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The rest of this chapter dealt with the definition of spiritual formation as such: "Spiritual formation is the conscious process by which we seek to heighten and satisfy our Spirit-given thirst for God (Ps. 41:1-2) through divinely appointed means and with a view toward "work[ing] out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12) and becoming "mature in Christ" (Col. 1:28)."

This first part of chapter 1 deals with what it means to live the Christian life. Bingham first expounds upon the phrase "keeping the heart," found in Proverbs 4:23, a favorite of the English Puritans. He then gives a brief history of the term "spiritual formation" and explains why he has chosen to use it despite some of its shortcomings.

Intro lays out the book’s purpose: “to explore and commend a distinctively Reformed Protestant vision of Christian growth for twenty-first-century evangelicals”; gives a very brief overview of Reformation history; highlights four reasons to give the Puritans the detailed attention they receive; and explains what the book is and is not.