Mind
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [1]
"mind," denotes, speaking generally, the seat of reflective consciousness, comprising the faculties of perception and understanding, and those of feeling, judging and determing. Its use in the NT may be analyzed as follows: it denotes (a) the faculty of knowing, the seat of the understanding, Luke 24:45; Romans 1:28; 14:5; 1—Corinthians 14:15,19; Ephesians 4:17; Philippians 4:7; Colossians 2:18; 1—Timothy 6:5; 2—Timothy 3:8; Titus 1:15; Revelation 13:18; 17:9; (b) counsels, purpose, Romans 11:34 (of the "mind" of God); 12:2; 1—Corinthians 1:10; 2:16 , twice (1) of the thoughts and counsels of God, (2) of Christ, a testimony to His Godhood; Ephesians 4:23; (c) the new nature, which belongs to the believer by reason of the new birth, Romans 7:23,25 , where it is contrasted with "the flesh," the principle of evil which dominates fallen man. Under (b) may come 2—Thessalonians 2:2 , where it stands for the determination to be steadfast amidst afflictions, through the confident expectation of the day of rest and recompense mentioned in the first chapter.
lit. "a thinking through, or over, a meditation, reflecting," signifies (a) like No. 1, "the faculty of knowing, understanding, or moral reflection," (1) with an evil significance, a consciousness characterized by a perverted moral impulse, Ephesians 2:3 (plural); 4:18; (2) with a good significance, the faculty renewed by the Holy Spirit, Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16; 1—Peter 1:13; 1—John 5:20; (b) "sentiment, disposition" (not as a function but as a product); (1) in an evil sense, Luke 1:51 , "imagination;" Colossians 1;21; (2) in a good sense, 2—Peter 3:1 .
"an idea, notion, intent," is rendered "mind" in 1—Peter 4:1; see Intent.
"thought, design," is rendered "minds" in 2—Corinthians 3:14; 4:4; 11:3; Philippians 4:7; see Device , No. 2.
"a purpose, judgment, opinion," is translated "mind" in Philemon 1:14; Revelation 17:13 . See Judgment , No. 4.
denotes "what one has in the mind, the thought" (the content of the process expressed in phroneo, "to have in mind, to think"); or "an object of thought;" in Romans 8:6 (AV, "to be carnally minded" and "to be spiritually minded"), the RV, adhering to the use of the noun, renders by "the mind of the flesh," in vv. 6,7, and "the mind of the spirit," in v. 6. In Romans 8:27 the word is used of the "mind" of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:17 Ephesians 1:8 Acts 14:2 Philippians 1:27 Hebrews 12:3
signifies (a) "to think, to be minded in a certain way;" (b) "to think of, be mindful of." It implies moral interest or reflection, not mere unreasoning opinion. Under (a) it is rendered by the verb "to mind" in the following: Romans 8:5 , "(they that are after the flesh) do mind (the things of the flesh);" Romans 12:16 , "be of (the same) mind," lit., "minding the same," and "set (not) your mind on," RV, AV, "mind (not);" Romans 15:5 , "to be of (the same) mind," RV, (AV, "to be like-minded"); so the RV in 2—Corinthians 13:11 , AV, "to be of (one) mind;" Galatians 5:10 , "ye will be (none otherwise) minded;" Philippians 1:7 , RV, "to be (thus) minded," AV, "to think (this);" Philippians 2:2 , RV "be of (the same) mind," AV, "be likeminded," and "being ... of (one) mind," lit., "minding (the one thing);" Philippians 2:5 , RV, "have (this) mind," AV, "let (this) mind be," lit., "mind this;" Philippians 3:15 , "let us ... be (thus) minded," and "(if) ... ye are (otherwise) minded" (some mss. have the verb in ver. 16); Philippians 3:19 , "(who) mind (earthly things)," Philippians 4:2 , "be of (the same) mind;" Colossians 3:2 , RV and AV marg., "set your mind," lit., "mind (the things above)," AV, "set your affection." See Careful , B, 6, Regard , Savor , Think , Understand.
"to remind, call to remembrance" (ana, "up" mimnesko, "to remind"), is translated "called to mind Mark, 14:72 (Passive Voice). See Remembrance.
