Blogotional

Adrain Warnock is keeping the preaching discussion alive, this time with rather kind words to about me.

With Sheep's Crib entry, earlier this week, into the discussion on preaching and transformation, Adrain Warnock responded, in part, with these words:

Thus, I do deliberately mix up verses that talk to believers sanctification and their salvation- because in my view our sanctification is as much a result of our faith in Christ and his sacrifice for us as our salvation. I would love to see the distinction between the faith of salvation and ongoing faith argued from the bible more fully as so far I really haven't seen the distinction.

That would take a book to address. So I'll quote from one, and tell a story to tell you why I chose this book. Years ago, as an aspiring undergraduate student I attended Butler University, an institution I have praised in these spaces before. At the time, the chair of the philosophy department was an elderly gentleman by the name of Gordon Clark. As a chemistry major, I did not cross paths with the philosophy department much. I took one class just to pad hours. It was on the writings of CS Lewis, and since I had already read the whole course syllabus, it was an easy 3 hours credit. Unfortunately, it was not taught by Dr. Clark.

Fast forward 25 years and I am teaching a Sunday School class and in walks the pastor's retired pastor father -- no pressure there. Anyway, this gentleman, it turns out, was a personal friend of Dr. Clark, having attended undergrad school with him. When my retired pastor friend was forced to move to assisted living, he blessed me with a large set of books written by Dr. Clark. After reading them, I should have taken a lot more philosophy classes. Among those books is the one I shall quote here -- titled simply, Sanctification. Quoting from Dr. Clark's "Introduction"

In colloquial Christian conversation the term salvation is very frequently misused. There is a story of a Salvation Army lassie in London who approached a man on the street and asked, Are you saved? The man happened to be an Anglican bishop. He replied to the question, Do you mean sesuenossezomenos, or sothesomenos? Which being interpreted, means, have I been saved, am I being saved, or shall I be saved? Poor lassie. In plain English, salvation is a broad term that includes regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification. The present study concerns sanctification.

Regeneration is an act of God. By it he instantaneously produces an effect in man, a change in which man is totally passive. Jeremiah 13:23 puts it rather picturesquely: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" Co-temporaneously God does something else that is not a change in man at all. Justification is an instantaneous judicial act of acquittal. Sanctification, however, is neither instantaneous, nor is a man passive therein. It is not instantaneous because it is a time-consuming, subjective, life-long process. Nor is it an act of God alone. It is indeed dependent on the continuous power of God, but it is also the activity of the regenerated man. Both God and man are active. Sanctification is the Christian life.

And now quoting from the book's forward by John W. Robbins:

Sanctification, however, is not done outside of us. It is a subjective moral change in our character that begins with regeneration and ends with our glorification in heaven. The thirteenth chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith, "Of Sanctification," summarizes the Bible's teaching in these words:

They, who are once effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart, and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them: the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified; and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

This sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part; whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.

In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome; and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Both justification and sanctification are the work of God, not of ourselves; one work, justification, takes places wholly outside of us; the second, sanctification, is God's work in cleansing us from all sin. The Larger Catechism says that sanctification is "the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness."

There is so much to say on this topic, but I think that is a good start.