches the soul through the heart. The soul, including what it feels from the outside, reaches the heart, and from the heart passes through to the spirit. This is where our personality lies; it is our true self and the real "I." The heart is the connecting point of the spirit and the soul. Therefore, the heart is the "I." We have to read the Bible to find out what it says about the heart. After this we will see how the heart is related to us and how important a position it occupies. Let us read several verses in the Bible concerning the heart.
Psalm 4:4 says, "Consider in your heart upon your bed,/ And be silent." In other words, your heart is your self; therefore, you commune with it. It is like the Chinese saying: "The heart discusses with the mouth."
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." "Keep thy heart" should be "guard your heart." The word "issue" should be translated "outlet." You should guard your heart because it is the outlet of life. All fruit that man bears outwardly originates from the heart. This is why I have said that the heart is the person himself.
Matthew 12:34-35 says, "Offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man, out of his good treasure, brings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil things." The Lord Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, because the heart is the man himself. Therefore, a good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. Therefore, the sins and evil deeds that a sinner commits all come out of the heart. The heart is the mingling of the spirit and soul. Therefore, all evil things come out of the heart.
Matthew 15:18-19 says, "But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies." What comes out of the heart is unclean because what is inside of man is unclean.
It is very interesting that, even though man is composed of three parts (spirit, soul, and body), when the Bible speaks of our regeneration, it does not say that God gave us a new soul, but it says that God gave us a new spirit and new heart. God gave us a new spirit, which enables us to communicate with Him and which causes our deadened spirit to recover its function. God also gave us a new heart, which enables us to have a new living on earth and new inclinations.
Although there is something in common between the spirit and the heart, the Bible maintains a boundary between the two so that there is no confusion. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." God does not say, "I will give you a new spirit and a new soul." In God's view the organ of the soul does not need to be changed. The personality of man does not need to be changed either. However, the heart of man does need to be changed because out of the heart are the issues of life. This is why the heart should be fixed.
What happens to a believer's spirit and heart when he sins? Psalm 51:10 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; / and renew a right spirit within me." This verse speaks of the heart and the spirit. The heart and the spirit are what God is concerned with. If the heart of a believer is defiled, he should ask God to create in him a clean heart and a right spirit. Therefore, our hearts must be clean and our spirits must be right.
The Bible places this emphasis on the heart in order to cause us to see the important position that the heart occupies in the Bible. The heart is very important because the heart is our real self. The condition of our heart is our real condition. The heart is the source of man's life. The heart includes the conscience in his spirit and the mind in his soul. We communicate with God through the spirit, but God sees our heart. In our living, the heart is the most important element. We say that we are saved, but exactly how are we saved? It is by believing in our heart. How do we serve God? We serve God from the heart. What kind of people does God bless? God blesses those who are upright in their heart. In the future, what part of man will God judge? God will judge the hidden things in man's heart. Therefore, in order to come before God, we must have a good heart. But in order to have a good heart, we must have a good mind. Therefore, today I want to talk especially about the nous.
The word mind is nous in the original language. It is used twenty-four times in the entire New Testament. We will list them one by one. We hope that the readers will remember the similarities between these verses.
Luke 24:45 says, "Then He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures."
Romans 1:28 says, "And even as they did not approve of holding God in their full knowledge, God gave them up to a disapproved mind, to do the things which are not fitting." A disapproved or reprobate mind is a reprobate nous.
Romans 7:23 says, "But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." The word "mind" in "the law of my mind" is nous.
Romans 11:34 says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord?" The mind of the Lord is the nous of the Lord.
Romans 14:5 says, "Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind." The "mind" in "his own mind" is nous.
First Corinthians 1:10 says, "That you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion." The same mind is the same nous.
First Corinthians 2:16 says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord and will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ." Here the mind of the Lord is the nous of the Lord, and the mind of Christ is the nous of Christ.
Ephesians 4:17 says, "This therefore I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk in the vanity of their mind." The vanity of their mind is the vanity of their nous.
Colossians 2:18 says, "Let no one defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize, in self-chosen lowliness and the worship of the angels, dwelling on the things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by his mind set on the flesh." The fleshly mind is the fleshly nous.
Second Thessalonians 2:2 says, "That you be not quickly shaken in mind."
Revelation 17:9 says, "Here is the mind which has wisdom." The mind which has wisdom is the nous which has wisdom.
Romans 7:25 says, "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God."
Romans 12:2 says, "But be transformed by the renewing of the mind."
