The Christian Doctrine of Transformation

David de Silva has reconstructed the Christian doctrine of salvation, understood far too often as an ordo of justification and then (if possible) sanctification but surely in the end glorification, into a Christian doctrine of transformation. He does this in his new book Transformation: The Heart of Paul’s Gospel. This book is steady, simply organized, and biblically based.

What David does is give the doctrine of salvation a teleology that transcends a far too common doctrine of salvation that seems not to have to go somewhere. That is, for some to get saved is the point, and to get saved means to be justified, and the rest is an exhortation but unnecessary. David will have none of this and he exhorts us to see salvation as having a divine purpose and a divine direction: transformation.

Transformation deserves to be on every pastor’s shelf and to be incorporated into every theological textbook. An emphasis on transformation is not works righteousness but instead belief in the power of God at work among us today. Too many are settling for far too little in their doctrine of salvation.

David trumps it all because he envisions a holistic transformation — not just of individuals but of all creation as well.

This is what a doctrine of transformation looks like — and he conceptualizes “salvation” as “being set free”:

Personally
Ecclesially
Cosmically

What happens when “salvation” is seen as rescue from and unto? This is what it looks like:

1. Personally: You Are Free to Become a New Person in Christ

You Were Freed for a Fresh Start with God
You Were Freed from Being Who You Were to Become Holy and Just in God’s Sight
You Were Freed to Live a Life of Doing Good
Transformation Means a Putting Off and a Putting On
God Makes This Transformation Possible through the Gift of the Holy Spirit
You Are Free from the Fear of Death

2 Ecclesially: You Are Free to Relate to One Another in New Ways

The Transformation of Strangers into Family, Many Bodies into One Body
Paul’s Guidance for Living as a Transformed and Transforming Community
Restorative Intervention
Prioritizing Reconciliation
Sharing Like Family
Investing in and Encouraging One Another
Moving from Self-Centered Rights to Other-Centered Restraint
Breaking through Ethnic Barriers, Classes, Castes, and Gender Lines
No Room for Partisanship Christian Families within the Christian Family

3. Cosmically: You Are Free from the World’s Rules to Witness to God’s Rule

The “World” as Problem
The Transformation of Our Relationship to the Kosmos
The Transformation of Creation Itself