P7 Christian Sanctification's Final Stage: Perfect Sanctification

Introduction:

    In this series of posts I have attempted to introduce the reader to the Biblical doctrine of Christian sanctification. We've noted how it begins, how it progresses, and in today's post how it will end and continue on into eternity. 

      Initial sanctification is what we have noted as "positional" or "definitive" sanctification. The Christian life that proceeds from that beginning point at regeneration/justification by faith is the second stage of sanctification known as "progressive sanctification". We now turn to the third and final phase, or what we're calling "perfect sanctification".     

Perfect sanctification.  1 Peter 1:8,13

    When I say “perfect sanctification”, I mean that final aspect of our sanctification where the presence of sin is no more and we are finally pure. Sanctification’s overall progression throughout the Christian life finds its lion’s share in that progressive phase we just observed. 

    Half of all the New Testament letters spend time giving exhortations on how to grow onward and upward in progressive sanctification. As such, the Christian life doesn’t cease at death. Peter notes in 1 Peter 1:7-8 “so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

     The Apostle Peter details the trials and testings of progressive sanctification in 1 Peter 1:7. Why do we undergo such things? For the sake of what we will experience once we’re perfected either at Christ’s coming or when we pass on from this life to the one to come. Peter  about perfect sanctification in 1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

      Elsewhere in the New Testament we read about this perfect sanctification or what is also called “glorification” – the final phase of our salvation’s completion after death or at Christ’s second coming. Romans 8:30 guarantees the Christian’s arrival at sinless perfection at death or at the Lord’s return: “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”  

    Jude describes perfect sanctification or glorification in Jude 1:24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” In heaven right now, the saints of God who have went on before us are “perfected” in Hebrews 12:23 “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”

      It has been well said by theologians that at regeneration/justification I am set free from sin’s penalty. We saw already how at saving faith, the Spirit of God begins the work of sanctification by it being a definitive work of positioning us in Jesus Christ. So, it is at regeneration/justification I am set free from sin’s penalty. 

    Then, in progressive sanctification I am being set free from sin’s power. It will be at the moment of death or the Lord’s return at the rapture that I am set free from sin’s presence! 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

    It will be then that the perfect soul of every Christian will be reunited with a glorified resurrected body, wherein we could say that at resurrection I am set free from sin’s putrefaction. You know putrefaction? It's what happens to vegetables in so many people’s refrigerators as they lay at the bottom of our produce drawers. Our bodies decay in the grave, awaiting the time when Jesus returns and raises them to reunite with the soul (John 5:24-29).

Closing thoughts:

      Well, there is more I could say (that’s what the preacher says when he has ran out of time!) Let’s review. In our overview of Christian sanctification, we noted first how God ordained the sanctification of those sinners whom He chose in Christ as spelled out by Peter in 1 Peter 1:1-4. 

      The Holy Spirit then calls such sinners to exercise saving faith in Jesus Christ, installing them positionally to begin their Christian life in positional sanctification. What follows is a progressive onward and upward growth in Jesus Christ in progressive sanctification (1 Peter 1:5-2:3). 

      Then finally, the goal is perfect sanctification or glorification, where the Christian has a perfected soul at death or rapture, with the latter being a time when the perfected soul is united with a glorified resurrected body. Remember: Sanctification speaks of the Christian life lived from its beginnings in regeneration until the believer’s homegoing at death or the rapture of the church. May God be glorified!

P6 Christian Sanctification's Second Stage: Progressive Sanctification

Introduction:

    In the last post I spent time explaining what theologians refer to as the initial stage of Christian sanctification - "definitive" or what is sometimes called "positional sanctification". Readers may review the last post to get a sense of what I meant in the unpacking of that truth here Growing Christian Resources: P5 Christian Sanctification's First Stage: Definitive / Positional Sanctification. 

    In today's post I want to continue in our series on the Biblical doctrine of sanctification. Admittedly I had meant this to only be a short series, however, in my current preaching series on Sunday evenings, wherein we are working our way through Christian sanctification, I wanted to have a chance to flesh out further observations. With that noted, we move today to the second main phase of Christian sanctification, namely "progressive sanctification". 