Romans 15:15
"to cause one to remember, put one in mind" (hupo, "under"), is translated "put (them) in mind" in Titus 3:1 . See Remember , Remembrance.
lit., "to place under" (hupo, "under," tithemi, "to place"), "to lay down" (of risking the life, Romans 16:4 ), also denotes "to suggest, put into one's mind," 1—Timothy 4:6 , RV, "put ... in mind" (AV, "put ... in remembrance"). See Lay.
signifies (a) "to be of sound mind," or "in one's right mind, sober-minded" (sozo, "to save," phren, "the mind"), Mark 5:15; Luke 8:35 , "in his right mind;" 2—Corinthians 5:13 , RV, "we are of sober mind" (AV, "we be sober"); (b) "to be temperate, self-controlled," Titus 2:6 , "to be sober-minded;" 1—Peter 4:7 , RV, "be ye ... of sound mind" (AV, "be ye sober"). See also Romans 12:3 . See Sober.
Acts 20:13Intend.
"agreeing, of one mind" (homos, "same," phren, "the mind"), is used in 1—Peter 3:8 .
2—Timothy 1:7Discipline. Romans 15:6Accord.CastChangeDoubtfulFerventForwardnessHumilityLowlinessReadinessReadyWilling.
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [2]
1. The noun. -While in the OT ‘heart’ is used to represent man’s whole mental and moral activity (cf. Genesis 6:5 ‘every imagination of the thoughts of his heart’), psychological terms begin to be employed in the NT with more discrimination and precision, and ‘mind’ comes into use to denote the faculty of thinking, and especially the organ of moral consciousness; the fundamental Gr. word being νοῦς, with which must be associated its derivatives νόημα, διάνοια, ἔννοια. It is suggestive, however, of the persistence of the OT psychology and terminology in the early Apostolic Church that, outside of the Pauline Epistles, νοῦς, the specific word for ‘mind,’ occurs only in Luke 24:45, Revelation 13:18; Revelation 17:9, though διάνοια and ἔννοια are occasionally found. In the Authorized Versionof Acts 14:2, Philippians 1:27, Hebrews 12:3 ‘mind’ represents ψυχή, which in the Revised Versionis properly rendered ‘soul’; in Philemon 1:14, Revelation 17:13 it stands for γνώμη, ‘judgment,’ ‘opinion’; in Romans 8:7; Romans 8:27 for φρόνημα, which denotes not the mental faculty itself, but its thoughts and purposes.
As illustrating St. Paul’s use of νοῦς and helping us to appreciate the distinctive meaning he attaches to the word, it is important to notice two contrasts in which he sets it, in the one case with ‘flesh’ (σάρξ) and in the other with ‘spirit’ (πνεῦμα). In Romans 7:23; Romans 7:25 he contrasts the mind with the flesh, i.e. with the sinful principle in human nature; and the law of his mind, which is also the law of God, with the law in his members or the law of sin. Here the mind is clearly the conscience or organ of moral knowledge, man’s highest faculty, by which he recognizes the will of God for his own life. And when in Romans 8:6 the Apostle speaks of ‘the mind of the flesh’ (cf. Colossians 2:18, ‘fleshly mind’), the suggestion is that man’s highest faculty has been debased to the service of what is lowest in his nature, so that the mind has itself become fleshly and sinful. In 1 Corinthians 14:14-15; 1 Corinthians 14:19, again, where νοῦς (which English Versionrenders here by ‘understanding’) is contrasted with πνεῦμα, the antithesis is between man’s natural faculty of conscious knowledge and reflexion and that higher principle of the Christian life which is Divinely bestowed, and which, as in the case of the gift of tongues, may manifest itself in ways that lie beyond the reach of consciousness. The mind, as man’s highest natural faculty, thus stands between the flesh, as the lower and sinful principle in his nature, and the spirit, which is the distinctive principle of the Divinely given Christian life. And, as the mind may be dragged down by the flesh until it becomes a ‘mind of the flesh,’ so it may be upraised and informed by the spirit until it becomes a ‘mind of the spirit’ ( Romans 8:6; cf. Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23). See articles Flesh, Soul, Spirit.
