Spiritual growth

Growth is an important principle in the natural world and in one's spiritual life too.

The mustard seed is a small seed that grows into a beautiful tree.

"Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." - Jesus Christ

Spiritual growth is the process of fundamental transforma­tion involving drawing closer to God; growing in faith, improving one's character, thoughts and behavior (greater love, wisdom, humility, compassion, etc.), deepening one's understanding and awareness of the divine and how one's thoughts and actions affects others, and living with greater purpose in terms of God's will.

The Apostle Peter wrote:

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His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants of the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with excellence, and excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with [love]]. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 2 Peter 1: 5-8

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Key concepts of spiritual growth in Christianity

Repentance

See also: Repentance

The very first public announcement by Jesus Christ
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." — Mark 1:15

As far as the New Testament, according to the Greek Orthodox Diocese of America:

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The Greek term for repentance, metanoia, denotes a change of mind, a reorientation, a fundamental transforma­tion of outlook, of man's vision of the world and of himself, and a new way of loving others and God. In the words of a second-century text, The Shepherd of Hermas, it implies "great understanding," discernment. It involves, that is, not mere regret of past evil but a recognition by man of a dar­kened vision of his own condition, in which sin, by sepa­rating him from God, has reduced him to a divided, auto­nomous existence, depriving him of both his natural glory and freedom. "Repentance," says Basil the Great, "is salvation, but lack of understanding is the death of repentance."

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Repentance is primarily a change of the heart and mind, or rather a change in the mind (Greek metanoia—meta "change" + noia "mind"); a personal metamorphosis. This is what repentance means in the context of salvation: Luke 13:1-5 "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Jesus is telling the people they need to change the way they think. In this context, a change of mind represents also a reversal of one's previous moral judgment, a repudiation of one's previous behavior. There is a command to believe: "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). How can anyone believe in Christ if they don't change their thinking? No one naturally sees themselves as a sinner; when you repent, you know and realize you're a sinner. You change from thinking "I'm a basically good person." to "I'm a sinner; I need Jesus." That is the third definition of repentance. "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." John 5:14. "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." John 8:11. "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" Matthew 3:8. (See Corporal and spiritual works of mercy.)

Repentance is a turning away, to cease. Example: Revelation 2:16 "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth." The Holy Spirit is warning the church of Pergamos to stop their fornication.

Sanctification

See also: Sanctification

Sanctification is a Christian theological concept that refers to the process of becoming holy or sacred, or being set apart for a special purpose for God. It is a gift from God that involves becoming more pure, blameless, and separated from sin.

The Holy Spirit plays a vital and primary role in the process of sanctification, acting as the agent that actively works within a Christian to transform their character. The Holy Spirit makes Christians more like Jesus Christ by enabling and empowering them to resist sin and live a life that is reflective of God's holiness. The Holy Spirit is a driving force behind spiritual growth and development in a Christian's life.

Saint Paul wrote about the fruit of the Spirit: "By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things." (Galatians 5:22-23 NRSV).

Holiness

See also: Holiness

"The doctrine of holiness is grounded in the command to be holy as God is holy (Lev. 19:2 and other Old Testament loci).

Michelangelo's painting of the creation of the Sun and Moon.

"The doctrine of holiness is grounded in the command to be holy as God is holy (Leviticus 19:2 and other Old Testament loci). Jesus commanded, “Be perfect therefore as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Jesus also taught that true Christian discipleship requires loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving neighbor as self (Matthew 22:34-40)."

As far as the Hebrew meaning of the word holy, the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries notes:

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Hebrew is a unique language when it comes to word studies. Every Hebrew word is usually built on a three-consonant root word. Often, many words close in meaning can share the same root. And reversibly, every word carries the meaning of the root word that it derived from originally. The Hebrew word for “holy” is kodesh. It comes from the root word “Kadash”. This root word, in simpler terms, means to be set apart for a specific purpose (Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, vituralbookword.com publishing, Jeff Benner)... So, we now know that the Hebrew meaning of holy is more than just “morally righteous”... And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:6a) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)... But when the Scriptures call Israel a holy nation, it isn’t suggesting that Israel is somehow sinless or divine. Instead, it points to the fact that Israel has been chosen. They have been set apart from the nations! And they were called for a specific purpose in the earth.

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Faith

See also: Faith

Faith (Greek: pistis/πίστις) is trust, confidence or belief about something unseen, such as attaining God's will.

Works

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." - St. Paul, Ephesians 2: 10 ESV

See also: Works (theology)

One of the most vital questions in biblical theology is the relationship between faith and good works.

The biblical Book of James indicates: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:14-26 NKJV).

The Apostle Paul wrote: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." - St. Paul, Ephesians 2: 10 ESV

Spiritual warfare

See also: Spiritual warfare

Spiritual warfare, in a Christian and biblical context, refers to the ongoing conflict between the followers of God and the spiritual forces of evil such as Satan and his demons. It's not about physical battles. It is about resisting the influence of these evil spirits on one's thoughts, actions and emotions.