First Corinthians 14:14 says, "But my mind is unfruitful."
First Corinthians 14:15 says, "What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing also with the mind."
First Corinthians 14:19 says, "But in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, that I might instruct others also."
Ephesians 4:23 says, "And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind."
Philippians 4:7 says, "The peace of God...will guard your hearts and your thoughts." The word "thoughts" is nous.
First Timothy 6:5 says, "Perpetual wranglings of men corrupted in mind."
Second Timothy 3:8 says, "Men corrupted in mind."
Titus 1:15 says, "Their mind and their conscience are defiled."
Revelation 13:18 says, "Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast." The word "understanding" is nous.
How is the nous related to a Christian's living, work, service to God, walk, etc.? Those who believe in the Lord Jesus have a new spirit and a new heart. This is a fact and cannot be overthrown. No matter how weak or strong a believer is, he is born of God, and he has a new spirit and new heart. That is why he can love someone, serve God, and do everything from his heart. But even though the heart may be a new heart, the part in the heart which belongs to the nous is not renewed. According to human reasoning, one would think that since the heart has been made new, the conscience and the mind, which are included in the heart, must also have been renewed. This is not so. For instance, the part of the conscience in the heart was new when we were saved, but it is not necessarily always new afterwards, nor is it necessarily new every day. When a dress is bought, it is new, but it is not going to stay new forever. One must put in a certain amount of work for it to stay new. When you were saved, your mind was new. But it is not necessarily true that it will remain new after a while. This is an experience common to many believers. Let me tell you that once a man believes in the Lord and is saved, his conscience is new. The function of his conscience is recovered to its original state, so that he now hates sins and dislikes sinning. But can the conscience always remain so new? No, it cannot. If one sins, or if he tolerates sins over and over again and does not listen to his conscience, after repeated sins the conscience will no longer rebuke; it will lose its function. Just as the conscience can lose its feeling or be renewed, the same is true of the mind. Therefore, I want to speak concerning the matter of the nous because this has a crucial relationship to the believer's position and living.
What exactly is the nous as spoken of in the New Testament? We can see it from three aspects. Human beings have a brain. This speaks of the physiological aspect. We also have a nous, which speaks of the psychological aspect. Moreover, we have an intuition, which speaks of the spiritual aspect. Everything that is related to the physical aspect has to do with the brain. Everything that is related to the intellectual aspect has to do with the nous. However, I dare not say that the nous is the mind, even though a big portion of the mind is the nous. Our spirit receives its feeling from God through the intuition. At this time our soul, through the nous, translates the intuition so that we understand what is conveyed to us. Although we know the will of God through the intuition, this intuition is without reason and order. Therefore, we need the nous in order to express what the intuition knows.
Let me say this more accurately. Man has three faculties with which he gains knowledge: (1) with the body, it is the brain; (2) with the spirit, it is the intuition; (3) with the soul, it is the nous. However, the nous is also controlled by the intuition. We all know that when a brain is being surgically dissected, no more than some gray and white matter can be seen. This is the brain. How about the intuition? Sometimes we feel we have it; sometimes we feel we do not have it. It seems that sometimes something urges us and sometimes it stops us. This is the intuition within us. Our nous falls between our brain and our intuition. The nous expresses what the intuition wants to say and facilitates the brain in thinking and expressing. No matter how strong the intuition of a believer is and how good his brain is, if something is wrong with his nous, he will live without any principle from morning until night. Even in his preaching, he will not be able to express what is within him. From morning until night he will live foolishly. This condition is due to his nous not being renewed.
