Continuing in his series on change in the believer’s life, Dr. Greg Gifford finishes laying the foundation in Second Corinthians and moves into Genesis to connect our identity as image bearers of God with the work of sanctification.
The Three Aspects of Sanctification
When we talk about change in a believer’s life, we are talking about the act of sanctification, which functions in three different ways.
- Positional Sanctification (Past Tense)
- Progressive Sanctification (Present Tense)
- Glorification (Future Tense)
Change throughout the believer’s life falls under the umbrella of Progressive Sanctification. Change happens little by little. It is progressive, “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the LORD, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18, LSB). Using a modern-day analogy, conformity does not happen in a microwave. Rather than change happening at once, it is continual throughout the believer’s life.
With sanctification, God calls His children to obey, but He supplies all of the energy and resources needed to do so, such as the Word of God and the indwelling Spirit. Here is the key to sanctification: I need to see the glory of God, and when I see the glory of God, I respond by incrementally becoming more like Jesus.
The Image of God
The reason why beholding the glory of God affects us so greatly is that we are image bearers of God. To be an image bearer of God is to be like God and represent Him. Genesis 1:26-27 is one of the first references to God making man in His image. We were created in the perfect likeness of God. However, through the Fall in Genesis 3, the image of God in man has been marred and distorted. To be marred and distorted does not imply that man is no longer in the image of God. In fact, in Genesis 9, post-Fall, man is still described as being made in the image of God. We are still image bearers of our Creator, giving us just one reason to behold His glory.
In the next segment, Dr. Gifford will pick up in the New Testament and examine the ways that the New Testament describes being an image bearer. This blog post captures the essence of Dr. Greg Gifford’s series on the question “How Do We Change?”. You may click on the video above to hear more insightful details about how the pursuit of Christ brings about true change. Dr. Gifford is the Chair of the Undergraduate School of Biblical Counseling as well as a Biblical Counseling Professor for The Master’s University traditional on-campus program.
