Audio Transcript

Happy Friday and welcome back. Pastor John is back in the studio with us to talk about Christian unity. We love Christian unity. We aspire for more Christian unity. But Christian unity is not uniformity. Differences exist among believers. So Christian unity gets complex, leading to questions like this one today on 1 Peter 3:8.

Here’s the email: “Hello, Pastor John! My name is Charlotte, and I live in Yorkshire, England. My question for you has puzzled me for years. In 1 Peter 3:8, Peter urges the exiled Christians to have ‘unity of mind.’” That’s Peter’s exact phrase. “I once heard a preacher say that this ‘unity of mind’ does not, however, mean uniformity. Since then, I’ve struggled to understand the difference. We have basic creeds and confessions that we must all agree on as the very foundations of Christianity. Beliefs otherwise would be heretical. How then can we not have uniformity? What is this ‘unity of mind’? Peter didn’t insert a clause that left this to church leaders only to pursue. So how does the individual Christian pursue this?”

I’ve often shared this perplexity about how unified our convictions, preferences, and opinions as Christians should be. But I’ve gotten help, especially in recent years, by distinguishing between, on the one hand, passages that deal with unified convictions or views of God, Christ, or salvation and, on the other hand, passages that deal with a unified mindset. We don’t have a better English word for this Greek idea, so we might call it a unified attitude set or disposition.

I feel warranted in making that distinction not only because there are some peculiar Greek words that Paul uses for mindset that are different, say, from theological convictions, but also because he actually deals with differences of conviction that Christians have without pushing them toward unanimity of conviction (for example, in Romans 14). Rather, he pushes them toward unanimity in a certain mindset about how to handle the differences.

Unity of Understanding

Let me try to illustrate what I mean about the difference between a theological conviction, on the one hand, and unified mindset, on the other hand. For example, in Ephesians 4:11–13, it says that Christ gave pastors and teachers to the church “to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up of the body of Christ, until [this is where it’s all supposed to be moving] we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.”

So that’s what I’m referring to when I say that the Bible really does urge us toward seeking theological, biblical unity, a unified understanding of God, and Christ, and man, and salvation, and how to live the Christian life. I think the best strategy for moving toward that goal is to humbly and faithfully immerse ourselves in the Bible, seeking to understand it with all the resources — historically, devotionally, academically — that we can.

And then as we grow, and speak, and preach, and teach, and write, and live that truth, as we see it more clearly, we pray earnestly that God would bring more and more people into a true understanding of his word.

Unity of Mindset

But I don’t think that’s what Peter is referring to in 1 Peter 3:8, which is what Charlotte asks about. In 1 Peter 3:8, and in most places in the New Testament which refer to being “of one mind,” the idea is not mainly to urge us toward identical convictions, as good as that is, but toward a common, unified mindset or attitude.

Here we bump into those peculiar Greek words that I mentioned earlier. There’s this amazing Greek word that takes on lots of meanings when it combines with different prefixes. For the few Greek readers who listen to us, the stem I’m talking about is phron, like phroneō or phrones. The basic idea that phron conveys is “mindset,” or we could say “attitude set,” since we don’t have a word for it in English. It’s not just a way of thinking, but a combined way of thinking and feeling, or a combination of conviction and disposition.

For example, here are some of those combinations where the meaning is changed when you put the prefix on the front:

homophrones, oneness of mindset
tapeinophrones, lowly mindset
kataphrones, contrary mindset
aphrones, foolish mindset
huperphrones, self-exalting mindset
paraphrones, insane mindset
hupsēlophrones, a hearty mindset

It’s amazing, that word. It does amazing service in the New Testament when talking about how we think and feel. Now, the point is simply to say that this stem phrones or phroneō is not mainly referring to ideas or viewpoints. It’s mainly referring to particular dispositions, or mindsets, or attitudes.

Humble, Not Self-Exalting

Now here we are in 1 Peter 3:8, which reads like this: “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind” — homophrones: one mindset, a unified, similar mindset. And then he goes on, saying, “. . . sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” — which is tapeinophrones. Homophrones, unity of mindset, is at the beginning of the list, and tapeinophrones, humble mindset, is at the end.

