Grace is God`s unmerited favor. This is His attitude of love towards all people. God does not sanctify a person because he is worthy or good; God sanctifies a person because of His mercy. This means that sanctification is God`s free gift (Ephesians 2:8). Sanctification is a work initiated and sustained by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:1-3; 5:16-18). 1. The justification is lawful; Sanctification is transformative. What happens if we find these steps too difficult and the process too slow? When we don`t feel like reading our Bibles? If we don`t necessarily want to make the “right” decision? For times when the process of sanctification is difficult and slow, John Newton has a few words of encouragement. Newton was a former slave owner who became an abolitionist and is best known for his lyrics to “Amazing Grace”. He exhorts a correspondent to whom he writes, as well as to you and me, to persevere in the faith.
Every Christian is sanctified by grace, from the moment of justification through present sanctification to the final state of glorification. But the progress of our present sanctification may vary depending on our faith having access to the grace God has given us in Christ. Sanctification is God`s desire for us (1 Thessalonians 4:3; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:14-15), but this is not an automatic act of God, nor is it just a human effort. Christians are sanctified by the grace of God, accessible by faith. A sincere heart and the desire to know the Lord more deeply and richly are all the Lord needs to overcome our stubbornness and seek what we know we are not satisfied. It is not our will or determination that brings transformation and growth, but the loving goodness of the Lord. Even when our sanctification seems slow, the Lord is faithful in initiating and bringing about change. Paul reminds us of this truth in 1.
Thessalonians 5:23-24:1 Corinthians 15:10. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me has not been in vain; but I worked more abundantly than all of them, but not I, but the grace of God who was with me. 2. At its core, sanctification is a process of self-denial and renewal of the gospel. Christian leaders should develop a clear theology of sanctification. This must include very specific beliefs about the following questions: What role does man play in sanctification? What is God`s part? What is the part of the act? This paper addresses the first and third issues. The second concerns the ministries of the Holy Ghost and our position in Christ. These are dealt with elsewhere. You examine yourself and you give up.
Look at your life, see what needs to change, submit this part of your life to Christ and grow in holiness. To understand sanctification, it is helpful to distinguish it from another important doctrine, justification. Both justification and sanctification are Christian doctrines related to salvation. Both are part of the good news of Jesus Christ. Justification and sanctification are God`s gracious gifts received by faith. But there are also three important differences. 1 “Like initial conversion, sanctification is a process of growth and maturation that requires diligent use of public funds of grace, as well as ecclesial, family and private prayer disciplines, meditative reading of Scripture, witness, communion, service to the needy and insightful care of the elders of the faithful. As sanctification progresses, we should focus not on the visibility of our experience and growth, but on Christ as given to us in the gospel” (Michael Horton, The Christian Faith, 661). Let`s break that down.
Notice the two works of God`s grace: “to bring salvation to all men” and “to train us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live a controlled, just, and pious life.” It is the same grace that brings salvation within us when we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus, and leads us to holy life as we continue to repent of our sins and trust in Jesus. As God`s work, sanctification involves the acquisition of new habits, practices, and thoughts. But that`s more than the natural work a wise psychologist or counselor can do in a person. Sanctification results from the supernatural presence and power of the Holy Spirit working in the life of a Christian (Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 3:20; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10). According to reformers, when a man is justified, he becomes a new man and receives a new spirit, the Spirit of the living God (2 Corinthians 5:17) and his relationship to the law. The law is no longer seen as a means by which he could try to obtain salvation (and thus a burden), but he sees the law as the manifestation of God`s loving will. The law then becomes a guide for the Christian life, but our motivation to follow the law has changed. We no longer follow the law to obtain salvation, but our motivation is the joy of obeying the Lord. Tim Keller puts it this way, 2Fred Zaspal, Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel (Wheaton, Il: Crossway, 2012), 111-120. Zaspal also explains Warfield`s expert treatment of Romans 8, making this book a good introduction to the discussion of what theologians call perfectionism.
The basis of our sanctification is always the Lord Himself. Sanctification is not only discussed in the New Testament, but it is a work of the Lord`s faithfulness that is brought to light repeatedly in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the Lord sanctified His children by His grace. In the Old Testament, the Lord saved Israel from Egypt from His loving goodness. Deuteronomy 7:6-8 states: The Bible generally uses the term holy (the same Greek word follows the words sanctification, holy, holy) to mean to be separated from sin to God, to be holy. The sanctification of a Christian has three aspects: past (positional justification), present (progressive sanctification), and future (perfect glorification). We know that justification and glorification are done by God`s grace by faith, not by our efforts or works. Can we say the same about our current experience of sanctification? Sanctification (we will use the word to mean the present progressive sanctification) is done by grace because the God who justified us also gives everything we need on the path to our final glorification (Romans 8:29-32). The three Persons of the Godhead all play an active role in our sanctification: The Father (John 17:17; 1 Thess.