Now I want to talk about the nous of the sinners. Romans 1:28 says that they have a disapproved, or reprobate, nous. Ephesians 4:17 says that they have a vain nous. Colossians 2:18 says that they have a fleshly nous. Second Timothy 3:8 says that they have a corrupt nous. Titus 1:15 says that they have a defiled nous. This is the condition of the sinners' nous. Since you were saved, you have come away from that condition. Try to recall how you were toward God before you were saved. What is the condition of the sinner's nous before God? Suppose that there is a most foolish sinner, who is totally ignorant of everything. Once you start talking to him about God, he will have many arguments. He will argue that you are wrong on this or that point. He will stubbornly say that there is no God. This foolish one will, amazingly, have so many arguments about there being no God. This is because his heart is darkened. His nous is also darkened and dead. Furthermore, his spirit is altogether in darkness. He has no way to know God. He has no understanding regarding the truth of God. But he can still put forward many argumentative reasons because his nous is reprobate, corrupt, defiled, and vain. This is the condition of a very foolish person in the world. On the other hand, if you speak about God to some who are wise and philosophical, they may understand and know everything, but still not believe in God. They may also find many reasons to argue. Both the wise and the foolish ones will equally oppose God. Although these two kinds of people have differences in intelligence and are as far apart as the sky and the sea in many things, they are one in mind and purpose in the matter of not believing in God. There is no reason for this, other than the fact that their nous is darkened and their spirit is dead. Since their nous is darkened, they cannot see the light of God. Their thoughts are not on the right track and are wild. Therefore, concerning the unsaved, God says that the eyes of their heart have been blinded by the god of this age. Their heart is darkened, and the light of the gospel cannot shine on them. Although they know philosophy and many other things, they do not know anything about God. They may know some biblical teachings according to the letter, but they are not able to enter into the depth of the teaching clearly and thoroughly and are not able to understand or know God in a definite way.
What is it to be saved? It is to know God. "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). Eternal life is the ability to know God. What is it to be saved? It is not the ability to speak of certain doctrines, but the ability to know God. If we invite the most educated person in the entire world to talk to a young believer, that is, to one who is just saved, the educated person may present hundreds of reasons to argue against the existence of God. The young believer cannot win the argument, but he can say, "I know I have eternal life. I know I am saved." This is the difference between the two. An unsaved person's nous is blocked and has no light. Once he is saved, his nous will have light and will be able to know God. When many people hear the gospel preached with power the first time, their eyes are opened; they realize that they are sinners and that Jesus Christ is their Savior. Although they still cannot fully understand with their reasoning, they have a certain knowledge and are able to say, "I know I have received a great light. I know that I am a sinner and that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know I am saved." This knowing is the work of the nous.
Whatever God wants to give us in the intuition is transmitted to the brain through the nous. Once God moves in the intuition of a spiritual person who lives before God, immediately there is a registration in his nous, and his brain immediately understands. After we are saved, we have the knowledge of God. These three parts — the intuition, the nous, and the brain — are connected and work simultaneously. We speak of them separately only for the sake of analysis.
When we were saved, our nous was enlightened. We think it is sufficient if we have a new heart, but the Bible speaks not only of this; it also says that our nous needs to be renewed. This is very clear in the English translation of the Bible. (In some places the English translation is much clearer than the Chinese translation; while in other places, the Chinese translation is much better than the English translation.) Our nous was new at the time we were saved. But is it renewed? The part that is toward God has been enlightened. But how about the other parts? I am afraid that after many are saved, their nous is not renewed; it remains just as it was before they were saved. I wish to speak very frankly: the thoughts of many believers today are still like those of a sinner. I often sense that the spirit and the heart of many believers are new but that their nous is not. Their nous is just the same as the nous of the sinners. If the nous of the believers has not been renewed, they should not expect to be useful in the hands of God. Therefore, our nous not only needs to be new; it should also be renewed. Our problem today is this: at the time we were saved, we had a great revelation. But since being saved, our nous has not been renewed. Being saved was the biggest revelation of our lives. But have we continued to receive any big revelations other than that one time? I am afraid that many do not have any other big revelations. Surely the revelation of salvation is the greatest revelation of a lifetime. It is a revelation that we will bring into eternity. But do we continuously receive new revelations? When we first believed in the Lord, why were we enlightened to confess our sins? Why were we not afraid of persecution? Why did we allow our parents and others in the world to oppose us, and why were we willing to forsake the world? It was the nous that enabled us to understand salvation, confess our sins, forsake the world, and allow our parents to persecute us. If this light of the nous shone daily in our life, we would not be in the same condition that we are today. We would truly have a living under the shining.
Once there was a girl who loved the world very much and would not forsake it for anything. One day she heard a man preaching in a church. The preaching was not particularly attractive, but the verse he read, "This is the victory which has overcome the world — our faith" (1 John 5:4), was attractive. This word captured the girl. She heard him repeat it seven or eight times: "This is the victory which has overcome the world — our faith." She had not known what the world was for her entire life. But that day she realized what the world was. On that day she put the world away. This realization is the knowledge of the nous. Many are not able to put everything away because their nous has not been enlightened to see through it all. Other matters such as listening to a message or working for the Lord are likewise unprofitable if the nous does not cooperate. Every time we listen to a message, we need the cooperation of our nous. Before we were saved, we would not believe, no matter how people tried to persuade us with various reasons. But one day we believed because our nous realized something, and that realization could not be overturned. "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). What are the functions of the nous? The functions of the nous include the ability to think, judge, and observe.