Progressive sanctification.  1 Peter 1:5-7, 9-12, 1:14-2:3

    I spent the last post on "positional sanctification" due to what is often it's neglect in conversations about the Christian life. It is this second sense of "progressive sanctification" that is most often discussed and which is the focus of this post. 

    Positional or definitive sanctification is the Holy Spirit’s uniting me to Christ and beginning the cleansing work in my heart at regeneration. Not only does the Holy Spirit unite me to Jesus Christ in that first phase of sanctification, but He also breaks the dominion of sin's power (not presence!) in the moment of regeneration. It is from thereon that sanctification continues. 

    We call this second phase of Christian sanctification “progressive” because it is a continual, ongoing process whereby the Holy Spirit is making me more like Jesus in thought, word, and deed. Furthermore, my participation and cooperation with the Holy Spirit is necessary for progressive sanctification. The “sanctification” part speaks of what we’ve already noted, namely the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God in my life along with my needed compliance to His work. Philippians 2:12-13 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Let’s note some features of progressive sanctification.

A. Sanctification is a refining work.

      Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:5-7 “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  I’ve underlined three verbs in these verses that in the original language speak of an ongoing experience in the Christian’s life. The ESV renders that first verb as “being protected” – an ongoing work of God shielding us in our Christian growth. The second verb refers to rejoicing throughout our Christian walk in a growing and increasing way. We come to see more the need for our Savior and our desire for Him as we live through this life. Then that third verb, “tested”, conveys that tests are never done. The process of sanctification is a refining work of God in our lives. Sanctification as a process is a refining work. Second…..

B. Sanctification is a reaffirming work.

1 Peter 1:9-12 “obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”  

As we grow in progressive sanctification, the Holy Spirit reminds us again and again that we are children of God, destined for glory. 1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”  As we progress in sanctification, it is refining and reaffirming. Thirdly, 

C. Sanctification is a responsible work.

1 Peter 1:14-16 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  Then skip down to 1 Peter 1:22-23 “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” 

Peter then issues this exhortation in 1 Peter 2:1-3 “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”

Progressive sanctification isn’t a “let go and let God” nor is it “do better, try harder”. Instead, it is He working in me and I working with Him. We must not think of it as me giving my 50% and God doing the other 50%. Such a view of sanctification would render me in dire straits if I fail to do my part. Rather, think of sanctification as God upholding us all the way (1 Thessalonians 2:13-14) and us working with Him as evidence of His cleansing work in our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12). 

To illustrate, when I was learning how to drive from my father, he would drive us out from our house to an old back road. We would pull over and then he would let me drive a short distance. I can remember him sometimes having to nudge the steering wheel for me, since the car would tend to drift into the side of the road as I drove. Then, we would pull over again and my dad would turn the car around and we would head home. Now, when we got into the house, my mother would ask: “how did driving go?” My dad would say: “he is getting better and he did good”. By that illustration, it is plain that we’re it not for my dad, there is no way we could had gotten out to that old country road nor gotten back home. Yet, my participation was needed to demonstrate that I had taken in what my dad was teaching me.

Final thoughts:

 That’s progressive sanctification. We’ve noted how it begins with positional or definitive sanctification at saving faith. Keep those two distinctions in mind will help you as you study God’s Word on the Christian life. Next time we will look at the final phase of Christian sanctification, what I'm calling "perfect sanctification". 

P5 Christian Sanctification's First Stage: Definitive / Positional Sanctification

Introduction:

    In recent posts I've devoted time to the doctrine of Christian sanctification. In the last post I provided a summary of three major headings under which the doctrine of sanctification is Biblically understood here Growing Christian Resources: P4 God's Plan For Christian Sanctification And Its Main Truths. In today's post we will begin to unpack the first of those headings, what is known as "positional" or "definitive sanctification". I'll draw most of my observations from the opening verses of 1 Peter 1.

A Look At Positional sanctification. 

    When we talk about "positional sanctification" or "definitive sanctification", by what do we mean? Theologian John Murray offers the following insight about this first stage of Christian sanctification:

"We are thus compelled to take account of the fact that the language of sanctification is used with reference to some decisive action that occurs at the inception of the Christian life, one that characterizes the people of God in their identity as called effectually by God’s grace."