2. The verb. -The verb ‘to mind’ is used intransitively, in the sense of to intend or purpose, in Acts 20:13 (Gr. μέλλοντες, Revised Version‘intending’). With the same signification ‘to be minded’ occurs in Acts 27:39 (Gr. βούλεσθαι), Acts 27:17 (Textus Receptusβουλεύεσθαι, WH[Note: H Westcott-Hort’s Greek Testament.]βούλεσθαι). More frequently ‘to mind’ (Gr. φρονεῖν) is found in the transitive sense of ‘to think about,’ ‘to direct one’s mind to’ ( Romans 8:5, Philippians 3:16; Philippians 3:19). Sometimes φρονεῖν is translated ‘to be minded,’ and in such cases the phrase is equivalent in meaning to the transitive verb ( Galatians 5:10, Philippians 3:15). The participle ‘minded’ is met with in the Authorized Versionin a number of phrases-‘likeminded’ ( Romans 15:5, Philippians 2:2), ‘feeble-minded’ ( 1 Thessalonians 5:14), ‘doubleminded’ ( James 1:8; James 4:8), ‘highminded’ ( Romans 11:20, 1 Timothy 6:17, 2 Timothy 3:4), ‘soberminded’ ( Titus 2:6), which are represented in the original by various verbs and adjectives. For ‘carnally minded’ and ‘spiritually minded’ in Romans 8:6 (τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός … τοῦ πνεύματος) should be substituted as in the Revised Version‘the mind of the flesh,’ ‘the mind of the spirit.’
Literature.-Thayer Grimm’s Gr.-Eng. Lexicon of the NT, Greek-Eng. Lex. of the NT 2, 1890, s.v. νοῦς; H. Cremer, Bib.-Theol. Lex. of NT Greek 3, 1880, p. 435 ff.; J. Laidlaw, The Bible Doctrine of Man , 1895, p. 123 ff.; B. Weiss, Biblical Theology of the NT , Eng. translation, 1882-83, i. 475 f.; Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , article‘Mind.’
J. C. Lambert.
Holman Bible Dictionary [3]
mind mind leb Numbers 16:28 1 Samuel 9:20 Nehemiah 4:6 nephesh Deuteronomy 18:6 Genesis 23:8 ruach Genesis 26:35 lebab Ezekiel 38:10 yetser Isaiah 26:3 peh Leviticus 24:12
The New Testament has a similar situation because of the large number of terms which are used to describe mankind's “faculty of cognition.” As in the Old Testament the term heart ( kardia ) is sometimes used to represent the concept mind . Matthew 13:15 speaks of understanding with the “heart.” Other words include ennoia , which means “mind” in the sense of “intent” (“arm yourselves likewise with the same mind” ( 1 Peter 4:1 ). Gnome refers to mind in the sense of “purpose” ( Revelation 17:13 ) or “opinion” ( Philemon 1:14 ). Noema is also used to denote the mind, especially the “thought process.” Paul said that Israel's “minds were blinded” so that they could not understand the Old Testament ( 2 Corinthians 3:14; see also 2 Corinthians 4:4; 2 Corinthians 11:3 ). The word phronema refers to what one has in the mind, the “thought”: “To be carnally minded is death” ( Romans 8:6 ).
The more common terms for mind, however, are nous and dianoia . Dianoia occurs twelve times in the New Testament. It refers to “thinking through” or “thinking over” of something or to the “understanding” or “sentiment” which results from that process of reflection. Paul said that in times past we all lived according to the flesh, “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (those things we had already thought over, Ephesians 2:3 ). Nous is the most prominent term for mind; it occurs twenty-four times. Nous represents the “seat of understanding,” the place of “knowing and reasoning.” It also includes feeling and deciding. Hence it sometimes includes the counsels and purposes of the mind. An example is Paul's statement: “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” ( Romans 14:5 ). The meaning of purpose is found in Romans 11:34 , which says, “Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?”
Mind is sometimes associated with the human soul. Three times in the King James Version the word psuche (soul or life) is rendered by the word mind . Philippians 1:27 says believers are to be of “one mind (soul).” Hebrews 12:3 urges believers not to “faint in your minds (souls).” (See Acts 14:2 also.) These passages illustrate the fact that the mind is considered to be the center of the person. However, in Scripture the heart is more often considered to be the center of the human personality. In the Old Testament, especially, this is true because of the lack of an exact equivalent for mind . The word heart fills this void, and the New Testament follows the practice of the Old Testament very closely. Why then can the mind as well as the heart be spoken of as the center of a person? Because in Hebrew thought a person is looked at as a single entity with no attempt to compartmentalize the person into separate parts which act more or less independently of one another. Therefore, the heart, mind, and soul, while in some ways different, are seen as one.
