God made humankind in His image. That image was the likeness of God; His image stamped on our very souls. But through the fall of Adam and Eve, and through each individual’s bondage to sin, we lost the image of God. Through our sin, we so marred God’s image that it is hardly even visible in humanity.
I remember driving in our airline crew van to a hotel for a layover. We passed by a beautiful church with one of the most beautiful signs out in front of it. I remember thinking how glorious and majestic this church and the sign were.
The next week we were driving to the same hotel for the same layover. But this time, the weather had changed, and it had been snowing for several days. As we drove by that same church, I noticed that snowplows had thrown snow and slush up on the sign so that it was completely covered in muck. The sign had lost its glory.
Human beings born into the world today, apart from the Spirit of God, are merely flesh. Temporary beings who grow up in bondage and captivity to the flesh and to sin. The image of God in them is entirely marred as if dirty snow and muck have entirely covered over it. This tarnished image looks like selfish gratification of our flesh with food, like bondage to sexual impurity, drugs, alcohol, greed, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc. When we live in the flesh, we completely obscure God's image in us!
But when we turn to the Lord and put faith in the message of the cross, we receive the Holy Spirit! As we learn to walk by the Spirit, we don’t gratify the lusts of our flesh (Galatians 5:16). We learn to live for Him who died for us! And all of this is simply the restoring of the image of God in us. It is the transformation of a person of flesh into the likeness of Christ, by the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God transforms us into the image of God. He frees us from the burden of the Law, frees us from the curse of the Law, frees us from the power of sin. He molds us, chipping away at our flesh, knocking off all the muck and mire that sin threw on us, all the while slowly making us into the image of our Father.
Question 6. The work of Christ for us on the cross was a once for all event. Is the work of the Spirit in us once for all or ongoing? How do you know? See 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV for the answer:
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Summary: if we learn to walk by the Spirit, which we receive as we come to the cross, our lives will be transformed! "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!" Freedom from the Law, freedom from condemnation, freedom from the flesh’s domination, freedom from slavery to sin, freedom to reveal God’s image in an ever-increasing way, and freedom to worship!
This tells us we should learn to truly wash at the cross daily, be in God’s Word often, and learn to walk by the power of the Spirit rather than our flesh.