The term mindset is common in today’s vernacular, but its significance in the canon and in evangelism has scarcely been explored. God’s word reaches all cultures despite the challenges in interpretation from one culture to another, yet culture can silence its voice. People are often unaware of indoctrination and socialization from the culture that has shaped mindsets, precluding their understanding of the Word of God. These mindsets are ultimately unbelief and idolatry, becoming one’s subjective truth and shaping one’s identity. The biblical narrative and a constellation of cognitive terms used throughout the canon reveal the impact mindsets have on people, illustrating man’s need for mind renewal and the superlative clarion canonical call to think like God. This paper will investigate the significance of mindsets canonically and the impact that culture has on one’s mindset, which has implications for biblical interpretation, application, and evangelism.
Paul developed a theology using terms from the cultural framework but with a new function to reveal the need for mind renewal to evoke a return to God. Paul’s use of φρονέω and cognates differs from its historical use and was a polemic to its prolific use in the Greco-Roman culture, pointing to a whole new way of thinking that did not rely on the philosophies of the world but on the Spirit. Exploiting the wisdom of the age to communicate the wisdom of God, Paul used an array of cognitive terms more than any other NT writer. With a theological and ethical purpose, Paul masterfully connected these terms to lead to revelation. Breaking through cultural perceptions, the gospel was unveiled, and mindsets were breached. Paul revealed the importance of cognition through the πνεῦμα-σάρξ Pauline concept to break through mindsets and reveal the mind of Christ.
This paper seeks to contribute to an understanding of the significance of theological and anthropological terms, as articulated by Jewett, Wolff, and Niebuhr, in evangelization. The significance and implications of these terms are in what they represent theologically as man relates to God. The mind-body problem and Imago Dei have implications for understanding mindsets and are essential to evangelization. Knowing one’s human identity in Christ is essential to understanding the gospel. In his letters to the churches at Rome, Corinth, and Philippi, Paul communicated the message of salvation through theological anthropological terms that conveyed salvation through how one thinks. Paul used the term φρονέω, which was a common Greek term the culture could relate to, but with a completely different understanding. Paul also used new terms (πνευματικός, σαρκικός) to help them understand. Evangelism today should be in a similar vein as Paul demonstrated, not relying on the wisdom of this world but conveying heavenly spiritual concepts through cultural norms that have been transformed to showcase the gospel. Incorporating mindset renewal equips believers to think according to the things of God through the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ so they can stand firm in the culture.