Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 ESV
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5 KJV
For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:16-17 NLT
What is Paul thinking of when he calls us not to “conformed to this world”?
He is going right back to the beginning. Genesis 6:5 says our thinking about reality has been corrupted. John says much the same: “the world” is a faulty way of thinking.
To think is first of all to have an image in our mind; then by means of language (words) we convert that image to an idea [this is what seems to separate us from animals]; those ideas are formatted into patterns; and those idea patterns become the basis of action.
Genesis says the problem is rooted at the very beginning of the process, in our imaginations. We imagine ourselves to be free and independent of any constraint, whether material or personal, possessing anything we can imagine, and enjoying every pleasure imaginable. Thus, we are ruled by the images of our mind. In this view we can only imagine others to be competitors or rivals for these limited goods. Those others must be either displaced or destroyed. This is “evil,” not being in accord with reality or with the way God designed us to function in creation. Think Genesis 3-5.
John sees things in the same light: “the world” is a way of thinking. It is a way of thinking that is consumed by desire, by craving, craving for possessions, pleasure, position and power. We live in the vain expectation that at some point these cravings can be satisfied. That is not true, because the desires, as Augustine says, are disordered. We are made to desire fellowship with God, and when the desires are misdirected, they can never be satisfied.
