The Ordo Salutis - Sanctification
What if all God did was justify us and leave it at that? Justification only would leave you pardoned, forgiven and then leave you in the same sinful state. God declared you were not guilty, but he would go no further than that. You would be able to commit the same deeds and even WANT to commit those same sins that made your life so miserable over and over again without any further changes to you. You would have the same disgust, guilt, fear, and misery about yourself continually that you had before you were justified. You would be declared righteous, but you would always feel dirty and guilty. You would never feel righteous or even experience any changes for a new life. You could never really know that your were really righteous because there would be no evidence of it other than the Bible said so. What kind of salvation would that be because justification does not touch the inner life of a person or affect his behavior in any way.
In justification you are freed from the penalty of sin, but in sanctification you get something more. You are freed from the power of sin.
Just about everything you need to know about sanctification can be found in Romans 6-8. We will start with the end of Romans 5.
A. Definitive sanctification - there is a sense in which sanctification has happened once and for all, and the war with sin and the powerful desires and tendencies to sin that have controlled you is now over. As Paul finishes up justification in Romans 5, he immediately proceeds into sanctification in Romans 5:20 by picking up on the idea that when the Law was introduced. it made sin morPe evident. Therefore sin increased. But he says that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”
Based on that statement, some people might jump to the conclusion if more sin makes grace increase all the more, then we should live in more sin so that God’s grace will increase all the more.
Paul’s answer to that idea is that something happened that makes it impossible to live any longer in sin, namely, that We DIED to sin. We were essentially done with dominion of sin in our lives. It now does not have the same power over your lives like it did before. In justification we were freed from sin’s penalty. In sanctification, we are freed from sin’s power.
When did that happen?
Romans 6:3 don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
We died to sin when we were baptized into Christ. Baptized into Christ has nothing to do with baptism with or by water. It means we were “joined to” or “come into union with”. Though baptize frequently means to “dip”, it does not always mean that as seen in the 2 passages below.
I Cor 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
Gal 3:27-27 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Romans 6:5 actually defines what “baptized into Christ” means - we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. So when we were justified, we were also joined to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Just as Christ was through with sin when he died, was buried, and rose from the dead to live a new life, so we - by being united with or baptized into Christ - are through with sin because Ro 6:6-7 the old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.,
What happened to him happens to us when we are united with him.
Ro 5:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The implications is that a lot more happened when were justified than just the penalty for sin was imputed to Christ and Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us. That declaration of being perfectly righteous by our guilt being imputed to Christ and in turn his righteousness being imputed to us also carries with it an added benefit - a new power over sin.
So Paul says in Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Paul makes it clear that even more than just dying to sin has taken place when we are joined to Christ. Ro 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Old habits, addictions, life-dominating sins,, are no longer insurmountable. That does not mean you won’t sin any more, it does not mean you might not sin grievously or do some really wicked and despicable things, like David and Peter and countless millions of others have done. It means you are no longer powerless and a slave to all the mistakes and proclivities you have foolishly developed and submitted to in the past. Their chains have been broken. Sin is no longer your master, verse 14. You are no longer a slave. You have been set free from sin, verse 18, 22.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Though this verse is primarily quoted as part of a salvation witness to lead others to Christ, it is actually found buried in the middle of the Sanctification portion of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. His point here is that we are now slaves of righteousness and not slaves of sin. But if a professing Christian lives a life of sin after his profession of salvation, he will die. Just as Paul said in Ro 8:12-14 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
Depending on one’s personality and how far into sin’s grip he went before he experienced the new birth, faith, repentance, justification, and definitive sanctification, the battle with the sin nature is going to vary from individual to individual. Some life-long, life-dominating sins are eclipsed immediately. Others have a long root that goes very deep and are especially difficult to eradicate. Justification takes away the guilt of sin, and sanctification takes away the powerful desires and passion to sin. It is replaced with a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
B. Progressive sanctification
But there is another part to sanctification. Sanctification literally means "to set apart for special use or purpose", that is, to make holy or sacred. Therefore, sanctification refers to the state or process of being set apart, i.e. "made holy”. Justification is never repeated; sanctification is never completed.
Though the war with sin is essentially over, it is very similar to what the US forces met at the end of WWII. When the Japanese officials surrendered to the the United States and signed the treaty on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay with General MacArthurt, the war was over. But some of the Japanese were still dug into their foxholes on the islands in the Pacific Ocean and didn’t give up till many years later. So the American forces were involved in a mopping up operation for a long time. That is what progressive sanctification is all about and the part that will never be completed in this life. The war with sin is over, but till we leave this world we will be mopping up sin in our lives. So sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ in our conduct and character, removing more and more the pollution of sin and renewing ourselves ever-increasingly in conformity with the image of God. Our sinful habits begin to weaken and new Godly affections begin to grow. We begin to obey (however, feebly), not some, but all of God’s commandments.
If you have a sin in your life that has been very difficult to overcome and you swear that you will never do that again, you are setting yourself up for failure, self-recrimination, discouragement and maybe even giving up in your efforts to be faithful entirely. What you should do when you sin or fall back on those old sins from your past life that are still besetting you, confess that sin, seek the Lord’s forgiveness, keep putting to death that sin you seem to be so susceptible to, and then ask the Lord to help you to commit that sin less and less. You may overcome it eventually, but if you are not able to do that, the Lord may help you to decrease its frequency because sanctification is progressive. Being made holy is a life-long process with success and failure. Even if you live many years, your progress in sanctification is slow and arduous. No matter how far you go, at the end of your life, it will still seem you have only taken a few baby steps toward holiness.
C. So what will sanctification look like in a Christian’s life? What will being a slave of righteousness look like?
1. Sin, corruption, impurity, and double motives will constantly be with you and in everything you do.
• Ro 7:14-25 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but Icannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.
2. It will be an endless struggle till the end of your life
• Galatians 5:16-17 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
3. Gal 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
3. The Mortification of Sin is how to deal with remaining sin in your life
• Romans 8:12 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
• Colossians 3:5-6 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
The two above passages are about the mortification of sin and describe the drastic measures you need to take daily against remaining sin in your life. Eternal life depends on it.
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness (sanctification) no one will see the Lord.
• I Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
4. The 3 enemies we will face daily that continually assault us in our struggle with sin are: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
5. The 3 Tenses of Sanctification presented in the Bible are: Past, Present, and Future. A Christian can say, “I am sanctified, I am being sanctified, and I will be sanctified.”
Models of Sanctification - I found this on the Internet at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/models-of-sanctification/
The cross in each chart below represents the point of a Christian’s regeneration and conversion.
The Wesleyan View of Progressive Sanctification
John Wesley ((1703–1791) taught “Christian perfection”, which is not absolute sinless perfection. He narrowly defined sin as only intentional acts.
The Pentecostal View of Progressive Sanctification
Pentecostalism, according to most church historians, began on December 31, 1900. According to Pentecostalism, believers should experience Spirit-baptism after conversion and initially demonstrate this by speaking in tongues.
The Campus Crusade View of Progressive Sanctification in their 3 Laws
Natural Man Carnal Christian Spiritual Man
The above view is a good picture of the Lordship salvation controversy that started in the 1980s - "whether it is necessary to accept Christ as Lord in order to have Him as one's Savior. The question then becomes, If someone accepts Christ as Savior without also explicitly accepting Him as Lord, is such a person truly saved?"
The Reformed View of Progressive Sanctification
The Absolute Necessity of Sanctification - Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Here are 3 more mini Ordo Salutis passages incorporating sanctification as a predestined part of our salvation:
II These 2:13-15 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits[b] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The passage above combines Ro 8:28-30 and Ro 10:15-17
Loved by the Lord God chose you Belief of the truth Sanctifying work of the truth Share in the glory of our LJC
I Peter 1:1-2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Foreknowledge God chose you Sprinkled with his blood Sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient
I would say that “sprinkled with his blood” is the equivalence of justification.
Ephesians 2:1-10 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
New Birth Faith Good works God prepared in advance for us to do
Though it looks as though our sanctification is dependent upon us, it is not. The Holy Spirit is here with us faithfully work in us to complete the Father’s election to salvation and Christ’s work of redemption.