What is the condition of an unrenewed nous? We will discuss the condition in three aspects: (1) toward man, (2) toward God, and (3) toward ourselves. Whether or not our nous has been renewed can be determined by these three aspects: toward man, God, and ourselves. It is determined by how we control our thoughts. (Please take note that nous is the transliteration of the original word. This word is very hard to explain. If translated "mind," it still cannot fully express the original meaning. The nous is composed of the power of apprehension and the thoughts. The original meaning of this word cannot be expressed if it is translated simply as "apprehension" or "thoughts." Therefore, I have no alternative but to use the word nous constantly.)
If a man's nous is not renewed, this nous will have some particular experiences in its dealing with men. If a man's nous is not renewed, naturally he will have some very inaccurate thoughts toward other men. One interesting thing is that he will never trust in anyone; he will always have doubts about others. Only criticisms come out of him; his thoughts are engaged in "splitting hairs" to find fault, and he always speaks poorly of others. We can find out how our nous is by asking ourselves what kind of thoughts we have toward others. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus never judged anyone according to what He saw and heard; He judged everything according to the sense in His spirit. However, we judge others only according to what we see and hear. It would be wonderful if we could, as Paul said, prove all things. The nous of a criticizing believer is wrong. There is a very precious verse in the Epistle to Philemon; Paul said that Philemon had faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ and toward all the saints. If a believer depreciates everyone else, something must be wrong with his nous. Therefore, every time we see others or listen to others speak, we should ask ourselves if we are depreciating them.
I know a brother who always undervalues the things others give to him. For example, if someone gives him something worth two dollars, he will say it is worth only thirty cents. If someone gives him a gift worth thirty dollars, he will say that the gift is worth only about ten dollars. He is not the only one like this; many believers have the same kind of mentality. What is the reason for this? It is because their nous is worldly and old. Worldly people always think that others are not good, that others are wrong, and that there are always hidden words behind the words of others, just as there are fillings within pie. This is not the way we should think. The reason we have these kinds of thoughts is that our nous is not renewed and also Satan is working behind us. An unrenewed nous is the base for Satan's working. Everything from Adam can become the base for Satan's working.
Our Christian lives are not necessarily the same toward God. In a believer whose nous has not been renewed we can see the following characteristics toward God: he cannot trust God, he cannot know God in the same way that he knows the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and he has many doubts. He doubts God's power, God's wisdom, and God's lovingkindness. These three points constitute his attitude toward God: he doubts God's power, thinking that He is not capable; he doubts God's wisdom, thinking that He is wrong; and he doubts God's lovingkindness, thinking that He is unwilling.
In addition, he cannot understand the Scriptures; he cannot understand God's teaching; his nous is not clear, and he cannot receive God's light in his nous. It is true that he did have an enlightening at his conversion. If his nous were open to God every day, it would not be as powerless or critical as it is today. If every one of us has an open nous, we will receive much enlightening. If we can only be a courier, simply passing on to others what we have received without receiving anything directly from God, our nous must be wrong. If we merely depend on others to pass things to us and then simply pass to others what little we have received, without receiving anything directly from God, we are not very useful. I am not saying that we do not need to receive help from others. Rather, I am saying that if we do not receive something directly from God, something is wrong with our nous. I myself like very much to receive help from others. As long as the one who speaks receives his words in his nous through God's enlightening, his message will surely enlighten the nous of others and help them. That is why I say every one of us needs to receive something from God in our nous.
A person with an unrenewed nous surely cannot know God's will. He may reason with logic, but he cannot know the will of God in his nous. He should know God's will in the same way that he knew that Christ is the Son of God and that he was saved at the time of his conversion. To know God's will should be a matter of inward knowledge. Concerning the knowledge of God's will, there are many times when we only know that a matter is God's will, but we have no reason that can explain it. This is like putting a newly saved country person with an unbelieving but knowledgeable person and asking them to debate. The latter may argue with the former for two or three hours, and the country person may not be able to retort with any reason, but he can say that he knows he is saved. It is the same way in regard to knowing the will of God.
