He Opened the Scriptures
Scripture calls us to live as glory-bearers—walking, thinking, and choosing in accord with the worth of Christ’s glory manifest in us..
Walking in the Mind of Christ
The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)
Two disciples walked away from Jerusalem, their hopes buried with the crucified Christ. The tomb was empty, but their understanding was not. Scripture tells us:
“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.”
Luke 24:13-14, ESV
Their conversation was heavy with confusion. Then Jesus Himself drew near: “While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” (Luke 24:15-16, ESV)
He asked what troubled them, listened to their sorrow, and then began to teach—not with vague comfort, but with exegetical precision: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27, ESV)
Later, at table, He broke bread: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31, ESV)
And then came the burning recognition: “They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:32, ESV)
This is not merely a historical moment—it is a hermeneutical template. The disciples experienced the interpretive work of Christ Himself as He opened the Scriptures. The Emmaus road becomes our pattern: Christ walks with believers, opens His Word, renews our understanding, and redirects our steps toward bearing witness.
Reflectors of Glory
As born-again believers, we are not merely recipients of grace—we are reflectors of glory. Having been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13), we are called to take on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5), to walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1), and to bear His likeness in thought and conduct.
This transformation is doctrinally grounded in our union with Christ, Spirit-empowered through regeneration, and mind-renewed through the Word. Paul declares: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, ESV). We are no longer enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6), but have been set free to reflect His glory.
Like those disciples whose eyes were opened on the Emmaus road, Scripture calls us to live as glory-bearers—walking, thinking, and choosing in accord with the worth of Christ’s glory manifest in us.
The Mind of Christ: Transformed Thinking
The transformation begins not with external behavior modification, but with internal renewal. Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2:5 is both imperative and indicative: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (ESV).
This is not moral mimicry but spiritual participation in the mind of the incarnate Son. Christ’s mind is characterized by willing humility: “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:6-7, ESV). To have Christ’s mind is to embrace the paradox of glory through self-emptying obedience.
Scripture provides no flattering assessment of the unregenerate mind. Paul describes it in his letter to the Ephesians 4:17-18 as futile (v.17), darkened in understanding (v.18), alienated from the life of God (v.18), hardened (v.18), and then in Romans 8:7 as hostile to God. The natural mind cannot understand spiritual things, for “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14, ESV).
But believers have received “not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12, ESV). Paul declares: “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16, ESV).
The renewal process is ongoing: “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24, ESV). This new self is not a reformed version of the old—it is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), being “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV).
The renewed mind operates through Scripture-saturated thinking. The Berean model demonstrates this: they “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11, ESV). The mind of Christ is formed through consistent engagement with the written Word, illuminated by the Spirit.
Walking Worthy: Glory in Motion
Transformed thinking produces transformed walking. Paul’s pastoral charge in Ephesians 4:1 connects calling and conduct: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (ESV).
This worthy walk is not about earning our calling—the calling is entirely of grace. Rather, it is about reflecting the character of the One who called us. Paul immediately defines this walk: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3, ESV).
These are not impressive virtues by worldly standards, but they mirror Christ’s own character. The walk is marked by the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV). This fruit is not manufactured by human effort but produced by the indwelling Spirit as we “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, ESV).
Paul expands the vision in Colossians 1:10: “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (ESV). The worthy walk is both fruitful and progressive—it grows in knowledge and manifests in works prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).
The contrast with the flesh is absolute. Romans 8:5-8 explains: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit… For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (ESV).
Discernment: Spirit-Led Decision Making
The renewed mind and worthy walk converge in biblical discernment. This is not intuitive decision-making but trained spiritual perception. Hebrews 5:14 describes the mature as those “who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (NIV) or, in the ESV: “who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
This discernment operates through the Spirit’s illumination of Scripture. Jesus promised: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13, ESV). The Spirit guides believers into truth through the written Word, not through mystical impressions apart from Scripture.
Paul demonstrates this process in Romans 12:2: the renewed mind is able to “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (ESV). This discernment comes through testing—examining choices against the standard of Scripture.
The ultimate standard is the glory of God: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, ESV). Every decision becomes an opportunity to reflect or obscure His glory.
Freedom from Sin’s Dominion
The foundation of this transformed life is liberation from sin’s tyranny. Romans 6:17-18 declares: “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (ESV).
This freedom is not autonomy but righteous slavery. We have been transferred from bondage to sin into bondage to righteousness. As Jesus said: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, ESV).
This freedom enables the transformed life Paul describes in Titus 2:11-12:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”
(ESV)
Grace is not merely pardoning—it is transforming. It trains believers in righteousness.
The progressive nature of this transformation is captured in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (ESV). The transformation is ongoing, Spirit-wrought, and glory-oriented.
Returning to the Road
When their eyes were opened and Christ vanished from their sight, the disciples didn’t remain in Emmaus. Luke records:
“And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Luke 24:33-35, ESV
Their transformation was immediate and complete. Hearts that had been burning with understanding now blazed with witness. They returned to bear testimony to what they had seen and heard.
This is the hermeneutical pattern for every believer. We, too, were once walking away from Jerusalem—confused by circumstances, slow to believe Scripture, veiled in our understanding. But Christ met us on our road. Through His Spirit, He opened the Scriptures to us. Through His Word, He renewed our minds. Through His grace, He transformed our walk.
Now we bear witness. We walk in a manner worthy of our calling. We think with the mind of Christ. We discern with Spirit-illuminated understanding. We reflect His glory—not as distant admirers, but as transformed image-bearers walking in newness of life.
The road to Emmaus continues in every believer’s journey from death to life, from blindness to sight, from walking away to bearing witness. Christ still opens the Scriptures. Hearts still burn with understanding. Eyes still open to recognize Him. And transformed disciples still rise to bear witness to the glory of the risen Lord.
Editor’s Note: Walking with Christ is not a matter of achieving sinless perfection before we can reflect His glory. Rather, it is the ongoing journey of believers who are simultaneously justified and being sanctified—declared righteous in Christ while being progressively transformed by His Spirit.
The disciples on the Emmaus road were not theological giants or spiritual superheroes. They were confused, discouraged followers whose understanding was partial and whose faith was faltering. Yet Christ met them where they were, walked alongside their doubt, and patiently opened the Scriptures to their clouded minds. Their transformation didn’t require them to first reach some level of spiritual maturity—it happened in the midst of their weakness and confusion.
This is the grace of progressive sanctification: we don’t walk perfectly, but we walk genuinely. We stumble, struggle with sin, and often fail to reflect Christ’s character fully. Yet the Spirit continues His work in us, renewing our minds through His Word, conforming us to Christ’s image “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The worthy walk is not about sinless performance but about sincere pursuit—not about arriving at perfection but about heading in the right direction. We walk as we are: redeemed yet being renewed, justified yet being sanctified, forgiven yet still fighting indwelling sin.
The goal is not to wait until we’re spiritually mature enough to bear His glory, but to bear it imperfectly, humbly, and authentically as He continues to transform us along the way. Christ meets us on whatever road we’re traveling and continues the patient work of making us like Himself.