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Transformation is the work of Jesus Christ and comes out of our relationship with him.

by Tom De Vries

When we become united with Jesus Christ, we move from old to new, death to life, unrighteous to righteous, sinful to holy.

Transformation is the work of Jesus Christ and comes out of our relationship with him.

The Heidelberg Catechism gives us a fuller understanding in Question and Answer 90:

Q. What is involved in genuine repentance or conversion? 
A. Two things: the dying-away of the old self, and the rising-to-life of the new.

Q. What is the dying-away of the old self? 
A. To be genuinely sorry for sin and more and more to hate and run away from it.

Q. What is the rising-to-life of the new self? 
A. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work.

Our union with Jesus Christ brings us into communion with God the Father, reestablishing our relationship with him. Todd Billings, professor at Western Theological Seminary, described it this way in a 2011 interview with the Gospel Coalition:

…in gospel proclamation our true identity is held before us—that we are adopted children of the Triune God, whose true identity is in Christ by the Spirit. The exhortation becomes: live into this new identity, which is your true identity. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ because you have been united to Him in His death and resurrection.

As we are made right in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ (what the Bible describes as justification), it leads us into living out our faith in ways that cause us to become more like Christ and bring transformation to our world (what the Bible describes as sanctification).

As we love Christ more, we will live and love like Jesus more.

Having Christ in us impacts how we relate to people at work, how we interact in our family. It influences how we view poor and marginalized people. It affects how we embrace, accept, love, and bless others. It impacts the level of honesty, integrity, and the authenticity with which we live our lives.

When Scripture talks about things that are sanctified to God, it means that they are set apart as holy. Because of our position in Christ, we have been made holy. The closer our relationship with Christ, the more we become like him, and the more our transformation influences how we engage in and contribute to the lives of others and our world, as we live and love like Jesus.

As we live out this vision of justification and sanctification—one that brings change to us and to our world—we know the importance of being called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the very presence of Jesus Christ in our world. We are the transformed and transforming people of God who are radically following Christ in mission together.

Tom De Vries is general secretary of the Reformed Church in America.