As we saw in the previous chapter, we experience three matters as part of a process. These are release from sin, sanctification, and transformation. Some people call release from sin “victory over sin.” However, we cannot find such a term in the Scriptures. Instead, Romans 6:18 and 22 speak of release, or freedom, from sin and the slavery of sin. After we are regenerated, we must experience the release, the freedom, from sin.
Romans 6 also tells us that sanctification follows our release from sin (vv. 19, 22). One aspect of sanctification is separation from the world, from all things other than God unto God, while another aspect of sanctification involves a transformation in disposition, which is more subjective. As we pointed out before, we may be released from sin yet still not experience our sanctification. In relation to many things we still may be in the world. In our experience we may not have been separated from the worldly things unto God. To be set free from sin is one thing, but to be separated from the world is another. We must deal with sin, and we must deal with the world. To deal with sin is to be set free from it, while to deal with the world is to be separated from it.
We may illustrate this with a cup which is dirty and is sitting under a table. Before we use the cup, we must cleanse it and free it from all the dirt. However, in addition to being dirty, it is also in the wrong position. Besides cleansing the cup, we must move it from its old position to a new position so that it can be used. This is a picture of positional sanctification. Matthew 23:17 and 19 say that gold is sanctified by the temple and the offerings are sanctified by the altar. When gold is outside the temple, it is common and worldly, but if the gold is separated and brought into the temple, it is sanctified. Likewise, when cattle remain in the herd, they are common and worldly, but if we separate one of the cattle and put it on the altar, it is sanctified. This is a change of position. Sanctification, in this sense, is positional; it is a separation from the world unto God, but we experience our change of position by dealing with the world.
However, we may be separated from the world but not transformed. The cup in the prior illustration has been cleansed and moved to a new position. However, it has no change in its nature. The cup may be made of opaque clay, but if it is transformed into glass, it will be transparent. The gold and the precious stones in the New Jerusalem are transparent, like clear glass (Rev. 21:18-19). In the New Jerusalem, God is the light, and the Lord Jesus as the Lamb is the lamp (v. 23). If the materials of the city were not transparent, how could the light shine through them? This indicates the need of transformation. Transformation is not a matter of a change in position. It is a matter of a change in nature.
After sanctification, we need transformation. It is regrettable that in Christianity very little has been taught about transformation. It is hard to find an article or message dealing with transformation. However, the Scriptures clearly and definitely speak about it. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The Lord is the Spirit (v. 17), and the Spirit is the Lord. It is by the Lord as the Spirit that we are being transformed from glory to glory into the Lord’s image.
As we know, man is of three parts-spirit, soul, and body. We were regenerated, born of God, in our spirit. Our spirit was renewed and became a new spirit at the time we believed in the Lord Jesus (Ezek. 36:26), but from that time, the work of God’s salvation is to transform our soul. After being regenerated, we must be transformed in the three parts of our soul-the mind, emotion, and will. Then when the Lord comes back, our body will be redeemed, changed, transfigured, from a body of humiliation to a body of glory.
Therefore, regeneration is in our spirit, transformation is in our soul, and transfiguration is in our body. At the time we believe into Christ, we are regenerated, and at the time the Lord comes back, we will be transfigured in our body. Between these two, there is the process of transformation, which is accomplished in our soul.
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