C. S. Lewis, photographed in 1947.

According the C.S. Lewis Institute:

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That’s spiritual. Then you’ve got warfare. We have an enemy, Satan. The Hebrew word Satan means “the accuser.” The devil. Diabolos in Greek means, “the one who casts or throws at or hurls abuses.” The characteristics of this enemy: Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, the two scriptural passages that talk about his fall, say basically he is a rebel who entered into a state of utter madness, thinking he could become God. “I will be like the most High.” What could be more mad than that? Than to deny the central reality of the universe? Matter of fact, Milton, when he writes about this in Paradise Lost, do you remember what he named the capital of hell in that book? Anybody remember? Pandemonium. What does it mean? “All demons.” We think of the word as confusion, but it literally means “all demons.” Satan is living in utter madness. Very clever, but he’s mad. He’s self-deceived. He traffics in deception. In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul writes, “I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” If you follow some of the news, some of you have to be aware that there’s some relative madness going on, that we’re engaged in just all kinds of equivocation in our culture and so on. Jesus called Satan the father of lies, in John 8:44. In 2 Corinthians 11:14, it says, sometimes he disguises himself as an angel of light. He twists Scripture in Matthew 4:5–6, in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. In the three recorded temptations, Jesus rebukes Satan with Scripture, all from the book of Deuteronomy, by the way. So then Satan, when he tempts Christ in one of the temptations, actually uses Scripture to tempt Christ. He’s a Scripture twister. He appeals to the world and the flesh, as if these could ever replace the eternal. There’s nonsense in what he does. James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” He tempts us to engage with the things that are temporal and mutable, the things that moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. Why would we ever reject the God who is eternal, immortal, immutable, all sustaining, and all powerful for him? Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” God gives us right-handed pleasures for sure, but never to replace Him. And yet somehow Satan tempts us to think that these other things can ultimately satisfy. And they cannot. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth,” Jesus said, “where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.” Satan is a fool and plays us for fools as well.

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Personality changes due to religious conversion

See also: Conversion and Personality and Big Five personality traits and Neuroplasticity and the ability of individuals to change their personality

Big Five personality traits

Personality is the way people think, feel, and behave.

The Big Five personality traits (the basis for the five factor model) are the five traits psychologists use to describe an individual's personality. While other traits exist, these are thought to define a large part of individuality. The Big Five personality traits are: Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (See also: Emotional stability) and Openness.

Personality changes due to religious conversion

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Religious conversion is one of the life events most strongly associated with personality change, because it often reshapes someone’s identity, daily habits, values, and social world. But the magnitude of change is usually not unlimited—it tends to be moderate rather than extreme, and uneven across the Big Five traits. Average change: Studies suggest that religious conversion or increased religiosity is associated with about 0.3 to 0.7 standard deviations of change in certain traits over time. Maximum documented change: In rare, profound cases (e.g., dramatic “born-again” conversions or entry into highly structured religious orders), people can shift by 1+ standard deviation on some traits, but that’s exceptional.

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There is a significant amount of historical and scientific evidence that Bible reading has greatly increased human flourishing such as people's physical health, psychological well-being, character and virtue, and social connections (See: Bible reading and human flourishing).

Big Five personality traits

See also: Big Five personality traits

• Conscientiousness - Self-control/Self-discipline/willpower, efficiency/productivity, orderliness/organizational skills and dependable. Conscientiousness is positively correlated to a desire to perform a task well. See: Self-efficacy and Skill and Work ethic

• Extraversion - Assertive, energetic, and personable. See: Interpersonal skills and Interpersonal relations and Social intelligence and Conversational skills and Communication skills and Affability and Friendship and Social networking and Conflict resolution

• Agreeableness - Understanding and cooperativeness. See: Empathy and Collaboration

• Neuroticism (See: Emotional stability) - Anxiety/fear, vulnerability, and sensitivity. See also: Courage and Confidence and Mindset and Growth mindset and Optimism and Mental toughness and Psychological resilience and Comfort zone

• Openness - Creativity, imagination, imitativeness, intellectual curiosity and innovation

Books

• The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ by Bill Hull. ‎NavPress; Annotated edition (November 6, 2006)
• The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. NavPress; Enlarged edition (November 3, 2016)
• The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges. NavPress (June 1, 2016)
• The Keys to Spiritual Growth: Unlocking the Riches of Godby John MacArthur. Crossway; Revised, Expanded edition (May 24, 2001)
• Spiritual Growth by A.W. Pink. ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 7, 2014)

External links

• How to grow spiritually
• Weekly Devotional: Understanding Spiritual Growth, Grand Canyon University]
• What is spiritual growth?, Got Questions Ministries
• 10 Things Every Believer Must Do to Grow Spiritually, Ibelieve.com
• 10 Keys to Spiritual Growth, Towerview Baptist Church
• 7 Keys To Spiritual Growth, Unlocking Scripture website
• Keys to spiritual growth, Ligonier Ministries
• Keys to spiritual growth pamphlet
• The Means of Spiritual Growth by A.W. Pink

Videos:

• John MacArthur - Spiritual Growth, video playlist

• Paul Washer - Four Biblical Keys to Spiritual Growth - Video

• How to Listen to GOD's Voice: Powerful Keys for Spiritual Growth | C.S Lewis