77. What is the final work of grace in us?
Our ultimate hope and promise in Christ is glorification, where our souls and bodies are perfectly restored.
—
Our faith has always been one that looks beyond the confines of this life. This doesn’t lead us to devalue this life. On the contrary, we recognize, with John Donne, that “upon every moment of this life depend millions of years in the next,” a conviction that gives tremendous significance to every moment and ought to lead us to spend our moments wisely and intentionally. Our hope looks to what lies beyond death, a hope for life that knows no ending beyond this life that has an unavoidable ending. The firmer this hope, the clearer our priorities for what we pursue in this life.
Salvation begins with justification and the new birth. It attains its mark when we are “perfectly restored” to God’s image and character (reflected, for example, in the fruit of the Spirit) as a result of being “in” Christ. It is not consummated, however,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.
—Charles Wesley, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”
Our hope is that the God whose favor we have experienced in our reconciliation to him in Christ, in our reception of his Spirit, and in the transformation of our lives as a result will grant us one more gift on the other side of death, raising us, who have walked now “in newness of life,” to the new life of the resurrection from the dead.
What will this new life look like? We have, admittedly, only hints. Paul tells us that our resurrected body will be related to our present embodied existence, but only as a seed is related to the plant that has yet to blossom (1 Cor. 15:35–56). We will be invested fully with the image and the glory of the Lord upon whom we have fixed our hearts and our allegiance in this life (Phil. 3:20–21). John tells us that “we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (v. 2, emphasis added). One thing is unmistakable: “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (v. 3). The path to glorification, to final salvation, runs through sanctification.
—
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rom. 6:5 ESV)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. (Rev. 21:1a)
This is an excerpt from Christian Faith and Doctrine: An Annotated Catechism for the Global Methodist Church. Seedbed is pleased to partner with The Global Methodist Church to offer this companion resource to A Catechism of Christian Faith and Doctrine for the Global Methodist Church.
Perfect for:
- Teachers and leaders discipling and catechizing others
- New Believers in the Global Methodist Church and Christianity in general
- Seekers curious about the Christian faith or the Wesleyan tradition
This resource will help you:
- Encounter faithful teaching about God’s character and his saving work in our world
- Train disciples to understand, recall, profess, and enjoy the church’s essential teachings
- Understand and internalize the beauty of historic orthodoxy
- Become catechized in the richness of Wesleyan faith and practice