Introduction
The title of this study—Becoming What We Already Are Through Grace—seems something of a paradox. If you are already something, how can you still become it? But it is one title that holds so much meaning for the Christian life.
One major source of tension and anxiety in Christian living is the failure to distinguish between what God has accomplished for us in Christ and what He is presently accomplishing in us by His Spirit. While the New Testament holds both truths in balance, many Christians often elevate one above the other.
Many Christians keep striving to become what they have already become through grace. They seek acceptance and completeness through effort, either through ignorance or unbelief that these blessings are already theirs as God’s free gifts.
Others, holding the truth of all that they have become in Christ and their secure position, live as if they have no responsibility to pursue Christlikeness. They brandish their position in Christ to trivialize their sinful living.
Scripture, however, presents Christian living as the harmonious relationship between two realities: the believer’s positional reality and the believer’s experiential reality.
This article, through careful examination of biblical passages, explores what these two realities are, how they work distinctly and corporately, the dangers of leaning toward one reality, and the bridge that connects the two together.
The Two Realities Of The Believer
The New Testament describes believers from two complementary phases of the work of salvation: what is already true of us and what is becoming true in our progressive journey in Christ. Theologians describe the two phases as positional reality and experiential reality.
Believers’ Positional Realities
Believers’ positional realities refer to the sum of all that God has accomplished for us in Christ—the fruits of Christ’s redemptive work that we already possess. It refer to all of spiritual blessings which we already possess in Christ.
The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1:3:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
The verb “has” there is very significant. It denotes what has been accomplished already. At the moment we believed the gospel, God united us with Christ, so that all that belongs to Christ by virtue of His redemptive work become ours in a real sense. In union with Christ, we are:
Justified before God (Romans 5:1).
Forgiven of all sins (Colossians 2:13).
Righteous (1 Corinthians 5:21).
Sanctified—that is made holy (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18–19).
Adopted as God’s children (Romans 8:15–17).
Accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6).
New creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Spiritually alive (Ephesians 2:5).
Seated in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).
Complete (Colossians 2:10).
Sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14).
These positions are not symbolic; they are believers’ present spiritual realities. The New Testament consistently describes us in terms of what we already are. Despite diverse displays of carnality amidst the Corinthian Christians, Paul still called them saints (1 Corinthians 1:2).
Then, these positions are objective, complete, and permanent, because they rest entirely on Christ’s redemptive work, not on personal performance. They are gifts of divine grace, not rewards for good behavior.
Importantly, our position neither increases with good behavior nor diminishes when we stumble. Intimacy with God may be affected by sin, but our acceptance before Him remains intact, rooted in Christ’s own righteousness, not in our shifting performance. Christ remains the basis for our standing before God throughout (Philippians 3:8–9).
Acknowledging our positional realities before God produces assurance, confidence, and gratitude. We serve God not to secure these blessings but because they are already ours. Therefore, the gospel begins, not with what believers must do for God, but with what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Believers’ Experiential Reality
By contrast, experiential reality describes the lived experience of the spiritual blessings which we already possess in Christ. It describes physically becoming what we already are through grace. While our positional reality is spiritual, experiential reality is practical and measurable.
Often, there is a gap between what is already true of us spiritually and what is presently true in our conducts. Spiritually, we are holy, perfected, and renewed, yet we still struggle against sin and behave like the old creation. Not distinguishing between our positional and experiential realities will cause us to be striving to become what we already are through grace.
Our positional realities were established once, in a single moment of faith. But reflecting those realities in physical living takes a lifelong process of progressive sanctification or spiritual growth, to shape us physically to what we already are spiritually.
Scripture says that we have been perfected forever yet still being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14, speaking of the efficaciousness of Christ’s redemptive work, says:
“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14)
This is no contradiction. Two distinct phases of the same Christian life is being spoken of. At conversion, spiritually, we had been made as we ought to be. But in daily living experience, we are still being worked upon by God’s Spirit. The Christian journey is one of continual transformation.
