The Transformation of our Soul is a Lifelong Process, Unlike our Regeneration and Glorification

As believers in Christ, we need to grow in life through the transformation of our soul for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Regeneration is only the beginning – we need to continue to grow in the divine life we have received through our new birth, and we do this through the transformation of our soul, until we will be transfigured in our body to be just like Christ in glory!

Our regeneration took place in an instant: as soon as we called on the name of the Lord, prayed, and opened to Him, we were born again! The transfiguration of our body will take place “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:51-52) – very quickly.

But between regeneration and transfiguration there’s the “long tunnel” of transformation, a lifelong process in which we grow in life, we are being renewed in our mind, we are being subdued in our will, and our emotion is being balanced by the divine life.

Transformation is a metabolic process through which our old element is being daily discharged and replaced with God’s element, until we fully become like Him in life, nature, expression and function, but not in the Godhead.

If we grow in life in a normal way by being transformed, the Body of Christ is built up, the Bride of Christ is prepared, and the Lord can return sooner. We need to give ourselves to the Lord to grow in life every day for the building up of the Body of Christ!

Regeneration, Transformation, and Glorification

The theology of today’s Christianity teaches that man needs to be saved from eternal perdition, and after he’s saved he needs to get as many other people saved, while waiting to be raptured by the Lord when He returns.

But the Bible gives us a clear indication of these three matters: regeneration, transformation, and glorification. In an instant, when we believe into the Lord, we are being regenerated – we are being born of God to be children of God (John 1:12-13).

Regeneration is a miraculous normality: it is miraculous because man is born of God and God is brought into man to make a sinner be a son of God, and it is normal because this is what we are made for, to receive God and be filled with God!

It is the greatest miracle in the universe that sinners are made sons of God through regeneration. The divine life we receive when we are born again is the authority to be God’s children – and we are!

Now after regeneration, we need to grow in life by allowing the divine life of God in our spirit to spread into every part of our soul and saturate our soul through the process of transformation (see Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18).

Our spiritual life began with regeneration, and when we believed in the Lord Jesus and called on His name Christ as the life-giving Spirit entered into our spirit and regenerated it. Our spirit is one with the Lord, and the Triune God dwells in our spirit (see John 3:6; Rom. 10:12-13).

Now we need to cooperate with the Lord for Him to spread from our spirit into our soul, saturating our mind, emotion, and will with His divine life so that we may be transformed! This transformation is a metabolic change, where our natural element is being discharged and God’s new element is added to us, gradually renewing us and replacing us with God’s life!

Eventually, this process will culminate with the transfiguration of our body, which will take place in the twinkling of an eye (see 1 Cor. 15:51-52). The regeneration of our spirit takes place in an instant and the glorification of our body takes place in the twinkling of an eye, but the transformation of our soul is a lifelong process through which we must pass.

Being in the Daily Process of Transformation

May we not miss this daily process of transformation! We as Christians don’t just “passively wait for Jesus to come back”, but we are in a daily process of transformation, a daily process of saturation with the divine life. As we see in 2 Cor. 3:18, we all are being transformed as we behold Christ with an unveiled face.

Transformation is a metabolic change, a metabolic function of the life of God in the believers which issues in an outward expression. We don’t “adjust our behavior” or “work on our character” to “improve ourselves” – we eat and drink the Lord Jesus every day, and there’s a metabolic process going on in our being!

In this spiritual metabolic process a new element (the divine life) is being supplied to us, the old element is being replaced with the new element to make us a new creation with the life and nature of God! Christ’s new element replaces our old element and we become a new creation!

Just as in our physical body the old cells are being discharged and replaced with new cells as we eat and drink good food, so in the spiritual realm our old and natural man is being daily discharged and replaced with the element of Christ as we daily eat and drink of Him.

This kind of a metabolic process produces a change in life and in nature, and not merely in appearance. We don’t correct ourselves or perfect this or that aspect of our behavior, neither do we outwardly correct or adjust other saints to help them be better Christians.

All we have to do is to eat and drink the Lord and then inwardly cooperate with Him for the spiritual metabolism to take place, so that we would be inwardly reconstituted with Christ and outwardly express Christ!

Our healthy complexion and shining face is not obtained by applying makeup or cosmetics, but by eating nourishing food and assimilating it into us metabolically.

As we eat Christ and assimilate Him, we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another degree of glory! The new element added to us is the glory of the Lord, which is the resurrected Christ with all His riches as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit.

To be transformed is to have Christ added to our being to replace what we are so that Christ may increase and our natural life may decrease (John 3:30). We must daily be in this process of transformation. It will really help us to open to the Lord and pray short prayers to Him, opening to Him all the time and allowing Him to spread in us….

Lord, transform us in Your image in emotion, mind, and will. May Your divine life in our spirit spread into all the parts of our soul. Keep us in this metabolic process, Lord, of being daily renewed in our mind and being transformed from glory to glory. Unveil our face that we may behold You and be infused with You, filled with You, and saturated with You. Lord, saturate us with Your divine life. Replace our old element through this process of transformation so that we may be the same as You are in every possible way! Transform us for the building up of the Body of Christ!

References and Further Reading

• Inspiration: bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message and portions in, God’s Salvation in Life (chs. 1-2, 4) and What Is Regeneration? as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, “The Completing Ministry of Paul“, week 6 entitled, Growth in Life through the Transformation of Our Soul for the Building Up of the Body.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # We experienced regeneration / When we opened to this living One. / We were born again; another life came in. / Now it floods us till we’re full of Him.
  # Jesus Christ will get His kingdom / Just by growth—the normal way. / Not an instant transformation; / Growth goes on from day to day. / This life-seed is all-inclusive— / Everything we’ll ever need; / Yes, our God’s eternal purpose / Is within this precious seed.
  # God hath us regenerated / In our spirit with His life; / But He must transform us further- / In our soul by His own life.