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Transformation of Believers (NT): 134 Passages

Transformation of Believers (NT): 134 Passages

Last updated on: May 5, 2026 at 4:01 pm by Dave Armstrong

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Transformation of Believers (NT): 134 Passages 2026-05-05T16:01:44-04:00 Dave Armstrong

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Photo credit: The Conversion of Saint Paul (c. 1391-1392), by Spinello Aretino (1350-1410) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

Transformation / New Life / Newness / Renewal

Luke 5:37-38 (RSV) And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. [38] But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. (cf. Mt 9:17; Mk 2:21-22)

Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

Romans 7:6 But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 5:6, 8 . . . Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? . . . [8] Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

2 Corinthians 4:16 . . . Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

Galatians 4:19 My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you! (cf. 4:12)

Galatians 6:15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Ephesians 4:22-24 Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, [23] and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, [24] and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:11-12 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ;
[12] and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 3:9-10 . . . you have put off the old nature with its practices [10] and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Partaking of the Fullness of God / Unity with God / Theosis

John 1:16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.

John 17:20-24, 26 “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, [21] that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. [22] The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, [23] I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. [24] Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world. . . . [26] I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Romans 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

1 Corinthians 6:17 . . . he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (cf. 10:16; Rom 7:4)

2 Corinthians 1:5 . . . we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings . . .

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another

2 Corinthians 4:10-11 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [11] For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Galatians 2:19-20 For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. [20] I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 6:17 . . . I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

Ephesians 1:22-23 and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 4:12-13, 15-16 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; . . . [15] . . . we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.

Ephesians 5:23 . . . Christ is the head of the church, his body . . .

Ephesians 5:29-30 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, [30] because we are members of his body.

Colossians 2:10 . . . you have come to fulness of life in him, . . .

Colossians 2:19 . . . the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

2 Timothy 2:11 The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;

Hebrews 12:10 . . . he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

Filled with / Guided by the Holy Spirit

Matthew 10:19-20 When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; [20] for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Luke 1:15 . . . he [John the Baptist] will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

Luke 1:41 . . . Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

Luke 1:67 . . . Zechari’ah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, . . .

John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . .

Acts 4:8 . . . Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, . . .

Acts 4:31 . . . they were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . .

Acts 6:3 . . . men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom . . .

Acts 6:5 . . . Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit . . .

Acts 7:55 . . . he [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, . . .

Acts 11:24 . . . he [Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith . . .

Acts 13:9 . . . Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, . . .

Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18 . . . be filled with the Spirit,

Colossians 1:9 And so, from the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Power and Strength from God

Luke 9:1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,

Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.

Luke 24:49 . . . I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.

John 1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God

Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .

Acts 4:33 And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, . . .

Acts 6:8 . . . Stephen, full of . . . power, . . .

Romans 8:32, 35, 37-39 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? . . . [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 15:19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyr’icum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ,

Romans 16:25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you . . .

1 Corinthians 1:4 . . . with the power of our Lord Jesus,

1 Corinthians 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.

2 Corinthians 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

2 Corinthians 13:4 . . . For we are weak in him, but in dealing with you we shall live with him by the power of God.

Ephesians 6:12-16 For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. [13] Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. [14] Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [15] and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; [16] besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.

Colossians 1:11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,

Colossians 1:29 For this I toil, striving with all the energy which he mightily inspires within me.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from evil.

1 Timothy 1:12 I thank him who has given me strength for this, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful by appointing me to his service,

2 Timothy 1:7-8 for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. [8] Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God,

2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the message fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.

Hebrews 13:6 Hence we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?”

James 5:16 . . . The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.

1 Peter 4:11 . . . whoever renders service, as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; . . .

1 Peter 5:10 . . . the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you.

Grace of God

Romans 12:6 . . . gifts that differ according to the grace given to us . . .

1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation . . .

2 Corinthians 1:12 . . . not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God.

2 Corinthians 9:14 . . . the surpassing grace of God in you.

Ephesians 4:7 But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

1 Timothy 1:14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 13:9 . . . it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, . . .

James 4:6 . . . he gives more grace . . .

1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

1 Peter 5:5 . . . “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. . . .

Sanctification

John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth.

Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Romans 6:19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.

Romans 8:10 But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness.

Romans 14:17-18 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; [18] he who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus . . .

Ephesians 3:22-24 Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, [23] and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, [24] and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification . . .

1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness. [8] Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, [12] training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, [13] awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [14] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Philemon 4-7 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, [5] because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints, [6] and I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. [7] For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Hebrews 10:29 How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 12:14-15 Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. [15] See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled;

Hebrews 13:12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

James 1:21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

James 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.

2 Peter 1:9 For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

1 John 3:3 And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Indwelling of God / Being “In” God

John 14:16-18 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, [17] even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. [18] I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.

John 14:20-23 “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. [21] He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” [22] Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” [23] Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Acts 17:27-28 . . . Yet he is not far from each one of us, [28] for `In him we live and move and have our being’;

Romans 5:5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

Romans 8:9, 11 But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. . . . [11] If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.

Romans 8:14-16 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” [16] it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. [13] And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? [17] If any one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;

2 Corinthians 1:22 he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

2 Corinthians 3:3 and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Galatians 4:5-7 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.

Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
[20] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; [22] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Hebrews 8:10-11 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [11] And they shall not teach every one his fellow or every one his brother, saying, `Know the Lord,’ for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest. (cf. 10:16)

1 John 2:24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.

1 John 3:6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.

1 John 4:4 Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:12-16 No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. [13] By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. [14] And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16] So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

2 John 1:9 Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son.

*****

Photo credit: The Conversion of Saint Paul (c. 1391-1392), by Spinello Aretino (1350-1410) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

Summary: 134 New Testament passages on infused or imparted justification, sanctification, the grace of God, the indwelling of the Spirit, God’s power and strength, and theosis.

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Salvation & Justification

infused justification

transformation of believers

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