φρονέω (fro-ne'-o): The operations of the Mind/heart/soul/nous

[Reading time 10 minutes]

This may be one of the most important words in the NT; or, at the very least, one that offers us a great deal of insight into the darkening operations of Fallen Man versus those of the Kingdom of Light.

φρονέω (fro-ne'-o)

From φρήν: The midriff or diaphragm, that which regulates our breathing. As, therefore, the diaphragm regulates our breathing, so our faculties of perception that determine how we think/live/act are regulated by the φρήν, the anatomic organ, so to speak, of our spirit and nous.

26 occurrences in the NT

This post will look primarily at its opening four uses, tracing the development of φρονέω through the Gospels into Acts and concluding in Romans.

Summary Synthesis:

It begins with the mindset of this Fallen Age, which actively resists the Way of the Cross (Mt. 16:23; Mk. 8:33). Then it points to those seeking a way out of this fallen world into the Kingdom of God (Acts 28:22). And finally in Romans the fallen mind is redeemed through the Incarnation, Life and Death of Jesus Christ (Rom 8), such that it can operate in a new dimension (sōphronéō, From sózó+ phrḗn: Lit. a ‘phren’ that has been ‘saved’ (sózó) such that it lives “by the Spirit,” regardless of where He leads us (Mt 4:1-> Rom 12:1-3) and, ultimately, according to Christ Jesus (katá Christón, Rom 15:5).

Detailed Analysis:

In its only two occurrences in the Gospels, φρονέω is viewed from the vantage point of the fallen state operative not merely in the mind of unbelievers, but in the mind of Satan himself. As a background to these first uses, each comes in the turning point of the first two Gospels, directly following Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah. 

The text says that Jesus asked his disciples about the people’s view of His Identity, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?“ After their responses (“John the Baptist”, “Elijah”, “Jeremiah” or “one of the prophets”), He then focuses the question directly and personally on them—“But whom do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:13-15)

Peter responds, “You are Christ (σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς), the Son of the Living God (ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος, 16:16). 

After this, the tenor of the Gospel shifts. The Book of Signs becomes the Book of Glory. Prophetic miracles (σημεῖα) move towards their fulfillment in the Pathway to the Cross, which is the focus of both Gospels from this point on. With this confession of Jesus as the Messiah Who can lead them from the miraculous signs to the Glorious Reality, the disciples are now ready to receive the mind of Christ (νοῦν Κυρίου). He can then reveal to them the means of the fulfillment of all that is in the Law and Prophets.  

And how will this come about?

“From that time forth began Jesus to show (δεικνύειν) unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer (παθεῖν) many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised (ἐγερθῆναι) again the third day” (16:21). This is the Divine Pathway. This is how fallen man is opened up to the Life of the Eternal Kingdom of God.

And how does Peter now respond?

Hearing this Peter, who was literally moments before anointed as the “rock”, then “began to rebuke” Jesus (ἐπιτιμᾶν). And his words, which before were revealed (ἀπεκάλυψέν) from the Father Himself, now arise from the prince of darkness. “Far be it from you, Lord (Ἵλεώς σοι κύριε), “this will not happen to you” (οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο). 

A different shift has occurred. Though a disciple, though declared the rock on which Christ will build (οἰκοδομήσω) His Church, though given the keys of the Kingdom (κλεῖς τῆς βασιλείας), Peter falls prey to the earthly mindset, the “wisdom that descends not from above” (οὐκ ἡ σοφία ἄνωθεν κατερχομένη) but from below, “earthly (ἐπίγειος) animal (ψυχική), demonic (δαιμονιώδης)” (Jam 3:15). And this shift happened in a matter of seconds. In one moment, Peter is testifying of the Reality of the Eternal Christ; the next moment, he is falling into delusions of spiritual pride.

Jesus responds, cutting behind these words to reveal the spiritual reality at work.

 “But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan, for you are an offense (σκάνδαλον) to me. For you phroneo (φρονεις) not the things of God but the things of man (Mt 16:23; Mk 8:33). 

Here are the only two uses in the Gospels. And by the Words of Jesus Himself, they testify to the fallen mindset that operates through the god of This Age according to kingdom of darkness. It can arise in moments through a flash of pride and has the ability to commandeer our faculties of perception, leading us into spiritual delusion (prelest). It speaks to the reality of spiritual warfare occurring at every moment, whether we are willing to see it or not, as this deeper reality determines how we phroneo, that is think/interpret/judge/speak/act. And this is, we might say, a chief reason why in Jesus’ pathway to the Garden and the Cross, He continues to exhort His disciples to “watch and pray (γρηγορεῖτε καὶ προσεύχεσθε) that (ἵνα) they enter not into temptation (πειρασμόν). For, He declares, “the spirit is indeed willing (πρόθυμον) but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41; Mk 13:33). [Note: Both “Watching” (γρηγορέω) and “Testing” (πειρασμός) will be reviewed in future posts.] Here we will only say that a life of neptic vigilance is held out for us by Jesus as our only pathway through This Age, which is teeming with unseen spiritual realities.

From here we move to the third use, where we see the beginning movements through this Age towards the Kingdom. The word is situated within Paul’s address at the close of Acts to the “chief of the Jews” (των Ιουδαιων πρωτους). In the final chapter of Acts, Paul, now imprisoned in Rome, calls the Jewish leaders to hear his final defense “for the hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20). And rather than responding in anger and fury, as the Jews had done many times before, these Jewish leaders now say “We judge it a worthy thing (ἀξιοῦμεν) to hear how you understand” (φρονεῖς) all of this (28:22).