I bring out this important distinction of "definitive" or "positional sanctification" because it is often overlooked in comparison to the much more familiar understanding of Christian sanctification as a progressive work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life following conversion. This distinction helps the Bible student make sense of passages that speak of sanctification but clearly are not talking of it in its progressive sense (which I'll deal with in the next post), but in terms of how it starts as a definitive work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration/saving faith (see for instance 1 John 3:3,6,9). We could say that definitive or positional sanctification is when the Holy Spirit has us to make a decisive break with the domination of sin (note, not the presence of sin!) that characterizes the unregenerate unbeliever. 

The Apostle Peter helps us grasp this important aspect of Christian sanctification in 1 Peter 1:1-4. Note with me the following points.

A. Planned from eternity.   1:1-2

    Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:1-4 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. 

      Peter opens up his letter with how his readers’ sanctification was planned by God from all eternity. Paul reminds us that the goal of God’s sovereign choice of sinners in salvation is for them to be set apart positionally to be conformed to Christ’s image. Not only is God wanting to save sinners from something (wrath, separation from God, final judgment) but unto something (relationship with Him through Christ, godly living for His glory, eternity with Him). We especially see this connection between God's plan for our salvation and sanctification in eternity to the start of it in reception of salvation in saving faith in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 "But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." We also note too Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”  

      The good works the Christian will perform throughout their Christian walk were ordained by God. Ephesians 2:10 “for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  This ought to comfort the Christian, since there are times our efforts to grow in Christ are met with the still lingering desire to sin. Nonetheless, Paul reminds us in Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will bring it unto completion in Christ Jesus”. Our positional sanctification was planned by God from all eternity. Then it….

   B. Begins at regeneration. 1:3-4

     That sanctification was planned by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in eternity is without a doubt in the Bible. But when does sanctification in the positional sense start? Notice with me 1 Peter 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” 

     The sanctification or "setting apart" of the sinner at salvation, their positional standing as a saint of God gets underway at the moment of regeneration and saving faith. 1 Corinthians 6:11 “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”  The use of the term “sanctified” here speaks of the Christian's position as as a saint of God from the moment of the new birth in saving faith. Why does this matter?

 What definitive or positional sanctification does in the Holy Spirit's act of setting apart the sinner is to unite them to Jesus Christ so that they are set free from sin’s power. Theologian Wayne Grudem (2^nd Edition, Systematic Theology, page 925, comments: 

“This initial step in sanctification involves a definite break from the ruling power and love of sin so that the believer is no longer ruled or dominated by sin and no longer loves to sin.”  

It’s not the presence of sin removed, but the power of sin’s domination that is severed. It is this beginning work of definitive or positional sanctification at regeneration that explains why the Christian feels miserable when they do something they ought not to do. Titus 3:4 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”  

At regeneration, there is a legal change and an experiential change brought about in me. Legally, I’m declared justified by faith by God the Father as He imputes or credits me with Christ’s righteousness, setting me free from sin’s penalty. On the experiential side, the Spirit of God’s work cleanses me by definitive or positional sanctification to set me on my journey of becoming more and more like Jesus in my progress of sanctification. Romans 6:3-4 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” So, we have positional sanctification that was planned by God in eternity and which begins at regeneration in saving faith.

Those thoughts hopefully clarify in the reader's mind this important first phase of Christian sanctification. Next time we will look at the second aspect or distinction in the Biblical doctrine of Christian sanctification - namely progressive sanctification. 

Post #28 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed - "and He shall come again, with glory"

Introduction:

    It has been a while since I posted in my series on the Nicene Creed. A busy ministry schedule and other series floating around in my mind have precluded me from working any further into the Nicene Creed. With that said, in the last post we noted the important of "theological triage", that is, prioritizing doctrines of Scripture by their relative weight or emphasis in the Bible in comparison to other truths here Growing Christian Resources: Post #27 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed - The Nicene Creed's Confession Of Last Things (Eschatology) and a word on theological triage. 