Phil 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Phil 2: 12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Salvation is God’s gift to us in every way. It is His work from beginning to end. We have no part in it at all. In sanctification it seems as if we do, but even that sense is a gift from Him. He loved us from eternity, he unconditionally elected us to salvation before the world began, He sent His Son who freely gave Himself for our justification, He sent us preachers, He called us to life from death and made us alive by the Holy Spirit through the new birth when we had no ability to help ourselves, He imputed our guilt to Christ who imputed His righteousness to us, and then He sanctified us completely once and for all and even worked in us to will and to do His good pleasure daily to let us know renewal had begun and would one day be completed in a new creature who would be like Christ. Once we were converted through regeneration, our wills participated freely and willingly as if that had been our desire all along. But even then, faith and repentance were gifts given freely to us “so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:10)
The Five Points of Calvinism
T otal Depravity
U conditional Election
L omitted Atonement
I irresistible Grace
P erseverance of the Saints
Dispensationalism - A doctrine prevalent in some forms of Protestant Christianity that divides history into distinct periods, a period of time, ages ordained by God
Dispensationalism has two primary distinctive:
1) a consistently literal interpretation of Scripture, especially Bible prophecy, and
2) a view of the uniqueness of Israel as separate from the Church in God’s program.
Dispensationalists hold that the Church has not replaced Israel in God’s program and that the Old Testament promises to Israel have not been transferred to the Church. Dispensationalism teaches that the promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament (for land, many descendants, and blessings) will be ultimately fulfilled in the 1000-year period spoken of in Revelation 20. Dispensationalists believe that, just as God is in this age focusing His attention on the Church, He will again in the future focus His attention on Israel (see Romans 9–11 and Daniel 9:24).
2nd Great
Adam Coming White
Fall Flood Abraham Moses. Acts 2 Rapture Throne
I______I_________I________I_______I______I____________I___I____________I______
Innocence Conscience Human Govt Promise Law Grace (Church Age) Millennial Kingdom. Eternity
7 Dispensations
Innocence (Genesis 1:1—3:7)
Conscience (Genesis 3:8—8:22)
Human Government (Genesis 9:1—11:32)
Promise (Genesis 12:1--Exodus 19:25)
Law (Exodus 20:1--Acts 2:4)
Grace (Acts 2:4--Revelation 20:3), and the
Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4–6).
Dispensationalism, as a system, results in a premillennial interpretation of Christ’s second coming and usually a pretribulational interpretation of the rapture.
The 1,000 year millennium in Rev 20 is literal.
Limited Atonement
Now we come to the question of for whom didi Christ die? For the entire world or for the elect only? Or, another way to put it: did Christ’s death obtain/accomplish redemption or did he merely make it possible?
John 17:9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours
John 10:15 Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:26 But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Hebrews 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining[b] eternal redemption.
Matthew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Romans 8:33-34 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
The Father chooses
Christ accomplishes
The Holy Spirit applies
In justification you are freed from the penalty of sin, but in sanctification you get something more. You are freed from the power of sin.
Just about everything you need to know about sanctification can be found in Romans 6-8. We will start with the end of Romans 5.
A. Definitive sanctification - there is a sense in which sanctification has happened once and for all, and the war with sin and the powerful desires and tendencies to sin that have controlled you is now over. As Paul finishes up justification in Romans 5, he immediately proceeds into sanctification in Romans 5:20 by picking up on the idea that when the Law was introduced. it made sin morPe evident. Therefore sin increased. But he says that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”
Based on that statement, some people might jump to the conclusion if more sin makes grace increase all the more, then we should live in more sin so that God’s grace will increase all the more.
Paul’s answer to that idea is that something happened that makes it impossible to live any longer in sin, namely, that We DIED to sin. We were essentially done with dominion of sin in our lives. It now does not have the same power over your lives like it did before. In justification we were freed from sin’s penalty. In sanctification, we are freed from sin’s power.
When did that happen?
Romans 6:3 don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
We died to sin when we were baptized into Christ. Baptized into Christ has nothing to do with baptism with or by water. It means we were “joined to” or “come into union with”. Though baptize frequently means to “dip”, it does not always mean that as seen in the 2 passages below.
I Cor 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
Gal 3:27-27 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Romans 6:5 actually defines what “baptized into Christ” means - we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. So when we were justified, we were also joined to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Just as Christ was through with sin when he died, was buried, and rose from the dead to live a new life, so we - by being united with or baptized into Christ - are through with sin because Ro 6:6-7 the old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.,
What happened to him happens to us when we are united with him.
Ro 5:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The implications is that a lot more happened when were justified than just the penalty for sin was imputed to Christ and Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us. That declaration of being perfectly righteous by our guilt being imputed to Christ and in turn his righteousness being imputed to us also carries with it an added benefit - a new power over sin.
