Today (after a few days off) I want to finish my thoughts on what originally began as a response to a post on another blog. You can read that response - part one of this series -
here. Then, in part two, I explained the good news of the gospel and covered the doctrines of justification and propitiation. You can read part two
here. Today I hope to continue my thoughts from the earlier posts and also will try my best to answer some questions.
To pick up where I left off, I explained that it was because mankind fell in Adam that we are all sinful people who cannot please God. It is due to the fall and our resulting sin nature that is the cause of all of humanities shortcomings. I then explained that there is hope because, if we are in Christ, we are justified and the power of sin is broken over our lives. Romans 6:5-14 reads:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
The idea is this: when a person places their faith in Christ, not only is the person justified (judged righteous), but the person is also set free from the slavery of sin. Whereas before a person could only sin (no choice, it was their nature, all they knew how to do), now the Christian is free to choose not to sin. How is this possible? Because Christ has broken the power over sin in the Christian’s life as the passage above so beautifully states! Here is another passage that we can benefit from:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sin in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3)
Notice the Apostle Paul writes to the church of Ephesus “You WERE dead in trespass and sin” and “WERE children of wrath”. “Were” is past tense, so something changed. What was it? Was it being more disciplined? Was it taking a class on whatever weak area one possesses? Is it reading a book on how to be a better person? I submit to you that it is none of those options. Let’s continue on with the passage in Ephesians to find out what truly changes people.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:4-10)
The only thing that can change wicked, sinful men and women is Christ! At this point I am going to anticipate what some of my readers are probably thinking and some have actually already asked in the comments of the previous posts. The question is this: if Christians are new creatures in Christ and are set free from the power of sin and are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to Christ, then why do genuine saints of God still struggle with sin? This is a most legitimate question and I pray that I can help shed some light on what appears to be a quandary.
First, Christians are no longer slaves to sin, or they don’t have to sin, but they can and do still sin. Why is this? The simple answer is because we still love our sin too much. Paul struggled with this very problem:
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” (Romans 7:18) Paul says that it’s in his flesh that nothing good dwells and while the Christian remains on earth, he or she remains in their flesh. As long as God’s children are on this earth, we will always struggle with sin. However, remember Christians don’t have to sin. They can choose not to.
Perhaps the following will help us to better understand the issue of sin and the ability to please God. Before the fall, Adam had two options. He could choose to please God or he could choose to rebel and sin. After the fall, sinful man’s options are narrowed as he can only choose sin. After regeneration, mankind can now choose to please God or to sin. Finally, a time will come when Christians will leave earth, either by death or when Christ returns. The Christian will then be glorified. After glorification, mankind’s choices are back down to one option again – he can only please God. In Christ’s new kingdom there will be no sin so there will be no struggles, no temptations, no evil period!
Now if you are reading this, then that means you have not been glorified yet. So if you are a Christian then you still struggle with sin and still fall short of God’s perfect standard at times. However, God does not leave us beat up, struggling, defeated Christians. After the new birth and after a Christian is justified, next begins the process of sanctification. Sanctification can best be described as a process whereby God imparts righteousness to the sinner. I’m not sure if you remember from the last post, with justification God
imputes righteousness to the sinner. Imputes, Imparts. Poe-tay-toe, Poe-tah-toe. What’s the difference you might ask? A huge one. Consider this from Pastor John MacArthur:
Justification is distinct from sanctification because in justification God does not make the sinner righteous; He declares that person righteous (Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16). Notice how justification and sanctification are distinct from one another: Justification imputes Christ's righteousness to the sinner's account (Romans 4:11b); sanctification imparts righteousness to the sinner personally and practically (Romans 6:1-7; 8:11-14). Justification takes place outside sinners and changes their standing (Romans 5:1-2, sanctification is internal and changes the believer's state (Romans 6:19). Justification is an event, sanctification a process. Those two must be distinguished but can never be separated. God does not justify whom He does not sanctify, and He does not sanctify whom He does not justify. Both are essential elements of salvation.
To reiterate Pastor MacArthur, justification and sanctification are not the same, yet they are both essential to salvation and you won’t find them separated. Now that you hopefully understand the difference, I want to focus more on the doctrine of sanctification because here is where discipline and the struggle, and overcoming sin come into play. Remember sanctification is a process. It begins after a person is born-again and justified and it doesn’t end until a person is glorified and sees Jesus face to face. All the while in between we are being sanctified by the Lord and being made more holy, or separated from sin. I have already mentioned several things that happen when a person is born again and becomes a Christian, but one I have not yet touched upon is that a person receives the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit comes to live inside the Christian. Why is this important? Well, it is important because one of the things the Holy Spirit does is He empowers us to live lives set apart for God. J.I. Packer puts it this way:
Relational sanctification, the state of being permanently set apart for God, flows from the cross, where God through Christ purchased and claimed us for himself (Acts 20:28; 26:18; Heb. 10:10). Moral renovation, whereby we are increasingly changed from what we once were, flows from the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:13; 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 6:11, 19-20; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:22-24; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 13:20-21). God calls his children to sanctity and graciously gives what he commands (1 Thess. 4:4; 5:23).
It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that empowers Believers to become holy, but it doesn’t just happen. No, in the process of sanctification it is both God and man working. Again I go back to J.I. Packer:
God implants desires that were not there before: desire for God, for holiness, and for the hallowing and glorifying of God's name in this world; desire to pray, worship, love, serve, honor, and please God; desire to show love and bring benefit to others. In sanctification, the Holy Spirit "works in you to will and to act" according to God's purpose; what he does is prompt you to "work out your salvation" (i.e., express it in action) by fulfilling these new desires (Phil. 2:12-13). Christians become increasingly Christlike as the moral profile of Jesus (the "fruit of the Spirit") is progressively formed in them (2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:19; 5:22-25).
How else can the Christian do his part? John 17:17 teaches that the truth of God’s Word sanctifies us also. Therefore it is imperative for the Christian to depend upon God’s Word for God’s will. Orthodox, or right, doctrine, coupled with the Holy Spirit working within a man, changes the heart. In conclusion, I leave you with a final quote from J.I. Packer (he just puts it so much better than I ever could think of doing):
Believers find within themselves contrary urgings. The Spirit sustains their regenerate desires and purposes; their fallen, Adamic instincts (the "flesh") which, though dethroned, are not yet destroyed, constantly distract them from doing God's will and allure them along paths that lead to death (Gal. 5:16-17; James 1:14-15). To clarify the relationship between the law and sin, Paul analyzes in a personal and dramatic way the sense of impotence for complete law-keeping, and the enslavement to behavior one dislikes, that the Spirit-flesh tension produces (Rom. 7:14-25). This conflict and frustration will be with Christians as long as they are in the body. Yet by watching and praying against temptation, and cultivating opposite virtues, they may through the Spirit’s help "mortify" (i.e., drain the life out of, weaken as a means of killing) particular bad habits, and in that sense more and more die unto sin (Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5). They will experience many particular deliverances and victories in their unending battle with sin, while never being exposed to temptations that are impossible to resist (1 Cor. 10:13).
Justification by Faith by John MacArthur (Grace to You)
Sanctification-The Christian Grows in Grace by J.I. Packer (Concise Theology)
*For more on sanctification, I recommend the above Packer article or any of the articles from here.