The darkness we see in the world today took root in man by the Devil corrupting of the minds of created mankind by the fall of Adam. Satan’s Sin-spirit (Eph 2:2-3) was imparted to be the Sin-nature that Paul calls “Sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3). This viral deposit of the Sin-nature is inborn to all men born of Adam’s lineage, corrupting their minds. This is the cause of all darkness, evil, pain, and suffering in the world.

2 Cor. 4:4 In whom the god of this world [Gk. aion, ‘this age’] hath blinded the MINDS of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

For most all of us as believers, our mind is often a hindrance to rest and peace in our souls. Our mind is the ground of attack by “the evil one” ever tempting us to think wrongly.       

2 Cor 11:3 But I fear (for you), lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve… so Your Minds should [would] be corrupted from the simplicity that is in [the all-sufficient truth of] Christ.

The normal Christian life is to be lived in ‘peace and rest’ … so long as we’ve come to an abiding trust in the Lord and what He permits into our lives ‘for our eternal good.’ This rest is a function of a proper mindset… set in accord with faith in “the truth” of “the word of God,” “righty divided” (2 Tim. 2:15).

Paul uses the word “mind” in 37 verses giving us instruction in the proper use of our soul’s “mind.” The mind of man is a component of his soul (cf. Prov. 19:2, 2:10, 3:21-22, 24:14, Psa. 139:14), which is but a part of “the heart of man.”

Here, we compare two verses and note that the “inward parts” of man includes the “heart of man,” which is “wickedly deceitful” (Jer. 17:9) including the “mind” of man. The “Spirit of Christ” in our “spirit of man” (1Cor 6:17) added to our being makes the soul of man into … “the heart of man.”

Jer. 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, …  I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them [Israel] after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; (cf. Heb 8:10)

So, the ‘soul’ by itself is not the ‘heart.’ The “heart of man” includes ‘the mind, emotion and will of the soul,’ PLUS the “conscience” of the “spirit of man” (1Cor. 2:11, cf. 1Cor 2:9, Rom 2:15). It is the “Spirit in man” (Job 32:8) in conjunction with man’s soul that makes the difference between just the “soul of man” and “the heart of man.” The “conscience” in man is a function of “the spirit of man.” Paul wrote; “I lie not, my Conscience also bearing me witness in (by) the Holy Ghost [Spirit],” (Rom. 9:1)

“… there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding [in mind]. (Job 32:8)

The soul of man is to be counterpart to the spirit in which Christ dwells, We, in our self-soul are to be submitted to Christ our spirit (1 Cor 6:17), as a wife to her husband, thus giving Christ the means of expression through our soul’s mind, emotions and will. Christ now indwells every believer’s human spirit irrevocably, eternally, as the new life of a believer. Christ in us is the genuine Christian within.

The word “mind” in Philippians 2:5, in Greek, is “phroneo,” meaning “mindset” or “attitude of mind.” Paul wrote; “Let this mind [phroneo, attitude of mind] be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Philip. 2:5) Now consider the kind of mindset Jesus of Nazareth had and lived by while on earth..

Philip. 2:6-8 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ⁸And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jn. 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, … The Son can do nothing of himself, but (except) what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he [the Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.