Sanctification and the Law

Before we go any further in discussing the role of the Law, let us proceed to look at the issue of sanctification. “Why?” you may ask. Quite simply, because the issues of justification and sanctification cannot be separated from each other and need to be fully understood together. But before I can explain the connection properly, we first need to look at what the word sanctification means.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sanctification as “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” In justification, once the sinner believes in Jesus, he/she is declared righteous before God purely on Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. The guilt of sin is removed and the sinner is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. At this point, the the lifelong process of sanctification immediately begins. This process is described by the theologian, Louis Berkhof as “that gracious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which He delivers the justified sinner from the pollution of sin, renews his whole nature in the image of God, and enables him to perform good works.”


Now we begin to understand why justification and sanctification cannot be separated. To hold to the idea that Jesus died on the cross to merely satisfy the Law so that Christians can still live a life of sin and loose morals, is complete heresy, and there are two basic reasons for this.

1) Christians are to unite with Christ in his death and resurrection, and through this unity, Christ breaks the power that sin has over all believers. As we are told by Paul in his letter to the Romans: “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” (6:5-7).

2) As we are told in Romans 8:9, when we accept Christ, we are also accepting the Holy Spirit and he begins to dwell in us. The Holy Spirit is called holy not only because he is distinguishable from the other spirits in the world, but also because he is set apart from the the other spirits, and is the source of holiness. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to lead holy lives, evident through the fruits of the Spirit that we read about in Galatians 5. Therefore, those who have received Christ are first justified through the saving work of the cross, and are then sanctified through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It can never be the other way around. Why, because the Bible tells us over and over that man cannot achieve ethical perfection through our own works (cf 1 Kg. 8:46; Prov. 20:9; Rom. 3:10, 12; Jas. 3:2; 1 Jn. 1:8), and also because of what has already been stated that it is only through our receiving of Christ (Justification) that the Holy Spirit dwells in us (Sanctification).

Sanctification also involves the whole man, body, soul, heart and mind. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, our sinful lusts, desires and habits are progressively removed from our lives and we become more godly in our lives, in thought, word and deed. It is in this sense that we are able to come to God just as we are. He does not wait for us to clean ourselves up first, but instead he accepts us into the Kingdom through Jesus' saving work on the cross and then begins the work of cleansing us of all unrighteousness.

Where then does the Law fit in? Quite simply because the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to sanctify us, as is seen in the following verses:
John 17:17 - “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
1 Peter 1:22 - “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth...”
1 Peter 2:2 - “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,”

The entire Bible guides us in righteousness unto sanctification. We learn and grow by what we learn in the Bible through the history, guidance, examples and teachings that it contains. Therefore, since sanctification is concerned with growth and conformity to God's Word, it is proper to focus on the moral laws (e.g. the Ten Commandments) laid down by God in scripture. It is through this law that sin is defined and pointed out to us. We as Christians need this Law in order to highlight the sin that we are to avoid, and the righteousness that we are to strive for. We are to hide the Word in our hearts so that it becomes part of us, allowing us to form new habits of righteousness.

Take heed to the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.” (v9)
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (v11)
“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” (vv15,16)
“Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.” (vv33,34)

Many people in the church today will not like what I am saying here, and this is evident with many of the teachings today avoiding the whole issue of the Law. When last did you hear a sermon on the Law and your righteousness? To many of the post-modernist pastors and teachers in the church today, the whole issue of the Law is seen as being old fashioned and belonging to the old dispensation. What then is their source of authority for righteousness? Some would say that we are totally under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and not the Word of God (as proposed by the people of the Emergent Church – a totally new and scary issue in itself). Instead of following God's Word and meditating on his law as a guide to righteousness, they follow what they believe the Holy Spirit or God is directly telling them to do. I am sure you have heard many people say: “God told me to do this,” or “I was led by the Holy Spirit to do that.” This is a very subjective way of doing things and eventually leads to a viewpoint that there are no absolutes. How is one to judge these mystical promptings or inner feelings without the Word of God?

Many have quoted Galatians 5:16-18 to support their ideas of following the unctions of the Holy Spirit apart from the Law of God:
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”

But this is a gross misinterpretation of what Paul is saying.

To live or walk in the Spirit means to conduct one's life according to the Holy Spirit – separated from the world and relying on the Spirit as a source of one's righteousness. In no way is he opposing the Law as a guide for life, but rather that sanctification can only occur if the Spirit is living within us. Neither the Word of God, nor the Holy Spirit alone can sanctify us. It is a partnership of the two that guides us in all righteousness. The Law proves that we are sinners and are in rebellion against God, and is not giving us conditions for salvation. We are free from being condemned by the punishment of death because of our justification, and are continually purified through sanctification. The law does not in any way save us; only the Holy Spirit can do that. But, once we are saved, the Holy Spirit uses the Law to show us our sins and brings us to daily repentance and growth in holiness.

