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In this thread, I will identify the three stages of salvation. Then I will discuss the call to holiness, the means of our transformation into holy people of God, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

I closed out the thread on knowing ourselves with a discussion of the human predicament. I stated that God responded to our predicament with three crucial acts, namely, the incarnation, the cross, and Ascension/Pentecost. The question is how does God apply the benefits of these acts to our lives? He does so in three ways -- justification, sanctification and glorification which are the three stages of salvation.

Justification involves four components -- forgiveness, acceptance, adoption and right-standing with God. When we confess our sins and repent of them, God forgives us (Col. 2:13). God accepts us just the way we are, without our performing any works to earn that acceptance (Eph. 2:8,9). God adopts us into his family (Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:14-15). We now have right-standing with God and are new creatures in Christ (2. Cor. 5:17).

Once, justified, we embark on a life-long process of sanctification in which we mature with the goal of becoming like Christ. We are simultaneously sinner and saint. We still sin, but we are now oriented in the right direction and given the power of God to resist temptation and overcome sin as we mature as Christians (1 Cor. 10:13; Heb. 2:18).

You could say that when it comes to the three stages of salvation that justification is the past activity of God in a Christian’s life, sanctification is the present activity of God, and glorification will be the future activity of God. Justification begins God's work in us. Sanctification continues that work with the goal of transforming us into Christ-like saints which will be completed when we stand before the Lord in the next life, glorified.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to know that we are forgiven and accepted by God, that he does not hold our sins against us once we have confessed and repented of them, and that we have right-standing with God and WE WILL NOT LOSE IT! Bob Deffinbaugh defines spiritual security as “the biblical teaching that a Christian is not only saved by God’s grace and power, but he is also kept by it. One who is truly born again can never relapse into the former state of being lost. Thus the saint is spiritually secure from the time of his salvation (justification) to the time of his glorification.”

To read Deffinbaugh’s article on our assurance of salvation, go here: http://bible.org/page.php?page_id=1520

Hampton Keathley lists five reasons why people lack assurance of their salvation as follows:

(1) People often lack assurance because they cannot remember or point to a specific time when they received Christ.

(2) People often lack assurance because they question the procedure they went through when they accepted Christ.

(3) People often lack assurance because of struggles they have with certain sins.

(4) The primary reason behind a lack of assurance is doctrinal misunderstanding and the consequent lack of faith in the finished work of Christ.

(5) Finally, people often lack assurance because they have erroneously been taught that they should look to themselves and their works as the primary proof of their salvation.

Keathley’s complete article on the subject is here: http://bible.org/page.php?page_id=1415

It is equally wrong to be complacent about the security of one’s salvation. As John MacArthur puts it, “people who misunderstand the doctrine of eternal security go to one of two extremes. On the one hand, there are those who are filled with doubts and anxieties, and see every failure as evidence that they are unsaved. On the other hand, there are those who have a false confidence. Understanding that salvation is a gift of divine grace, they falsely conclude that self-examination is unnecessary, spiritual fruit is optional, and despite showing no evidence of a true union with Christ in their lives, they live in a smug self-confidence.”

But if a person is truly saved, then sanctification is inevitable. While justification and sanctification are distinct from each other, they are inseparable as the genuine experience of justification will automatically lead to the life-long process of sanctification.

Next up – the call to holiness!

Oooooh ... good one!

will copy and print out so I can mull over it ..... I hope this generates the discussion it deserves.

joy

Dinah

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Some very fine thoughts. It is good to think through these things.

I am not sure that I would say that justification consists of forgiveness, acceptance, adoption and right-standing with God. Justification is not a four part process.

If justification is God's judgment that we are in right standing with Him - and I believe that we would all agree with that statement, forgiveness must logically precede such a declaration even if it experientially follows that event. If we understand justification as the righteousness of Christ replacing our pitifully insufficient efforts to do right, what place is there for forgiveness? Surely forgiveness's is presupposed in justification. God pronounces us both clean and yet more than clean - He pronounces us to be just and righteousness in His sight.

Acceptance is justification. We may say that is it justification with a view towards our participation in a relationship with God. Perhaps if we described acceptance not as a part of justification, but an aspect or view of justification we would then be more descriptive of the relationship of the ideas.

I will have to think about adoption and its relation to justification, but not right now, because if I want to remain in a right state with my wife, I must needs fold some laundry.

John

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"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal 5:6b

Pastor John C. Blackburn

pastorjohn:



I worded what I wrote badly if I made you think I was talking about justification being a four-part process. It isn't a process at all. It's one act that involves the four elements I listed. I wasn't trying to say that first we are forgiven, then accepted, then adopted, etc. I was saying that, when justified, all of these things are part and parcel of it. Then we embark on the process of sanctification. I see sanctification as a process, but justification is a one-time act of God that includes the things I mentioned above. I'm saying that, to be justified, means to be forgiven, accepted, adopted, etc. And yes, we could elaborate on all of them and their relationship to each other more thoroughly if you wish. In fact, that would be great!

So thank you for bringing that to my attention, John.

Overcomer, May I pose some questions which I hope will help in developing the thoughts that you've expressed?

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The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

Daily Bread wrote:



Ask away, DB! My only request is that, if you want to discuss Roman Catholic teachings on these subjects, please don't do it here. Do it in the Catholic sub-forum. It has been established just for that purpose.

Do you know of any scripture that indicates when the new covenant started?


Is justification a work in us or a work that is wholly external to us?


When a person finishes his or her earthly journey are they perfect or perfected? by which I mean when they draw their last breath are they perfect or is some transition from their state just as they are about to die to their state in heaven needed? I am presuming that their state in heaven is perfect.


Do you equate justification with salvation?

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The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

These two on the list struck me most for reasons I'll explain.
(3) We can continue to question our faith or Salvation due to the seemingly inability to "give up" certain sins. We may be able to give up some sins, but the strongest ones are the ones we struggle with most. So we question our Salvation. We can even be tempted to question someone else's who hasn't been able to "give up" a sin or sins.

The other part in this is the part of spiritual pride. We have to be careful here, so there is a balance we have to look for, striving to rid ourselves of these sins of the old man. Relying on His strength to get us out of it. Looking at this from the outside in, we have to remember what God gave Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 on spiritual pride. God deals with our heart, we can get in the way. Let Him do the dealing, we aren't more loving, compassionate, and forgiving than He is.

(5) Many times we can mistake what "good works" really are. Anybody want to venture onto this? I ask this not because I don't know, I just want to give someone else this opportunity to expand on this.

2 Corinthians 6:2 2 For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! Context (NET)

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Context (NET)

John 3:16 16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Context (NET)

2 Corinthians 3:15-18 15 But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, 16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Context (NET)

2 Corinthians 5:21 21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. Context (NET)

This a start. I think John and Paul go into even more detail...
S

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Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,"
behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION" --
The apostle Paul, NASB

PS
"I think John and Paul go into even more detail."

I didn't mention George or Ringo..... Sorry, I hate to quote myself, but I just realized the "Word Game" implications....

Here is another good, on-topic bible quote:

Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. Context (NET)

S

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Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,"
behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION" --
The apostle Paul, NASB

I read the article : Assurance of Salvation by J. Hampton Keathly, III, Th.M., and I must confess, that some of what he says, though it is standard evangelical doctrine, worries me …. That is, I think it needs clarification. For instance, he states …



And there you have it ….. in the concern to safeguard the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, we have somehow lost the first requirement … that of being ‘born again’ …. Which is something more than just cognitive knowledge. Notice he begins the article with the following statement :



How does this fit in with the Biblical insistence on right belief? …. And how do we then make sense of this :



Rather than what the Bible says about assurance …. Interestingly enough also quoted in the article :



And this frankly worries me :



And he uses the quote from Matthew 7 to show that works do not mean a person is saved :



But what really matters is this line :


You see, this is what I call being ‘born again’


True …. But real belief must show in the life, or it is right to question the relationship.



In Christ alone …. It is Christ’s cross-work that is the basis of our salvation … full stop!

But, the relationship has to bear fruit … or according to Christ, fruitless branches show they are dead, i.e. not part of the vine, and so are removed from the vine.

I am certainly not advocating sinless perfection ….. I am very far from perfect, and I constantly make mistakes that the Holy Spirit either disciplines or corrects … or both.

Why do I keep trying? … because of the relationship … the sure knowledge that Christ died for me, and He loves me (even me – oh joy!), and that He will never stop until I am remade into His image. You see, I know I could never do it … He is doing it…. blessed be He.

And there I have described not nearly as well as you, what you have said Overcomer …

Justified through the death of Christ, sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit in me, with the sure hope that the work will be completed and I will be glorified.

in Christ

Dinah

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Luther, Calvin, and the others who got the ball rolling for Protestantism in the sixteenth century didn't place a lot of emphasis on assurance. The seventeenth century puritans in England placed more emphasis on assurance and developed more precise statements of the doctrine. Yet even though the puritans in England taught that assurance was possible they also taught that it was not necessary and they taught that Christians were to persevere in faith. The Westminster confession of faith as a chapter devoted to assurance and another to the perseverance of the saints; they are worth reading if you want to develop a statement about the Christian life.