The mind is portrayed oftentimes, especially in the New Testament, as the center of a person's ethnical nature. The mind can be evil. It is described as “reprobate” ( Romans 1:28 ), “fleshly” ( Colossians 2:18 ), vain ( Ephesians 4:17 ), corrupt ( 1 Timothy 6:5; 2 Timothy 3:8 ), and defiled ( Titus 1:15 ). On the other hand, three Gospels command us to love God with”all” our mind ( Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 ). This is possible because the mind can be revived and empowered by the Holy Spirit ( Romans 12:2 ) and because God's laws under the new covenant are put into our minds ( Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16 ). See Heart; Soul; Anthropology; Humanity .
Gerald Cowen
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary [4]
Human beings, being made in the image of God, are different from all other animals ( Genesis 1:27; see Image ). One difference is that indefinable human characteristic called the mind. The mind does not result solely from the fact that a human being has a brain, for other animals also have brains. There is something within humans that enables them to commune with God, to think, to reason and to understand in a way that animals do not. The Bible sometimes calls this the mind, though frequently it calls it the heart ( Proverbs 2:2-3; Hebrews 10:16; see Heart ). The point that the Bible emphasizes is that because humans have minds they must think and behave differently from the other animals ( Psalms 32:8-9; Proverbs 1:2-6; Proverbs 18:15; Matthew 22:37; Philippians 1:9-10; 1 Peter 1:13-15; 2 Peter 2:12-16; see Knowledge ; Wisdom ).
Like the rest of human nature, the mind has become corrupted through sin ( Romans 1:21; Romans 8:7; 2 Corinthians 3:14; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 4:17-18). Therefore, when people repent and believe the gospel, their minds are renewed because of their union with Jesus Christ ( Romans 8:5-6; Ephesians 4:22-24). They must then show that this is so. They must develop new attitudes of mind, which will result in new patterns of behaviour ( Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Philippians 2:5; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:2; Colossians 3:10; 1 Peter 4:1).
This use of the mind should be seen not only in the way believers behave, but also in the way they worship and serve God. They must use their minds to pray and sing intelligently ( 1 Corinthians 14:15; Colossians 3:16; see Prayer ; Singing ), to understand Christian teaching ( Proverbs 2:1-5; 1 Corinthians 2:11-13; 2 Timothy 2:7; see Interpretation ), to find out God’s will ( Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:17; Colossians 1:9; see Guidance ), to preach the gospel effectively ( Acts 17:2-4; Acts 19:8-10; see Preaching ), and to teach the Scriptures in a way that builds up the hearers ( Colossians 1:28; Titus 1:9; see TEACHER).
King James Dictionary [5]
MIND, n. L. reminiscor L. mens Gr. memory, mention, to remember, mind, ardor of mind, vehemence anger. Mind signifies properly intention, a reaching or inclining forward to an object, from the primary sense of extending, stretching or inclining, or advancing eagerly, pushing or setting forward, whence the Greek sense of the word, in analogy with the Teutonic mod, moed, muth, mind, courage, spirit, mettle. So L. animus, animosus.
1. Intention purpose design.
The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind. Proverbs 21
2. Inclination will desire a sense much used, but expressing less than settled purpose as in the common phrases, "I wish to know your mind " "let me know your mind " "he had a mind to go " "he has a partner to his mind." 3. Opinion as, to express one's mind. We are of one mind. 4. Memory remembrance as, to put one in mind to call to mind the fact is out of my mind time out of mind. From the operations of the intellect in man,this word came to signify. 5. The intellectual or intelligent power in man the understanding the power that conceives, judges or reasons.
I fear I am not in my perfect mind.
So we speak of a sound mind, a disordered mind, a weak mind, a strong mind, with reference to the active powers of the understanding and in a passive sense, it denotes capacity, as when we say, the mind cannot comprehend a subject.
6. The heart or seat of affection.
Which were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26
7. The will and affection as readiness of mind. Acts 17 8. The implanted principle of grace. Romans 7
MIND, To attend to to fix the thoughts on to regard with attention.
Cease to request me let us mind our way.
Mind not high things. Romans 12
1. To attend to or regard with submission to obey. His father told him to desist, but he would not mind him. 2. To put in mind to remind. 3. To intend to mean.
MIND, To be inclined or disposed to incline.
When one of them mindeth to go into rebellion.
Webster's Dictionary [6]
(1): ( v. i.) To give attention or heed; to obey; as, the dog minds well.
