Bible Study The work of the Holy Spirit: Transformation.

[Tenchi]

2 Corinthians 3:17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, with unveiled
face, beholding the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed
into the same image from one
degree of glory to another. For this
comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
​

"The one constant in life is change," someone has said. This is certainly true for the child of God who is "walking in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16, 25). Transformation is the "name of the game," so to speak, in the Christian life, the born-again person becoming ever-more conformed to the "image" of Christ (Romans 8:29). It is only as the child of God is more and more like Jesus that they can enjoy God fully, as He created them to do. And so, the Holy Spirit works tirelessly and ceaselessly to move the Christian into living in which Jesus, not the believer, is manifested in expanding measure. As the Spirit does so, the born-again believer separates from the world, the flesh and the devil to a greater and greater degree, their desire for God deepening and intensifying, their thinking "obsessed" with Him, and their conduct revealing the Fruit of the Spirit in abundance. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 5:1-13; 1 John 2:15; James 4:4-10, Galatians 5:22-23; Philippians 3:7-14, Matthew 22:36-38).

Does this describe you? Is this your experience with the Holy Spirit? Are you, by the Spirit, changed and changing, growing ever-more a living manifestation of Jesus?

2 Corinthians 4:6-11
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

How is it that, when change is the natural course of things in Christian living, a Christian may remain static in their desires, thinking and behavior, sometimes for many decades? How is it that eighty-year-old Betty is a sour-faced, domineering, crotchety old thing, though she was born-again when she was eight? How has George managed for fifty years to be the same passive, childish, cowardly man, though he trusted in Christ as a ten-year-old? Why aren't both Betty and George shining "vessels" of God in whom Christ is clearly and powerfully revealed? Where is the transforming work of the Spirit in these two (and many other believers)?

Ignorance may play a part in why Christians are not properly transformed by the Holy Spirit. False teaching and teachers may also contribute to spiritual stagnancy. Tragedy, or lingering, painful disease or injury can stifle spiritual growth, as well. Mostly, though, the unchanged believer is so because they simply don't "walk in the Spirit" every day. What is it to "walk in the Spirit"? The apostle Paul explained:

Romans 8:14
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Galatians 5:17-18
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit...

Galatians 5:25
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Romans 6:19
19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Romans 12:1
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Sadly, many Christians think they are "walking in the Spirit," ascribing to him their fleshly efforts to be "spiritual," when he has nothing to do with their "Christian living." I get this a lot when I'm discipling men. I'll ask them, "What's God been doing in your life?" and they'll start telling me about what they're doing for God. "Well, I've been studying my Bible and praying," they'll say, or, "I've been helping out with our church Youth Group," or "I lead a mid-week Bible study," and so on. They just assume that they're doing these things as a result of the life and work of the Spirit in them.

Not necessarily.

Many are the Christians who are doing "spiritual" things from their own human resources of power, from their flesh. I used to be one of them.

https://christianforums.net/threads...rit-divine-strengthening.108786/#post-1907343

The flesh cannot produce godliness. It can only produce more of itself; like begets like. But, for brief stretches of time, fleshly effort can seem to achieve a godly result. This is the terrible illusion of Boot Strap Theology that keeps people perennially trying to achieve for God what only He can achieve for them.

The key to being transformed by the Spirit is submission; daily, sometimes moment-by-moment, conscious, explicit submission to God, to the control of the Holy Spirit. As a state of submission to God is maintained (which is actually made possible, ultimately, by the Spirit - Philippians 2:13), the Spirit is free to work in the believer his transformation of them. The moment, though, that a believer steps out from under his control, his works halts and will not resume again until the believer returns to a place of submission under him.

Are you a Christian unchanged by God? For decades, perhaps, the same person you've always been, plagued by the same sinful desires, and evil thinking, and wicked conduct, far from God and cold toward Him? Yield. Submit. Present yourself a living sacrifice to God. Walk in the Spirit. These are all necessary to truly walking with your holy Maker and being transformed by Him.

James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

 

[JLB]

And so, the Holy Spirit works tirelessly and ceaselessly to move the Christian into living in which Jesus, not the believer, is manifested in expanding measure.

Amen.


The Spirit’s work in us is seen in our will or desire to do His good pleasure.

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

IOW’s the measure of the life of Christ formed in us, can be measured by us doing the works the Christ did; that believers in the first century did.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:7-8

• For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

The purpose the Son of God was made manifest, was manifested in the flesh, was that He would destroy the works of the devil.