Today many people do not know God's will. The reason they do not know it is that they do not have the organ to know God's will. Today is the Lord's Day; it can be considered the busiest day for the radio stations in the whole world. All the big denominations in the Western countries have radio programs to broadcast their messages. These radio waves bring the sound from very far away. Why can we not hear anything? The only reason is that we do not have a radio. In the same way, the will of God should be very obvious. But because there is not an organ to know God's will, we become ignorant of His will. It should be as easy for us to know God's will as it is for us to tell the wheat from the tares. Why do we not know God's will? It is because we do not have the receiving organ. It is because we do not have a renewed nous. At the time we were saved, our nous was new; we received the revelation of God. But not very long after that, it became no longer new.
How about our thoughts today? Our thoughts have become corrupt. After we are saved we think that Christians should have a good heart. We think that if we harbor hatred toward others in our heart, if we sin, if we commit fornication, we will offend God. Therefore we think that we should keep our motives from being improper. However, we forget that our thoughts should also be proper. Are our minds, our language, and our thoughts the same as they were before we were saved? For the time being, I will not touch on our motives and the purpose in our heart. I would just like to ask about the condition of our mind after we were saved. It is very amazing that before a man is saved, his mind is very unorganized, and even after he is saved, his mind remains the same. His language is the same as when he was first saved. His thoughts are the same as when he was first saved. If we cannot overcome our thoughts, we fail in everything.
In a letter to Miss Dora Yu, Miss Barber once wrote these few words: "If Satan can take hold of our thought life, he has taken hold of all our life." This is a fact. Do not think these few words were loosely spoken. She had over fifty years of very deep experience with God before she spoke these words. O brothers, do not think that as long as our motives are good, everything is all right. Even though the people we think about and the things we perceive may have changed, if our thoughts and perceptions toward others are the same as before we were saved, we will still make decisions the same way as before. If we cannot overcome our thoughts, we are in the hands of Satan, and we have no way to overcome the enemy.
A person with an unrenewed nous is absolutely unable to manage his own thoughts. The mental energy of many Christians is wasted. If our hands can only work for eight hours a day, and what we do during these eight hours is improper, it becomes a waste of energy and a hindrance to proper work. Likewise, we can only use our mind for so many hours a day. If we waste our thoughts on meaningless and improper things, we cannot think about something proper. A brother once asked me, "Why can I not concentrate? After I pray for five minutes, my mind starts wandering." I asked him, "Does your mind wander all day long or just at the time of your prayer?" I could answer for him that his thoughts were never concentrated during the day; they were always touring the world. His thoughts were entirely in disarray. If our mind is in disarray twelve hours a day, how can we concentrate while we pray? If we cannot concentrate all day, why is it strange that we cannot do the same when we read the Bible or when we pray? Therefore, if our nous is not renewed, we cannot manage our mind. Friends, I must emphasize again that if we cannot manage our own thoughts, we are not very useful in the hands of God.
It is said that if all the heat generated from the sun in one day was collected together and put into all the factories on the earth, it would be enough for all the factories to use for ten million years. But people cannot use solar energy because it cannot be collected in one place. If we use a magnifying glass to collect the light from the sun, the heat can burn a finger underneath the glass. It is very regrettable that many believers waste their thoughts in vanity. They think day and night without producing one good thing. They waste their entire day in their disorderly thoughts. It is no wonder that God cannot use them. They can only be proper believers when their nous is renewed.
The biggest fault of a believer is thinking about his past. Believers think that introspection is good. Actually, introspection cannot enable us to know ourselves. There is not one believer who acquires self-knowledge by looking into himself. The knowledge of one's self comes from God's light; only after he receives God's light will he know himself. (I have spoken in detail concerning the matter of self-knowledge. Please see "Self-knowledge and God's Light" in The Present Testimony.) Self-criticism, self-analyzing, or any thought concerning the self, whether good or bad, causes one's mind to become restless. We should not secretly compare ourselves to others, no matter who it is. Every time a believer looks at himself he will have no progress. Consider a person walking along the road: if he looks at himself, he will stop going forward. He cannot look at himself and walk forward at the same time. Therefore, whoever looks at himself is either going backward or standing still. The same is true in the spiritual realm. If you always consider yourself, eventually you will be very discouraged. If no one leads you on, you will put yourself in a dangerous position, and you may even think that you are not saved, that you have committed an unforgivable sin, or that God has forsaken you. All these are the results of your introspection. This is the condition of an unrenewed nous.