(2): ( n.) To occupy one's self with; to employ one's self about; to attend to; as, to mind one's business.
(3): ( n.) To put in mind; to remind.
(4): ( n.) To have in mind; to purpose.
(5): ( v.) The intellectual or rational faculty in man; the understanding; the intellect; the power that conceives, judges, or reasons; also, the entire spiritual nature; the soul; - often in distinction from the body.
(6): ( v.) The state, at any given time, of the faculties of thinking, willing, choosing, and the like; psychical activity or state; as: (a) Opinion; judgment; belief.
(7): ( v.) Courage; spirit.
(8): ( v.) Choice; inclination; liking; intent; will.
(9): ( n.) To fix the mind or thoughts on; to regard with attention; to treat as of consequence; to consider; to heed; to mark; to note.
(10): ( n.) To obey; as, to mind parents; the dog minds his master.
(11): ( v.) Memory; remembrance; recollection; as, to have or keep in mind, to call to mind, to put in mind, etc.
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [7]
A thinking, intelligent being; otherwise called spirit, or soul.
See SOUL. Dr. Watts has given us some admirable thoughts as to the improvement of the mind. "There are five eminent means or methods, " he observes, "whereby the mind is improved in the knowledge of things; and these are, observation, reading, instruction by lectures, conversation, and meditation; which last, in a most peculiar manner, is called study.
See Watts on the Mind, a book which no student should be without.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [8]
MIND. See Psychology.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [9]
the exercise or expression of the spiritual part of man's nature. It is obviously divisible into the three elementary functions, thought, emotion, and volition; but scientific writers greatly differ as to the subordinate or detailed faculties, as they are called. Reilt thus classifies the mental powers: Perception, memory, conception, abstraction, judgment, reasoning. Stewart thus: Perception, attention, conception, abstraction, association, imagination, reason. Others propose a, deeper analysis of the intellectual faculties, and find three properties which appear fundamental and distinct, to one in any degree implying the other, while the whole taken together are sufficient to explain all intellectual operations: namely, discrimination, retentiveness, and association of ideas. Sir W. Hamilton, departing from common classifications, sums the intellections into six:
(1.) The presentative faculty, or the power of recognising the various aspects of the world and of the mind.
(2.) The conservative faculty or memory, meaning the power of storing up.
(3.) The reproductive faculty, or the means of recalling sleeping impressions or concepts.
(4.) The representative faculty, or imagination.
(5.) The elaborative faculty, or the power of comparison, by which classification, generalization, and reasoning are performed.
(6.) The regulative faculty, or the cognition of the A Priori or instinctive notions of the intellect, as space, time, causation, necessary truths, etc.
Noah Porter divides his "Human Intellect" into four parts:
(a.) He treats of natural consciousness, philosophical consciousness; sense perception, its conditions and process; of the growth and products of sense perception.
(b.) He treats of representation and representative knowledge; by which he means memory, imagining power, etc.
(c.) He treats of thinking and thought knowledge; by which he means the formation and nature of the concept, judgment, reasoning, etc.
(d.) He treats of intuition and intuitive knowledge, in which he discourses on mathematical relations, causation, design, substance, attribute; the finite and conditioned; the infinite and absolute.
Berkeley and his school teach a pure idealism, which asserts that everything we can take cognizance of is mind or self; that we cannot transcend our mental sphere; whatever we know is our own mind. Others, again, as Locke, resolve all into empiricism, and look on mind as simply the result of material organization. These two views contain the extreme angles to which speculation has run. The former is idealism or spiritualism, the latter materialism or empiricism.
The pre-Socratic school of philosophers was materialistic, of which Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, were patrons. Between these and Plato, Socrates was a transitional link. The post-Platonic philosophers were spiritualistic in the main, notwithstanding French materialism and German rationalism. (See Materialism). Dr. McCosh, in his Intuitions Of The Mind, makes a triplet of parts. In part first (which is on the "Nature of the Intuitive Convictions of the Mind") he shows that there are no innate mental images; no innate or general notions; no a priori forms imposed by the mind on objects; no intuitions immediately before consciousness as law principles. But there are intuitive principles operating in the mind; these are native convictions of the mind, which are of the nature of perceptions or intuitions. Intuitive convictions rise up when contemplations of objects are presented to the mind. The intuitions of the mind are primarily directed to individual objects. The individual intuitive convictions can be generalized into maxims, and these are entitled to be represented as philosophic principles. In part second he shows that the mind begins its intelligent acts with knowledge; that the simple cognitive powers are sense, perception, and self-consciousness. It is through the bodily organism that the intelligence of man attains its knowledge of all material objects beyond. ‘ The qualities of matter — extension, divisibility, size density or rarity, figure, incompressibility, mobility, and substance — are known by intuition; and it is by cognition we know self as having being, and as not depending for existence on our observation; as being in itself an abiding existence; as exercising potency in spirit and material being "Cogito, ergo sum." The primitive cognitions recognise being, substance, mode. quality, personality, number, motion, power.
