We are Commanded to Think for Ourselves!
By Hal Dekker
2011.02.16
Last page update: 2023.09.04
In the past, and again lately, I have talked with certain people who apparently believe that they are not supposed to think about and believe God's Word for themselves, based upon what they determine for themselves that it means to them! I desperately hope that doesn't include reading and studying it for themselves as well!
According to all of the scriptural evidence listed below (word studies), we are commanded by our heavenly Father to read, study, and think for ourselves, each believer individually, to come up with our own conclusions and beliefs about what God's Word means to us! That's a huge part of our job as disciples of Christ Jesus. Our heavenly Father and his son Christ Jesus both absolutely expect us to use the mind/brain we've been given to think for ourselves; to come to our own conclusions for ourselves, as to what we chose for ourselves to believe.
It's simply common sense that one cannot come to a conclusion/belief about something, about anything, without first gathering all of the scriptural evidence about it, and then thinking about it, weighing all of the scriptural evidence in one's own mind as to what it may mean to him/her. This is what the Berean disciples did, as Luke tells us in Acts 17:11, which disciples were more well begun disciples than the disciples in Thessalonica.
The writers of God's Word already presume that the readers of it are already thinking for themselves; because they not only tell us that we should think for ourselves about the things in God's Word, but they tell us that with God's Spirit in us we can, and should expect to be able to think for ourselves even better than before. Instead of our minds being filled with confusion, and we being scatter-brained, with God's Spirit in us we should now expect to have whole thoughts, and have whole-mindedness, to be able to accurately think through things.
Gk. gnōmē, Strong's # 1106, noun, means our thinking, our thought processes; in the KJV - in 1 Cor. 1:10, 7:25, 40, judgment = thinking; 2 Cor. 8:10 advice = thinking; Phm. 1:14 mind = thinking;
Gk. noēma, Strong's # 3540, noun, means perceptions; in the KJV - in 2 Cor. 10:5 bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ = taking captive at spear point every perception into the attentive hearing of the Christ;
Gk. sōphroneō, Strong's # 4993, verb, means to think whole thoughts, not be "scatter-brained"; in the KJV - in Rom. 12:3 to think soberly = to be whole-thoughted; in 2 Cor. 5:13 we be sober = we are whole-thoughted; in Tit. 2:6 be sober minded = to be whole-thoughted; in 1 Pet. 4:7 be ye therefore sober = be whole-thoughted;
Gk. sōphronizō, Strong's # 4994, verb, means to make wholly-thoughted; in the KJV - in Tit. 2:4 to be sober = they may make wholly-thoughted. The elder females are to help make, i.e., teach, the young females to be wholly-thoughted.
Gk. sōphronismos, Strong's # 4995, noun, means thinking whole thoughts; in the KJV - in 2 Tim. 1:7 of a sound mind = of thinking whole thoughts. Apostle Paul says that God's gift of his holy Spirit in us gives us the inherent power to think whole thoughts.
Gk. sōphronōs, Strong's # 4996, adverb, means thinking wholly; in the KJV - in Tit. 2:12 we should live soberly = we may live thinking wholly.
Gk. sōphrosunē, Strong's # 4997, noun, means whole-mindedness, the inherent power of our mind to accurately think through something; in the KJV - in Acts 26:25 words of soberness = words of whole-mindedness.
Gk. sōphrōn, Strong's # 4998, adj., means whole-thoughted, versus fragmented thinking which is starved of knowledge (Hos. 4:6) and thereby confused, misdirected, and inconclusive in its ability to produce a determination, or arrive at a belief (Heb. 11); in the KJV - in 1 Tim. 3:2 and Tit. 1:8 sober = whole-thoughted; in Tit. 2:2 temperate = whole-thoughted; in Tit. 2:5 discreet = whole-thoughted.
*Gk. phroneō, Strong's # 5426, verb, means to think; in the KJV - in Mat. 16:23 savourest = think; in Rom. 8:5 do mind = think; in Rom. 12:3 to think = think; in Rom. 12:16 be of the same mind = be thinking the same thing (How can fellow disciples determine if they are thinking the same things, unless through discussion with one another they compare thoughts with one another, and compare them to what the Word of God says, which is the standard of truth of which they should be thinking and believing?); in Rom. 15:5 to be like-minded = to think the same thing; in 1 Cor. 13:11 I understood as a child = I was having thought as a child; in Phil. 2:5 let this mind be in you = think this in you; in Phil. 3:19 who mind = the ones thinking; in Col. 3:2 set your affection = think the things;
Gk. phronēma, Strong's # 5427, noun, means a thought; in the KJV - in Rom. 8:6 to be carnally minded = the thought of the flesh, to be spiritually minded = the thought of the Spirit; in Rom. 8:27 the mind of the Spirit = the thought of the Spirit;
Gk. phronēsis, Strong's # 5428, noun, means thoughtfulness; in the KJV - in Luke 1:17 to the wisdom of the just = in to thoughtfulness of righteous ones; in Eph. 1:8 prudence = thoughtfulness;
Gk. phronimos, Strong's # 5429, adj. means thoughtful; in the KJV - in Mat. 10:16 be ye therefore wise = you become thoughtful ones; in Mat. 25:2 wise = thoughtful ones; in Rom. 12:16 wise = thoughtful; in 1 Cor. 4:10 wise in Christ = thoughtful in Christ; in 1 Cor. 10:15 I speak as to wise men = I speak as to thoughtful ones; 2 Cor. 11:19 For you suffer fools gladly, seeing ye [yourselves] are wise = Because sweetly you hold up the unthoughtful ones, you being thoughtful ones.
How can fellow disciples determine if they are thinking the same things, unless through discussion with one another they compare thoughts with one another, and compare them to what the Word of God says, which is the standard of truth of which they should be thinking and believing?
May our heavenly Father keep on teaching us his Word!
Brother Hal Dekker