Learning to take the workings of our minds captive to the obedience of Christ

When it comes to our thought life—the workings of our minds—we need to learn how to manage it. Thoughts are not sin, but they can be unrighteous. Both sin and unrighteousness are not aspects of the new life we have in Christ and, therefore, should be repulsive to the spiritual believer.

The Apostle writes concerning our communication to God on behalf of another saint. If we see a brother sinning a sin that is not facing death, we are to ask, and life will be given to him. This refers to a sin that does not bring about the death of the saint—such as fornication resulting in a deadly disease. For these types of sin, we are not to ask as though we are an equal, pleading for their lives. In 1 John 5:15–16, the Apostle writes, “All sin has a quality of unrighteousness, and there is a sin facing death.”

Unrighteousness is, then, the broader term, which not only relates to the lawless actions of a person but also to what is going on in the mind.

We are given a list of unrighteousness—although not all-encompassing—in Romans 1:29–31:

“Being filled up where they lack in all unrighteousness: fornication, malignant evil, covetousness, lacking in character, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, bad character, secret slanderers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, arrogant, inventors of wrong, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, without natural affection, irreconcilable, not merciful.” Both actions and thoughts are included in unrighteousness.

When it comes to dealing with a trespass—which is unrighteousness in the mind—we have an opportunity to take the way of escape before it works itself out into sin.

James explains the process by which sin is produced in James 1:14–15. First, when we are tempted—a solicitation to do something that lacks character—it is not from God. These temptations come from our own desires, which are used by one of our three enemies to draw us out and bait us. When we bite—determining to fulfill the unrighteous desire—we are in a trespass, and therefore our mind is in a state of unrighteousness. In this condition, when the opportunity comes to fulfill the desire, we will have nothing to cause us to hesitate. The working out of the trespass then produces sin—lawlessness.

Our battle is not a fleshly battle; it is a wrestling match for the mind (2 Corinthians 10:3). One of the aspects of our salvation is that we now possess a new mind that relates only to righteousness. When we are using this new mind—by actively setting the framing of our mind on the things above—we can be victorious in battle. Because our battle is in the mind, the weapons we have in Christ are mighty for the pulling down of the strongholds the sin nature has built, so that we bring every thought into obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

There is no temptation that has overtaken us that is not common to all men, but with each temptation, God provides a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). Therefore, overcoming strong cravings from the flesh, Satan, or the world system is accomplished by knowing and properly applying the defense against each of these enemies.

The enemy that has the most consistent negative influence on our mind is the sin nature, because it dwells in our flesh. To deal with the sin nature, we must first know that God has imputed Christ’s death and resurrection to us. Therefore, in Christ, the sin nature has been rendered ineffective—not destroyed (Romans 6:4–6). Then, we must count this to be true—reckoning Christ’s death and resurrection to ourselves. Since we have died with Christ and are raised to walk in newness of life, our proper response to the desires of the sin nature is to walk in righteousness and to stop yielding our members to its cravings.

To protect our thoughts, we need to set our frame of mind on the things above, not on the things of the earth (Colossians 3:1–2). These things involve not only our present condition before God but also our future residence. Therefore, this type of mindset focuses on walking in a manner worthy of our high calling in Christ Jesus and rejecting any thought that does not line up with this new reality. We still experience cravings from the sin nature, but we are no longer that person (Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:22). We choose then to do right, rejecting the wrong that so easily beset us before salvation.