It's not about me at all. A good reminder.

Theology Tuesday!

Ready for Part Two of the Soteriology exam for NANC? (Read Part 1). Soteriology is the study of Salvation, and today's question is:  Sanctification is said to be past, present, and future.  Discuss, including the idea of “union with Christ.”

(But first I have to say, I was so excited after studying justification that I was a little afraid the rule book would be slapped down on me for Sanctification. Do not fear. There is hope ahead in this long post.)

Sanctification is the process of becoming like Christ.  Once we are justified, we are fully accepted based on Christ’s righteousness, and sanctification is what He does progressively through us.  This isn’t a one-time event in our past.  It changes us daily and will continue to change us until we are perfected at the coming of Christ.

When we accepted Christ as Lord, He washed us and we were sanctified.  (Acts 20:32)  It is clearly something that was started when He replaced our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. (Ex 36:26). Grudem says, “the 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.” (Grudem 747).  Paul says, “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus… for sin will have no dominion over you.” (Rom 6:11, 14). 

Although God, at that moment, viewed us as having the righteousness of Christ, the act of sanctification wasn’t completed on-the-spot.  He continually works in us to love and good deeds.  We have been predestined for something: to be conformed to the image of His Son.  (Romans 8:29). Our goal as Christians is to grow more and more like Christ. We are to “press on” and “not let sin reign” and “strive for holiness” and “be renewed.”  Sin still exists in us and in our world, but it does not need to control us. 

“Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.” (Romans 6:19). 

We are not left to our own power to accomplish this.  Quite the contrary!  Without God, we could not grow in this grace.  We have been given the Spirit of God to guide us into all truth and should let Him lead our lives. (Romans 8:14). God put His Spirit within us to cause us to walk in His ways.  (Ex 36:27).

In this world, we will have trouble, but we can be encouraged:  Jesus has overcome the world!  Though we will never reach perfection here on earth, for there is no man who does not sin, (I Kings 8:46), and we all make mistakes (James 3:2), we can be encouraged that He is returning, and when He does, our sanctification will be complete.  Only then will we be made perfect.  I Corinthians 15:49 says that we will “bear the image of the Man of heaven.”   When we go to the presence of the Lord, we will be “men made perfect.”  (Heb 12:23).

Jesus is the author of our faith – Justification – and the perfecter of our faith – Sanctification.  (Heb 12:2). Union with Christ is the understanding that apart from Him, we can do nothing.  He has given us His righteousness, He is working out our sanctification, and He has redeemed our lives from the pit.  “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (I Cor 1:30-31).

"Since all we do has mixed motives and we seldom if ever love others as we should, we can confidently say that we do not bring anything of additional worth to our relationship with God. He is fully satisfied in Christ." (Hendryx).

John Calvin said: (This is long, take time to digest it.)

We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. 

If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is ‘of him’ [I Cor. 1:30]. 

If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing. 

If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; 

if purity, in his conception;

if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that he might learn to feel our pain [compare to Heb. 5:2]. 

If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion; 

if acquittal, in his condemnation; 

if remission of the curse, in his cross [Gal. 3:13]; 

if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; 

if purification, in his blood; 

if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; 

if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb;

if newness of life, in his resurrection; 

if immortality, in the same; 

if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; 

if protection, if security if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom; 

if untroubled expectation of judgment; in the power given to him to judge. 

In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from the fountain, and from no other." (2.16.18.)

Fixing our eyes on Jesus means that we are constantly looking to Him for help and grace, always full of thanks for who we are in Him. We take our eyes off of our own good works and efforts and check-lists and disciplines, where we get stuck trying to gauge our own progress and how far we’ve come.  We instead look to Him until we completely forget ourselves in comparison to His love. We see Him as He is and love Him for it, asking that He will fill us with that love, which spills out on others and results in a life that looks more and more like Him. 

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face,

and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” Lemmel, Helen H.  1922

Hendryx, John “Sanctification via Union with Christ.” Reformation Theology.  April 21, 2006. Accessed 1/25/11.                         http://www.reformationtheology.com/2006/04/sanctification_via_union_with.php

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pages 746-752.

