What is the will, desire, and purpose of God for the life of someone who has accepted Christ as their Savior?
The possible answer to this could be happiness, eternal life, salvation. However, although those things are true, and even though God’s purpose for all humanity is their salvation, since it is pointed out in what is probably the best-known verse in John
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Also the apostle Peter says
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
However, the question focuses on those who have already accepted Christ as their Savior. By faith, anyone who has accepted Jesus is justified, and salvation is given to them, without the need for any human work. Salvation is by faith alone, as Paul points out:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
And having already been saved only through faith in Christ, God has a purpose for all those who, by faith, have come to their Savior. And we see this purpose in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians:
For this is the will of God, your sanctification…
1 Thessalonians 4:3
What God wants after saving us is to sanctify us. And we see this purpose in several passages:
because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Luke 6:36
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Ephesians 5:2
Therefore, the Bible indicates that what God wants is for us to be exactly like Him: holy, perfect, merciful, loving. The Bible is clear that this is something we must be, and that it is possible, since if it were not, it would not be required of us. The question then is how this is done, how the sanctification that God wants to accomplish in us is carried out. And the answer is found in the Gospel of John:
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
John 17:17
Normally, this text is used as a reference to the Bible, to the written Word of God. However, the context and the words used seem to indicate something different. First of all, the word translated as ‘Word’ is logos. Indeed, John, in the first chapter of his Gospel, already tells us that Jesus is the logos:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
John 1:1-3
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
In these texts, what is translated as ‘Word’ is the same word, logos. John makes it clear that the logos, the Word, is Christ. Therefore, in chapter 17, the ‘Word’ is also Christ. Moreover, verse 19 implies that this sanctification occurs because of His own sanctification:
And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
John 17:19
On the other hand, Jesus said of Himself that He is the truth:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:6
Therefore, when Jesus says, ‘Sanctify them in your truth,’ He is referring to Himself. Likewise, it is then said, ‘Your Word is truth,’ since the logos, the Word, is Christ, as well as the truth. That is, sanctification occurs in Christ.
Now, let us look at another aspect in relation to this. We have seen that Jesus is the Word and the Truth. However, we also find in Psalms that
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
Psalms 119:142
And Your law is truth.
Therefore, here we see that the law is also the truth, just like Christ. The same psalm tells us that
Your word is a lamp to my feet
Psalms 119:105
And a light to my path.
This psalm as a whole refers to the Law of God; therefore, when it refers to the ‘Word’ here, it is pointing to the law. And we see that in this text, the law is a light. On the other hand, in the New Testament, we find that Jesus says of Himself:
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He whofollows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
John 8:12
Therefore, Jesus is the light, in the same way that God’s law is light. The law and Christ share the same characteristics. This is simply because the law is a reflection of God’s character, while Christ is God’s character incarnate, for He came to show us what God is like. This is why Paul tells us
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4
Where some versions translate end as fulfillment. And indeed, Christ is the living law, the perfect fulfillment of the law. This is important, because from the beginning God has had the same plan, as we read
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Jeremiah 31:33
God wanted to write the law on the hearts of His people, so that the law would not be a matter of mere letters, but that they would live the law. This is sanctification: that the law, the character of God, is in our lives, so that we live with that same character. And this purpose has not changed in the New Testament, and it could not be otherwise, for it is not that the Old Testament becomes obsolete with the existence of the New; God has always maintained the same plan from the beginning: to write the law on the heart. And Paul points this out:
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love
Efesios 3:17
Christ, the law incarnate, will dwell in our hearts through faith. And here we see the same purpose of God from the Old Testament. God wants us to be sanctified, and this is achieved with Him imprinting His law on our hearts, and the New Testament expands on this, showing us that it is Christ who dwells in our hearts. This is why the text in Matthew makes sense:
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men,that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16
God wants us to have His character. We have seen that the law is light, and that Christ is light. Once He lives in us, and we develop His character, then we will also be light. But the purpose of this, as the text says, is so that others may see the works produced by this sanctified character, and thus glorify God.