The Rev. Charlie Camlin: “The Battle Against the World” (Romans 12:2)

During the Lenten season, the Rev. Charlie Camlin of Holy Trinity REC in Virginia has been preaching on the battlefronts of temptation we face in this life, and he has addressed the battles against the flesh and the devil.  In the sermon we now have before us, he addresses The Battle Against the World.  Here he talks about Romans 12:2 and its meaning for us, and he does his usual remarkable job of exegeting the passage, pointing out its two commands for us: “do not be conformed unto this world,” and “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  About the first of these, he writes:

The passage that we will be considering today is Romans 12:2. I really want us to focus on the first part of this verse in considering our battle against the temptation of the world. St. Paul writes, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” What I would like to do over the next few moments is to consider what this passage says about two pressures that are exerting themselves upon us and then give two examples of application.

First of all, notice that there are two verbs in the first part of this verse—“be conformed” and “be transformed.” These are the two “pressures” to which I have just alluded. The beginning phrase says, “And do not be conformed to this world.” You will notice that the verb is in the present tense—that is, it is an ongoing pressure. Second, you will notice that the verb is passive. That is, something is being forced upon us—that is why I chose the word “pressure” to describe it. The question remains, what is this pressure that wants us to “be conformed?”

The passage says, “do not be conformed to this world.” Here we see what the external pressure is—the world. This word requires a bit of explanation. We are talking about the Christian life being a battle against the devil, the flesh and the world—but what exactly do we mean by “world.” What is not meant is the physical realm in which we live. We often use the word “world” to describe the physical realm but that is not what St. Paul means here and it is not what we are to battle against. This is an important point because there have been groups throughout history who have had a negative view of the physical realm. Many have sought to shun the physical world altogether. But that is not the Christian view. We believe that the physical world in which we live is inherently good. We believe that because that is what God created it to be. After each day of creation, God saw all that He had made and said that it was good. Admittedly, this world is “very far gone” from what it was originally created to be; but that is due to the sinfulness of man and God’s resulting curse on the creation. But Scripture also tells us that this curse will not last forever. There is a day coming when Jesus Christ will return and the entire planet will be made new. So when we speak of the battle against the “world” we are not talking about the physical realm in which we live.

In fact, it is interesting that the word translated here is literally “age” not “cosmos.” Cosmos is frequently used to describe the physical realm but age is used to describe a spiritual reality. That is what is being referred to here as the third battlefront of the Christian life—a spiritual realm which is at odds with God. The same word is used in Ephesians where it is also translated “world.” St. Paul says there, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” The phrase “course of this world” is what we are talking about when we say that we are in a battle against the world. The “world” or “age” mentioned in these two passages means the realm in which we now live that is in rebellion against God and His commandments. The world offers a set of ideas about how mankind should live and they are in direct opposition to what God planned for mankind.

That brings us back to the idea that the world is a pressure which is seeking to conform us after its pattern. It is a pressure that is external to us but it is a powerful pressure. Mankind, in general, is in rebellion against God and it wants all of us to conform to that rebellion. But those of us who have been taken out of the world and have been grafted into the Body of Christ have a new power at work in us. It has been well said that Christians must live in the world but we are not to be of the world. In other words, we are forced to live in this age which is overwhelmingly against God but we do not have to follow that pattern. In fact, we must not. Listen to the words of St. John from his first epistle: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

The life that the world would like for us to be conformed to is a life in rebellion against God. But we are being delivered from that. Those who are in Christ are to have a different mindset. The problem is, we too frequently want to be like chameleons in this world. We would just rather blend into the environment around us. It is much more comfortable! But we have not been called to be comfortable in this world. I have said this numerous times over the last three weeks but I will say it again, the Christian life is a battle. In fact, Jesus said to His disciples the night before He went to the cross: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Jesus anticipates that the world would hate His followers. The world’s hatred against the Church is much more apparent around the world—but it does not seem to be so apparent in the United States. I wonder why?

Please read the rest of this sermon, for he gives truly wise counsel about the second of those commands, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”