Sanctification or transformation is the ongoing process whereby the Holy Spirit is changing us on the inside on a daily basis. In my previous article, I wrote about the eternal reality of justification, which primarily concerns the innermost part of our being, the spirit. If you have not read it yet, I encourage you to do so before going any farther. It will help you better understand this article.
Still waiting…
The apostle Paul made a very interesting statement regarding salvation and hope.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Romans 8:18-25 (NASB)
I quoted the entire passage, but the key verse for my purposes is 24: “in hope we have been saved.” Paul argues that, even though we have been declared righteous in the court of heaven and have complete confidence that God will keep his promise to raise us from the dead, we are still waiting to see the completion of what God began.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 (NASB)
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NASB)
Even though Christ already completed the perfect work of justification and we are sure that God will certainly finish what he has begun at the resurrection, we must wait for it in confident expectation, which, by the way, is the actual definition of hope (Greek: elpis).
To hope is to confidently wait for what God has promised, knowing that he will keep his word.
In the above passage, our hope is the resurrection of the body at Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. At that point, all of creation will be recreated, producing what John the Revelator called a new heaven and earth. (Revelation 21:1) However, being saved in hope also refers to the present ongoing process of our being sanctified or transformed into Christ’s image in how we think, speak, and act as we continue to live in this time-space experience called life.
Even though justification is a once-for-all completed work and our glorification will also be once and for all at the resurrection, the transformative effects of God’s grace are being worked out in our lives on a daily basis.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” Hebrews 10:14-16 (ESV)
Justified people who have been declared righteous (“perfected”) in God’s sight are still undergoing a transformation process orchestrated by the Holy Spirit through grace by faith in an atmosphere of the fear of the Lord. God is actively writing his laws, his heart, and his mind upon our hearts and minds. We are becoming more and more like Jesus in how we think, speak, and act as we allow the Holy Spirit to live the Christ life in and through us.
Imagine if…
What if we had no way to measure our spiritual status or progress? How would we know how we are doing in God’s eyes? Would we have confidence toward God? Would we feel good about ourselves? Imagine if there were no way to “grade” ourselves spiritually. Are we passing, failing, acing it, barely squeaking by, or in danger of getting a failing grade? How does God mean for us to gauge our spiritual condition?
I have a friend who would often ask me and others, “Are you doing enough?” He asked this in good humor to try to point out that we cannot do enough to earn or maintain a right standing with God. Nevertheless, most believers, in spite of having a decent theology, labor under the thought that they do not measure up in God’s eyes. We know that what constitutes being good enough if found only in our Lord Jesus, but somehow we feel that we too need to attain to some level of works and holiness in order to be pleasing to God. Why are we so ambivalent? Why do we who know about grace wrestle with a works mentality? To find the answer, we need to go back to the Garden of Eden.
After Adam and Eve sinned, in shame they hid themselves from God having become aware of their nakedness, which previously was a non-issue or had not been evident for some reason. God asked them a telling question: “Who told you that you are naked?” (Genesis 3:11) The fact that they were aware of their condition indicated that someone had informed them of their deficiency. We know, as God did, that it was the devil, the accuser of the brethren, who did this. Sin exposed their nakedness about which they had previously been oblivious. Some think they had been clothed with the glory of God, which had been removed because of their sin. Just as the serpent had promised, their eyes were now opened to good and evil.
When Jesus died and rose again, those of us who believe in him are “clothed” with his right standing before God. (Isaiah 61:10, Galatians 3:27), which restore us to the Edenic bliss of not needing to know, care, or otherwise occupy ourselves with wondering if we good enough and acceptable in God’s sight. Since Jesus was good enough, so are we.
If we persist in trying to earn or maintain a right standing with God, it means we have not yet understood the New Covenant.
Why Trying Hard to Be Good Doesn’t Work
The process of transformation is a supernatural work of grace. It does not happen because we try very hard to make it happen. It is quite the contrary.
When we focus on what some call “sin management” – trying very hard to control our sinful urges and ways – we actually heighten sin’s power in our lives.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 1 Corinthians 15:56 (NASB)
This is because we are transformed into that upon which we focus. If we fix our gaze on our own sinfulness, it gets the upper hand in our lives. Bitter people become just like the one they hate because they are mesmerized by the offense and think about it continually. When we think about how hard it is to resist temptation, we maximize temptation’s power.
Trying to oversee our own spiritual transformation is a hopeless endeavor. God promises that we will fail.
This is because the Law has no power to transform us at all. Trying to perfect ourselves is a form of legalism. This raises the question: can we trust God to do what we cannot do?
The Law’s function is to point out how sinful we are and condemn us for transgressions, thus revealing to us our utter need for a Savior.
The Law is a harsh taskmaster who castigates us when we fall short but refuses to lift a finger to help. Paul wrote that the Law actually arouses our sinfulness. It exposes our ugly rebellion against God.
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; 11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. Romans 7:7-11 (NASB)
Perhaps we have honestly tried to reign in sin and temptation in an effort to be more devoted to God. When we do this, we may seem to succeed for a while, but eventually we will fail miserably. God has ordained failure for our every attempt to attain sanctification and holiness by our own strength and on our own terms. Adam’s sin was trying to live independently from God. We dare not attempt the same folly, even when its done in a noble enterprise.
Sanctification is a work of the Spirit by grace in which we cooperate. The sooner we learn how to follow the Spirit’s lead, the better.
A New and Living Way
Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. Galatians 3:21-24 (NASB)
God designed the Law to illustrate his righteousness, point out our sinfulness, and lead us to Christ. The Greek word for tutor is paidagogos, which was a servant who escorted his master’s child to school to leave him or her with the instructor. Being with the paidagogos was not the goal. He was simply the means to help the child reach the true teacher.
The Law is not our goal: it is the means God uses to bring us to Christ, who is the fulfillment of the Law. (Romans 10:4)
Once we come to Christ, we no longer need the Law. It’s power to condemn us is removed. We are now joined to our new Master and Husband, Jesus the Lord.
Living by grace is called a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20, John 14:6), in which we are wholly dependent upon God’s living his life through us. To return to trying to serve God through our own futile efforts is a sin.
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 7:6 (ESV)
Transformation through Union and Beholding
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Romans 7:4-6 (NASB)
Rather than being ruled by an inherited inner rebellion against God, which is ignited by the Law’s prohibitions, the spiritual transformation process begins with justification at the new birth, the subject of my previous articles in this series. God replaces the rebellious heart with a new one that loves to please God. We are joined (“married”) to God in the Spirit. His life in us replaces the “old man” inherited from Adam that formerly dominated us. Once this happens through the miracle of the new birth, we are entirely capable of living for God, as long as we do it God’s way. If we try to accomplish it on our own, the Law’s power reengages the sinful tendencies of what the Bible calls the “flesh,” which is a sinful residual connection through our yet-to-be-resurrected bodies to the sinful Adamic condition. (You can read more about that by clicking on this link.)
Real transformation takes place when we follow the Spirit’s lead to become followers of God’s Word and worshipers of God.
By focusing on our Lord and Savior and beholding his love and glory, we are silently and seamlessly changed, often without our even being aware.
God removes us from the treadmill of trying to be “good enough.” He takes away every “report card” of how we are doing and tells us to forget all that and focus on him, his promises, his grace, and his glory. He helps us to stop fighting against him and complaining of our situation. He helps us to humbly surrender everything to God in worship. If we do that, the Holy Spirit will live his life through us and transform us into Christ’s image.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB)
