CHAPTER
TWO
SANCTIFICATION
“According as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the
world,
that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love".
Ephesians 1:4
Theologically, there
are two views of sanctification: positional and
experiential.
Experiential sanctification is the actual
wearing of Christ’s righteousness: walking in
holiness by departing from all iniquity. Thereby,
being saved FROM sin.
Positional sanctification --- held
by those who embrace an ‘eternal
security’ or
‘perseverance of the saints’
doctrine
--- is the wearing of Christ’s
righteousness as a covering for any sin that may
be walked in until death. ‘Set
apart unto holy things’, it is only at
death that they can be completely holy. Thereby,
they are saved IN sin.
Although its advocates may use
other scripture, the positional concept comes
from Ephesians 2:6: "And hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus". The
interpreta-tion assumed from the aforementioned
verse is that we are permanently seated in
heavenly places, our names written in the Book
of Life, and that a name, once written, can
never be blotted out. (This is
believed contrary to the words of Jesus that,
for your name to be secure in the Book of Life,
you must overcome and
serve Him in true righteousness and
holiness to
the end.)
Also used is Romans
8:37-39: "Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate
us from The love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
On the
surface, for those building on an eternal
security or perseverance of the saints
foundation, one might read this as confirmation
of a permanently secured position in the
heavenly realms.
However, a closer look at the
context reveals the verses just quoted are not
referring to their definition of election, (an
assumed inability to fall from grace). It does
not support eternal security, but rather, as the
early church concluded, an affirmation of God’s
love not being lost to those who are in
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine or nakedness, or peril, or
sword. This
promise is given to comfort all who desire to
live godly in Christ Jesus, for they will suffer
persecution.
‘‘And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose.
For whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son.
.
." (Romans
8:29)
So we can see that the promises of Romans
8 are to those who are conformed to His image,
while the pretext of positional sanctification
is security without conformity.
Saint Paul explains being
conformed to the image of Jesus in many places.
One such place is 1 Thessa-lonians 4:7:
"For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto holiness".
Verse eight informs us that anyone who
rejects the teaching of
sanctification does
not reject the teaching of man, but God. In other
words, the teaching of real, living
(experiential) holiness does not come from me or
any other man; to reject it is to reject
God.
Consider carefully if holding to a
doctrine of positional holiness will qualify you
for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
Trying to ‘prove’
the modern day interpretation of positional
sanctification, in order to feel eternally
secure, causes some to pervert certain passages
of scripture. A
fundamental belief in the positional view causes
one’s mind to automatically assume, whenever it
encounters a passage of scripture calling for
holiness in the believer, that it does not
obligate them to be holy because they are
holy positionally.
This meaning could be inferred,
if a comparison with God’s whole counsel did not
require conformity to His image, a call to
purity and cleanness in true righteousness and
holiness, while we are in the flesh.
"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us
in the flesh (experientially), arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind: for he
that hath suffered in the flesh HATH CEASED FROM
SIN; that he no longer should live the
rest of his time
in the flesh to the lusts
of men, but to the will of God."
(1
Peter 4:1-2) Do
not be deceived into believing you can be unholy
while maintaining a positional holiness.
"Awake to
righteousness, and do not sin; for some have not
the knowledge of God: I speak
this to your shame." (1
Corinthians 15:34) "That
every one of you should know how to possess his
vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the
lust of concupiscence (passion of
lust), even as the Gentiles who do not know
God." (1
Thessalonians 4:4-5)
Awake! I
say. Awake to righteousness!
Positional
righteousness?
That would be no more meaningful than
positional holiness. And do
not sin. Positionally? If
holiness, which is the absence of sin, is only
found seated in the heavenlies, what am I to
awaken to? My
position? Or
an experiential righteousness that removes the
practice of sin?
Are you able to see the distortions
created by the positional view?
Created for those who do not have the
knowledge of God, and so are not awake to
righteousness.
a
LET US GO ON TO PERFECTION b
"For when for the
time you ought to be teachers, ye have need that
one teach you again which be the first
principles of the oracles of God; and are become
such as have need of milk, and not of strong
meat.
For everyone that useth milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness: for He
is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that
are of full age, that is, those who by reason of
use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, LET US GO ON UNTO
PERFECTION . . ."
(Hebrews
5:12-6:1)
We are born into the cosmos in a
body of flesh and blood, as a baby, a son or
daughter of man.
Babies feed on milk, until their systems
mature and are able to digest meat.
Properly fed, they grow into adulthood;
their body is perfected, growing to the full
capacity of natural man. If a
young child is never fed anything but milk, it
will not develop properly. It
will be weak and sickly and probably
die.
An analogy in the spiritual realm
is being born into the household of faith, which
we call being born
again. When we
are first born of the Spirit and are a babe in
Christ, we desire the milk of the word for
nourishment. We start
with the elementary teachings about
Christ. In
order to go on to
perfection, we
must go beyond the first principles and become
skilled in the word of righteousness.