    One reason we are studying the Nicene Creed is because earlier generations of the church saw the need to give agreed-upon summaries of what was essential for Christians everywhere and at all times to confess with regards to their faith. Creeds are not meant to be exhaustive in their treatment of Bible doctrine. Other theological treatises such as confessions or doctrinal statements operate to give more detailed listings of doctrines. Even then, there is still a sense in which there is a consistency among all orthodox creeds, confessions, and doctrinal statements when it comes to what counts as first tiered theological commitments. 

    In today's post we continue on with our study of the Nicene Creed by noting what it has to say about Christ's second coming. I'll likely be posting installments at a slower pace, since we are also currently studying the doctrine of sanctification in this blogsite. Onto the Nicene Creed!

"And He shall come again."

    The Nicene Creed affirms the second coming of the Son. When Jesus ascended into Heaven forty days after His resurrection, He gave final instructions to His disciples. In Acts 1:9-11, we read what then is said next by angels who appear to the disciples as Jesus ascends:

"And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'”

    The point made here by the angels to the disciples is that the return of Jesus will be a physical and bodily return. This of course isn't the only passage in the Bible that asserts the second coming, but it is among the clearer passages that affirm the bodily return of our Lord (see also Acts. 1:11; 3:19–21; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 11:26; 15:23). If one takes what the Nicene Creed is saying here in context of its overall confession of the incarnation, this point emerges all the more. 

    The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the most focused upon subject in all of Biblical prophecy or Eschatology. The late Bible scholar John Walvoord notes:

"It (the second coming) constitutes the most tremendous intervention of divine power in the entire course of human history. On every hand one discovers that the Scripture dealing with the second coming is the key to the prophetic future." (Biblio Theca Sacra 114:454, April 1957, page 97). 

    Roughly one out of every four verses in the Bible refer to Biblical eschatology. In the realm of such references, the physical bodily return of our Lord dominates the Biblical vision of the future or last things. Jesus Himself spoke often of what would be His second coming (Matthew 16:27; 25:29-31; 26:64; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; 22:69). Let me give one example of a pair of references from the Old and New Testaments concerning our Lord's soon return to earth.

    

    The prophet Isaiah prophesied of the future coming of Yahweh to earth in Isaiah 25:6-9 "The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,

And refined, aged wine. 7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day,

'Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

    

    In Isaiah's prophecy we certainly see the visible, physicality of this return to earth. The coming Kingdom will be manifested in a physical way, altering the very earth itself. One feature associated with the Lord's return is mention of a great banquet, a common theme in passages that speaks of God manifesting Himself to His covenant people in the context of His redemption of them (see Exodus 24 or our Lord's institution of the Lord's Supper in Luke 22). 

    

      The Apostle John records a strikingly similar description of the coming of Jesus Christ with His bride, the Church, first Revelation 19:7-9 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, 'Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, 'These are true words of God.” 

    The same author then records the very vision of the coming of Jesus Christ, Yahweh in the flesh, in Revelation 19:11-14 "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses."

    

    This pair of references are but a small slice of numerous examples of texts that emphasize the physical, visible return of our Lord who is God and man to earth, just as affirmed in the Nicene Creed (see for instance Zechariah 14 and Matthew 24:15-31; Joel 2:28-32; Daniel 9:23-27; and 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 and many, many others). 

"With glory"

    Three senses of the term "glory" are worth mentioning as revealed in the Bible. The first sense is "incarnate glory". The reason why the Nicene Creed adds this little phrase "with glory" is to emphasize the point I made earlier, namely the second coming of our Lord will not be invisible, but visible; not a spiritual non-physical return, but a return featuring Him in his post-resurrected, ascended, incarnate glory as God in the flesh. This is the first observation to note of what is meant by "glory", namely the incarnated glory of Christ returning to earth. 

    What is the glory of God? God's glory is that excellency of God whereby He makes visible, clear, and revelatory His otherwise unapproachable, invisible nature and attributes. As Christ returns, He will manifest the glory of deity through His glorified humanity due to His coming for His people. The second coming of Jesus Christ is promised to the Christian to be one which they will see with their own eyes (Job 19:25-28; 1 Peter 1:8; 1 John 3:2-3; Revelation 1:7-8). 

