Saving Faith and Sanctifying Faith

Dr. Couch, do you think there is a difference between saving faith and the sanctifying faith of the "renewal of your mind" (Rom. 12:2)? Yes. Saving faith is the belief that Christ died for our sins. The "renewing of our mind" is written to believers presently. Paul writes: "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." In "Be not conformed to this world," Paul actually says "Do not yourselves (Middle Voice) be daily employing schematics with the world." Kroll in my commentary series on Romans puts it this way: "Believers are not to be fashioned after this world, having our thinking transformed which reaches far deeper than conformity to the world."    Instead, we are to be metamorphasized (Present Passive Imperative) by the re-newing of our mind. The Greek word re-newing means to "be up-newing." Or, making anew! These are Present Tenses and they mean believers are to be daily, right now, doing the things that make us different in the Christian walk! What Paul has in mind is found in the verses that follow. So, yes, this is a sanctifying work of believers presently. This is different than saving faith. In fact, faith is not mentioned here in Romans 12:1-2. Here in verse 2, we have a conscious act of changing what we're doing and how we look at our life and at the world. The Lord lays out the directives in chapters 12-15.    Metamorphasized is what the little butterfly does to change from an ugly creature to a beautiful butterfly! He is not aware of this happening as established by the Lord in the DNA code. But we are to be aware of this process, that's why Paul uses a command or an imperative in the passage.    I hope this helps. Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch