God’s New Creation that Reflects Christ’s Image through Sound Doctrine and Spiritual Growth

The Body of Christ is not Adam repaired. It is God’s new creation in Christ. Scripture speaks this way on purpose. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God did not patch the old man. He created the new man. “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). This new creation is joined to a living Head who is Himself the image of God. “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” is said of Christ alone in Colossians 1:15. The Body does not become the image of God in itself. Rather, joined to Christ, we reflect His image as His truth renews our minds and shapes our walk.

Christ is the image. We are members of Christ. That order must never be reversed. Hebrews says He is the express image of God’s person. Paul says the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shines because He is the image of God. Our task is not to recreate Adam’s likeness. Our task is to learn Christ. “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:10). Notice the wording. The renewal is in knowledge. The standard is the image of Him who created the new man. The pathway is sound doctrine believed from the heart. When the word of Christ dwells in us richly, the Spirit uses that truth to form Christ in us, and the result is a steady reflection of His mind and character.

Sound doctrine is therefore essential. It is not an optional subject for teachers. It is the food by which the Body grows. Paul charged Timothy to “teach no other doctrine,” to “hold fast the form of sound words,” and to “study to shew thyself approved unto God” (1 Timothy 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:13, 2 Timothy 2:15). Titus is told to “speak thou the things which become sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). God has provided the means for this growth. He gave gifts for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ, “till we all come in the unity of the faith,” so that we would no longer be children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into Him in all things (Ephesians 4:11 to 15). Growth that reflects Christ begins with doctrine that exalts Christ.

Right division protects that growth. We must know Christ not after the flesh, but as the risen Head who revealed the mystery to Paul. “Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more” (2 Corinthians 5:16). During His earthly ministry the Lord was a minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers (Romans 15:8). He sent the twelve to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and not to the Gentiles at that time. The doctrine that forms the Body of Christ comes through the apostle of the Gentiles. “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ,” and again, “in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Timothy 1:16). When we keep prophecy and mystery in their God given places, we avoid borrowing Israel’s covenants and we walk in the heavenly identity that truly reflects Christ.

Spiritual growth is the Spirit’s work through the word believed. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). That change is not created by feelings, rituals, or shows. It is produced as the believer beholds the Lord in Scripture and trusts what God has said. Romans calls this the renewing of the mind. “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” so that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). As the mind is renewed by Pauline truth, the walk follows. We put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and longsuffering. We forbear and forgive as Christ forgave us. We let the peace of God rule. We let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another, and we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving to God the Father by Him (Colossians 3:12 to 17).

None of this growth is the ground of our salvation. Salvation is settled only by the blood of Christ through faith. The gospel that saves today is clear. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3 to 4). We are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:24 to 25). “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). Works do not save and feelings do not save. Faith in the blood of Christ saves. Once saved, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8 to 10). The order is salvation by blood, then growth by doctrine.

Because growth flows from doctrine, the Body must beware of counterfeits that replace doctrine with emotion or tradition. Paul warns that many will not endure sound doctrine. They will heap to themselves teachers who scratch itching ears and they will turn to fables that entertain the flesh (2 Timothy 4:3 to 4). He warns against philosophy and vain deceit, against traditions of men, and against the rudiments of the world that are not after Christ (Colossians 2:8). He warns of another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel, and he reminds us that Satan appears as an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:3 to 15). These warnings exist because counterfeit growth is real. Music, programs, and experiences can move the senses, yet leave the mind empty of truth. Only sound Pauline doctrine establishes saints and produces a true reflection of Christ.

To reflect Christ’s image is to manifest His mind and His wisdom in daily life. Paul describes this mind. It is lowliness, not pride. It is service, not self seeking. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” is followed by a call to humble obedience and sacrificial love, and then he adds, “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:5 to 13). He prays that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that we may approve things that are excellent and be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:9 to 11). This is Christ formed in the saint. This is the image of Christ reflected through a mind renewed by the word and a will yielded to grace.

Practically, how does a local assembly and how does a household pursue this kind of growth. First, preach the gospel of the grace of God clearly with the blood of Christ at the center. Second, read and teach Paul’s epistles often, since these books establish saints in this dispensation. Third, let the word of Christ dwell richly through regular reading aloud, through verse by verse teaching, through singing with understanding, and through prayer that acknowledges our position in Christ. Fourth, train faithful men and women to teach others also, since doctrine must be passed along in every generation. Fifth, measure worship and ministry by truth, not by mood. If a hymn or a habit pulls Israel’s covenants into this dispensation, set it aside and sing what is true of the Body of Christ. In all things keep Christ as Head and keep His doctrine as the rule.

In summary, the Body of Christ is God’s new creation. It does not repair Adam. It displays Christ. Christ is the image of God. We reflect His image as the word of truth renews our minds and as the Spirit uses that truth to produce obedience from the heart. Sound doctrine is the pipeline of that grace. Spiritual growth is the product. The gospel rests on the blood of Christ received by faith. The walk rests on the doctrine of Christ given through Paul. When these foundations are in place, saints are established, homes are strengthened, assemblies are edified, and the world sees a genuine reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ in a people who are complete in Him and zealous of good works to the praise of His glory.