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All I Have Is Christ!

Welcome to Theology Tuesday, where we discuss essays that I'm writing for a NANC Counseling exam.  Today I'll begin a three part series in Soteriology. If you're like me, you might be scratching your head at that word. I'll do the dictionary work for you: It's the study of the doctrine of our Salvation.

Is Theology as dry and dusty as an old moth-ball-ridden library? Well, it can be, I guess, but studying this over the three-weeks time left me dancing... and there's no room for dust when you're kicking up your heals to this!

(A friend said these theology posts are too long... but hang in there! It's worth it!)

So... to begin!  

Part one:  “Justification by faith alone.”  Discuss the meaning of this phrase.

First, I’ll define a few important terms. Justification means “to declare righteous.”  What does that mean?  To be righteous means “morally upright, without guilt or sin.”  We know that none of us are righteous. We all have sinned and have the guilt associated with that. Romans 3:23 says that everyone has sinned, and Romans 6:23 says that the wages, or punishment, for our sins is death. So how are we, as guilty sinners, ever to become righteous?

The answer is that we can’t become righteous by ourselves. The Bible describes us as being dead in our sins. (Ephesians 2:5). A dead man cannot bring himself back to life again, just as a smashed spider cannot wake himself up and begin to crawl again. We need something outside of ourselves to change us and breathe life into us again.    

No amount of good works or noble actions can erase the bad mistakes. They are constantly accumulating in our life. The good does not out-weigh the bad. In fact, the good things we do only condemn us more, because in doing them, we acknowledge that there is a right and wrong way to live, and so often we choose the wrong way. (Romans 2:14-15).

This is the beauty of the cross. Jesus, as God, came as a man and did indeed live that perfect, righteous life. (Romans 5:19). He was morally guilt-less and upright. Legally speaking, he had not earned the punishment associated with sin, which is death and separation from the Holy God. However, he allowed himself to die so that God could place the wrath that we deserve for our sins onto Him.

Now, God’s Word says that if we believe in Jesus and His death and resurrection from the dead, God will do two things: First, He will remove our sins from us; sins in the past, present, and future. “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12). This means that we “have no penalty to pay for sin, including past, present, and future sins... we are not subject to any charge of guilt or condemnation.” (Grudem 724-725)  “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn?” (Rom 8:33-34).  (Note: This is the part where I started dancing in my chair!)

It doesn’t end there, however. If it did, we would be morally neutral. Our sins are removed, but that is not all. God then goes one step further and places the righteousness of God through Jesus onto us. Just as Adam’s guilt was placed, or “imputed,” onto us, and our sins were imputed to Christ on the cross, so now His righteousness is imputed to us. “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19).

It is evident from the Bible that this is a gift of God and not something we can earn on our own. (Romans 3:24). As mentioned already, we were dead in our sins, and it was God that made us alive. “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). It wasn’t after we cleaned ourselves up that He died for us. It was while we were still sinners.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1). There is no room for a faith and (fill in the blank) approach to God’s grace. Fill that blank with baptism, going to church, giving to the poor, or being a good person.  Romans 3:20 is clear that no one will be justified by following the law. This is repeated clearly again in Ephesians 2:8-9. “For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast.”

When we have faith in God, we are choosing to not depend on ourselves for our salvation. As Grudem explains, we essentially say, “I give up! I will not depend on myself or my own good works any longer. I know that I can never make myself righteous before God. Therefore, Jesus, I trust you and depend on you completely to give me a righteous standing before God.” (Grudem p 730).  This is the beauty of the Gospel.  It is the beauty of the grace of God, and it should cause us to love Him all the more.

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Now, are you ready to dance? This LONG blog is ending with a song that you should turn up and sing loudly based on this awesome truth.  Now, it may not really be a DANCING song, I'll post one of those later, but it's one that fills your heart with thankfulness.

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You

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Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pages 722-732.

Righteous. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.