For several weeks in this column, I’ve been arguing that Christian growth is not changing who you are; it’s growing up into who you are. The Christian is not a two-natured person who sometimes lives in the flesh and sometimes in the Spirit. Rather, the Christian is a new creation altogether—new heart, new nature, new power, new destiny! Christianity does not merely give you something new; it makes you something new.
“But why,” some might ask, “do you stress that we don’t have a fleshly nature if we can still live like we do?” It’s all about hope and expectation! If we assume (as the Bible does) that our nature is completely new and holy, then we will expect (as the Bible does) that holiness and Christlikeness are normal and inevitable effects in every Christian’s life. We will be hopeful and optimistic about ourselves and our fellow church members. We will rest more in the grace and love of God. We will be honest about (but not obsessed with) failure, thankful for growth, and joyful about our future.
I’ll be the first to admit that Christians could spend endless hours confessing their sin and listing all the countless ways they fall short of God’s glory. But that is not the focus of the Bible! Instead, the Bible focuses on the wonderful and powerful grace of God in the New Covenant to bring true and lasting change through the Spirit in the life of a believer.
Under the Old Covenant, the leaders’ expectations were grim: “Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God.’” (Josh 24:19) Within just a few years, his prediction came true (Jd 2:6-11). Anticipating the problem, Moses explained the reason: “To this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear (Dt 29:4).
How different expectations are under the New Covenant: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:12-13).
If you are a Christian, God delights in you! He exults and rejoices and sings over you. You are His beautiful bride, loved, purified, and made holy. Believe it. And now, as with everything else in the gospel, grow up into what you’ve been given.