The primitive beliefs recognise space, time, and the infinite. The mind intuitively observes the relations of identity, of whole to part, of space, time, quantity, property, cause, and effect. The motive and moral convictions as appetencies, will, conscience are involved in the exercise of conscience. In part third he shows that the sources of knowledge are sense, perception, self-consciousness, and faith exercise. But there are limits to our knowledge, ideas, and beliefs. We cannot know any substance other than those revealed by sense, consciousness, or faith. We can never know any qualities or relations among objects except in so far as we have special faculties of knowledge. The material for ideas must be brought from the knowledge sources. These sources are limited, and our belief is limited. Professor Bain, in his book, shows that human knowledge falls under two departments — the object department, marked by extension; the subject department, marked by the absence of extension. Subject experience has three functions — feeling, will, thought. The brain is the organ of the mind. The nervous systems are only extensions or ramifications of the brain, and through these the mind transmits its influence. In this nervous system, which acts as a channel for the transmission of messages from the mind, are two sets of nerves — the in-carrying, the out-carrying. The intellectual functions are commonly expressed by memory, reason, imagination. The primary attributes of intellect are difference, agreement. retentiveness, or continuity. J.S. Mill propounds a psychological theory of the belief in a material world- postulates, expectation, association, laws, substance, matter. The external world is a permanent possibility of sensation. Then follows the distinction of primary and secondary qualities; application to the permanence of mind, etc.
The true theory is both scriptural and scientific, methodic and encyclopedic; and though it may not explain all ideation amply, yet it shows that the nature and functions of mind can only be seen in connection with all the other parts of the human system, just as the nature and functions of a fountain are only seen when considered in connection with the other parts of the cosmos. We can only understand the nature and office of ducts, glands, veins, or arteries when we view them in their mutual relations, and in their relations with all the other parts of the physical system. We can only understand civil polity, social statics, natural phenomena, when taken in their reciprocal relations; and so we can only understand mind when viewed in connection with everything else it touches. Views taken from any other premise must be partial and imperfect. We hold that mind has seven great forces or modes. The so- called scientific writers acknowledge this, at least substantially. These are consciousness, conception, abstraction, association, memory, imagination, reason. Now if science shows us that there are seven great corresponding qualities or forces in the body, and if Scripture (which reveals what science cannot) shows us that there are seven great corresponding powers in the soul which lie back of and control all powers of body and of mind, why not conclude that this trial septenary of forces interlace and overlap each other, so as to constitute a human personality? We do not claim for this theory a scientific status, but is it not worthy of a speculative niche? Our observation shows us that this universe progresses by a duplex method, unfolding and infolding, or evolving and involving. Scripture shows that this unfolding comes from a sevenfold force; science shows that it comes through a sevenfold faculty. The following curious coincidences may not be out of place here, as illustrating a somewhat abstruse problem of this subject. The Revelation by John reveals Ἑπτὰ Πνεύματα , or "the seven spirits," as the constituent powers of Deity.
The question arises, What are these seven spirits? ( Isaiah 11:2; Psalms 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Job 28:28). It is held by many influential writers that the spirits mentioned in these references are to be taken in connection with Zechariah's sevenfold lamp ( Zechariah 4:1). Delitzsch, in his work on Psychology, endeavors to find these elements in the Hebraistic distinctions of "the spirit of fear," i.e., of divine veneration ( יַרְאָה ), "the spirit of knowledge" ( דִּעִת ), "the spirit of power" ( גְּבוּרָה ), etc.; but these are highly mystical and even fanciful. Whatever, however, may be thought of such abstractions, as to what Scripture says, or is imagined to say, about the sevenfold Doxa or soul life, science does seem to discover, or at least point out, a sevenfold means of mind representation in the body. She recognizes seven forms of life: the embryonic, the breathing, the blood, the heart, the sensation, containing the five senses, the externalization of the Voig by the tongue, and the outpressure of the entire mental phases and spirit feelings through the entire bodily habifus. In the trichotomy of nature the soul is first, the mind- second, the body third. The mind is therefore moulded by the soul, and the body by the mind. As the soul lies at the base of the being, all its ramifications are tinged with the hues of the soul. The mind, nevertheless, is moulded by whatever it plays upon. Thus mind is a middleman standing between the world of morals and of matter (yet interlacing both), communicating the will of the spirit to the external sphere. It is not a monarch, but a marshal; yet it is august in its capacity; in its elasticity, eternal. (See Psychology).
