If I am justified, why do I still struggle with sin? Though we have been effectually called into union with Christ, renewed in our natures, declared righteous by God, and adopted into His family, a sinful nature remains. The Christian’s war with their remaining sin is unrelenting and irreconcilable. The “law of sin” within us wages a total war against us (Rom. 7:14-25). Every faculty of our soul, every square inch of our being is a target. This is the conflict of the flesh against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17; 1 Pt. 2:11). Paul uses strong language to describe the serious nature of this spiritual warfare (Col. 3:5, 8; Rom. 8:13; Rom. 13:14). There is no peace treaty with our sin. It is opposed to God, and we must be opposed to it because it is contrary to who we are in Christ. We must kill our sin, or we will be killed by our sin. We need ongoing renewal (Rom. 12:1-2). This is where sanctification comes in.
When we consider the doctrine of sanctification, we must remember its logical place in the order of salvation. Sanctification is not the first benefit. The sanctification of the believer presupposes effectual calling, regeneration, justification, and adoption. In these benefits, God’s work is immediate and effective in us. But sanctification is a work of God that is progressively worked out in us by the Spirit throughout the Christian life. The definitive work of God in those prior benefits shapes how we view progressive sanctification. This is further seen in how the Bible speaks of sanctification in two distinct ways.[1] The first is a definitive sanctification (1 Cor. 6:11). This is the past definitive act of God in setting us apart in our conversion by the effectual call and regenerating work of the Spirit. We are made new creatures in Christ. We have had a definitive breach with sin (Rom. 6:6, 16-17, 20).
The second way Scripture speaks of our sanctification is progressive sanctification, which is the subject of this catechism question. This is the personal ongoing work of the indwelling Spirit by the Word in putting to death the remaining sin in the whole body (mortification) and quickening us to grow in all saving graces (vivification). Hebrews 10:14, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Paul refers to this as putting off and putting on or walking in the Spirit and not walking in the flesh. This progressive sanctification is necessary and present in every believer, but it will be imperfect in us because sin will remain till Christ returns.
This work of sanctification is a work of the Spirit of God in us (2 Thess. 2:13). God sanctifies us. We do not sanctify ourselves. The Spirit conforms us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). He transforms us by revealing the things of Christ to us, “beholding the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:17-18). But we are not passive in our sanctification. The Scriptures call us to pursue holiness with great effort (Rom. 12:1-3; 2 Cor. 7:1; Gal. 5:13-16; Php. 3:10-17; 1 Pt. 1:13-25; 2 Pt. 1:5-8). Yet we work because God is working in us. Our working out our salvation in fear in trembling is the effect of God working within us (Php. 2:12-13; Rom. 8:4).
But our foundation and motivation in pursuing sanctification must be properly aligned. The virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection is ours in our union with Him and is the basis for our progressive sanctification. We already have been freed from sin’s dominion and have actual victory over sin (Rom. 6:14; 1 Jn. 3:9; 5:4, 18). Because of this, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Rom. 6:12-13).
The decisive breach that we have with sin in Christ is the grounds by which we pursue sanctification (Gal. 5:24). Throughout our sanctification, we stand confidently on our justification. We live confidently upon the virtue of Christ’s work for us. We pursue holiness out of a heart of gratitude for the grace of God in the gospel. We seek to obey God’s commands out of a love for God and a desire to grow in our communion with Him. Sanctification is the necessary fruit of union with Christ and must be pursued confidently in the freedom and victory that we already have in Him through our justification. Sanctification is nothing less than the Spirit’s work of helping us to learn how to live more and more upon Christ. The beauty of it all is that as we grow up in grace through sanctification, we grow up in our experience of our communion with God through Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Pastor John