So Peter gives a list of five things that Christians are to have, and the list begins with a unified mindset, and it ends with a humble mindset. My understanding is that the humble mindset defines what the unified mindset is supposed to be: be unified in the humble mindset that all Christians should have.

I feel especially confirmed in putting those two together, the word at the front and the word at the back of the list, because we find an amazingly similar combination of words in Romans 12:16. The ESV says, “Live in harmony with one another.” Literally, it says, “Be of the same mindset [homophrones] toward each other.” And then he explains, “Do not be haughty [that is, don’t have a self-exalting mindset, huperephronentes], but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

“The call to unity of mind is defined by Paul and by Peter as a humble mindset, not a self-exalting mindset.”

Or here’s another way of saying it: “Don’t have a self-exalting mindset; have a humble mindset” — which is the same cluster of thoughts that we had in 1 Peter 3:8. So the call to unity of mind is defined by Paul and by Peter as a humble mindset, not a self-exalting mindset.

Sacrificial, Not Self-Serving

Then probably the most important passage of all in the New Testament on the unity of mind or mindset is Philippians 2:2–5. It’s a remarkable sequence of thought. Paul says, “Complete my joy by being of the same mind [that is, having the same mindset], having the same love [which defines the mindset as a loving one], being in full accord [that is like him saying, ‘I’m with you heart and soul,’ just like in Acts 4:32, where it says the church was ‘of one heart and one soul’] and of one mind [that is, one mindset].”

So having called them to one mindset, one love, he lays out the nature of the mindset in three steps, and this just goes right to the heart of the Christian life and what it means to be unified in this way:

Verse 3: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” I think that means to count them worthy of your sacrificial service.
Verse 4: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Verse 5, which is the most important: “Have this mind [have this mindset] among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

And then he unfolds that glorious display of service, and sacrifice, and self-emptying, and humility that Jesus did when he left his Father’s throne and became man.

“What’s being stressed in these texts is the same mindset, the same disposition of heart, the same attitude.”

So the unity Paul and Peter are calling for in these texts — namely, Peter in 1 Peter 3:8 — is focused not on having the same opinions, though there’s a level at which that really matters. But rather, what’s being stressed in these texts is the same mindset, the same disposition of heart, the same attitude — namely, a lowly, sacrificial servant-heart for others.

Knit Together, Not Quarrelsome

Let’s take one last glance at Romans 14 to draw out the way Paul handles disagreement between Christians. This chapter shows us that there are real differences of opinion, real differences of conviction, among Christians.

Romans 14:2 says, “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.” They just can’t get it together in Rome. They don’t agree. And Romans 14:5 says, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.” They’re just stuck. It’s a disagreement, and it’s not going away.

I’m sure Paul really would prefer that they all agree on these things because that would make life a lot easier, but they don’t. And his primary approach to that problem is not to get them all to agree, at least not in Romans 14. Well, what does he do? He does several unusual things, and you need to read the whole chapter to see all the ways he approaches this. I’ll only mention one thing he does, when he goes right to the heart of the matter. He penetrates to a common mindset that knits their souls together.

He says this in verse 6: “The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” In other words, he’s showing them how to lay hold on a unified mindset of doing all to the honor of the Lord and not despising each other. That’s what’s going to hold them together — that radical God-centeredness that puts the Lord first, however you may disagree on the application.

Worthy Pursuits

My conclusion for Charlotte’s question that she asked us is that theological, biblical unity of conviction is important, and we should pursue it, as Paul and Peter often did in their writings. The very existence of their writings is a pursuit of that kind of unity.

Nevertheless, just as often as they explicitly said things about that, Peter and Paul press us toward unity of mindset, or unity of attitude set, or unity of disposition that is marked by humility, and sacrificial service, and a Christ-exalting motive for all we do. That’s the unity that he’s talking about in 1 Peter 3:8.

Audio Transcript

Welcome back to the podcast on this Monday. We hope you’re reading the Bible with us this year and benefiting from the discipline. We’re using the Navigators Bible Reading Plan. And if you are reading along with us, you may already know that today’s scheduled reading includes 1 Corinthians 6:12–20, a key text on how we glorify God with our bodies.