For further discussion of the mind, see the works mentioned above; also the early Greek writers, as Diogenes, Anaxagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Democrituis and the Socratic school, as Plato, Aristotle, etc. The modern schoolmen who treat of the subject are chiefly the following: Gassendi (1592-1655), Des Cartes (1596-1650), Geulinx (1625-1699), Spinoza (1632-1677), Malebranche (1688-1715), Hume (1711-1776), Reid (1710- 1796), Brown (1778-1820), Condillac (1715-1780), Collard (1763-1845), Leibnitz (1646-1716), Kant (1724-1804), Schleiermacher (1768-1834). Many of these were rather metaphysicians than mental philosophers; yet their theories and discussions involve the nature and functions of the human mind, especially in its intellectual aspects; and they therefore may be said to have laid the foundations for mental science in its present development. The principal works more expressly relating to the intellectual faculties are Stewart, Treatise and Essay on the Mind; Brown, Philosophy of the Human Mind; Abercrombie, Intellectual Powers; Watts, On the Mind; Cudworth, Intellectual System; Reid, Essays on the active Powers of the Human Mind: Mill (James), Analysis of the Phenomena of the Humans Mind; McCosh, Intuitions of the Mind; Wilson (W.D.), Lectures on the Psychology of Thought and Action; Bain, Mind and Body: the Theories of their Relation; Carpenter, Principles of Mental Physiology; Maudsley, Body and Mind: their Connection and mutual Influence. The works on Mental Science treat likewise of the emotional elements of the mind. (See Philosophy). Most of the works named include the third or causative faculty of the mind, i.e. the will; but the importance of this, in its theological bearings, requires a separate treatment. (See Will). See also Christian Monthly Spectator, 8:141, 184; Lit. And Theol. Rev. 1:74,169, 614; 2:261, 576; North Amer. Rev. 19:1; 24:56; Monthly Rev. 68:441; Brit. Qu. Rev. December 1871, page 308; Contemporary Rev. April and Oct. 1872; Meth. Qu. Rev. 4:243; April 1870, page 221; Popular Science Monthly, July 1873, art. 10; December art. 4 and 6; The Academy, November 1, 1873, page 445. (See Monomania).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [10]
mı̄nd ( νοῦς , noús , διάνοια , diánoia , σύνεσις , súnesis ):
1. No Precision in the Terms Used:
We look in vain in the Old Testament and New Testament for anything like scientific precision in the employment of terms which are meant to indicate mental operations.
In the Old Testament lēbh is made to stand for the various manifestations of our intellectual and emotional nature. We are often misled by the different renderings in the different versions, both early and late.
Sometimes nephesh or "soul" is rendered by "mind" ( Deuteronomy 18:6 the King James Version, "desire of his soul" or "mind"); sometimes rūah or "spirit" ( Genesis 26:35 , "grief of mind," rūah ). Here Luther renders the term Herzeleid ("grief of heart"), and the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) animum . Sometimes lēbh is used, as in Isaiah 46:8 , "bring it to mind" (literally, "heart"), or in Psalm 31:12 , "I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind" (literally, "heart"), as in Septuagint, kardı́a , and in Vulgate, a corde , Luther, im Herzen , new Dutch translated, uit de gedachtenis (i.e. "memory").
In the Apocrypha this precision is equally lacking. Thus we read in The Wisdom of Song of Solomon 9:15 , "For the corruptible body ( sṓma ) presseth down the soul ( psuchḗ ) and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind ( nous ) that museth upon many things." But these distinctions are alien to the letter and spirit of revelation, a product of the Greek and not of the Hebrew mind.
In the New Testament the words nous and dianoia are used, but not with any precision of meaning.
