The nature and character of God is the sole focus for our faith, and subsequently the bedrock of our confidence. Our living in Christ consists of looking intently to God, as Jesus did, and finding in the divine beauty a radiant love, overwhelming compassion, unfathomable mercy, and the constant pouring forth of grace. Since we are immersed in such pure and irresistible goodness, our faith comes forth in resting and trusting in who God is. We rely and lean on the God who has been revealed in the Son, and who sends his Spirit within.
What we find in God is seamless unity, a uniting in one divine nature of all that we recognize as his many attributes. God’s nature isn’t many characteristics bundled together as a composite of various things good and holy. He is himself one God of one pure nature, a nature which we describe in many ways. These many descriptions are about his divine being, God’s oneness.
In addition to his unified nature, who God is matches exactly how God works and acts. All God’s doing is the full expression of his being, and his being is the one essence of what we describe in terms various attributes. This absolute oneness and faithfulness in all things is revealed in Jesus, in whom there was no sin (Hebrews 4:15).
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
One way to think about sin is that it is a conflict between our being and our doing. We were not created to sin but to do the good which God wills. We have been created in Christ twice; first, by Christ who creates all things, and again in our redemption in Christ in order to pursue that original purpose.
Viewed this way, sin is when what we do is not consistent with who we truly are, even if we do not know our God-given nature and purpose. Sin is a lack of unity between the image of God we bear, the “reality” of our being, and the incongruous “expression” of our being, which is sinfulness due to ignorance or rebelliousness. We sin when we are not one with how we were created.
In Jesus, we see no such disharmony. The way he lives matches the truth of the who he is. He is the first true human. He “images” the invisible God, as should we all since we bear that image, when he lives according to the will of God by faith.
The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:6
We may therefore describe our spiritual journey as the process of becoming one, by grace from first to last, our doing united to our true being. Of course, first we must know our true selves. This occurs when we are told through the gospel that we are the beloved of God. Being God’s loved ones means that our true selves can only be expressed through imitation of and union with God. As this new vision of ourselves takes hold, we strive to become those in whom the gap between what we do and who we are is ever narrowing.
In Christ through the Spirit, we are now in a world of new possibilities where spiritual renewal means an ever increasing oneness with God and within ourselves. The daily direction of our lives is toward who God has made us to be. This new person is not at odds within, being and doing disjointed and conflicted, but we find the peace and joy of living out who we truly are.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24
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