I Peter 4:1-2

So, as we explore how we can be more of Christ’s mind, we will start by looking at things that will inhibit or stunt that development. The short answer is that our flesh, with all that it entails, is the biggest impediment to having more of the mind of Christ.

This passage begins with “therefore,” so it is a conclusion to what came before. To identify the “same mind” Peter mentions, we must look back to I Peter 3:8. It says,

Peter then goes on in chapter 3 to discuss suffering. This is another aspect of the mind of Christ, one which humbles us when we consider how He demonstrated it. The Creator, who embodied righteousness, suffered horrifically at the hands of His creation, and He did so without defense or protest. He answered not a word, which seems to be impossible these days. Instead, Jesus committed Himself to the One who judges righteously. Yet the Father did not defend Him at the end of His mortal life, and Christ accepted that as well. He knew that something far greater was being worked out than the immediate righting of wrongs. That’s the mind of Christ, and it puts us all to shame.

So, coming back to I Peter 4, Peter says to arm ourselves with this same mind, the mind that works to build up relationships, and to follow Christ’s example in suffering for the sake of future oneness.

Now, taking verses 1-2 together, there is a contrast. Peter talks about the flesh and the lusts of men, which are contrasted with the mind of Christ and the will of God. These are opposing forces. It’s when we mortify the flesh in its various forms that we grow in the mind of Christ and come more into alignment with the will of God.

We are quite familiar with the flesh, but let’s remind ourselves of some things that work against the mind of Christ. As we know, the flesh demands satisfaction, and it tends to want it immediately. Unlike Christ, the flesh is unable to take things patiently or to suffer in silence. The flesh has to have the last word. If it is forced to retreat in one area, it goes on the offensive in another because the flesh is driven to win. It refuses to yield except as a tactic for a future move. But at its core, it remains unsurrendered. The flesh embodies self-concern. But the overriding concern of the mind of Christ is doing the will of the Father. It trusts God to defend, to right wrongs, and to provide, and it waits patiently while God works.