16. READ: ROMANS 12:1-8
b. What must we NOT conform to?
Answer: We must no longer conform to the pattern of this world, (verse 2).
"Conform" is the Greek word syschematizesthe. It comes from syn, "with" or "together," and schema, which means "form." The word in its present imperative means "stop being conformed," "stop being fashioned or do not have the habit of being fashioned."
"World" is from the Greek aion. The more usual meaning of the term is "age." Basically, it means a segment of time, "age." It is used of the present age, the age to come, and also of eternity. But a distinction should be made between cosmos (world) and aion (age).
So, one could say, "Do not take this age as your fashion plate," "Do not continue in the habit of being formed, fashioned or made by the world, or this present age, of evil and corruption."
Acts 2:40-41: "With many other words he [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.' Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day."
Romans 12:2b: "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's Will is--His good, pleasing and perfect Will."
2 Corinthians 10:2-5: "I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
Galatians 1:3-5: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the Will of our God and Father, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
1 Peter 1:14: "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance."
1 John 2:15-17: "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the Will of God lives forever."