How do we steward this body for God’s glory? Specifically, we have a lot of questions about caffeine and energy drinks, like this email today from a listener named José. He writes in to ask this: “Pastor John, hello and thank you for this podcast. Caffeine, and specifically energy drinks, are controversial in our youth group. As someone who likes them, I was wondering if there are any negative effects or reason to not drink them. They help me focus and have energy during my work shift. I only drink one every two or three days, but I would like to have some spiritual insight in order that I may run this race without being slowed down.”

And he ends his email with a smile emoticon. Pastor John, how should we think about energy drinks, and how would we know if we are abusing our bodies with caffeine?

Well, it might be helpful to take our starting point from Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians about how he navigates the whole area of appetites — whether food or energy drinks or sex — and what foods mean to Paul, what he takes into his body.

God Cares About the Body

So, here’s the pivotal text for me. It’s 1 Corinthians 6:12–13:

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated [and I would say, or mastered, or ruled, or enslaved] by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” — and God will destroy both one and the other.

Now, let me pause there and say that there’s a lot of controversy around what in Paul’s chapter here are slogans from his adversaries in Corinth and what are his own words. So, it might be a slogan: “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.” And so, they’re justifying all kinds of things. But whatever the case is on that point, Paul’s point becomes clear in what follows. Here’s what follows:

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? (1 Corinthians 6:13–15)

So, clearly, the upshot of those last couple of lines is this: “The Lord is for the body, the body is for the Lord, the Lord will raise the body, and we are members of Christ even in our bodies.” In other words, the body really matters. So, the body matters to God morally. And, in particular, foods matter and sex matters. And so, the guidelines he gives matter. And what he says is this: “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I [wouldn’t want to] be dominated by anything.” And then he adds, “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23).

Three Guiding Questions

So, here’s my paraphrase for José:

“Energy drinks are lawful for me, but are they helpful to my real advantage?” And I’ll come back to that.
“Energy drinks are lawful for me, but do they dominate (or master or enslave) me?” I’ll come back to that one.
“Energy drinks are lawful for me, but does my drinking of them build up? Does it build up my faith? And particularly, does it build up the faith of others?”

So, let me just give a thought about each of those questions that might help him navigate whether he uses them and how frequently he uses them.

1. Do energy drinks really help me?

“All things are lawful, but are they helpful — that is, to my real, deep advantage?” That’s the meaning of the Greek word: “to my advantage.” This is really part of a much bigger issue, isn’t it, of the proper use of not just caffeine but other stimulants, medications — Ritalin, Adderall, antidepressants, and so on.

So, let me just give one crucial guideline that I think is implied in Paul’s wording, “Are they truly helpful? Do they help me go after my deepest advantage?” And that would be this; this is my guideline: “Are energy drinks, or whatever I’m taking, masking deeper problems that I’m not dealing with, because I’m masking them, or are they helping me really address and be freed from the deeper problems that I may have?”

“Are energy drinks, or whatever I’m taking, masking deeper problems that I’m not dealing with?”

I think that’s the crucial question when it comes to the kinds of medications or stimulants that we take. Are we hiding from our hearts? Are we hiding from sins? Are we hiding things that ought to be dealt with, and this is just a superficial overlay? If José or any of us is masking deeper problems with stimulants, then they’re not being used as a gift from God for our good; they’re being used as a flight from truth and from the good that God wants to do deeper down. So, that’s my note on the first paraphrase.

2. Do energy drinks enslave me?

“Do they master me? Do they enslave me?” Why would that matter to Paul? Why does he say that? Why should it matter to us? Well, it should matter because we have one Master, who bought us at the price of his blood. We do not belong to ourselves, but to him. He calls us to live as free people, not enslaved people.

It says in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” So, anyone who uses coffee, or soda, or energy drinks, or other kinds of stimulants or medication should ask, “Am I dominated by this? Am I mastered by this? Am I controlled by this? Am I living consciously as Christ’s freedman? Am I magnifying the price that he paid to set me free for him?”

