Now we need to see the vital importance of transformation in the complete salvation of God.
Of the twenty-one aspects listed above, regeneration, transformation, and glorification are the three vital aspects in God's complete salvation. Regeneration is the start of our spiritual Christian life and glorification is the consummation, the ending, of our Christian life. In between there is a long period of time, and this period of time is filled up with transformation. Both regeneration and glorification transpire in an instant, but transformation is a process that lasts through our entire Christian life.
Regeneration brings the divine life into the believers to germinate and generate their spirit (John 3:5-6). Through regeneration we were reborn to be God's children with God's life (1 John 5:12) and nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
Transformation carries the divine essence into all the components of the believers' soulmind, emotion, and willto transform them metabolically (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2a). The essence is the very intrinsic reality of a certain substance. Transformation brings the divine essence into our being. This process of transformation will continue until our bodies are transfigured (Phil. 3:21). In His salvation God first regenerated our spirit, now is transforming our soul, and consummately will transfigure our body, making us the same as Christ in all three parts of our being.
Glorification saturates the believers' body with the glory of God to glorify them by bringing them into God's glory (Rom. 8:30c; Heb. 2:10a). We need to remember these three vital items in God's full salvation: regeneration, transformation, and glorification.
Regeneration transpires in the believers' spirit at the moment they receive Christ as their Redeemer, Savior, and life once for all; transformation is taking place in the believers' soul for their entire Christian life until they will be transfigured and glorified in their body; and glorification will be consummated at the Lord's rapture once for all when He comes to meet them.
All three aspects are organic and by these three steps the believers' entire beingspirit, soul, and bodywill be organically mingled with the processed and consummated Triune God.