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“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

God wants his moral and spiritual character (and behaviour) shown in His people. God is holy, just, righteous, loving, compassionate, merciful, and so on and He expects His people to be like Him. This transformation of fallen human beings happens through the new birth, sanctification (above Bible quote) and finally glorification. It involves God’s grace but also the human response, the imitation of Jesus and the doing of works of piety and charity. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). The Christian life is not only about belief and trust in God but also about behaviour. This Christian behaviour is the working out of belief in practical living- being and doing.

God’s character to human character and God’s behaviour to human behaviour is given in the language of “image.” Jesus is seen as the one who bears God’s divine image and character on earth for “He who has seen the Son has seen the Father“. The process of the Christian being conformed to this godly image in Jesus involves both divine activity and human activity. God works in the Christian to will and to do but the Christian must work out this salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12– 13). This involves imitation of the virtues and behaviour of Jesus and all the while the Holy Spirit is working those virtues and that character transformation into the Christian – fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.

The Spirit’s work does not replace the need for human effort and imitation of Jesus. Christians can never imitate Jesus, even approximately, without Spirit’s power and grace. However, they are expected and required to do so because God’s grace is constantly being given by an all-loving God. He sent Jesus with the desire and intent that none should perish but all participate in everlasting life, indeed participate in becoming like Jesus and so reflect this godly image. This restoring of the godly image is given in 2 Peter 1:3–4: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”