Attachment and Spiritual Maturity 16
Restoration ofRelationships Through Salvation and Reconciliation
God intervened by sending Jesus Christ to live as God intended; in the security of
an intimate, on-going, and consultative relationship with Himself (Heinrichs, 1982). Jesus
was able to reflect the true character ofGod while relating with humanity. His guiltless
sacrificial life was acceptable to God and applied to the sins of all as evidenced in His
resurrection. Humanity now had the choice of being restored to fellowship with God by
applying Jesus Christ's death to their own sin or of continuing to be estranged from the
person ofGod in whose image they were created. By choosing to believe in the act of
redemption, restoration can begin, and the character of God can again be expressed in
relationships to others (2 Corinthians 4:5-11).
If spirituality is at the core of human personhood, the question to be asked, is
what happens when a person accepts Christ as their Savior and the Holy Spirit enters
into their life?
The Holy Spirit does not supersede the Spirit of creation but transforms it. The Holy Spirit therefore lays hold of the whole human being, embracing his feelings and his body as well as his soul and reason (Romans 8:29) (Moltmann, 1985, pp. 263-4).
Jesus emphasized that when a person receives their new identity in Christ, a new
disciple is born to new life by the Spirit ofGod (John 3:5-8). This means that they have
God's seed in them (I John 3:9, and are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5: 17; Ephesians 2: 1O. Understanding God's supernatural work of implanting new spiritual life in our inner
soul is a mystery to human understanding. This may happen suddenly at the moment of
conversion, or may take place quietly and gradually as we get to know Hirn growing up in
a Christian atmosphere.
Thus humans having the Holy Spirit after receiving Christ, need to maintain
openness to the Spirit of God just as they are open to the spirit of another person
(Anderson, 1997). Spirituality is not a religious instinct, feeling, or practice, rather it is
sociality with God and with others. The teachings of God have to penetrate every area of
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