    Baptist Theologian J.P. Boice notes of the glory in which Christ will appear at His second coming:

"It will be an appearance with power and glory; “for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God,” (1 Thess. 4:16); “in the glory of his Father,” (Matt. 16:27); and “in his glory, and all the angels with him,” (Matt. 25:31); fulfilling to believers their expectation of “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Tit. 2:13" (J.P. Boice, Abstract of Systematic Theology, 40.3). 

    The second sense concerning how Christ will return "with glory" is that He will have the accompaniment of the angelic hosts of heaven itself. Jesus earlier on in His public ministry made this statement in Mark 8:38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Theologian A.A. Hodge notes this of Christ's second coming in glory in His "Outlines of Theology":

"The coming itself, its manner and

purpose are alike defined. He is to be attended with the hosts of

heaven, in power and great glory." 

    Then the final sense of the term "glory" has to do with how Jesus Christ will manifest His full deity with which He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the realm of the coming Kingdom itself. The Kingdom of God is the domain of the reign of the Son of God. What divides theologians concerns the issue of the millennial kingdom that it referred to throughout Scripture. Is the revelation of the glory of the King mainly in Heaven now with a final manifestation meant to then resurrect the saints, judge unbelievers, and usher in the New Heavens and New Earth (the broad outline of so-called "amillennialism" and "post-millennialism")? Or will the glory of God through Christ through His Kingdom involve an earthly physical stage of a 1,000 years duration, beginning with the resurrection of the just and concluding with the resurrection of the unjust, final judgment, and New Heavens and Earth? The Nicene Creed doesn't dive into those specifics, nor will I in this post. Suffice to say though, the whole debate over the millennium must reckon with which view most clearly shows Christ revealing the glory of His deity in such a way to flood the whole earth and cosmos, as well as to show He is the decisive revelation of God. 

P4 God's Plan For Christian Sanctification And Its Main Truths

Introduction:

In our last post here Growing Christian Resources: P3 God’s Plan Before The Christian Life’s Beginning For Sanctification, I spent time reminding us of how the Christian life begins in regeneration, faith, and repentance. By noting that beginning, we observed how from that beginning God bestows the graces of justification, adoption, and union with Jesus Christ. All of these beginning graces set me firmly in my positional and relational standing before God. 

    The beginning graces just described are like a brand-new automobile purchased out of a showroom. The driver has the keys, a full tank of gas, and get this - everything is paid for by the manufacturer! What’s next? The driver needs to drive the car – that’s sanctification! The life of the car began when it was assembled at the plant and set apart in the showroom for the driver, but now that car was not built to be a showpiece. Instead, the car is meant to drive, travel, and do everyday chores. 

    In that last post I briefly touched upon how God had already planned sanctification to be part of the lives of His people whom He chose in Christ from1 Peter 1:1-2. What I want us to do in this post is to get the bigger picture of what Christian sanctification is all about. 

    I had offered the following definition of sanctification in the last post: 

"sanctification speaks of the Christian life lived from its beginnings in regeneration until the believer’s homegoing at death or the rapture of the church."

    The Apostle Peter lays out for us in the first chapter of his first letter an overview of the Biblical doctrine of sanctification from its origins in the mind of God in eternity through the Christian life following saving faith into eternity. 

    One more thing before we move forward: why does sanctification matter? Note what God says in His Word. Jesus prayed for future generations of sanctified believers in John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” 1 Peter 1:15 “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3a “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”  Even the Apostle Peter closes out his second letter with this command in 2 Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 

    Francis Schaeffer’s book, “True Spirituality”, gives this helpful insight for why we need to better grasp Christian sanctification: 

"The important thing after being born spiritually is to live. There is a new birth, and then there is the Christian life to be lived. This is the area of sanctification from the time of the new birth, through this present life until Jesus comes or until we die.” 

    Below is an outline of the main contours of Christian sanctification that I intend to cover in the next few posts. 

1. Positional sanctification. 1 Peter 1:1-4

2. Progressive sanctification. 1 Peter 1:5-7, 9-12, 1:14-2:3

3. Perfect sanctification. 1 Peter 1:8,13

More next time.....

