This is also the message of the apostle Paul. His benediction to the Thessalonian believers is straightforward and comprehensive: May God sanctify you entirely, he writes (1 Thess 5:23). In Romans 12:1 he urges his readers to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. And the letter to the Colossians from beginning to end is a call to spiritual maturity in Christ, captured eloquently in the affirmation that they have come to faith in Christ—they have received Christ as Lord (Col 2:6), but now that they have come to faith, he urges them to grow up in their faith, rooted and anchored in
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