One ancient writer, Jesus, the son of Eliazar, the son of Sirach, gave this advice on living a godly life:

• My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal. Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes. Cling to him and do not leave him, so that you may be honoured at the end of your days. Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient, since gold is tested in the fire, and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation. Trust him and he will uphold you, follow a straight path and hope in him. You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not turn aside, for fear you fall. You who fear the Lord, trust him, and you will not be robbed of your reward. You who fear the Lord, hope for those good gifts of his, everlasting joy and mercy. Look at the generations of old and see: whoever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? Or whoever, steadfastly fearing him, was forsaken? Or whoever called to him and was ignored? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, he forgives sins and saves in the time of distress. Woe to faint hearts and listless hands, and to the sinner who treads two paths. Woe to the listless heart that has no faith, for such will have no protection. Woe to you who have lost the strength to endure; what will you do at the Lord's visitation? Those who fear the Lord do not disdain his words, and those who love him keep his ways. Those who fear the Lord do their best to please him, and those who love him will find satisfaction in the Law. Those who fear the Lord keep their hearts prepared and humble themselves in his presence. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, not into any human clutches; for as his majesty is, so too is his mercy.

It's good advice and a timely reminder for Christians even though it was written for Jews who lived before the birth of Jesus Christ.

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The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

DailyBread wrote:



To be honest, I don’t see what this has to do with the topic of spiritual formation.

DB wrote:



Justification is a declarative act of God. As such it is external to us, but it kicks off God’s work in us. At justification, the process of sanctification begins.

DB wrote:



See below.

DB wrote:



To be justified is to be given right-standing with God. To have right-standing with God is to be saved. Therefore, if you’re justified, you’re saved. Let me explain:

God is the one who does the justifying as stated in Rom. 8:34. Justification is a judicial term. It refers to God’s declaration that he has forgiven our sins, past, present and future, because of Christ’s death and resurrection. Christ bore the punishment for our sins (Is. 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). God remits the penalty for sin for those who accept, in faith, Christ and his work on the cross (Acts 13:38; Rom. 8:1, 33; 2 Cor. 5:21). Hence, justification = God’s forgiveness of our sins (Rom. 4:7; Eph. 1:7 and 4:32; Col. 2:13) which equals being saved.

Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as stated in 1 Cor. 5:21 (one of the pertinent Scriptures Serendipity has provided for us) which reads, “He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (NET Bible). It’s important to note that the verb used here (dikaioo) does not meant “to make righteous”, but “to declare or treat someone as righteous”. Therefore it doesn't mean that Christians are sin-free when justified. Indeed, we will continue to sin, but God accepts us and views us as perfectly righteous in Christ even though we will still commit acts of unrighteousness in our daily lives. Therefore, justification doesn’t deal with our practice in this life, but with our legal standing in God’s eyes. And it's imperative to note that the righteousness imputed to us is reckoned apart from works (Rom. 4:6)

I think then that this answers your question re: perfection, DB, that we embark upon a process of sanctification when justified, but we aren't sin-free until the next life. I think it also leads into your comments on the Keathley article, Dinah. You brought up questions that didn't even enter my mind when I read through it the first time! God bless you for that!

I think that Keathley's two main concerns were that a) people not make the mistake of doubting their salvation because they still sin and b) people not make the mistake of thinking that their good deeds would help them earn or keep their salvation. In focusing on those two facts, his article is a bit unbalanced as you have pointed out. The issue of regeneration is a key one. And, indeed, if he had added a section on that, it would only have reinforced his statements about our eternal security because, once God has rebirthed us spiritually, would he actually "unbirth" us for not being sin-free?

Secondly, the article would have benefited with a discussion of the fact that, while Christians will never be free of sin and shouldn't judge the certainty of their salvation on their lack of perfection, we are known by our fruit. The Christian's life SHOULD manifest good works born out of love for the Lord and love for others. As James put it, faith without works is dead, meaning that, if we say we believe, but don't act like it, do we have real faith? (James 2:17-19). If the Holy Spirit is in us, that should be apparent from the way we live our lives which, of course, is what this whole sub-forum is about -- becoming like Christ and thinking, acting and speaking as he would. If someone says he is a Christians, but doesn't act like one, then we have to question whether he/she really is in a relationship with Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit.

As for what constitutes "good works", BrotherCliff, that deserves a post on its own! But as I am running out of time (and probably near the board word limit), let me just say that they have to be good works in God's eyes, not in our own. Too often we may think we're serving God when we're doing things that he hasn't asked us to do or wants us to do. Is that along the lines of what you're thinking, Cliff?

I asked because you listed three "crucial acts" in the life of Christ and the birth of the church in your paper and I wondered if you identified any of those three as the pivot upon which the covenants are balanced. If you don't that's okay.

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The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

Perfect: a new creature of the spiritual kind, I admit it is a profound mystery. As this old Heaven & Earth passes away for the new to come, so it is with us. You can't perfect what is broken can you? God could but scriptures seem to point to a new -------...

2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Peter 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

To stay within the topic, it is spiritually refreshing to know the old will go and the new infill us as the spirit does now in the world

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Kola,

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.