Here too several terms are rendered by the same word. Thus the Hebrew rūah is rendered by nous in 1 Corinthians 2:16 ("mind of the Lord," with reference to Isaiah 40:13 , where " rūah YHWH (spirit of Yahweh)" occurs). Nous evidently means here the organ of spiritual perception - a word borrowed from the Septuagint, where it is sometimes made to stand for lēbh ( Job 7:17; Isaiah 41:22 ); sometimes for rūah ( Isaiah 40:13 ). In Luke 24:45 - the solitary text, where nous occurs in the Gospels - it is rendered "understanding" in the King James Version, "mind" in the Revised Version (British and American).
2. Ethical Sense:
For a true solution we must turn to the Epistles of Paul, where the word frequently occurs in an ethical sense - sometimes in connection with (sinful) flesh as in Colossians 2:18 , "puffed up by his fleshly mind," sometimes in direct contrast to it, as in Romans 7:25 , 'with my mind I serve the law of God; with the flesh the law of sin.' In Titus 1:15 it is brought into parallelism with conscience ("Their mind and their conscience are defiled"). Phrases like "a reprobate mind," "corrupted in mind" occur elsewhere ( Romans 1:28; 1 Timothy 6:5 ). From this state of "reprobation" and "corruption" man must be saved. Hence, the necessity of complete transformation and renewal of the inner man ( Romans 12:2 ), "transformed by the renewing of your mind ( nous )."
3. Dianoia and Nous:
Another word, with possibly a deeper meaning, is sometimes employed, namely, dianoia , which literally means "meditation," "reflection." It is found as synonymous with nous in a good sense, as e.g. in 1 John 5:20 (He "hath given us an understanding, that we know him that is true"). Evidently the sense here is the same as in Romans 12:2 , a renovated mind capable of knowing Christ. It may also bear a bad sense, as in Ephesians 4:18 , where the Gentiles are represented as having "a darkened understanding," or in parallelism with sárx : "the desires of the flesh and of the mind" ( Ephesians 2:3 ), and with nous : 'walking in vanity of mind ( nous ) and a darkened understanding ( dianoia )' in Ephesians 4:18 . At times also "heart" and "mind" are joined to indicate human depravity ( Luke 1:51 : "He hath scattered the proud in the imagination ( dianoia ) of their heart"). It is interesting also to know that the Great Commandment is rendered in Matthew 22:37 - "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart , and with all thy soul ( psuchē ), and with all thy understanding ( dianoia ) (English Versions of the Bible, "mind")" - though Mark has two renderings in one of which dianoia occurs, and in the other sunesis ( Mark 12:30 , Mark 12:33 ), though possibly without any psychological refinement of meaning, for the term sunesis occurs elsewhere in conjunction with pneumatikós ("spiritual understanding," Colossians 1:9 ). It also stands alone in the sense of an "understanding enlightened from above" ( 2 Timothy 2:7 King James Version: "The Lord give thee understanding ( sunesis ) in all things"). The history of these terms is interesting, but not of great theological significance.
4. The Great Commandment:
It seems to us that Godet's interpretation of the Great Commandment in Luke 10:27 is somewhat far-fetched. He considers the heart as "the central focus from which all rays of the moral life go forth, and that in their three principal directions: the powers of feeling, or the affections, nephesh ('soul') in the sense of feeling; the active powers, the impulsive aspirations, the might ('with all thy might' ), the will; and in the intellectual powers, analytical or contemplative, dianoia ('with all thy mind' ). The difference between the heart, which resembles the trunk and the three branches, feeling, will, understanding, is emphatically marked in the Alexandrian variation, by the substitution of the preposition en ('in') for ek ('with,' 'from') in the three last members. Moral life proceeds from the heart and manifests itself without , in the three forms of activity. The impulse God-ward proceeds from the heart, and is realized in the life through the will, which consecrates itself actively to the accomplishment of His will; and through the mind, which pursues the track of His thought in all His works" (Godet, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke , II, 38, 39).
References
- ↑ Mind from Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
- ↑ Mind from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
- ↑ Mind from Holman Bible Dictionary
- ↑ Mind from Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
- ↑ Mind from King James Dictionary
- ↑ Mind from Webster's Dictionary
- ↑ Mind from Charles Buck Theological Dictionary
- ↑ Mind from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
- ↑ Mind from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
- ↑ Mind from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
