Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
The Bible speaks of three tenses when it comes to salvation. There is a part of our salvation that is already accomplished. Our spirit man has been saved, past tense ( Eph. 2:5,8, 2 Tim. 1:9, Tit. 3:5). That does not take place slowly over time and it is not the result of any process. When we are born-again, our spirit is redeemed and that is a finished, perfect work in the realm of the spirit.
There is also a future aspect of our salvation (Rom. 5:9, 1 Thess. 5:9-10, 1 Pet. 1:5). There will be a redemption and glorification of our physical body. We will be caught away with the Lord, mortality will be replaced with immortality. We will have a body like Jesus has now. We will be changed in an instant (1 Cor. 15:52).
Today we are being saved in the present moment (1 Cor. 1:18, 15:1-2, 2 Cor. 2:15). This is the tricky part of salvation because it is a process, but it is also glorious. This is the daily work of grace in the realm of our soul. It is the outworking of our salvation (Phil. 2:12) that is designed to transform us into the image of Christ. Paul speaks of this daily work of grace transforming our souls in Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Ephesians 4:23-24 and Colossians 3:10.
This is where Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17-20 comes into play. This prayer captures how the Holy Spirit works to heal, deliver and transform our soul; that we would be governed in our soul by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the only way the nature, character and mind of Christ will ever be formed in the realm of our souls. It is also the only way we will truly know the fullness of God’s love and power.
On the soul level this is what the daily work of grace looks like. At the fall of man in the garden our souls became dominant over our spirits because our spirits died. When we are born again our spirits come alive because the Holy Spirit joins our spirit, which is the part of our salvation that is already accomplished. Our spirit still needs to be untangled from our soul and to break free from its influence and rule.
The goal of the Holy Spirit is for our spirits to become stronger and stronger, so that it can work alongside the Holy Spirit to control and govern our soul. Then our spirit can, once again as it was before the fall, be able to operate outwardly through our soul and communicate with the world, and it will be able to operate inwardly towards God and commune with Him.
It is important to note the Holy Spirit is not transforming us into the image of Jesus that walked on the earth. We are being transformed into “as He is so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). We are being transformed into the image of the resurrected Christ (Eph. 1:20)!
We become like that which we behold (2 Cor. 3:18). We are not pursuing transformation just to think good thoughts, act right, be holy, experience visions and so on. Those are by-products of true transformation.
Transformation is all about seeing Him as He is so we can become like Him (1 John 4:17). As we become more and more like Him we will do the things He is doing and say the things He is saying.
Many Blessings, BW