Two sides of the same purpose:

The two sides of the same proverbial coin of His purpose are:

• Giving us His abundant life.
• Destroying the works of the devil.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

• I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
• For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12

• he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38


The Lord Jesus Christ desires to manifest His life through each and every believer so that we will be doing the works that He did. He has not changed His agenda. He is all about bringing an abundant life to His people by healing all who are oppressed by the devil.

You and I are the vessels He has to work with to bring healing and restoration to all who desire to be free, and to walk in the overcoming abundant life, that He paid for us to have on the cross and on the whipping post.


And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; Mark 16:15-17

• And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons;
• he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also

 

[Tenchi]

Amen.


The Spirit’s work in us is seen in our will or desire to do His good pleasure.

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

Right.

IOW’s the measure of the life of Christ formed in us, can be measured by us doing the works the Christ did; that believers in the first century did.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:7-8

• For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

I don't know, exactly, what you mean by "the life of Christ formed in us." Formed by the work of the Holy Spirit, I presume? When I look at Scripture, the basis for judging a person to be spiritually-healthy is not whether or not they are like first-century Christians but whether or not the "image of Christ" revealed in the "fruit of the Spirit" (which Spirit is the Spirit of Christ - Romans 8:9; Philippians 1:19) is evident in their character and living (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 4:7-11). Can I see clear evidence of the Spirit indwelling in the person who claims to know and is walking well with God? Or do I just see a fleshly counterfeit of spiritual living?

The two sides of the same proverbial coin of His purpose are:

• Giving us His abundant life.
• Destroying the works of the devil.

Can one have the former without the latter? As you say, they are two sides of the same coin, happening simultaneously in the life of the believer. But it isn't only the works of the devil that are conquered and destroyed by the life and work of the Spirit, right?:

Romans 8:13-14
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

1 John 5:4
4 For everyone who has been born of God [by the Spirit - John 3:3-7] overcomes the world...

The Lord Jesus Christ desires to manifest His life through each and every believer so that we will be doing the works that He did. He has not changed His agenda. He is all about bringing an abundant life to His people by healing all who are oppressed by the devil.

And their own flesh: See Romans 7:14-24, or Galatians 5:17, or Romans 8:5-8. In fact, it is the "old Man" that is the true source of all of a person's sin (Romans 6:6), not the devil. He just encourages us to follow the lead of the "old Man," exaggerating our natural, human selfishness to destructive proportions.

 

[Tenchi]

Bump.

 

[Tenchi]

Bump.

 

[Tenchi]

Bump.

 

[Tenchi]

Bump.

 

[Beetow]

.
Christianity is oftentimes thought of as just another collection of strict rules
regulating one's religious beliefs and practices. But there's also a dynamic to it.

Take for example men infected with hatred for women, and women infected with
hatred for men, i.e. misogyny and misandry.

Those are serious conditions because they're an impediment to harmony between
the sexes; and folks infected with those conditions suffer from inner conflicts, i.e.
they do not enjoy life to the fullest and their peace of mind is usually greatly
diminished too.

There are psychiatric treatments available for helping folks with those conditions to
cope, but it would be much better if they were cured-- which is a real-life possibility
with Christianity because it's connected to a real-life higher power.

Prior to my wife's conversion, she was a feminist. But you'd never guess it because
Christianity has been remarkably thorough in breaking that movement's hold on her
thinking and on the way she associated with men.

I myself was a hard-core misogynist prior to my conversion and was convinced I
could never be happy with any woman. But 44+ years of marriage to the former
feminist girl I live with has proven me mistaken. viz: we've both benefited
tremendously from Christianity, most especially from Rom 8:11 which says:

"If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised
Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit, who
lives in you."

Now; that passage may seem to be talking about characteristics pertaining to the
resurrected body, but I'm convinced from personal experience that it actually
pertains to the body we have now because our body contains our brain, which is
where our emotional health is centered.

● 2Cor 4:16 . .Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day.

So then Christians who start out in a deplorable spiritual condition like I did really
ought to be experiencing improvements from time to time. Maybe they themselves
won't notice, but others who've known them for an extended period should very
definitely be impressed. Well; if not impressed then at least curious. For example:

Back in the 20th century, I worked nearly thirteen years in a boatyard located on
Shelter Island San Diego. After about ten years there-- and by then well known
thereabouts as a woman-hating loner --I realized that my strong dislike for women
had softened and I was wanting to be a daddy. So I bought some decent clothes,
repainted my car, joined a large church-sponsored single's group, and started
looking for a spouse.

