I love John 13:1-10 and how we need our daily walk cleansed by the washing of the water of the word. I watched a talk on this subject and it had an illustration of us being like a gold bar which had mud on it helped me to understand some things.
The gold bar still had it’s real value in it even though it had mud on it. Gold in the Bible speaks of God’s righteousness which of course we know He gave to us – we became the righteousness of God in Christ.
It goes on to show how the washing of the water of God’s word about righteousness and grace cleans off the mud from the gold bar which represents us.
2 Corinthians 7:1 always confused me a bit when it says to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. How can we cleanse defilement in our spirit when we are righteous because of our new creation in Christ?
I see this verse as us believing who we are in Christ now as the verse before in 2 Corinthians 6:18 says we are sons to our Father. The verses before verse 18 talk about being “separate” from the world – like what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness..etc. ( verses 14-16 )
Cleansing the defilement from our flesh is obvious but of the spirit confused me. I think this verse is referring to how we view ourselves when defilement comes as when we viewed the mud on the gold bar. This defilement distorts our view mentally of our true selves ( the word spirit has been used in the N. T. to convey our thinking or mindset ) which we are in Christ because we are His righteousness now.
In context with the previous chapter ( 2 Cor. 6:14-18 ) the Lord is talking about not letting the influences and way of thinking and living from the world be our way to live now. These contaminate us by changing the way we think and view who we are in the Lord. Thinking and living from the life of Christ that is already in us is "cleansing ourselves " as Paul says in 2 Cor. 7:1.
When we believe ( through the washing of the word of righteousness or hearing the word of Christ ) – we view who we really are in Christ. In this “beholding” of ourselves in Christ as in a mirror – we “become” or manifest outwardly who we really are.
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God means to me = fulfilling or accomplishing ( meaning for perfecting in greek ) our “otherness ” ( which holy really means “other” ) or separateness outwardly in the fear of God. ( Fear of God to me is realizing the awesomeness of God in His goodness and nature and being in awe and reference of Him )
Your analogy about the gold reminded me of this quote from Irenaeus. It sounds to me that you think faith is how you view yourself (your identity, an idea you hold in your mind), and that cleansing yourself from defilement is simply changing your mind about what you believe about yourself. It sounds very gnostic.
The gnostic heretics believed that they were saved by knowing that they were spiritual, and salvation was a process of focusing on this identity. This process of continually renewing their minds with the knowledge of who they thought they were was what they called repentance. They did not believe repentance from sin and cleansing of defilement through faith was necessary, but simply changing their minds about who they were.
This is made really clear in your comment that you think you are changed into the image of Christ by beholding - not Christ - but who you think you are in Christ (your identity). The bible says that we are changed into Christ's image by beholding his glory, not our identity.
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18
Irenaeus, Against Heresies
2. ... [the gnostic heretics] hold that they shall be entirely and undoubtedly saved, not by means of conduct, but because they are spiritual by nature. For, just as it is impossible that material substance should partake of salvation (since, indeed, they maintain that it is incapable of receiving it), so again it is impossible that spiritual substance (by which they mean themselves) should ever come under the power of corruption, whatever the sort of actions in which they indulged. For even as gold, when submersed in filth, loses not on that account its beauty, but retains its own native qualities, the filth having no power to injure the gold, so they affirm that they cannot in any measure suffer hurt, or lose their spiritual substance, whatever the material actions [i.e., conduct] in which they may be involved.