If God can raise a dead man in an instant, why can’t He make me Christlike in a year?
It sounds rude. But many Christians ask it quietly. I was saved years ago. I pray, read the Bible and sit under good preaching. Yet the same temper, lust, worry or pride still trips me up. Some days I wonder whether anything has changed at all.
Well, the slowness isn’t a sign that God has failed. It’s part of His plan. The Bible doesn’t promise quick holiness; it promises sure holiness. Here are 7 biblical reasons why—and why that’s actually good news.
KEY TERMS IN PLAIN ENGLISH
- Sanctification: God’s work of making His people holy—more like Jesus in what we think, want, say and do.
- Indwelling sin: the sin that still lives in a Christian’s heart after he or she is saved.
- The flesh: in Paul’s letters, our old sinful way of thinking and wanting that fights against God’s Spirit.
First, What’s Sanctification?
The Bible uses the word “sanctify” in 2 ways.
There’s a once-for-all side. When God saves me, He sets me apart for Himself: “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). John Murray, the Scottish theologian, called this definitive sanctification. At conversion, sin loses its throne: “sin will have no dominion over you” (Romans 6:14).
There’s also a growing side. Paul writes, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Peter tells us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). This is progressive sanctification—the lifelong process of becoming more like Christ.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647) says sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (Q35). Notice 3 little words: more and more. Slow growth is built into the very definition.
How sanctification differs from the other 2 big steps in salvation
| Aspect | JUSTIFICATION | SANCTIFICATION | GLORIFICATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| What God does | Declares us right with Him | Makes us holy in daily life | Removes all sin for ever |
| When it happens | The moment we trust Christ | All through the Christian life | In the future, when we see Christ |
| Speed | Instant | Slow and gradual | Instant |
| Finished now? | Yes—fully complete | No—real but unfinished | Not yet—still to come |
| Can it increase? | No—no one is “more justified” | Yes—“more and more” | No—it will be perfect |
We must never mix these up. God does not accept us only as fast as we improve. Our growth is slow; our acceptance in Christ is complete.
The 7 reasons at a glance
| REASON | IN ONE SENTENCE |
|---|---|
| 1. Sin is dethroned, not destroyed | Sin no longer rules us, but it still lives in us. |
| 2. Sin has soaked into every part | Sin stains every part of us and builds deep habits. |
| 3. God grows us like living things | God chose seed-like growth—even Jesus grew. |
| 4. Slowness keeps us humble | Slow growth keeps us leaning on Christ. |
| 5. More light shows more dirt | Growing Christians see more sin, so growth can feel like failure. |
| 6. We slow ourselves down | Some slowness is our fault, and God calls us to fight. |
| 7. God uses suffering | God trains us through trials, and training takes time. |
Reason 1: Sin Is Dethroned, Not Destroyed
When I became a Christian, sin lost its crown. But it didn’t leave the building.
Paul writes to believers: “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17). John agrees: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). James, the brother of Jesus, includes himself: “For we all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2).
Scholars call this the “already and not yet”. Geerhardus Vos, the Dutch-American Bible scholar, showed God’s new age began when Jesus rose—but has not fully arrived. We are already new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), but not yet free from sin, so we still “groan inwardly” as we wait (Romans 8:23).
WHAT THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION SAYS
“This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part; whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war; the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” (Westminster Confession of Faith 13.2)
In plain English: God changes every part of us, but some sin remains in every part until heaven. So every believer lives with a real war inside.
What about Romans 7 (“Wretched man that I am!”)? Augustine of Hippo, John Calvin and John Owen saw Paul describing his Christian life; Douglas Moo and others disagree. Either way, our case does not hang on that chapter.
Reason 2: Sin Has Soaked into Every Part of Us
Think of a white shirt dyed red. One wash will not bring it back. The dye has gone into every thread.
That is how the Bible describes sin. Theologians call it total depravity. This doesn’t mean we’re as bad as we could be. It means sin has touched every part of us—minds, desires, wills and bodies (Jeremiah 17:9; Ephesians 4:17–19).
Sin also builds habits. Paul reminds Christians that they once “presented [their] members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness” (Romans 6:19). Each angry word makes the next one easier. Years of sin wear deep paths in the heart.
So God must retrain us. Paul tells us “to put off your old self” and “to put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:22–24), and to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). In Greek, that verb describes an ongoing process, not a single event. Steven L. Porter, writing in Themelios, describes the flesh as a lifelong habit of resisting the Holy Spirit. Habits that took years to form usually take years to undo.
