How do we grow in Christ?

[Hobie]

Well, to grow in Christ we have to get close to Him as we see from this text...

Acts 4:13
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

NKJV has it this way..

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.


And we see this...

Colossians 3:10
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

2 Peter 1:2-3
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

But always remember...
1 Corinthians 13:2
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

 

[John Bauer]

Detached from love, knowledge becomes empty. However, detached from knowledge, love becomes undefined and moralistic sentimentality.

Growth in Christ is not only relational but essentially transformative, grounded in Spirit-wrought covenant union with Christ and his finished work, and not merely private but ecclesial, occurring within a structured covenant community ordered by Word and sacrament. Growth in Christ is communicated in the prayerful fellowship of the saints by the means of grace—the preaching of the Word, the breaking of bread, and baptism (cf. Acts 2:42).

“We who are many are one body” (1 Cor 10:17). “But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7). “Exhort one another each day, … that none of you may become hardened by sin's deception” (Heb 3:13), and, “Let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near” (10:24-25). To “discern the body” (διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα) is to recognize the covenantal reality that the gathered church is the body of Christ and to treat fellow communicants accordingly (1 Cor 11:29).

Growth in Christ is not simply relational (me and Jesus) or cognitive (knowledge of the truth), but covenantal and corporate. Christ grows his people by incorporating them into his body, where they are taught, corrected, exhorted, nourished, and disciplined. We grow in Christ because we are united to him, and that union is worked out in his body, through the means he has ordained, and among the people he has redeemed. Any account of growth that neglects or marginalizes the covenant community is theologically malformed, no matter how many relational or devotional truths it gestures toward.

 

[makesends]

Well, to grow in Christ we have to get close to Him

Be careful not to put the cart before the horse, here. Not at all saying that getting close to Christ does not result in growth, but to say that that, too, is the work of God. And not to say that our efforts are useless, but that if our effort is to first get close to Christ, by means external to Christ, we can become Charismatic Babes in Christ even after years of effort.

"For it is God who works in us both to will and to do according to his good purposes."

And, not that they aren't two different concepts, but growth IS in Christ. It is not an achievement or a level reached. (I know, you did not say otherwise.) The two necessarily go together, or if they do not, as another poster said, one is not a child of God.


Conversely, if one tries to grow in order to become close to Christ, for example by the study of Scripture, I'd suggest he thank God for taking him through his unfaithfulness and for giving him the desire for holiness, and his need for Christ. The stark difference between oneself and Jesus Christ makes one's eyes open a bit wider, and gives definition to the terms of the Gospel and everything subsequent to it, and turns prayer earnest and gives substance to worship, opens eyes to understanding and increases faith.

Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you should believe in Him whom He has sent." —God's work in us
No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. —God's work in us