Sanctification

Calvin On Romans 8:4

by on June 24, 2014 | 2 Comments

verse 4. That the justification of the law might be fulfilled, etc. They who understand that the renewed, by the Spirit of Christ, fulfil the law, introduce a gloss wholly alien to the meaning of Paul; for the faithful, while they sojourn . . . Continue reading →

What About Love? A Crucial Piece Missing From The Sanctification Debate

by on June 17, 2014 | 27 Comments

While the debate rages (or rambles) on in Reformed circles about the Christian’s motivation for obedience, a piece that seems to be missing from much of the discussion is the crucial role that love plays in our obedience to our Heavenly Father. . . . Continue reading →

Law, Gospel, Law

by on June 16, 2014 | 4 Comments

I think, not only the content of preaching, but the order of the content is important; indispensable even. J. Gresham Machen, in Christianity and Liberalism, wrote, The consciousness of sin was formerly the starting-point of all preaching, but today it is gone… . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: Sanctification And Virtue

by on June 9, 2014

One aspect of our new life in Christ to which modern evangelical and Reformed Christians have not always paid a great deal of attention is the matter of virtue. There are some good reasons for this. The medieval church came to think . . . Continue reading →

Witsius And Turretin On The Necessity And Efficacy Of Good Works In Salvation

by on June 6, 2014 | 3 Comments

Introduction There is no question among orthodox, i.e., confessional, Reformed folk whether good works are necessary as a consequence, evidence, and a fruit of justification and sanctification by grace alone, through faith alone. There is no question whether God’s moral law, whether summarized in . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (4)

by on June 3, 2014 | 6 Comments

In part 3 we began looking at a document, from 1978, which proposed a two-stage doctrine of justification. It recognized that there is some risk, some difficulty, in speaking of a present justification and a future justification. Nevertheless, the document contends that . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (3)

by on May 29, 2014 | 6 Comments

In part 2 we considered Romans 2:13 in its own context (Romans 1:18–3:20) and the impulse to distinguish between an initial stage of justification sola gratia, sola fide, on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed, and a final stage of justification in . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (2)

by on May 28, 2014 | 3 Comments

In part 1 we began looking at a neglected aspect of the current controversy over justification and sanctification. What has been neglected is a 1978 proposal that, at the judgment, “faithful disciples” will be justified before God through their faithfulness.  The current controversy . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness?

by on May 27, 2014 | 44 Comments

As I mentioned in an earlier post in Romans 2:13 Paul writes, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (ESV).1 The chapter begins with matter of . . . Continue reading →