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When it comes to the Christian life, what exactly can we expect with regard to personal transformation?
Gary Millar addresses this most basic question in this NSBT volume. After surveying some contemporary psychological approaches to the issue of change and discussions of biblical anthropology, he explores the nature of gospel-shaped change, exposing the dangers of both promising too much and expecting too little. The central part of his study focuses on “life in the middle”―between the change that is brought about when we become Christians and the final change in which we will be raised with Christ.
Millar presents a case for reading the “character studies” of major Old Testament figures from Noah to Solomon as depicting a declension throughout their lives and their innate sinfulness and lack of change. This problem is resolved in the establishment of a new covenant, which promises both individual and corporate transformation in the power of the Spirit. This transformation is presented in the New Testament as a rich and complex process, which cannot be contained or adequately described by one set of images. Transformation is real, deep-rooted and far-reaching.

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