Transformed into His Likeness
I’m participating in Tim Challies Reading Classics Together program, so this week I read the sixth chapter of Jerry Bridges’ book The Discipline of Grace.
This subject of this chapter is sanctification, the progressive transformation of the believer’s inner by the Holy Spirit. This work begins with regeneration, when, at the time of our conversion, a new principle of life—spiritual life—is planted within. Regeneration is an instantaneous, one-time act of the Holy Spirit that starts our transformation, and sanctification is a work of the Spirit that keeps us progressing toward the final goal—likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ. The source of each is God’s unmerited favor.
Sanctification is a process that lasts our whole life long, and it’s goal of conformity to Christ is never reached completely in this life. “That is why,” writes Bridges, “that Paul refers to the continual change being wrought in us with his expression in 2 Corinthians 3:18, ‘with ever-increasing glory.’” Since our sanctification won’t be finished in this life, there will always be conflict between our spiritual desires and our actual performance.
The agent of sanctification is the Holy Spirit. Scripture makes it clear that he’s the one who does the work, but it doesn’t tell us exactly how he accomplishes it.
We will often be conscious of the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives and will even be able to discern what He is doing to some extent, especially in those instances where He elicits a conscious response from us. But, to again use the words of John Murray, “we must not suppose that the measure of our understanding or experience is the measure of the Spirit’s working.”
This summarizes the first two-thirds of this chapter. Now we get to the section I found most interesting, the section that focuses on one of the primary means used by the Spirit to sanctify us. We are sanctified by seeing and understanding “the glory of Christ, especially as it is revealed in the gospel.” Bridges writes:
To the degree that we feel we are on a legal or performance relationship with God, to that degree our progress in sanctifiation is impeded. A legal mode of thinking gives indwelling sin an adantage, because nothings cuts the nerve of the desire to pursue holiness as much as a sense of guilt. On the contrary, nothing so motivates us to deal with sin in our lives as does the understanding and application of the two truths that our sins are forgiven and the dominion of sin is broken because of our union with Christ.
The most important action we can take in our pursuit of holiness is to keep on preaching the gospel to ourselves. A guilty conscience is paralyzing! If we are to progress in the process of sanctification, we must constantly remind ourselves “that our sins are forgiven in Christ, and that ‘the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin’.” Telling ourselves this gospel truth daily is a crucial habit to develop as we seek to become like Christ.
Next week’s reading is chapter 7, Obeying the Great Commandment.