Well; the boatyard supervisor became very curious about my attitude adjustment
and wanted to know what brought this on. Was it due to my own initiative? I
replied that people were praying for me. Well; that was true, but it wasn't the
whole truth. He was also seeing some of the results of Rom 8:11 but I couldn't tell
him that because he was a pragmatic man and could never be expected to buy into
a supernatural explanation.
_

 

[Tenchi]

Christianity is oftentimes thought of as just another collection of strict rules
regulating one's religious beliefs and practices. But there's also a dynamic to it.

Yes, Christianity often gets reduced to rule-keeping. This kind of "Christianity" is actually just moralism which always leads to legalism. And hypocrisy.

Take for example men infected with hatred for women, and women infected with
hatred for men, i.e. misogyny and misandry.

Those are serious conditions because they're an impediment to harmony between
the sexes; and folks infected with those conditions suffer from inner conflicts, i.e.
they do not enjoy life to the fullest and their peace of mind is usually greatly
diminished too.

There are psychiatric treatments available for helping folks with those conditions to
cope, but it would be much better if they were cured-- which is a real-life possibility
with Christianity because it's connected to a real-life higher power.

Well, God never describes a person's hatred for another human being, or group of human beings, as a "condition." He calls it what is: Sin. And His "cure" for sin isn't a psychiatrist's chair and drugs but repentance, confession and submission.

I myself was a hard-core misogynist prior to my conversion and was convinced I
could never be happy with any woman. But 44+ years of marriage to the former
feminist girl I live with has proven me mistaken. viz: we've both benefited
tremendously from Christianity, most especially from Rom 8:11 which says:

"If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised
Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit, who
lives in you."

Now; that passage may seem to be talking about characteristics pertaining to the
resurrected body, but I'm convinced from personal experience that it actually
pertains to the body we have now because our body contains our brain, which is
where our emotional health is centered.

It is a very spiritually dangerous thing to make my personal experience the basis upon which I assess and understand God's truth. Only so long as my experience bears out God's word does it have any value spiritually. God's truth is true whether or not my experience aligns with it.

The life that the Holy Spirit imparts to our mortal bodies is spiritual life, His own life, the life of the Spirit of Christ, that "quickens" us when we were "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1-4). This spiritual regeneration will one day result in a glorified body but the spiritual life we possess now as children of God, the life of the Spirit, has the power to radically alter who we are.

So then Christians who start out in a deplorable spiritual condition like I did really
ought to be experiencing improvements from time to time. Maybe they themselves
won't notice, but others who've known them for an extended period should very
definitely be impressed.

Of course, every person - atheist or Buddhist, as well as Christian - experiences change over time within him/herself. God's transformation of His children, however, is very particular and distinct, being supernatural and Christ-centered. The believer who quits smoking God's way, according to His Truth and by His power, will have a very different experience of leaving off cigarettes than the non-believer who does the same. So, positive change in one's life isn't, alone, evidence of the Spirit's transformation of oneself. What's important is being able to clearly distinguish God's transforming work from the changes we're able to make without His direct involvement.

Well; the boatyard supervisor became very curious about my attitude adjustment
and wanted to know what brought this on. Was it due to my own initiative? I
replied that people were praying for me. Well; that was true, but it wasn't the
whole truth. He was also seeing some of the results of Rom 8:11 but I couldn't tell
him that because he was a pragmatic man and could never be expected to buy into
a supernatural explanation.

How were you able to know for certain that the changes were of God, that they were of the work of the Spirit within you? I've known of very withdrawn loner types who did as you did, coming out of their shells, and putting their best foot forward toward the opposite sex, but who were not Christians.

 

[Beetow]

.
I've been mingling with conventional Christians since 1968 via church life, shoulder
to shoulder on the job, and internet forums. For the majority of the believers that
I've encountered over the years, their association with the supernatural has been
academic, viz: limited to ink and paper rather than hand in hand in real-life shoe
leather, viz; they've never had a close encounter of any kind with God let alone a
second or third kind.

I'm not saying there is something wrong with those kinds of Christians; in point of
fact it's been my experience that quite a few Christians out there, and in here,
aren't spiritually deprived, no, they're actually well-adjusted people.

