Regeneration is to have the divine life added to our human life. Sanctification is to be separated unto God and for God from anything other than God. This causes us to become holy, not by our doing but by our receiving the holy divine nature. When the holy element enters into us, it sanctifies us. In addition, because of the devastation of Satan and sin, we became old in the three parts of our being—spirit, soul, and body. Thus, we need to be renewed. God's intention is to make us His new creation, beginning from our spirit. At the time of our salvation, the Spirit of God entered into our spirit to regenerate us, to make us new in our spirit (John 3:6). That was a renewing of the Spirit in our spirit. Then, from our spirit this renewing spreads into our mind, that is, into our soul. Finally, from our soul it reaches our body and eventually causes our body to be glorified. These are the steps of renewing to make us God's new creation.

Renewing issues in transformation. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, "We all...are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory." The Greek word for transformed in this verse is the same word as in Romans 12:2. This word refers to an inward metabolic change. Such a metabolic change requires a new element to be added into us to replace and discharge the old element. This results in our transformation.

In the word transformation the word form is included. Genesis 2:7 tells us that God formed man, that is, man's body, out of dust. To form something is to make a new form out of a substance that already exists. Before God created Adam, there was no creature like Adam. There was only dust, which, when mixed with water, produces clay. God used dust plus water to make a new form, that is, Adam's body with all its distinct parts, which did not exist prior to that time. In comparison, to transform is to form something further out of an existing form. Our present form is the form of the old man. Out of this old man's form God is making a further form. This is to transform, to produce another form out of an existing form.

Before we received the Lord Jesus, we had a certain form; but after we received the Lord Jesus, we became another form. This new form came out of the original form. Renewing results in transformation, a change in form. When we are renewed, our form changes, not by our doing but by the organic divine element moving within us organically. The more we are renewed, the more we are transformed into another form.

Before we are transformed, we have a certain kind of form already; however, we need to have another form. To have our present form changed into a new form is to be transformed. Before we experience transformation, we are simply ourselves; what we are is our present form. But God wants to produce another form out of this existing form. He does this by putting Himself as a new element into us, first, to regenerate us, second, to sanctify us, and third, to renew us. The steps of regeneration, sanctification, and renewing result in the changing of our present form into a further form. I am thankful to the Lord that many of the saints, after remaining in the recovery for some time, have experienced a change in form. Some amount of transformation has taken place within them. This transformation is the aggregate of regeneration, sanctification, and renewing. When these three things are added together, the sum is transformation.

Of course, we do not need to be regenerated every day, but we do need to be sanctified and renewed every day. However, sanctification and renewing need a base, and that base is regeneration. From the day of our regeneration we need to be sanctified a little more each day, and we also need to be renewed day by day. I have the assurance that after they remain in the training for two terms, when many of the full-time trainees return to visit their parents, the parents will be surprised and happy to see that something further has been formed in their son or daughter out of what they previously were. In the two terms of training, the trainees do not try to adjust or improve themselves. They simply go along with the atmosphere in the training. When others say, "O Lord," they also say, "O Lord." When others pray-read, they also pray-read. After following such an atmosphere for one year, when they return home, their parents see in them another form.

Transformation takes place when God's divine element is dispensed into our human element. Prior to that time, our human element did bear a certain form. The new divine element, after being added into our old element, participates in an organic moving with our old organic "organs." This produces God's new creation. In God's old creation there is no divine element. After being regenerated, day by day as we are being sanctified and renewed, a kind of organic moving takes place within us by and with the divine element plus something from our old yet regenerated, sanctified, and renewed element. The result of such a moving is something new, a transformed form. This is not by our working; neither is it by God's working. In such a process, God does not do that much. However, as I mentioned previously, we may still pray and even beg the Lord to do something to sanctify us and transform us. In response, the Lord may say, "Do not beg Me to do something. I will simply put Myself into you as an element. I created you in a certain form with all kinds of organic organs. Now I will put Myself into you as another element, a higher element, and this element will touch your organic organs; then an organic moving will take place, and you will be sanctified, renewed, and transformed into something else." This something else is God's new creation, and this new creation is a transformed form.