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We believe that everyone who has been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is called to live in a way that honors God. The Christian life does not earn salvation or preserve it through human effort. It is a grateful response to God’s grace and the practical expression of the new life He has given us in Christ.
Every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, yet continues to struggle against the presence and influence of sin. Christians are therefore called to walk by the Spirit, submit to God, resist sinful desires, and pursue lives that honor Christ. This requires continuing dependence upon God rather than confidence in human strength or determination.
Through the Holy Spirit, believers are taught to put away the attitudes and practices of their former lives and to be renewed in their thinking. They are called to live in a manner consistent with their new identity in Christ. The Spirit gradually produces His fruit in their lives and uses Scripture, prayer, fellowship, correction, and obedience to make them increasingly like Christ.
Christian growth does not mean sinless perfection or uninterrupted improvement. Believers may experience advances, setbacks, correction, and restoration. When Christians sin, they should confess their sin, turn from it, and continue following Christ, resting in His finished work and the forgiveness already secured for them.
Supporting Scriptures
Called to a New Way of Life
Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-3; Colossians 1:9-12; I Peter 1:13-16
Walking by the Holy Spirit
Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-25
Putting Off the Old and Putting On the New
Romans 6:11-14; Ephesians 4:20-32; Colossians 3:1-17
Abiding in Christ
John 15:1-11; Colossians 2:6-10
Confession, Correction, and Restoration
Psalm 32:1-5; Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 7:23-25; I John 1:5-2:2
Layman's Terms
The Christian life begins with what God has done for us, not with what we can do for Him. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Good works do not purchase salvation, and we cannot follow Christ faithfully through willpower.
When God saves us, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. He changes our desires, teaches us through Scripture, and helps us resist sin and obey God. As we depend upon Him, the character of Christ should become increasingly visible in our lives.
This growth is real, but it is not always steady or easy. Christians still sin and sometimes fail in painful and damaging ways. Failure does not make sin unimportant, but neither does it mean that every struggling believer has been abandoned by God. When we fail, we are called to confess our sin, turn from it, and continue following Christ in confidence that His saving work is complete.
A faithful Christian walk is therefore not a claim that we have arrived. It is a life of continuing faith, dependence, repentance, obedience, and growth as God patiently makes us more like His Son.
Further Study
Grace Comes Before Obedience
The order matters. We do not obey God so that He will save us; we obey because He has saved us. Salvation is God’s gift, received through faith in Christ. The good works that follow are evidence of His work within us and part of the purpose for which He saved us.
This guards against two errors. The first is legalism—the belief that acceptance with God must be earned through human performance. The second is treating grace as permission to disregard God’s commands. Biblical grace both saves sinners and teaches them to live differently.
Walking by the Spirit
Walking by the Spirit means living in continuing dependence upon the Holy Spirit and submitting to the truth He has revealed in Scripture. It is not a passive experience in which believers make no choices or exert no effort. Nor is it an attempt to overcome sin through unaided determination.
The Spirit works within believers, while believers are commanded to obey, resist sin, renew their minds, and pursue what honors God. Our effort does not replace His power; it is made possible by His work within us.
Growth, Failure, and Restoration
Christian growth should produce real change, but Scripture does not describe the believer’s life as uninterrupted progress. Christians may stumble, require correction, and need restoration. The seriousness of sin should never be minimized, yet neither should failure be treated as though Christ’s grace were insufficient.
A believer’s response to sin matters. Rather than hiding, excusing, or accepting it, Christians should confess it honestly, turn from it, and seek God’s help. Christ remains our advocate, and God continues His work of correction and restoration.
Confession does not repeat Christ’s saving work. It honestly acknowledges sin, addresses the disruption it causes in our fellowship with God, and returns us to an obedient walk with Him.
The Fruit of the Spirit
The fruit of the Spirit is not a collection of qualities produced merely by personality, discipline, or outward conformity. It is the character the Holy Spirit increasingly develops in those who belong to Christ.
This fruit does not appear in equal maturity at every point in a believer’s life. Its presence and growth, however, should become visible over time. The goal is not comparison with other Christians but increasing conformity to Jesus Christ.
Memory Passage
Galatians 5:16-18
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