But then there are believers like me whose lives were a train wreck when we came
to faith in Christ; and I have to say: those well-adjusted Christians are very boring
people. I'd much rather hear the stories of Christians coming from broken homes,
drug addiction, crime, eating disorders, gambling, gang-banging, PTSD, abuse,
trafficking, Islam, voodoo. Wiccan, poverty, communism, debt, abandonment, and
disease, etc. In other words: believers in desperate need of repair rather than those
for whom everything thus far has been what might be called "satisfactory".
_

 

[Tenchi]

I've been mingling with conventional Christians since 1968 via church life, shoulder
to shoulder on the job, and internet forums. For the majority of the believers that
I've encountered over the years, their association with the supernatural has been
academic, viz: limited to ink and paper rather than hand in hand in real-life shoe
leather, viz; they've never had a close encounter of any kind with God let alone a
second or third kind.

Yes, the are a great many Christians who have no idea what a daily, transformative experience of God is. They have many strong religious feelings, many religious impressions, but they have little to no idea of what actual, biblical "life in the Spirit" is, except for the wacky, hysterical, heretical stuff you see in a Benny Hinn, or Kenneth Copeland, or Todd White event.

I had the great benefit of a godly heritage in my father and grandfather, pastors both, and men who knew what it was to "walk by faith, not by sight." I saw God act in supernatural ways many times in His supply materially and spiritually for our whole family and for myself and my siblings individually. And He continues to do so to today, using my wife and I to communicate His love and Truth to those who are in desperate need of it, often in divinely-appointed intersections with them. It's quite a life!

I'm not saying there is something wrong with those kinds of Christians; in point of
fact it's been my experience that quite a few Christians out there, and in here,
aren't spiritually deprived, no, they're actually well-adjusted people.

I'm not sure what "well-adjusted" means. My experience is that if I scratch much beneath the carefully-curated surface of a person's life, there is a great deal of spiritual adjustment that needs to happen.

But then there are believers like me whose lives were a train wreck when we came
to faith in Christ; and I have to say: those well-adjusted Christians are very boring
people.

Well, our view of another person's life as "boring" has nothing at all to do with the actual spiritual value of a person's walk with God. Jesus's upbringing was so unremarkable it gets almost no mention in Scripture. And Jesus was so bland and uninteresting to the people of his hometown who knew him that when he declared himself the prophesied Messiah to them, they scoffed at the idea. He was just "the carpenter's son," nothing more. I'd be careful, then, about looking over at a fellow saint and thinking him or her "very boring."

I'd much rather hear the stories of Christians coming from broken homes,
drug addiction, crime, eating disorders, gambling, gang-banging, PTSD, abuse,
trafficking, Islam, voodoo. Wiccan, poverty, communism, debt, abandonment, and
disease, etc. In other words: believers in desperate need of repair rather than those
for whom everything thus far has been what might be called "satisfactory".

This is to fail to take God's view of all of us. We are, every one of us, so desperately wicked we all deserve eternal torment in hell. The gossip or divisive person, the secretly filthy-minded man or woman, the liar, the lazy and the arrogant are all in God's eyes just as wretched and nasty as the "gang banger" or Wiccan. He describes all such behaviour as sinful "abominations" (Proverbs 6:16-19).

Now, you might personally find the sins you listed more titillating, more exciting, because they seem to you to be far worse, far more desperately immoral, than the sins of the "well-adjusted" folk you think you know. But it is just as much a miracle when one of those "well-adjusted" folk come to faith in Christ as it is when a sex-trafficker or murderer does.

 

[Beetow]

How were you able to know for certain that the changes were of God, that they were of the work of
the Spirit within you?

I truly believe it's impossible to communicate effectively with you on this
subject because in your case, Rom 8:11 is academic, whereas for me it's real life.
So then; seeing as how you've never experienced it, and apparently don't want to
experience it, then we do not have a common point of reference to work with.
_

 

[Tenchi]

I truly believe it's impossible to communicate effectively with you on this
subject because in your case, Rom 8:11 is academic, whereas for me it's real life.
So then; seeing as how you've never experienced it, and apparently don't want to
experience it, then we do not have a common point of reference to work with.

Well, I can't stop you from making assumptions, false though they may be. Honestly, I think you don't know what I'm talking about and are projecting your condition of ignorance onto me. It's not the first time I've observed this behavior.