This teaching about righteousness is
called the meat of the word.
If a Christian goes year after
year in diapers, sucking on the bottle and never
going on to self-control, some-thing is
wrong! We
must grow up, digest the meat of the word, and
learn to keep our garments
unspotted.
If all they serve is milk where you are
fed, get with Christian people who believe the
oracles of God and not the
‘babbling’ of men in nice suits or
ecclesiastical garb, who are devoid of the
truth.
Does not the Hebrew writer, in the
passage above, agree with St. John?
Hebrews six is no less clear than 1 John
3 on holiness: "In this the children
of God are manifest, and the children of the
devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not
of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."
(vs.
10) "Little children, let no
one deceive you: He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as He is righteous."
(vs.
7)
Before going further, let us
clarify the meaning of the terms holiness and
perfection.
Holiness is abstinence from known
sin.
Let us not make the gospel’s prerogative
for eternal life --- to be holy ---
unattainable, irrelevant, and non-binding, thus
denying the Word of God! A
walk of holiness leads to perfection, a mode of
conduct that would make us as our Father in
heaven.
Perfection deals with the fuller
revelation of God.
You can have true holiness without
perfection, but perfection would be impossible
without holiness.
Some churches have made every
mental function an outward act of sin, making it
necessary to teach that we cannot avoid sinning
everyday in thought, word and deed.
"Her priests . . . have put no difference
between the holy and the profane, neither have
they showed difference between the clean and the
unclean. . ."
(Ezekiel
22:26) Their
definition of sin is so broad that even a
fleeting thought, a temptation, is sin. If
temptation were considered sin, then Jesus would
have been guilty of sin for He was in all points
tempted like as we are. He
was without sin, even while in direct
confrontation with The Tempter
himself.
Just as we, though we wrestle with
princi-palities and powers and rulers in
heavenly places, are not guilty of sin by
confrontation in the tangle of our minds.
The only way to sin in thought is to
lust, covet, or imagine evil in our heart or
mind. Thus the contradistinction between the
temptation and the thought entertained, or
lusted after. The
regenerated man has put on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and makes no provision for the
fulfilling of the lusts of the
flesh.
Man does not become as God:
perfect in wisdom, knowledge, understanding and
judgment. "For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher
than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts." (Isaiah
55:9)
But as the founder of Christianity
taught, we are to do no evil, to become
(morally) perfect as our Father in heaven
is perfect; obey
His will on earth as it is obeyed in
heaven. We
are called to sinlessness, fully keeping the
commandments of God;
overcoming by the grace of God. This
teaching is not to be stumbled over, but sought
after. "Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let
him return to the Lord . . . for My
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways My ways, saith the Lord." (Isaiah
55:7-8)
How do those of us who believe
become partakers in God’s holiness? Repent,
be baptized, and receive the promised Holy
Spirit in order to be conformed to the image of
Christ.
Then you will be able to walk in the
truth, build yourself up in your most holy
faith, and receive the crown of life that He
will give to all who obey Him.
Even though sin was in the world
before the Law came, nevertheless, the Law was
brought in to make sin to be what it is ---
exceedingly sinful!
Thus, to sin is to transgress a known Law
of God and He has made them all known from
ancient times.
You may say, "Yes,
but I did not know or understand them all, and
violated some." That is
called a sin of ignorance, which Paul was guilty
of when He blasphemed in his opposition to the
Lord.
But, as he explained, he found mercy
because he did it in
ignorance.
We, too, can be forgiven when we
obey the gospel and repent. Truly
repent.
Not confess and continue in it!
Repent, from what is unholy and unclean,
by finding out what is holy and pleases the Lord
--- and doing it.
Solomon said he that confesses his sin
and forsakes it will prosper.
Paul tells us that Godly sorrow leads to
repentance, and does not need to be repented
of.
In other words, if we truly repent, we do
not go back like a pig to the mire or a dog to
its vomit. This is
why so many are held in bondage to their
sin:
no Godly sorrow, no true repentance!
Pray the Lord to work in you to will and
to do His good pleasure; this will take you out
of sin. If
you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord will
not hear you.
Leaders of the first Ephesus
Council, in 431AD, overturned the first five
centuries of the teaching of 'no sin
after baptism’. This was
a decision that perverted the teaching about
righteousness; a perversion that remains in both
Catholic and Protestant, camps to this day! Since
apostolic times catechumen
had been taught (command-ed) not to sin after
they were baptized. They
knew that walking in sin meant stepping out of
covenant with God. At
the Council this doctrine was altered from the
original teaching and no longer required as a
condition of salvation. I
suspect the reason for the change was, at that
time, it was becoming increasingly popular for
people to avoid the requirement to cease from
sin by neglecting their baptism, and the church,
until they were near death.