This explains the New Testament’s numerous exhortations to:
Walk worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1).
Walk worthy of the Lord (Colossians 1:10).
Put the deeds of the flesh to death (Colossians 3:5).
Put on Christlike characters (Colossians 3:12–14).
Grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).
These exhortations, far from suggesting the possibility of losing our position before God, call believers to a life that is consistent with the position we have already received.
Therefore, believers’ experiential reality is about reflecting God’s inward transforming work, not about earning God’s acceptance. The Christian life is never a mission to secure acceptance with God by ourselves. Rather, it is the journey of experientially becoming what we already are through grace.
This is wholesome gospel. God does not leave His children as He finds them. The One who justifies also sanctifies, and those whom He has made new in Christ, He progressively fashions into the likeness of Christ.
Spiritual Growth: The Bridge Between Positional And Experiential Realities
From the moment of conversion, believers become completely as we ought to be—righteous, holy, Holy Spirit filled, etc. These blessings are not going to be added to us if we serve faithfully, or give generously. However, growth is required in order to fully function according to these truths.
A child doesn’t acquire body parts or sensory organs gradually as he does house chores or obeys the parents. From the moment of birth, all body parts and senses are present. However, growth becomes necessary for the child to understand and master their uses.
This explains the apostolic emphasis on growing spiritually. The apostle Peter wrote:
“As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” (1 Peter 2:2).
Our positional realities are automatic—a finished work in Christ— but living them out in real life is not. It requires growing spiritually. Spiritual growth is, therefore, the bridge between our positional realities and experiential realities. It is the process of physically becoming what we already are through grace.
The purpose of spiritual growth is not to improve our standing before God—that is already settled—but to transform our character so that our conducts increasingly reflect what we already are spiritually.
Spiritual growth is God’s work primarily. By His Spirit indwelling us, God instructs, rebukes, corrects, and trains us, to conform us into Christlikeness (Galatians 5:22–24). He also produces both the desire and the power to do His will within us (Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 13:20–21). Therefore, the Christian life is both a divinely initiated and divinely sustained life.
Nonetheless, growth does not occur independently of believers’ participation. We are commanded to submit to the means of grace by which God sanctifies—God’s Word, communion, obedience, and fellowship with other believers (1 Peter 2:2; Galatians 5:16; Hebrews 10:25).
Spiritual growth is not self-generated or passive. It is the result of believers cooperating with God’s work. Human responsibility and divine sovereignty are partners in the work of sanctification.
This truth sets proper balance for Christian living. We don’t strive to obtain what grace has already secured, nor do we live irresponsibly. Instead, we pursue growth with confidence, knowing that it is not an attempt to become God’s children but the evidence that we already are God’s children.
The Dangers Of Imbalance
Correct Christian living requires that we hold both our positional and experiential realities equally. Elevating one above the other creates distortion of Christian living. Therefore, believers must avoid drifting into two extremes.
First is the extreme of striving to obtain what grace has already delivered. This error treats daily Christian living as a continual effort to earn what God has already freely given in Christ. Righteousness, acceptance, and completeness are pursued as goals to be attained rather than seen as God’s gracious gifts.
Such thinking often produces insecurity, fear, and legalism. It sets assurance on personal success or failure, and turns obedience, service, or giving to means to gain God’s approval instead of grateful responses to it.
Second is the extreme of seeing no need for further sanctification because our position is complete and secure in Christ. Scripture leaves no room for such arrogance. While we have been perfected positionally, we are not yet perfect experientially. The Epistles call us to grow as strongly as they teach our position in Christ.
The sense of security that grace provides should never produce irresponsibility. Rather, it should serve as the right motivation to pursue maturity with confidence. Grace doesn’t condone stagnation. It empowers transformation.
