"Salvation is not just about saving people from hell, it is about restoring the image of God."
Each one of us has been created in the image of God, which has been marred by the stain of sin. Our sin damaged image causes us to have a lesser view of ourselves than what God intended, therefore, impacting the way we think and behave. When we view salvation as a restoration of that image, we begin to see ourselves as God sees us, as a reflection of His righteousness by the grace of Jesus Christ. We stand before God in our restored state "just as if we had never sinned" (justified by grace). This restored image of God in our humanity provides us with a new way of living; instead of living out of a foundation of brokenness, we live out of a foundation of righteousness. Holiness is the new reality in which we live where our human nature is transformed by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
Have a read of how Nazarene scholar, Mildred Bangs Wynkoop describes this transformation:
"Holiness is the moment by moment impartation of the life Christ to the human heart. In Him, not us, is holiness. This treasure is in earthen vessels - "pots of clay." In this, Wesley concurred. The humanness of men is not the real handicap, nor a matter for apology. Certainly it is not something to be discarded, either in this life or in the next. It is the human which is the basis for fellowship, the means for communication, the arena for displaying the reflection of the glory of God. Jesus was man, God incarnate, the ideal man, not the idealised man. In his own person he brought God and man together and showed us what man ought to be and can be by the grace of God."
What an awesome parallel of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the life of holiness! The person of Jesus Christ, "who was truly and properly God and truly and properly man", personifies holiness in human flesh. When we sing, "To be like Jesus", we sing of a restored image of God in humankind that is God's intended reality for His children today!
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