Where did
they get the idea that you were to cease from
sin after baptism?
Colossians 2 and Romans 6 identify
baptism as death to self; signified by burial in
the Font and rising to newness of life, no
longer to serve sin.
The significance of
being buried with Him in baptism is putting off
the body of the sins of the
flesh. "In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of
the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ:
buried with Him in baptism, wherein also
ye are risen with Him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised Him from the
dead." (Colossians
2:11-12)
Romans 6 explains that as Christ
died, taking our sins to the grave, baptism
represents our dying to sin, identifying with
Him. (vs.
3-4) We
are baptized into His death in order that we may
walk in newness of life, (vs.
4), that grace might reign through
righteousness to eternal life, (vs.
22), just as once sin reigned in
death.
Dead indeed to sin. (vs.
7)
When? After
baptism!
(vs.
5-6) If
you died to sin, how can you live in it any
longer? (vs.
2)
We shall have dominion over sin, because
grace is power!
Of course, the physical act of
baptism itself, (even as
circumcision), makes
nothing perfect. It is
not the washing or cutting off of the filth of
the flesh that saves us, but the answer of a
good conscience toward God.
This pattern was taken from the
teachings of Jesus in Matthew five. After
teaching His disciples the Beatitudes and such
things as letting their light shine; not
breaking, or teaching others to break the Law;
and loving their enemies; He concluded they
could then be perfect as their Father in heaven
was perfect. (vs.
48)
The early church stressed a good
conscience toward God because you were received
into the church on the basis of this good
conscience, which
was then confirmed by
baptism.
They also knew the teaching that
if they fell away after becoming partakers of
the Holy Spirit, it would be impossible to renew
them again to repentance, having crucified the
Lord afresh. The
justification for such an interpretation of
these passages, which instills an appropriate
fear of God --- (we
should work out our salvation with fear and
trembling)
--- comes from Numbers15: 30-31: "But
the soul that doeth aught (anything)
presumptuously, whether he be native-born, or a
stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and
that soul shall be cut off from among his
people. Because he hath despised the word of the
Lord, and hath broken His commandment, that soul
shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be
upon him."
Because of these deeply held truths they
greatly feared turning back.
Reckoning a greater possibility of
keeping a good conscience toward God by making
the risk of falling away more remote, they
waited to be baptized until they were close to
death. In
doing so, they put off repentance from
acts that lead to
death.
The opposite of sin is holiness
and the opposite of holiness is sin. Repent,
therefore, from unrighteousness and identify
with the Lord's death in baptism ---
thereby dying to sin publicly.
Come up out of the Font to be a slave of
righteousness; no more in bondage to sin, no
more to walk after the flesh.
Walk after the Spirit and he will not
lead you into sin, but will build you up and
give you an inheritance among all those who are
sanctified. "For when ye
were the servants of sin, ye were free from
righteousness. What
fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are
now ashamed? For the end of those things is
death.
But now being made free from sin, and
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting
life.”
(Romans
6:20-22) "For the time
is come that judgment must begin at the house of
God; and if it first begin at us, what shall be
the end of them that OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL OF
GOD?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner
appear?"
(1
Peter
4:17-18)
CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF
CHRIST
We are to be conformed to the
living Word of God --- not
to conform the Word of God to us. The heathen
are known for their idols; gods made in their
own images, according to their own
imaginations. Those
who attempt to tailor the Word of God to their
own private ideas are guilty of idolatry in
action and thought!
Let us consider how we are to conform to
the image of Christ.
Sin separates between our God and
us.
Hear the Word of the Lord to His people:
"Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that
it cannot hear: but your
iniquities have separated between you and your
God, and your sins have
hid His face from
you, that He WILL
NOT hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have
spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered
perverseness." (Isaiah 59:1-3)
NAY, say the eternal security
prophets!
NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM GOD! But
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and
forever.
God never changes.
Amen! Do
not let a wrong pretext jeopardize your eternal
soul.
Our
experience may seem to dictate that our sin will
not separate us from God, but hear the
Word of the Lord in Ezekiel 14:4.
"Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them,
Thus says the Lord God; Every man of the house
of Israel that setteth up his idols in his
heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his
iniquity before his face, and cometh to
the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that
cometh according to the multitude of his idols."
Not being
separated from God is contingent on our being
conformed to the image of Christ, and NOT BEING
IN CONFORMITY TO ANY OTHER IMAGE, (which is
idolatry through and through).
We are warned in 1 Corinthians
6:9-10: "Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the king-dom of God? BE NOT
DECEIVED: neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate
(homosexuals), nor abusers of themselves
with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall
inherit the kingdom of God."
