The discussion now must turn to the venue of this eternal battle between good and evil. Where does this battle rage? Is it in the newspapers, or magazines of our day? Is it in some physical battleground to which we could transport ourselves on wheels or wings; at the site of a pro-choice rally, perhaps? No. The fact is that the battlefield upon which we are engaged in a life and death struggle is not a physical place but a spiritual one. The battlefield is our minds.
In Deuteronomy 6:5, we are told, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." In Luke chapter 10:25-28, we read the following:
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'d]">"
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."(emphasis added).
Notice that in the Luke passage, a new element seems to have been added to the formula. The words "with all your mind" do not appear in the Old Testament version of this passage. Why the difference? The Hebrew culture does not make a distinction between a man's "heart," that is, the essence of his being, and his "mind." The two are synonymous in middle eastern thought. Luke, however, was addressing his Gospel specifically to the Greeks. To the Greeks, the mind was the main thing. Reason was king. Consequently, for purposes of clarity, Luke included the reference to the mind. To a Greek, loving God with all one's mind was more readily understandable than was loving God with all one's heart. To a Hebrew, they were one and the same.
To a great extent our modern western patterns of thought and belief follow the Greek model. Paul wrote to the Romans, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2, emphasis added) Whereas, a Hebrew would speak of a change of heart, the Roman culture was built upon the Greek culture that preceded it, and understood Paul's message that the battle is for the mind.
Paul also wrote to the church at Ephesus, saying, "22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24, emphasis adde) The new self that Paul refers to, of course, is that new creation he mentions in II Corinthians 5:17, "...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Notice that Paul emphasizes that the mind must be renewed, changed, altered in order for the Christian soldier to overcome the fleshly lusts that keep us from living in the Spirit. "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." (Galatians 5:17)
Behaviorist psychology tells us that, by providing either the proper carrot for good behavior or the proper stick for bad behavior, we can change that behavior. In other words, behaviorist psychology would have us think of behavior as a reflex which can be changed by changing the balance between pain and pleasure. It would seem that scripture refutes this idea, telling us instead that the key to behavioral change is renewing or changing the mind. This mind change is also known as repentance.
Jesus himself said, "17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." (Matthew 15:17-19, emphasis added) Remember that, in the Hebrew culture, the heart represents the essence of a man's being. Jesus was thoroughly Hebrew. Had he been Greek, he might have said, "...those things that proceed out of the mouth come from the mind...." He was saying here, that following rules about behavior (what you eat) has nothing to do with your character, but your character (heart, mindset) has a decided effect on what comes out of your mouth. Change your heart (mind) and the change will be reflected in your words and deeds.
Why does Satan attack us through our thought life? He knows that if he can change our minds, if he can cause us to doubt what God tells us, if he can control our thoughts, then he can make us slaves to our fleshly lusts. That is why the battlefield is the mind. That is why, lieutenant, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (II Corinthians 10:5)
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