"God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
It is "renewed in knowledge," therefore – suggested by the figure of teeth compared to shorn sheep – it has laid aside the wisdom of this world, to be filled with the knowledge of God's will in spiritual – as contrasted with natural – understanding. The lips of the new creation are yielded to God for the utterance of the Spirit. Cleansed in the blood of Christ, they are likened to scarlet, and speech is comely. The heart-humility, so beautiful to God and stamping the veiled temples with modesty, is suggested by the cut pomegranate; steadfastness in the faith, by the neck as a tower; and the breasts, likened to fawns, suggest the capacity of the soul for receiving and pouring out of the divine fullness to others. "If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation: the old things are passed away; behold, they are becoming new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). ="Brethren, be not children in mind; howbeit in malice be ye babes, but in mind be men ["of full age"]."( 1 Cor. 14:20). In the work of renovation, or re-creation, the mind must be renewed as well as the heart. The "understanding" must be purged from old ideas, old ways of thinking – the wisdom of the "natural man" (1 Cor. 2:14) – as well as his sins. Only thus can the Lord truly put His laws into the mind so that we may be transformed by the "renewing of the mind" to discern the will of God (Romans 12:2). There is a child stage of the new creation in Christ Jesus, which should develop into the stature of a "full-grown man" (Eph. 4:13) "ripe in understanding" (1 Cor.2:6). The word "perfect" used by St. Paul denotes this "full-grown man" (according to Conybeare – see his note on Philippians 3:13 – "perfect" is the antithesis of "babe"); and to bring every believer into the presence of God "fullgrown in Christ" was the desire of Paul's heart and the end for which he labored (Col. 1:28). The "full-grown" are characterized by the "full assurance of understanding" (Col. 2:2). They are able to know the mind of the Lord, as well as His heart; to enter intelligently into His purposes as full-grown sons – able to know His will so that they pray not only "with the Spirit" but "with the understanding also" (1 Cor. 14:15). The renewed mind is preeminently – 1. A sound mind "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7) "Be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer" (1 Peter 4:7).