P3 God’s Plan Before The Christian Life’s Beginning For Sanctification

Introduction:

    In our first post in this series, we began with the richness of the Christian life's beginnings here Growing Christian Resources: The Richness Of The Christian Life's Beginning. We then explored in the last post an introduction to the doctrine of sanctification or what I called "beyond the Christian life's beginning" here Growing Christian Resources: P2 Getting Beyond The Christian Life’s Beginning.. 

    In as much as it is the case that the Christian life and sanctification begin at regeneration and saving faith, as well as sanctification progressing forward from that point, we must realize how often the Bible speaks of God's planning of the Christian life for each believer well-before they were born. 

    The Apostle Peter and other writers in the Bible spend quite a bit of time spelling out God's planning of Christian salvation from all eternity. This is important to establish the overwhelming emphasis of the Bible on salvation being totally of God's grace and not of human effort. I suppose I should had maybe placed this post as the first in this series (Peter does that in the opening chapter of his first letter). 

    Nevertheless, my goal in this series was to introduce the reader to an overview of what the Bible teaches about the Christian life's beginning. We've witnessed what that beginning looks like and what follows after the beginning. However, it bears reminding the reader that the only reason anyone becomes born again in saving faith and is even able to live the Christian life in the first place is because of God's grace planned ahead of time for them from all eternity. 

God’s plan before the Christian life’s beginning.

     What follows below is an exposition of the first two verses of 1 Peter 1. Peter in this letter and Paul in his letter to the Church at Ephesus ground human salvation in the eternal plan of the Triune God before time began (compare 1 Peter 1:1-2 to Ephesians 1:1-5). Let's explore a little bit about what all this entailed. 

  A. The plan’s motive was God the Father's love of sinners for the Son.

      Let’s look at 1 Peter 1:1-2 

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

       Ephesians 2:8-9, a most beloved passage that explains how salvation is of the Lord, says this in verse 10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” There are terms Peter and Paul use in their letters to indicate the eternal origins of God’s plan of salvation. As our Baptist Faith and Message 2000 reminds us:

“Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end.”

    As we loop back to 1Peter 1:1-2, its worth noting some terms. We see that first term, “elect”. God the Father desired to give a love gift to His Son – a redeemed people. As I noted earlier, Paul grounds Christian salvation in God's Sovereign election. Notice what he writes in Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love”. Peter similarly describes those to whom he writes as “chosen” in 1 Peter 1:1-2. 

     Secondly, we see the term “foreknowledge” used by Peter in 1 Peter 1:2, tied closely to the first term “elect”, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” Paul does this as well in Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew…”. 

    The specific term “foreknowledge” refers to God’s “foreloving”. The Bible will oftentimes use the term “know” to euphemistically to talk about the love between a husband and his wife (see Genesis 4:1, KJV “Adam ‘knew’ his wife Eve”). In the Old Testament, God used this language of knowing to describe how He set his affection upon Israel above the other nations in Deuteronomy 7:7 “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.” 

    Why and when did God in the Person of the Father set His affection upon sinners? He did so for the sake of the Person of the Son. Nothing in the sinner merits such love. Rather, God's electing love arose from within Himself as the loving Triune God. 1 John 4:19 reminds us "we love Him because He first loved us." It's for the sake of love that such choosing occurred. 

    So, what of the "when"? Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity”. Thus, the plan’s motives for salvation (and Christian sanctification) was rooted in God’s love.

B. The plan’s map included a holy life lived by the Christian for the Son.

      We have the motive of God’s planned sanctification – love (as seen in the Biblical terms “election” and “foreknowledge”). But what of the map for the plan? That’s where we come to our third term, “predestination” or “predestined”. The term itself speaks of literally marking out the horizons or “specs” of something beforehand. Paul uses this in Romans 8:29a “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son….”.

      As a side note, the Bible never presents God’s foreknowledge and predestination as contradicting our responsibility to believe the Gospel and to grow in sanctification thereafter. With that note, let's look at two passages that feature our term "predestined" with respect to God's plan for salvation and sanctification. 

Ephesians 1:5 “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” Ephesians 1:11 “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.”

    Therefore, when you see that word "predestined" in the Bible, think of it as God's map for salvation.  