This is so crucial because while we are going to enter into the coming eternal reign of Christ solely on the basis of what Christ did, we are not going to be rewarded based on Christ’s work, but based on our own works—the sins we overcome, our perseverance through suffering and persecutions, etc. (Revelation 22:10–12; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26–29; Revelation 3:5, 12, 21).
Both extremes misunderstand the gospel. One tries to earn through efforts what grace has provided. The other uses grace as a reason to neglect the very goal of grace—maturity. We must avoid both and hold the two realities in balance, faithfully pursuing experiential realities while enjoying our positional realities with gratitude.
Holding the Two in Balance
The New Testament demonstrates a consistent balance of believers’ positional realities and experiential realities. They always ground believers’ conduct in identity. They first present what God has done for believers, then call believers to live in a manner consistent with that reality.
In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul describes believers’ position in Christ—chose before the world’s foundation, without blame, adopted, forgiven, obtained an inheritance, sealed with the Holy Spirit, and many more. Then, from chapter 4, he began to apply those realities to practical Christian living.
He says in Ephesians 4:1:
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.”
Similarly, in the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul extensively explained believers’ righteous position through Christ’s redemptive work. Then, from chapter twelve, he began to apply that reality to Christian living. He said in Romans 12:1:
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you…” (NLT)
Peter, likewise, first explained that believers are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people”. Afterward, he urged believers to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:9–11).
This order is significant. The gospel never says, “Live this way so that you may become acceptable to God.” Rather, it says, “Because you are accepted by God, live this way.” It is identity that defines believers’ conduct.
This truth protects from both legalism and complacency. It keeps us from trusting in our works for acceptance. It also keeps us from treating spiritual maturity as unnecessary. Every biblical command is grounded in a grace already received.
Cooperating with God’s Work of Growth
Spiritual maturity is not a magical experience. It requires the active participation of believers. As God, through His Spirit, works within us (Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 13:20–21), we must learn to respond to His work in faith, humility, and surrender.
This cooperation begins with abiding in Christ. Jesus said:
“He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Spiritual maturity is not produced by self-effort but by continuance in Christ and dependence upon Christ.
Believers are also called to certain deliberate actions. Sanctification is not passive. It involves active and purposeful actions on believers’ part. We are to put off sinful deeds and put on Christlike characters. The language of Colossians 3:1–17 denotes something that we have to do, not something that God will do.
Importantly, it is crucial to know that spiritual maturity is gradual. It does not happen suddenly. Therefore, we must not give up when it seems slow. As we continue to trust God and follow His Word, He faithfully accomplishes His purpose in us.
This truth fills us with humility—because salvation, from start to finish, is the work of God’s grace, and with confidence—knowing that our labor is not an effort to secure our position in Christ, but the natural expression of the position we already possess.
Conclusion: Becoming What You Already Are Through Grace
The Christian life is to be understood from two dimensions: what God has accomplished for believers in Christ and what He is now accomplishing in us by His Spirit.
Believers’ positional realities are complete, secure, and permanent because it rests entirely on Christ. However, believers’ experiential reality is progressive, as God patiently transforms us to the image of Christ through the lifelong work of sanctification.
Neglecting these two realities inevitably results to errors. Striving to earn what grace has already provided undermines the sufficiency of grace. Neglecting maturity because of our secure position disregards God’s purpose in saving us. The gospel rejects both extremes.
Instead, Scripture calls us to rest confidently in our position while faithfully pursuing maturity. The whole truth of the Christian life is that God declares us righteous, and He also transforms us into the image of the One whose righteousness He has credited to us. The same grace that justifies also transforms.
Therefore, stop striving to obtain what grace has already secured for you in Christ. Neither be content with a profession of faith that bears no semblance to Christ. Rather, rest in Christ’s redemptive work, submit daily to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, and pursue spiritual maturity with joyful confidence.
As your maturity deepens, the gap between your positional reality and experiential reality steadily narrows. Though our perfection awaits the life to come, every step of genuine growth is another visible expression of the glorious reality that, in Christ, we are already new creations.
