A Mind Enlightened
Minister's Letter: March 2025
Dear Grace Church,
What an encouraging month it has been in the life of our congregation.
On 9th March, we had three baptisms, and the following Sunday, we had another. How wonderful to see these visible pictures of God’s promises to his people.
And next month we will celebrate Easter. Look out for more information on that weekend over the coming weeks.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
-2 Corinthians 5.16
As we have journeyed slowly through the final Servant Song (Isaiah 52.13-53.12), in the first two stanzas we have noted that the reactions to God’s servant have been people appalled at him, hiding their faces from him, holding him in low esteem, rejecting him, and disdaining him. Paul explains that our perception of Jesus was “according to the flesh”. Our nature, stained and constrained by the darkness of sin, shuddered when confronted by the light of the world.
But for the one who has put their trust in Christ, a supernatural transformation has taken place in our nature. Paul says that in the same way God lit up the world with a word, so his light has shone in our hearts so that we see the true glory of the Son (2 Corinthians 4.6).
This is what the scriptures term being born again or regeneration. This is the sovereign work of God by his Spirit in awakening a heart that was once dead to now see the splendour and tenderness of Christ. Thomas Boston, a Minister in Ettrick in the Borders during the early 1700s, wrote that regeneration happened in three main areas of our lives. It included a happy change in our affections, the will was renewed to follow God’s ways, and our minds are enlightened. It is this final element that Boston wrote on that I’d like us to explore this month.
In the monthly Minister’s Letters this year, we are looking at the lives of saints from the past and sitting under their teaching. The hope is that in the retrieval of the wisdom of the historic church it will aid the renewal of the contemporary church’s worship, witness, and work.
Thomas Boston writes that regeneration is when a new lights breaks into our understanding. It is like the dawning sun, which casts its rays across the dark world. And slowly but surely all the shadows in the mind are cast out as the sun rises in our hearts. Boston draws out five strands of what it means for our minds to be enlightened in the work of regeneration, saying the mind of the one born again is:
Illuminated in the knowledge of God
The regenerated mind has its knowledge of God both heightened and deepened. First, we know more of who God is, for the shadows that once cloaked our sight are evaporating. Our eyes are lifted upwards to a vista that wasn’t visible before and behold a glory beyond anything we could have imagined. Second, the knowledge is deepened for it gets in under our skin. We might have grown up in church and learned lots of true things about God but they now become the Truth which enlivens our souls.
Enlightened in the knowledge of sin
Because we have seen the beauty and glory of God, we can now see the true ugliness of sin. Satan, the great Deceiver, tries to paint sin, but with the enlightened mind, we can see past the varnish to its reality. The regenerated soul “sees how offensive sin is to God, and how destructive it is to the soul.”
Instructed in the knowledge of himself
Regenerating grace aids us in seeing ourselves as we truly are. Boston points toward the example of the Prodigal Son. He finally gains a clear picture of himself, feeding with the pigs. This knowledge of ourselves drives us to look to Christ.
Enlightened in the knowledge of Christ
Boston illustrates this point by speaking of meeting a stranger on the road. You might form a decent opinion of that individual in a short conversation, but you would not give them money immediately as they are still a stranger. This is the same for the unregenerate soul with Christ. He is still a stranger to the soul and that soul will not commit itself to him. But when the illumination of the Spirit shines in our minds, we give ourselves to Christ. Boston writes, “The same light convincingly discovers a superlative worth, a transcendent glory and excellency in Christ, which darkens all created excellencies as the rising sun makes the stars hide their heads.”
Instructed in the knowledge of the vanity of the world
Following on from the last point, with the radiance of Christ filling our eyes, the sparkles of even the world’s finest treasures diminish in our mind’s sight. We see the vanity of giving our lives over in the pursuit of them and instead see the things that are above (Colossians 3.1).
In Christ,
Ciarán R. Kelleher
March Treat
Here is a wee playlist I’ve put together for our series on the Suffering Servant. It’s a number of songs that help us consider what Christ achieved on the cross:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMR-bi7fWlyUZ5QX8egguremQCl28xZJ7
Home Group: Isaiah 53.1-3
Why is it that humanity struggles to believe the message about the arm of the LORD (v1; see 2 Corinthians 5.16 & 1 Corinthians 1.27-29)?
We are told that the servant is undesirable and unattractive (v2). In what ways do we see this in the life and ministry of Jesus? In the modern world, how is Jesus unattractive to people? How does Christ become desirable to us?
In what ways was Jesus the man of suffering/sorrows (v3)? Why would he be despised for this? How is his suffering/sorrows and pain good news for us?