Our Transformation in Christ

Most people think of themselves as basically good people who need a little improvement. We may admit that we have some bad habits, some weaknesses, some things we need to work on. So we imagine Christianity as God helping us become a better version of ourselves.

But that is not how the Bible describes our condition apart from Christ. Paul doesn’t say we were spiritually sick and needed medicine. He doesn’t say we were spiritually weak and needed strength. He says we were dead and needed life. The gospel is not about self-improvement. It is about resurrection.

That means none of us can boast. If there has been any real transformation in our lives, the glory belongs to God. We were dead, but God made us alive, enslaved to sin, but God saved us by grace. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he taught believers how God had transformed their lives from death to life in Christ Jesus.