So Paul says in Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Paul makes it clear that even more than just dying to sin has taken place when we are joined to Christ. Ro 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Old habits, addictions, life-dominating sins,, are no longer insurmountable. That does not mean you won’t sin any more, it does not mean you might not sin grievously or do some really wicked and despicable things, like David and Peter and countless millions of others have done. It means you are no longer powerless and a slave to all the mistakes and proclivities you have foolishly developed and submitted to in the past. Their chains have been broken. Sin is no longer your master, verse 14. You are no longer a slave. You have been set free from sin, verse 18, 22.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Though this verse is primarily quoted as part of a salvation witness to lead others to Christ, it is actually found buried in the middle of the Sanctification portion of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. His point here is that we are now slaves of righteousness and not slaves of sin. But if a professing Christian lives a life of sin after his profession of salvation, he will die. Just as Paul said in Ro 8:12-14 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
Depending on one’s personality and how far into sin’s grip he went before he experienced the new birth, faith, repentance, justification, and definitive sanctification, the battle with the sin nature is going to vary from individual to individual. Some life-long, life-dominating sins are eclipsed immediately. Others have a long root that goes very deep and are especially difficult to eradicate. Justification takes away the guilt of sin, and sanctification takes away the powerful desires and passion to sin. It is replaced with a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
B. Progressive sanctification
But there is another part to sanctification. Sanctification literally means "to set apart for special use or purpose", that is, to make holy or sacred. Therefore, sanctification refers to the state or process of being set apart, i.e. "made holy”. Justification is never repeated; sanctification is never completed.
Though the war with sin is essentially over, it is very similar to what the US forces met at the end of WWII. When the Japanese officials surrendered to the the United States and signed the treaty on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay with General MacArthurt, the war was over. But some of the Japanese were still dug into their foxholes on the islands in the Pacific Ocean and didn’t give up till many years later. So the American forces were involved in a mopping up operation for a long time. That is what progressive sanctification is all about and the part that will never be completed in this life. The war with sin is over, but till we leave this world we will be mopping up sin in our lives. So sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ in our conduct and character, removing more and more the pollution of sin and renewing ourselves ever-increasingly in conformity with the image of God. Our sinful habits begin to weaken and new Godly affections begin to grow. We begin to obey (however, feebly), not some, but all of God’s commandments.
If you have a sin in your life that has been very difficult to overcome and you swear that you will never do that again, you are setting yourself up for failure, self-recrimination, discouragement and maybe even giving up in your efforts to be faithful entirely. What you should do when you sin or fall back on those old sins from your past life that are still besetting you, confess that sin, seek the Lord’s forgiveness, keep putting to death that sin you seem to be so susceptible to, and then ask the Lord to help you to commit that sin less and less. You may overcome it eventually, but if you are not able to do that, the Lord may help you to decrease its frequency because sanctification is progressive. Being made holy is a life-long process with success and failure. Even if you live many years, your progress in sanctification is slow and arduous. No matter how far you go, at the end of your life, it will still seem you have only taken a few baby steps toward holiness.
C. So what will sanctification look like in a Christian’s life? What will being a slave of righteousness look like?
1. Sin, corruption, impurity, and double motives will constantly be with you and in everything you do.
• Ro 7:14-25 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but Icannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.
2. It will be an endless struggle till the end of your life
• Galatians 5:16-17 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
3. Gal 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
3. The Mortification of Sin is how to deal with remaining sin in your life
• Romans 8:12 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
• Colossians 3:5-6 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
The two above passages are about the mortification of sin and describe the drastic measures you need to take daily against remaining sin in your life. Eternal life depends on it.
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness (sanctification) no one will see the Lord.
• I Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
4. The 3 enemies we will face daily that continually assault us in our struggle with sin are: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
5. The 3 Tenses of Sanctification presented in the Bible are: Past, Present, and Future. A Christian can say, “I am sanctified, I am being sanctified, and I will be sanctified.”
Models of Sanctification - I found this on the Internet at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/models-of-sanctification/
The cross in each chart below represents the point of a Christian’s regeneration and conversion.
- The dotted arrows in the first two charts depict that a person may repeatedly lose and recover the resultant state from the crisis experience.
The Wesleyan View of Progressive Sanctification
John Wesley ((1703–1791) taught “Christian perfection”, which is not absolute sinless perfection. He narrowly defined sin as only intentional acts.
