God wants us not only to learn but to practice His way of life, and promises us His help if we willingly follow His instructions. Through His Spirit He will empower us to “put on the new man which [is] created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). His purpose is to change us, to convert us from the heart.
In the Bible we find details of God’s resolve to save us from the spiritual malaise that has plagued humanity throughout history. It explains the source of our behavioral and spiritual problems, contrasting God’s divine nature with our human nature, and describing His plan to change some of our most basic attitudes and responses. It reveals God’s commitment, expressed in His “exceedingly great and precious promises” to make us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
We are initially cleansed or washed from our past sins when we are baptized. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “And such were some of you. But you were washed…” (1Cor. 6:11). Paul had noted their past life, and had listed some of the sinful behavior in which some of them had been involved. God has to wash us clean through the blood of Christ before He can start the process of “being saved”.
We have to be cleansed of our past sins, through repentance and the washing of baptism before we can go further. Many Christian have the mistaken idea that when you accept Christ or are baptized you are “saved” at that point. But the saving process continues throughout our lives through the regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which enables us to understand God’s mind and His way of life. (See Isa. 55:6-9). David knew this and prayed after his adulterous and murderous behaviour: Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psa. 51:10).
The world is in the “bondage of corruption” and we live in this environment. Responding to God involves not just repenting of our individual sinful acts, it also involves a recognition our hearts and minds have been corrupted by the world and the devil, “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). Only our Creator can give us the power to rightly manage our thoughts and attitudes and resist the temptations that bombard us.Therefore the process of becoming righteous is miraculous, requiring the direct and active intervention of God.
