In Romans 12, we are abiding in full view of God’s mercy and offering our bodies as living sacrifices. We are seeking to no longer be conformed to the pattern of the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
When all that comes together, Paul says in verse 2: “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
When we do the things mentioned in verses 1 and 2, then, THEN, we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. There is absolutely no way to know the will of God through earthly means. It is only by God’s Spirit that the will of God can be known.
If you read the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians, (beginning especially in 1:18: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.”) you will see that the Will of God makes no sense to the world. How could the death of a Jewish preacher on a Roman cross be salvation for the entire world? It makes no sense when viewed from the world’s perspective.
Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians “but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God . . .. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us . . .. because they are spiritually discerned.” [2:9-16]
The will of God can only be discerned spiritually. There is no way to logically sit down and do the pros and cons to discern God’s will for our lives. We can’t guess, we can’t take a poll, we can’t throw darts at a chart. Only by allowing the Spirit of God within us to reveal God’s will to us, will we be able to know what God has prepared for those who love him!