C. The plan’s methods for sanctification of the Christian in the Son.

     God’s motive for planning sanctification was love in election and foreknowledge, with the map being that of predestinating those sinners whom He desired to give as a love gift to His Son. We now go from motives and a map to the methods God included to make His people more and more sanctified upon their profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This included the places we would live and the cross of Christ.

(C1). God’s plan included places. 1 Peter 1:1

     God had already chosen people out of those seven areas to whom Peter wrote about in His letter. When they believed on Jesus Christ, God would use circumstances and where the people lived to shape and mold them. 

    Did you ever think about your current station in life right now? God is using challenges in your finances, relationships, job opportunities or lack thereof, health, the details of where you live, your home, past experiences and present ones in His overall plan of sanctification. For the Christian, this includes their church and every sermon or Sunday School lesson they’ll ever hear. Every relationship with other Christians, ministries the Christian reader experiences, and sometimes challenges as well – all of it is in God’s plan. God’s methods included places.

(C2). God’s plan included the cross.

      Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:2a “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.”  

    In the Bible, when people were sprinkled with blood, that signaled they were set apart by God to be His people. In the Old Mosaic Covenant for example, we read in Exodus 24:7-8 “Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!’ 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”  Think of how that sprinkled blood was a permanent reminder to the people, since you cannot wash blood out of garments!

     However, the New Covenant in Christ does something that Old Covenant could never do – provide power for godly living. That is why Peter mentions the work of the Holy Spirit in applying all Jesus did for us in the cross and the empty tomb. We know this by how Peter ends 1 Peter 1:2 “May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”  

Final thoughts:

    Well, we must end there. Suffice to say, God’s plan for the Christian life not only included our sanctification, but the power to live it. Over the last couple of posts, we've explored the beginnings of the Christian life, what follows beyond the beginning, and in today's post what all God did way before the Christian life's beginning. In the next post I want to begin to lay out the overall Biblical and doctrinal vision of Christian sanctification. 

P2 Getting Beyond The Christian Life’s Beginning.

Introduction:

Last time I began a short series that will cover the richness of beginnings of the Christian life here Growing Christian Resources: The Richness Of The Christian Life's Beginning. My goal in this series is to help readers to get a grasp of what not only takes place at salvation, but also what the Christian life actually is. Salvation isn’t only about the beginning (everything I just wrote about in the last post). Salvation is meant to be an ongoing experience of the Christian living and growing in Jesus Christ. The diagram below will illustrate what I am talking about here.

 

Getting beyond the Christian life’s beginning.

In 1971 Francis Schaeffer wrote a classic book on Christian living entitled “True Spirituality”. I was reminded of something he said near the beginning of that work that is relevant to today's post:

“We must also realize that while the new birth is necessary as the beginning, it is only the beginning. We must not think that because we have accepted Christ as Savior and therefore are Christians, this is all there is in the Christian life.”

Shaeffer continues later: 

“In one way, the new birth is the most important thing in our spiritual lives, because we are not Christians until we have come this way. In another way, however, after one has become a Christian, it must be minimized, and that we should not always have our minds only on our new birth. The important thing after being born spiritually is to live. There is a new birth, and then there is the Christian life to be lived. This is the area of sanctification from the time of the new birth, through this present life until Jesus comes or until we die.”

The Apostle Peter is one of my favorite authors in the New Testament. The reason I gravitate toward Peter is because we have the most detailed record of one Christian's life from the time He was born again in faith in Jesus Christ up until the near-end point right before his execution in 66 A.D. Peter wrote his first letter (1 Peter) under the Divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit sometime after 62 A.D. Peter helps us  to grasp this wondrous (and too often) neglected truth of sanctification. 

If we were to boil down the whole book of 1 Peter, it would be 1 Peter 5:12b “I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!” That verb translated “stand firm” conveys the idea of having started something and remaining in it to this day. As I said in the last post, Sanctification speaks of the Christian life lived from its beginnings in regeneration until the believer’s homegoing at death or the rapture of the church.  

Another Apostle, Paul, emphasizes this doctrine of sanctification in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-10. Notice how often he mentions the word "sanctification" in the text:

 “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

As Paul stresses the importance of Christian sanctification, so does the Apostle Peter. In the next post, we will look more at what Peter says as he has us look at sanctification as it was planned by God in eternity.