Pertinent to any discussion regarding justification and
sanctification is the question of effort. In my recent back and forth
with Rick Phillips on the nature of sin and its ongoing effect on the
Christian, some have assumed that when I say there is no part of
Christians that are sin free, I’m also endorsing a “why-even-try”,
effortless approach to the Christian life–that I’m overlooking or
understating the importance of “sanctification.” I suspect that one of
the reasons for this is owing to my passion to help people understand
the inseparable relationship between justification and sanctification.
Whether this was explicitly taught or implicitly caught, I grew up
with the impression that when it comes to the Christian life,
justification was step one and sanctification was step two and that once
we get to step two there’s no reason to revisit step one. In my
experience as a pastor, this is one of the reasons why it seems so new
to people that the gospel is not just for non-Christian’s but for
Christian’s too–that it doesn’t just ignite the Christian life, but
fuels it as well. By giving people the impression that sanctification is
progress beyond the initial step of justification, they have concluded
that once God saves us (justification) he then moves us beyond his work
into our work (sanctification). But justification and sanctification are
both God’s work and while they can and must be distinguished, the Bible
won’t let us separate them. Both are gifts of our union with Christ and
within this double-blessing, justification is the root of
sanctification and sanctification is the fruit of justification.
Moralism happens when we separate the fruit from the root. Or, as I’ve
said before, imperatives minus indicatives equal impossibilities. As G.
C. Berkouwer said, “The heart of sanctification is the life which feeds
on justification.” So, I think it’s fair to say that sanctification is the justified life. Continue at Tullian Tchividjian
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