Reason 3: God Grows Us Like Living Things
God made light in a second. He could make us holy in a second too. Instead, He has chosen to grow His people the way He grows living things:
Bible pictures of spiritual growth—and what each one teaches
| PICTURE | WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS | WHAT IT TEACHES |
|---|---|---|
| A seed | “first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear” (Mark 4:28) | Growth comes in stages, often unseen |
| A tree | “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season” (Psalm 1:3) | Fruit comes in its season, not overnight |
| Sunrise | “like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day” (Proverbs 4:18) | Light increases step by step |
| A mirror | “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18) | Change comes by degrees |
Not one of these pictures is instant. John Newton, who wrote “Amazing Grace”, based 3 famous letters on Mark 4:28, comparing young, growing and mature Christians to the blade, the ear and the full corn. John Calvin wrote this renewal “does not take place in one moment or one day or one year” (Institutes 3.3.9). Puritan Thomas Watson said it with a smile: a good Christian is like the crocodile—he never stops growing.
Even more striking, Jesus Himself grew: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52). He never sinned, yet He still grew. So growth itself is not a flaw. If the sinless Son of God did not skip stages, we should not expect to.
LITTLE BY LITTLE: THE CANAAN PICTURE
When Israel entered the Promised Land, God said: “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land” (Exodus 23:29–30; see also Deuteronomy 7:22).
What it teaches us: Matthew Henry and other Bible teachers saw the Christian life here. If God cleared every sin from our hearts in one day, pride might rush in. So He takes the land little by little, as we grow strong enough to hold it.
Reason 4: Slowness Keeps Us Humble and Leaning on Christ
If God made us perfect overnight, most of us would grow proud and stop needing Jesus. Paul knew this danger. God gave him a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from becoming conceited. When Paul begged for it to go, Jesus answered: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God’s slow pace serves His wise purposes:
- It keeps us humble. We cannot boast about growth that is still so small (1 Corinthians 1:29–31).
- It keeps us close to Christ. “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
- It makes us gentle. Knowing our own weakness, we restore others “in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1).
- It shames the devil. In a 1776 letter, John Newton wrote that Satan is put to greater shame when weak believers he so often troubles still escape his hands in the end.
Jerry Bridges, the American writer on holiness, summed it up well: “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”
Reason 5: The More Light You Get, the More Dirt You See
Here is a strange fact. Growing Christians often feel worse, not better.
Imagine a room lit by one candle. It looks clean. Then someone opens the curtains at noon, and we see dust everywhere. The room didn’t get dirtier; we simply see more. As the Spirit shines His light into our hearts, hidden sins come into view, and we feel we’re going backwards when we’re actually moving forwards.
Timeline: How Paul Saw Himself Over the Years
- About AD 55: “For I am the least of the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:9).
- About AD 60: “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints” (Ephesians 3:8).
- About AD 63–65: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15).
Paul wasn’t getting worse. He was seeing more clearly. So if you now grieve over sins you once ignored, that may be a sign of growth, not failure. Robert Murray M’Cheyne gives us sage advice: “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.”
Reason 6: We Often Slow Ourselves Down
To be honest, not all slowness comes from God’s wise plan. Some of it’s our fault.
The Bible never tells Christians to sit back and wait to become holy. It commands effort: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). God works, so we work. His power does not cancel our effort; it fuels it. Here are common ways we slow our own growth:
- Neglecting God’s means of grace. God grows us through His Word, prayer, the Lord’s Supper and fellowship (Acts 2:42). Skip the food, and the child stays small.
- Grieving the Holy Spirit. Sin we refuse to confess dulls our hearts (Ephesians 4:30).
- Keeping “pet” sins. We fight the big sins but quietly keep the small ones we enjoy.
- Going it alone. Believers who drift from church miss the help God gives through His people (Hebrews 10:24–25).
John Owen, the great English Puritan, wrote Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (1656). “Mortification” means putting sin to death “by the Spirit” (Romans 8:13). Owen’s famous warning still wakes us up: “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
Reason 7: God Uses Suffering—and Suffering Takes Time
God’s most powerful tool for growing us is often pain. And pain can’t be rushed.
Like a loving father, God “disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). The writer is honest: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). Notice the word later. Training takes time.
We also face enemies outside us. The world pulls at us daily, and “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8). We fight the world, the flesh and the devil all at once. No wonder the battle is long.
What About Teachers Who Promise a Shortcut?