The Pentecostal View of Progressive Sanctification
Pentecostalism, according to most church historians, began on December 31, 1900. According to Pentecostalism, believers should experience Spirit-baptism after conversion and initially demonstrate this by speaking in tongues.
The Campus Crusade View of Progressive Sanctification in their 3 Laws
Natural Man Carnal Christian Spiritual Man
The above view is a good picture of the Lordship salvation controversy that started in the 1980s - "whether it is necessary to accept Christ as Lord in order to have Him as one's Savior. The question then becomes, If someone accepts Christ as Savior without also explicitly accepting Him as Lord, is such a person truly saved?"
The Reformed View of Progressive Sanctification
The Absolute Necessity of Sanctification - Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Here are 3 more mini Ordo Salutis passages incorporating sanctification as a predestined part of our salvation:
II These 2:13-15 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits[b] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The passage above combines Ro 8:28-30 and Ro 10:15-17
Loved by the Lord God chose you Belief of the truth Sanctifying work of the truth Share in the glory of our LJC
I Peter 1:1-2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Foreknowledge God chose you Sprinkled with his blood Sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient
I would say that “sprinkled with his blood” is the equivalence of justification.
Ephesians 2:1-10 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
New Birth Faith Good works God prepared in advance for us to do
Though it looks as though our sanctification is dependent upon us, it is not. The Holy Spirit is here with us faithfully work in us to complete the Father’s election to salvation and Christ’s work of redemption.
Phil 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Phil 2: 12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Salvation is God’s gift to us in every way. It is His work from beginning to end. We have no part in it at all. In sanctification it seems as if we do, but even that sense is a gift from Him. He loved us from eternity, he unconditionally elected us to salvation before the world began, He sent His Son who freely gave Himself for our justification, He sent us preachers, He called us to life from death and made us alive by the Holy Spirit through the new birth when we had no ability to help ourselves, He imputed our guilt to Christ who imputed His righteousness to us, and then He sanctified us completely once and for all and even worked in us to will and to do His good pleasure daily to let us know renewal had begun and would one day be completed in a new creature who would be like Christ. Once we were converted through regeneration, our wills participated freely and willingly as if that had been our desire all along. But even then, faith and repentance were gifts given freely to us “so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:10)
The Five Points of Calvinism
T otal Depravity
U conditional Election
L omitted Atonement
I irresistible Grace
P erseverance of the Saints
Dispensationalism - A doctrine prevalent in some forms of Protestant Christianity that divides history into distinct periods, a period of time, ages ordained by God
Dispensationalism has two primary distinctive:
1) a consistently literal interpretation of Scripture, especially Bible prophecy, and
2) a view of the uniqueness of Israel as separate from the Church in God’s program.
Dispensationalists hold that the Church has not replaced Israel in God’s program and that the Old Testament promises to Israel have not been transferred to the Church. Dispensationalism teaches that the promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament (for land, many descendants, and blessings) will be ultimately fulfilled in the 1000-year period spoken of in Revelation 20. Dispensationalists believe that, just as God is in this age focusing His attention on the Church, He will again in the future focus His attention on Israel (see Romans 9–11 and Daniel 9:24).
2nd Great
Adam Coming White
Fall Flood Abraham Moses. Acts 2 Rapture Throne
I______I_________I________I_______I______I____________I___I____________I______
Innocence Conscience Human Govt Promise Law Grace (Church Age) Millennial Kingdom. Eternity
7 Dispensations
Innocence (Genesis 1:1—3:7)
Conscience (Genesis 3:8—8:22)
Human Government (Genesis 9:1—11:32)
Promise (Genesis 12:1--Exodus 19:25)
Law (Exodus 20:1--Acts 2:4)
Grace (Acts 2:4--Revelation 20:3), and the
Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4–6).
Dispensationalism, as a system, results in a premillennial interpretation of Christ’s second coming and usually a pretribulational interpretation of the rapture.
The 1,000 year millennium in Rev 20 is literal.
Limited Atonement
Now we come to the question of for whom didi Christ die? For the entire world or for the elect only? Or, another way to put it: did Christ’s death obtain/accomplish redemption or did he merely make it possible?
John 17:9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours
John 10:15 Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:26 But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Hebrews 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining[b] eternal redemption.
Matthew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Romans 8:33-34 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
The Father chooses
Christ accomplishes
The Holy Spirit applies