Their minds, it seems, are being opened up to Realities of the Kingdom of God. “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified (διαμαρτυρόμενος) of the kingdom of God, persuading (πείθων) them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening” (28:23).

Then comes the dividing line of the Gospel. “And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not” (28:24). Two possible pathways only, one through faith leading unto Life; the other through unbelief pulling one down into destruction (cf. Mt 7:13-14).

Arguing, then, among themselves, with these two frameworks of the heart/mind/spirit (φρόνημα, phronema) warring against one another, Paul gives one last interpretation, taking them back to the words of Isaiah. “Well spoke the Holy Spirit by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, ‘Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waxed gross (ἐπαχύνθη), and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand (συνῶσιν) with their heart, and should be converted (ἐπιστρέψωσιν), and I should heal them (ἰάσωμαι, 28:26-27).

We should also note here that this quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10 is found in the Gospels when Jesus is explaining to his disciples why He “speaks in parables” (Mt. 13:10). “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven (τὰ μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν), but to them it is not given. With the Jews rejecting this message of the Kingdom, the book of Acts closes with Paul’s announcement, “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it” (28:28).

From the actions of the fallen phren struggling towards the Kingdom, the next nine occurrences in the Epistle to the Romans show how it passes out of the kingdom of darkness into the integrated working of the Kingdom of Light, being redeemed through the Incarnation, Life and Death of Jesus Christ (Rom 8), such that it can operate (σωφρονέω, From σῴζω + φρήν: Lit. a ‘phren’ that has been ‘saved’ such that it lives) according to the Spirit (κατα πνευμα, Rom 12 & 14) and, ultimately, according to Christ Jesus (κατα χριστον ιησουν, Rom 15:5-6).

We will focus primarily on Paul’s first use of φρονέω in Romans 8 as it moves from the near despair of the prior chapter, which closes with the words, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom 7:24). Then begins the analysis of the operations of the flesh versus those of the Spirit, with Paul passing from despair to praise as he declares, “I thank God (ἐυχάριστῶ) through (διὰ) Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind (νοῒ, that is, the nous) I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. He continues,

1 There is therefore now no condemnation (κατάκριμα) to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (κατὰ σάρκα ), but after the Spirit (κατὰ πνεῦμα).

The nous is redeemed through Jesus, Whose Ascended, Spiritualized Body is now brought into our spirit by the Holy Spirit Who is poured out on us when Jesus is glorified (ἐδοξάσθη, Jn 7:37-39). In this way we no longer “walk after the flesh” but “after the Spirit.” The divergent pathways of the way in which we walk is then made very clear.

6 For to be carnally minded (φρόνημα σαρκὸς, that is with a phren that is ruled by the world of fallen flesh) is death, but to be spiritually minded (φρόνημα πνεύματος, lit. when we have the phronema of the Spirit that) is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is at enmity (ἔχθρα) against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh (ἐν σαρκὶ) cannot please God.

9a But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells (οἰκεῖ) in you.

It is the Spirit of God Who enacts the Risen, New Creational life in believers, reordering their phren, the organ of our nous, such that we can live life in and through and according to Jesus. Paul continues,

9b Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life (πνεῦμα ζωὴ) because of righteousness (διὰ δικαιοσύνην). 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life (ζῳοποιήσει) to your mortal bodies through (διὰ) His Spirit who dwells in you (τὸ ἐνοικοῦν αὐτοῦ Πνεῦμα ἐν ὑμῖν).

Then comes our life in the Spirit that enables our mortification of the flesh and effects our adoption by the Spirit such that we truly become the “sons of God” through Christ.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (κατὰ σάρκα). 13 For (γὰρ) if you live according to the flesh you will die (μέλλετε ἀποθνῄσκειν); but if by the Spirit (πνεύματι) you put to death (θανατοῦτε) the deeds of the body (τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος), you will live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (υἱοὶ θεοῦ).

15 For (γὰρ) you did not receive the spirit of bondage (πνεῦμα δουλείας) again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption (πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας) by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with (συμμαρτυρεῖ) our spirit that we are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ), 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him (συμπάσχομεν), that we may also be glorified together (συνδοξασθῶμεν).

The Spirit is working deep within the wellsprings of our personalities, making us not simply a collection of “saved” pietistic individuals, but rather binding us together in and through the Christ, as the Spirit penetrates our φρόνημα, breathing into it the New Creational Life poured out through Spiritualized Body of the Risen Jesus, Who is brought to us through the inner-working of the Spirit.

In the words of Dimitru Staniloe, with which we will close, this indwellng of the Spirit produces not simply saved individuals, but the very Church itself.

“But, strictly speaking, our salvation is achieved only through Christ, who comes to dwell within us with the body He bore—a body that has risen, ascended, and been made fully spiritual, that is, has been filled with the Holy Spirit and thus has become perfectly transparent.  This indwelling produces the Church. The Church, therefore, is the intended fulfillment of the saving work begun through the Incarnation. If the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension are the first four acts, then the Church is the fifth...

Christ does save us, inasmuch as He dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. In this way the power for our salvation and deification shines forth within us from Christ's spiritualized body. The descent of the Holy Spirit is what gives the Church a real existence; it initiates the indwelling of Christ's deified body in human beings and thereby initiates the Church as well” (The Church: Communion in the Holy Spirit, Chapter 1).