It says in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” Are we magnifying his mastery over us or living under another master? That’s the second issue that I think he should take into consideration.

3. Do energy drinks build up?

Do energy drinks build up? “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things build up.” Why does Paul shift our focus? This is a really profound ethical question in the New Testament. Why does Paul shift our focus from what is lawful — he says, “All things are lawful” — to what builds up?

Now, this is huge. In Christ, we have died to the law. Romans 7:4: “You . . . have died to the law through the body of Christ.” And “we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6). The problem, then, with deciding what’s right and wrong about energy drinks is that you could obey a law without love, without giving a hoot about whether you’re building anybody’s faith. And so, it is not adequate to have an external rule solve this problem. Paul wants to go deeper.

“The reason Christians are set free from the law is not that we might become lawless, but that love would hold sway.”

The reason Christians are set free from the law is not that we might become lawless, but that love would hold sway. “To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ)” (1 Corinthians 9:21). So, his freedom with regard to the law was being governed by another law, which he called “the law of Christ.” And what’s that? Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Or Galatians 5:14: “The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

So, when Paul says to José, or me, or you, or anybody else, “Energy drinks are lawful, but do they build up?” he means, “Be sure that your heart is set on the good of others and that your example to them and your choices are aiming to build people up in faith — that is, helping them trust Jesus and treasure Jesus and honor Jesus above all things.”

Guidelines for Consumption

So, here are my three summary guidelines for José and me.

Are they truly helpful? Are energy drinks truly helpful? That is, are they masking problems that I need to deal with or helping me deal with them?
Are they dominating me, mastering me, and obscuring that Jesus is my real master?
Am I using them in love? Am I building others up? Am I seeking to build my own faith and the faith of others?

Super helpful paradigms here, Pastor John. Thank you for another application of 1 Corinthians 6:12–13. Before we go, I think we all want to know: Do you yourself use energy drinks?

I have a box of energy drinks in my office. I probably don’t use them quite as often as José. He said every two or three days. And what I do is that, if I’ve got a pressing task and I cannot stay awake, yes, I’ll go there. But that box that I buy at ALDI — you can get them at ALDI real cheap — lasts a long time.

But I mean, a question like this helps me keep my finger on the pulse of whether I’m defaulting to an artificial stimulant because I’m so proud I won’t get enough sleep. That’s what I mean by masking. If my real problem is that John Piper doesn’t have the discipline to go to bed at night and therefore gets six hours instead of eight hours of sleep, and therefore he’s always falling asleep at his tasks, and thus he resorts to an artificial stimulant, that’s masking, that’s hiding, that’s running away from God, and it’s pride.

Years ago, when I was a new believer in Cameroon, a woman in Nigeria published a testimony about working for the devil. She shared that midnight until 2:00 were the most active hours in the world of darkness. As a result, she encouraged believers to pray warfare prayers during those hours. Unfortunately, her story (and others like it) influenced a generation to have a narrow understanding of both prayer and warfare, restricting it to a couple of hours at night for battling the devil.

While there is nothing wrong with praying from midnight to 2:00 (or any other time of day), to think that those are the most spiritually hostile hours is grossly wrong. Paul teaches to the contrary. Every hour is an hour of war. For believers, war is a way of life. If any Christian is not fighting, that Christian is losing the battle with sin.

We must arm ourselves at all times “in the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13), this present evil age when the god of this world, the devil, constantly raises his claws against the people of God. Every day on earth is a day when evil and the evil one are trying to overcome believers (Ephesians 5:16). Christians are always at war against principalities, rulers, cosmic powers, darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And if all of life is war, we must always be armed and well-clothed for battle. We need armor like the breastplate of righteousness.

What Is the Breastplate?

The breastplate of righteousness is one of several pieces of armor that the church puts on as it engages in spiritual war (Ephesians 6:14). In Isaiah 59, Yahweh presents himself as a warrior King with armor that includes this breastplate:

His own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. (Isaiah 59:16–17)

Yahweh comes as a warrior King to repay evil so that the nations “fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun” (Isaiah 59:19). The Old Testament knows only one warrior who clothes himself with the breastplate of righteousness to war against evil for his glory (see also Isaiah 11:5). He fights for his fame.

