Like Jesus | Becoming Like Him
About this series:
Jesus calls each of us to become more like him - by being with him, learning from him and imitating him. This is sometimes known as the process of spiritual formation or the process of sanctification, where we progressively leave a self-focussed life and adopt a Jesus-focussed lifestyle. That’s because, just as he called his first disciples, he calls us to “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19), a journey John Mark Comer describes as being with Jesus, becoming like him and doing as he did (see Practicing The Way).
And deep within every true Christian is a desire, put there by God, to change in a Christ-like direction. In the new covenant we are transformed into people who want to be with him and want to become like him - “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33); “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:27).
But this process of transformation is not only the work of the Holy Spirit within us. In partnership with God, it is the fruit of us aligning ourselves with his plan to transform us to be like Jesus. How this all works and how we are changed to become more like Jesus will be explored through this series.
About this talk:
If Jesus himself is the prize, the goal is not only to be with him but to become increasingly like him. This is what disciples (or apprentices) did in first century culture and the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that God’s plan for us is that we be progressively changed to be more like him (see, for example, 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 4:13; Galatians 4:19). Disciples learn to become like their teacher.
In 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, Paul is comparing and contrasting the old covenant with the new. In short: the old covenant was glorious, but it brought death (v 7), was transitory (v 7) and brought condemnation (v 9). The new covenant, in contrast, is lasting (v 11), more glorious (v 8; surpassingly so, v 10) and brings righteousness (v 9). When someone turns to Christ in faith, the veil is removed from their hearts and they enter the new covenant with all the glory and freedom the Holy Spirit thereby brings them into.
There are two ways to understand the first part of v 18, both of which relate to the concept of a mirror: we either contemplate the Lord’s glory (as in a mirror) or we reflect the Lord’s glory (as a mirror does) - hence the NIV footnote. Both are true and so perhaps we are not forced to choose. Either way, the point of v 18 is to say that in this glorious new covenant, in which we contemplate / reflect his glory, we are being transformed into his likeness (image) with increasing measures of glory (the theme of vs 7 - 18). Given that we tend to become what we behold or gradually turn into the likeness of that which occupies our attention, this makes perfect sense.
It also makes sense in light of the process of sanctification described elsewhere in the New Testament. This gradual transformation (the same word is used of Jesus’ transfiguration and in Romans 12:2) is a lifelong process that the Holy Spirit works in us and is what God has destined us for, as Paul describes in Romans 8:29. There, he says, we are being conformed to the image of Jesus, becoming like him. Being with Jesus has the goal of becoming like Jesus, which is part of what he intended for us in his plan of salvation.
Now of course, this change is a work of the Holy Spirit - he is transforming us to be like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18), he is conforming us to the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:29). And yet we are active in the process. Various analogies can be found, such as: it is the food that keeps me healthy, but I must receive it; it is the train that transports me from A to B, but I must put myself in it etc. We partner with the Spirit by remaining in union with Jesus (John 15).
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