The kingdom
of God is righteousness, peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit. This is
the reason we are warned to awake to
righteousness, stop sinning and come to the
knowledge of God: so that we will not be ashamed
when we stand before Him and are sent away from
His presence as workers of
iniquity.
Any individual claiming to be in
the body of Christ should acknowledge that God
has called us to holiness,
choosing us for salvation through
sanctification
by the Spirit and belief in the
truth. The
corporate church should acknowledge that His
church is to be a glorious church without spot,
wrinkle, or
blemish.
Holy means without sin, and sin is
relative to life here in the flesh.
Don’t forget, the angels who sinned were
cast out of heaven.
Why let yourself be deceived into
believing that you, a mere man, can leave this
life and go to heaven in your
sin?
So, we can see that we get into
heaven through Christ’s righteousness: by
putting on Christ’s righteousness and walking in
it.
Putting off the old man with its
deceitful lusts, the
body of the sins of the flesh and
its deeds.
Being renewed in the spirit of our
mind. Putting
on Christ and making no provision for the
flesh, being
created in righteousness and true
holiness. "Be not conformed to
this world: but be
ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and Perfect, will of God."
(Romans
12:2) If
our thought life is pure, controlled by the Lord
Himself, righteous deeds will follow. "For
as a man thinketh in His heart, so is
he."
Jesus Christ, being
in the form of God thought it not robbery to be
equal to God, but emptied Himself and became a
servant, even unto death; therefore, let us go
outside the camp and suffer with
Jesus! "For he who has suffered in
the flesh, has ceased from sin."
(1
Peter 4:1)
According to Hebrews twelve God
accomplishes our sanctification through
discipline.
vs. 7 -
"If ye endure chastening,
Persevere unto
holiness. God
dealeth with you as sons . .
."
vs. 9 - "Furthermore we have had fathers
Whoever
committeth sin is a slave of
sin of our
flesh which corrected us, and (John
8:31-36)
“...be not entangled again with
we
gave them reverence: shall we not a
yoke of bondage."
(Galatians
5:1) much
rather be in subjection
unto the
Father of spirits, and
live?"
vs. 10 -
"For they verily for a few days We
are not chastened in heaven, but here
chastened
us after their own pleasure;
Therefore,
we are to share in His holiness
here!but
He for our profit, that we might A
"great and precious promise".
(2
Peter 1:4) be
partakers in His
holiness."
vs. 11 -
"Now no chastening for the "The
kingdom of God consists in
righteousness, present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit."
(Romans 14:17) nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth The
peaceable fruit of righteousness.
The fruit
the
peaceable fruit of
righteousness of
the Spirit. unto them
which are exercised by
it."
vs. 13 -
"And make straight paths for your feet, "Straight
is the gate and narrow is the way that
lest
that which is lame be turned out of the
way;
leads to life." "He
who names the name of
the but let
it rather be
healed." Lord
must depart from iniquity."
(2
Timothy 2:19)
vs. 14 - "Pursue peace with all men,
and POSITIONAL
or EXPERIENTIAL holiness
holiness, without which no
one will see the Lord."
The oldest church catechism,
known as the Didache, (The Teaching of the
Twelve), directly refutes the teaching of those
who say we can never be free from sin in this
life or body. The
Didache declares that the "whole
time of your sojourn here will be for nought, if
you are not found perfect in the
end".
(This will not be a persuasive argument
to some.
The 'sin-you-must’ crowd can’t be
persuaded with scripture, so church history
wouldn't have much chance.) It
is most significant that at the same time the
apostolic gospel was being annulled,
the
bishops were integrating into the church the
goddess Diana, whom all Asia and the world
worshiped,
cloaked as Mary, the so-called Queen
of Heaven.
Called the Theotokos, (Greek for
the
‘mother of God’), this controversy
overshadowed the other changes at the
council.
The teaching of Biblical perfection was
being cast aside, as if the gospel, as
understood and taught by Christ and His
apostles, was flawed due to incomplete
revelation.
Did the bishops at the
council need to ‘set the record
straight'?
Was there ‘more of Jesus revealed’ at
that time than five centuries earlier?
(Just as in our time many pastors and
teachers assert there is more of Jesus revealed
today than ever before?)
The Apostle Paul
warned, "For I know this, that after
my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock.
And of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them.
Therefore, watch, and remember, that by
the space of three years I ceased not to warn
every one night and day with tears. . . And they
all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and
kissed him."
(Acts
20: 29-31,37)
CAN MERE
MEN KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD?
Since this book addresses the
basic teaching held by virtually all
evangelicals and most fundamentalists, I wanted
to avoid a direct attack on any particular
catechism.
However, although the Westminster
Catechism has much to
commend it, I am not able to include in that
commendation the answer to Question
#82.
In the Shorter Catechism, the author(s)
offer four scriptures to
‘confirm’ the teaching of our presumed
inability