When Paul draws from this Old Testament imagery of the warrior God and applies it to the church, he shows that the church now represents Yahweh as his army. In Christ, the church has become like her God, waging war against evil with the same armor as her warrior King. In putting on the same attire as Yahweh, Christians not only fight for Yahweh and his fame, but we also fight in the form of our God.

In Ephesians 6, the breastplate of righteousness is an active, Spirit-filled pursuit of righteousness as opposed to imputed righteousness. That Paul commands us to “put on” the breastplate shows it is our responsibility to wear the attire of our warrior King. If it were imputed righteousness, Paul would not have charged us to put it on. Rather, God declares us righteous the moment we believe, and then we grow in Christ by putting on the breastplate of righteousness.

The Christian’s new self was “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). New creations, like the earth when God created it, bear fruit, the fruit of righteousness (Ephesians 5:9). As God’s new creation, by faith in Christ, we live and grow in righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness, therefore, is a lifestyle fueled by faith in Christ Jesus.

How Do We Put On Righteousness?

Paul calls us to continually and progressively put on the breastplate of righteousness. But how do we do it? We do so by faith. Paul says, “In all, taking the shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16, my translation). The word “all,” in the immediate context, has the pieces of armor in view. Thus, Paul tells us how we put them all on. We put on the breastplate of righteousness by faith in Christ who is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). The “faith” Paul has in mind in Ephesians 6:16 is our present trusting in Christ and his work of redemption.

“In Christ, the church has become like her God, waging war against evil with the same armor as her warrior King.”

One way we express that faith (and so put on righteousness) is through prayer. Paul tells us to put on the armor, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:18). How does praying relate to putting on the breastplate of righteousness? We actively put on the breastplate by asking God, our Righteous Warrior, to grow us in righteousness. When we are tempted to sin, we cry to him. When our faith is weak, we cry to him. In dependence on him, by faith, we become more like him.

Taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is also a means by which we put on the breastplate of righteousness. In the Scriptures, we see God’s glory (1 Samuel 3:21), and in seeing God’s glory, we become progressively like him (2 Corinthians 3:18). So, read to be righteous. If you neglect the word of God, you cannot wear this breastplate.

We also put on this breastplate of righteousness together with the church. The call to clothe ourselves like our warrior King and engage in war against evil is a corporate call. The church is the army of God. You cannot separate yourself from the church and expect to put on the armor and fight. Although our individual pursuit of righteousness is necessary, we are far stronger together. You cannot war alone. You need your local church in order to stand in these evil days.

Give Evil No Opportunity

In this spiritual war, Satan aims to hinder us from glorifying God and imaging him with lives of righteousness. He hinders our pursuit of holiness because he hates the glory of God.

One might ask, How does the breastplate protect us against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil? When believers engage in sinful behavior, they open the door for the devil to have influence. Paul calls the church to “give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). When we give him an opportunity with our sin, we allow Satan to exert his destructive, God-dishonoring influence in the world. We allow him to hinder our efforts to glorify God in ministry, missions, marriage, and life. Our sins also give the devil the occasion to slander the church and her Messiah (1 Timothy 5:14).

When we actively submit to God, however, trusting God’s power for salvation from sin in the gospel and pursuing righteousness, we resist the devil and drive him away. He cannot devour our faith (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8).

When Satan Tempts Us to Despair

When we fail to put on the breastplate (as we all do), the cross of Christ is our hope. Because Jesus died for our sins, because Jesus is our righteousness, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us and gave himself up for us (Romans 8:37). So, we can sing in our failures,

When Satan tempts me to despair,And tells me of the guilt within,Upward I look, and see him there,Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died,My sinful soul is counted free;For God, the Just, is satisfiedTo look on him and pardon me.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, not the satanic condemnation, and see your righteousness and perfection in him. In the strength of what he has accomplished for you, get up, dust off the filth, and put on the breastplate of your increasing righteousness. None of Satan’s arrows will be able to pierce your heart.