Sunday, August 23, 2026

"Finish, then, thy new creation"?



Recently in my series "Prevenient Grace" (chapter 16; See here) I wrote about how being created in Christ is not a finished work, but is a continuous creation. I wrote:

Consider also that Calvin believed that it was better to view "regeneration" as only begun when one is born of God, and continues all through the life of a believer, just like being renewed, transformed, or conformed to the image of the Son, or being sanctified, etc. We can also say that our being "created in Christ Jesus" is both a past experience and a continuous one. That is why a famous Christian song says "he's still working on me to make me what I want to be. It took him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth, and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient he must be, he's still working on me." That truth is entailed in the fact that believers are daily being renewed and transformed. It is one of those instances of "already but not yet" that we see in scripture. I have been created in Christ Jesus but I hope he is not finished re-creating me for I know that I am not yet fully made into the perfect man.

Six years ago I wrote an article titled "Did God Rest When He Saved You?" (See here) In that article I also wrote about how being created anew is an ongoing work of God. One of the verses I cited was this:

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1: 6)

If this work is "regeneration," then it is ongoing as Calvin believed. If it is being created anew, then it also is ongoing and won't be finished till "the day of Jesus Christ." It does not seem that being born of God is the "good work," for if it was then birth would be a process that would not be completed until the day of Christ. 

Recently I heard sung the famous hymn "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" written by Charles Wesley (1747) and I focused in on the fourth stanza that says -- "Finish, then, thy new creation; Pure and spotless let us be." So, was Wesley right to see our re-creation as not finished? I think so. What think ye?

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