CLED 715 Week Five Discussion Thread- Individual and Corporate Maturity
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Dec 6, 2023
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CLED 715
Week Five
Discussion Thread: Individual and Corporate Maturity
Explore how Christians mature in their faith both individually and corporately.
In Matt. 22:37;39 Scripture gives the best instructions for the believer to grow as an individual and as part of the Christian community. It instructs the believer to love God and love his neighbors. Spiritual maturity cannot happen is priorities are not put in the right order. As the believer focuses on living out what Scripture calls on him to do, the love for God and the love for neighbors grows and the view of one’s calling begins to produce spiritual growth. Pettit says that when the believer comes to a point in which he can examine his “uniqueness” by the way God has “wired” him, he can begin to love people as “God would have them loved.” (2008, p. 197). In addition, the individual believer must understand that it is through God’s calling that spiritual maturity will increase. Pettit (2008, p.198), states that the primary calling of each believer is to God and to live a holy life. 1 Thess. 4:7 (ESV) says, For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. The second one is the functional call which deals with how the believer
is to live out the primary calling. The functional call has to do with having your priority one in its
right place: love God. As the believer matures in his faith through his love for God the love to serve others will in turn allow spiritual maturity in the whole body of Christ.
Spiritual maturity in the whole body begins with the way one loves one another and the way one serves one another. “Every rightful human task is some aspect of God’s own work: making, designing, doing chores, beautifying, organizing, helping, bringing dignity, and leading.” (Pettit, 2008, p. 201). Samra states that Apostle Paul makes it very clear that spiritual maturity grows in the community as it deals with problems. He emphasizes the need for the community to “endure suffering so that they may stand firm.” (2008, p.52). When the individual believer is connected to the whole of the body, visible characteristics must be seen in the individual and the whole group. Jesus Christ’s character must be present in the way the community loves God and each other. As Samra suggests, the individual and the community will reveal spiritual growth as faith, hope, and love is evident in their actions. “These
various marks can all be subsumed under the ultimate descriptions of a mature believer: Christlike.” (55).
Reference
Pettit, P. (2008). Foundations of spiritual formation. Kregel Publications.
Samra J. G. (2008). Being conformed to christ in community: A study of maturity maturation and
the local church in the undisputed Pauline epistles
. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
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