Some teachers say we can skip the slow road. Here’s how their claims compare with Scripture:
Shortcut teachings compared with the Bible
| TEACHING | WHAT IT CLAIMS | WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS |
|---|---|---|
| Christian perfection (John Wesley) | Christians can reach “entire sanctification” and stop sinning on purpose | Even Paul was not “already perfect” (Philippians 3:12). |
| “Let go and let God” (Keswick or Higher Life) | One act of full surrender brings constant victory | God commands daily effort: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you” (Colossians 3:5). |
| “Second blessing” | A later experience of the Spirit makes holiness easy | Every believer already has the Spirit (Romans 8:9), yet must still grow “more and more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). |
| “Hyper-grace” | Since we are forgiven, we need not fight sin | Grace itself is “training us to renounce ungodliness” (Titus 2:11–12). |
BB Warfield, the Princeton theologian, answered these ideas in his 2-volume Perfectionism. John Charles Ryle, the Bishop of Liverpool, insisted in Holiness (1877) that sanctification “admits of growth and degrees”. JI Packer said Keswick teaching nearly drove him to despair as a student, because its promised victory never came. Reading John Owen set him free.
A Word of Warning—and a Word of Hope
There’s one more thing to say. Slow growth is normal. No growth is not.
Jesus said, “You will recognise them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Someone who claims Christ but shows no sorrow over sin and no change over many years shouldn’t take comfort from this post. They should run to Christ.
But if we hate our sin, long to be like Jesus and keep getting up after we fall, let’s take heart. That longing is itself the Spirit’s work. And God finishes what He starts: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
NOT WHAT I WAS
“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” (John Newton)
So keep going. The seed is growing, even when we cannot see it.
Tough Questions, Honest Answers
Am I really saved if I keep falling into the same sin?
Falling into the same sin again and again does not, by itself, prove that you are not saved. Peter denied Jesus three times, and David fell badly more than once, yet both belonged to God. The real question is how your heart responds to that sin. Do you hate it, confess it and keep fighting it by God’s grace? A true believer may fall many times, but he does not make peace with his sin (1 John 3:9). If you are still fighting, that fight is itself evidence that the Spirit lives in you.
Can a Christian go backwards in sanctification?
Yes, for a time. The Westminster Confession admits that true believers may fall into serious sins, grieve the Spirit and lose some of their joy and comfort (17.3). David’s sin with Bathsheba is a sad example. But God does not let His children fall away for ever. He disciplines them, brings them to repentance and restores them, as He did David in Psalm 51. Backsliding is real, but it is never the end of the story for a true child of God.
Does the Holy Spirit leave me when I sin?
No. Jesus promised that the Spirit would be with His people “for ever” (John 14:16). Paul says believers were sealed by the Spirit “for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). Sin can grieve the Spirit, which means it saddens Him and may make us lose our sense of His nearness. But He does not pack His bags and leave. When we confess our sins, we find Him still there, ready to help us.
Does God ever take away a sin instantly?
Sometimes, yes. Many people find that a particular sin, such as drunkenness, loses its grip the moment they come to Christ. Paul wrote to former thieves, drunkards and swindlers, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified” (1 Corinthians 6:11). However, God rarely removes every sin at once. Even when one sin falls away quickly, others remain to be fought slowly. So thank God for quick victories, but do not expect them to be the normal pattern.
How can I tell if I am actually growing?
Measure over years, not days. Ask yourself whether you hate sin more than you used to, confess it sooner, love God’s Word and God’s people more, and forgive more quickly. A growing Christian often grows lower in his own eyes even as he grows in grace. Trusted friends in your church can often see your growth more clearly than you can, so ask them.
Do Christians still have a “sinful nature”?
Christians describe this in different ways. The 1984 edition of the NIV translated Paul’s word “flesh” as “sinful nature”, but the 2011 edition went back to “flesh”. Many teachers, including John Murray, prefer to say that the believer’s “old self was crucified with him” (Romans 6:6), so the Christian is truly one new person, not two people fighting inside. Yet that new person is not yet perfect. Either way, the Bible is clear: sin still dwells within us (Romans 7:20), but it no longer rules us (Romans 6:14).
When will my sanctification finally be complete?
It is completed in two steps. When a believer dies, his soul is made perfectly holy and goes to be with Christ. Hebrews speaks of “the spirits of the righteous made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23), and the Westminster Shorter Catechism says believers’ souls “are at their death made perfect in holiness” (Q37). Then, when Jesus returns, our bodies will be raised and made new as well (1 Corinthians 15:42–44; 1 John 3:2). On that day, the slow work will be finished for ever.
Related Reads
- What Do We Do When We Fall Into the Same Sin Again?
- The Long Road to Sanctification: Couldn’t a Sovereign God Do It Sooner?
- How Much of Sanctification Is Our Effort?
- Sanctification Explained: What Does It Mean to Work Out Our Salvation?
- Mortifying the Deeds of the Flesh: What It Means & Why It Matters
- Battling Recurring Sin: What Sanctification Looks Like in Real Life
- Perseverance of the Saints: Why True Believers Cannot Finally Fall Away
- Can Repentance be Real If We Struggle With Habitual Sin?
- The Holy Spirit’s Indwelling: How Can I Be Sure I Have It?