If our nous has not been renewed, we cannot minister to others what God has given us. Some believers are very capable in conversation. No matter how many matters are being discussed, they can relate them one by one in proper utterance. They truly have eloquence. But when you ask them to talk about spiritual things or about the truth, they cannot explain even one thing to others clearly. The reason is that their mind is not qualified to be used by God. Their mind is like a child's arm which cannot bear anything that weighs more than ten pounds. Their nous is too weak. Though they have many thoughts, they are all without order. They cannot understand what comes from God. They understand what they receive in their intuition, but they cannot compose what they understand into a proper teaching in order to share with others. This is because their nous has not been renewed. If God wants us to speak forth His Word, He will certainly give us the utterance. But even though this is necessary, if a person does not have a renewed nous, he cannot express what he has received within him. Suppose a believer has his nous enlightened but not completely renewed. As such, he cannot put together God's Word and minister it to others. We cannot regard such a one as our pattern, and we cannot presume that being enlightened once is enough. We should have a clearer understanding day after day and should be able to use words to express what we know inwardly, so that others may understand.
A believer needs to have a renewed nous to guide him through his days on earth. Otherwise, he will suffer loss and damage in his life. He will think wrongly of others. He will not be able to understand God's will. He will also think wrongly of himself. He will not be able to properly live his life. This is why everyone needs to seek after the renewing of the nous in a specific way. With the people in the world, there are only two categories: the saved and the perishing, the regenerated and the unregenerated, those in Christ and those in Adam. These differences are absolute; the two are completely dissimilar. In like manner, with the nous of the believers, there is also the renewed nous and the unrenewed nous. There is an absolute boundary between the two. If we are saved, our nous must also be renewed. Furthermore, the renewing of the nous should not occur just once, but daily. If we are like this, we will be very clear concerning God's will.
Once Mr. Moody was walking on the street. Suddenly, he went into the house of one of his neighbors and asked to be allowed to go upstairs to do something. The owner of the house agreed, and he went upstairs and prayed to God, "O God, Your hand should stop. It's too much; I cannot bear it." If you daily have a renewed nous, you will see that you cannot bear what God shows you of yourself through your nous. I say again, you should do this singleheartedly, just as you did when you were regenerated. If your regeneration has caused a change in your living, your nous should also be enlightened in a specific way and be renewed daily.
You should not think that your mind is too dull. Do not think that only those who are naturally intelligent will grow and quickly understand the truth of God. There is no such thing. If man's growth in the truth were governed by his natural intelligence, it would be entirely a matter of the flesh. Your personal growth has nothing to do with your intelligence. If your nous is renewed, you can understand God, and you can know everything of God. The person beside you may be the most intelligent and wise person, but he cannot understand; only you can understand. Therefore, you should specifically ask God to give you a renewed nous. Otherwise, you will have no way to go on. Once again I stress that you must go to God in a specific way to seek after this.
Before you believed in the Lord, you did not love men. After you believed in the Lord, you began to love men more. If there was no such change in you, I am afraid that you are still not saved. If you are saved, you will surely see a change of heart and an improvement in the matters of loving, forbearing, and serving. Before, you loved to be great, but now, you would rather suffer, be defrauded, and forbear. This is because you have a new heart. Others will also see your change and say that you were a certain way before, but that now you are changed. But my question is: has there been any improvement in your thoughts? Has there been any improvement in your mental power? Are your thoughts more orderly and concentrated? Or are they still the same as they were before you were saved? If this is so, your nous is still not renewed.
Regardless of whether a believer is wise or foolish, he should know that his mind as well as his heart should be proper. Furthermore, in his nous he should have the same improvement. God is without respect of persons. He destroys the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent. God puts the wise and the foolish all on the same level. The nous of the foolish needs to be renewed. The nous of the wise also needs to be renewed. As long as your nous is renewed, you can know God, understand His will, perceive, analyze, and synthesize what God has given you. This is what you did not know, understand, or see and what you could not verbalize or analyze before. Furthermore, you will be able to run the race before you.
Indeed, the difference between a renewed nous and an unrenewed nous is like the difference between a bright, clear window and a dark, dirty window. If a believer's nous has not been renewed, he cannot think or work like a person with a renewed nous. If his nous is renewed, his thinking ability will be at least several times (if not ten times) more than before. Furthermore, his mental power will be much improved. But if his thoughts are not renewed, his thinking will not be improved because his thoughts are dead. Just as there is a great difference between death and life, there is a great difference between a renewed nous and an unrenewed nous. Just as there is a difference between heaven and earth, there is a difference between a renewed nous and an unrenewed nous. If we earnestly and single-mindedly deal with our nous in the way that we dealt with our salvation in the past, our sky will always be clear.