Pietism: The rejection of God’s law in sanctification has led to an unbiblical form of pietism. Pietism refers to the practice of defining holiness in terms of an emotional, subjective experience rather than obedience to God’s revealed law. The result: a man-centered faith.

• Pietism leads Christians to a focus on revival and the salvation of individuals at the exclusion of the biblical reformation of society and culture.
• Pietism leads to a mentality of God’s word being something for private devotions; it is something relegated to church buildings on Sunday mornings. The idea that God’s Word is to be applied to all areas of life and that nations must submit to the Lord Jesus Christ and obey his law is hated by most present-day believers.
• Pietism leads to an ethical vacuum in individuals, churches and society.
• Pietism leads to legalism, for the only alternative to rule by God’s law is some form of man-made law.

As a result one finds the Fundamentalist pastor ordering people in his congregation to dress a certain way or give a certain amount of time or money to the church; but does absolutely nothing to stop the advance of Satanism, abortion on demand, homosexuality, and so on, in society.
Because of many Christians not understanding the relationship between God’s law and sanctification, churches have become antinomian (anti-law). In their zeal to protect their concept of God's love, forgiveness and grace, they have discarded the law and called it obsolete. The result: most Christians cannot recite the Ten Commandments, Christian businessmen are no more trustworthy than their unsaved counterparts, the same amount of sexual immorality is practiced in the church as in the world, lack of tithing, no discipline, to name but a few.

An unbiblical view of God’s law and sanctification has even perverted the doctrine of justification itself. If the law itself is totally obsolete, and is relegated to a former dispensation, then it becomes unnecessary for Christ to have died to satisfy the same law. Where the Law is removed, justification becomes unnecessary because an antinomian religion has no need of a judicial act of God to effect salvation. An antinomian religion will replace the word “justify” with saved, and look only at the results rather than the way to those results. Instead of saying, “I know I am saved, because Christ died for my sins, and, apart from any good thing in me, or faith in me, by his sovereign grace pardoned my sins and redeemed me,” modern Christians are saying, “I know I am saved, because I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour.”

The most common altar call today is something like: “ask Jesus to be your personal saviour,” or, “ask Jesus to come into your heart,” or, my personal favourite, “you have a God shaped hole in your heart and God wants to fill it”. The Bible does not tell unbelievers to ask Christ into their heart, but rather to trust in him and his completed work. Not only that, but Jesus Christ, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. The Holy Spirit is the one who enters our heart at the moment we place our trust in Christ.

The importance of God’s law-word for sanctification must be emphasised today because of the popularity of mysticism, subjectivism, existentialism, antinomianism and pietism. Christians who believe that sanctification occurs apart from God’s law are deceived. If one desires to be more holy, one must study, memorize, meditate on, and love God’s holy law.

“Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. ... Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:33, 97).

FINAL THOUGHT
I will leave you with this final thought that I received in an e-mail some time back:

The following is reported to be a true story someone found regarding exams at Cambridge University. It seems that during an examination one day a bright young student popped up and asked the proctor to bring him Cakes and Ale. The following dialogue ensued:
Proctor: I beg your pardon?
Student: Sir, I request that you bring me Cakes and Ale.
Proctor: Sorry, no.
Student: Sir, I really must insist. I request and require that you bring me Cakes and Ale.

At this point, the student produced a copy of the four-hundred-year old laws of Cambridge, written in Latin and still nominally in effect, and pointed to the section which read (roughly translated): “Gentlemen sitting examinations may request and require Cakes and Ale.” Pepsi and hamburgers were judged the modern equivalent, and the student sat there, writing his examination and happily slurping away.

Three weeks later, the student was fined five pounds for not wearing a sword to the examination.

When we study the law, we are sometimes careful to find those things which may benefit us, while trying to ignore the rest, and it happens with the Bible all the time. Ever known anybody who only quoted the Bible when it was convenient for them? They want to get their “cakes and ale” but ignore the part about “wearing a sword”? God's Word is not like a cafeteria. We are not allowed to go through and pick out which parts we want and which parts we do not like.

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!” (James 2:10-13).

Next topic in the series: The Law as the Schoolmaster.

Baruch atem b’Shem Yeshua! (Blessings in the name of Jesus!)
GW