Chapter 11 - The Christian Life

The Christian Life There is nothing so happy as a Christian who has never met a theologian. Attributed to Vance Havner If we will not bear the yoke of Jesus we have to bear the yoke which we ourselves have chosen, and it is a hundred times more heavy. Barth, Church Dogmatics Anyone who does truly good works has blessedness already in his faith, and therefore cannot find himself wanting first to rely upon his works. Friedrich Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith It seems to be adequate ... to call it the experience of the New Being and to distinguish several elements in it which ... can be described as the experience of the New Being as creating (regeneration), the experience of the New Being as paradox (justification), and the experience of the New Being as process (sanctification). Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology

"All this I did for thee what wilt thou do for me?" The New Testament does not speak in this way. It knows nothing of a Jesus who lived and died for the forgiveness of our sins, to free us as it were retrospectively, but who now waits as though with tied arms for us to act in accordance with the freedom achieved for us. Barth, Church Dogmatics

What does it mean to be a Christian? How does one become a disciple of Christ? What does being a Christian mean with reference to myself, to others, and to God? What does being a Christian have to say about ethical living with its failures and successes? Questions that we have discussed before lead naturally to the place of involvement, or the "experience" side of the religious question. Much of our previous discussion is theoretical but it is not without close connection to the practical. If one completely ignored what has been discussed in the previous ten chapters, there would be no basis for a chapter on the religious experience of the Christian. When one attempts to dissect the Christian life, it will be found that there are certain experiences, attitudes, and hopes that are found in it. The New Testament has a number of terms that sound formidable to the uninitiated, but, like any other discipline, one has to learn some new vocabulary words. One must consider terms like faith, repentance, regeneration, sanctification, and others. The student needs the caution that while one must make what seems like tight distinctions between terms, it must not be concluded that separate religious experiences are being discussed. In reality many of these terms are vitally related and from the standpoint of religious experience come simultaneously. The Christian life becomes possible because of God’s grace, χαριs (charis). What does grace mean? All Christians speak of God’s grace but not all define it the same way. The Roman tradition speaks of sanctifying grace and actual grace. Sanctifying grace "enables our soul and its faculties to be in such a state that it can orientate itself towards God and our salvation." ¹ The result of sanctifying grace is that one is cleansed from original sin as well as personal sin that may have been committed. Because of this grace also there takes place the radical transformation of the human nature and to it is restored what it lost in Adam’s fall, the supernatural life² Actual grace in the Roman sense is "a force on man, continuous influence and help from

God enabling us to live on the level to which He has raised us by sanctifying grace.³ Actual grace helps the believer to perform some worthy service or avoid sin. The focal point of grace is important in its distinction. Both types of grace are primarily received through the Church. Even where men received actual grace it is given that "they may be drawn to the Church."⁴ Sanctifying grace is received in the waters of baptism initially and thereafter through the appropriate sacraments⁵ Thus one can see that grace is a common factor in both Protestant and Catholic traditions. How do they agree and differ? Both agree that without the grace of God, man would not be redeemed. Roman thought recognizes that grace signifies something which is freely given.⁶ But it speaks of it as a "positive reality super-added to the soul."⁷ Protestant thought will stress the attitudinal definition of grace as benevolence, mercy, or love. Grace is not a "thing" or spiritual dynamic, or energy, or force. Grace for the Protestant is the motive of salvation. A criticism of the Roman view would be that it has never taken seriously the biblical ideas of the Holy Spirit concerning the religious life of the believer. Because God is gracious, the Holy Spirit indwells the life of the believer. If we are to speak accurately, grace as a substance does not exist. Grace is not added to the believer as a quantum, but what happens is that God’s Spirit indwells him. Grace as a substance can neither give directions nor help to overcome sin, but God’s Spirit can. Grace cannot illuminate the mind, but God’s Spirit can. Grace cannot draw men to God, but it is the motive whereby God’s Spirit works in human hearts. The disagreement in concepts must be pushed further in regard to baptism or other sacraments. A substantive view of grace fits the sacramental system. When grace retains its biblical meaning of favor there is nothing to impart. The Spirit of God operates in a more intimate fashion than through a sacramental system. Grace, regarded as substantive, poses problems for the matter of the believer’s persevering in the faith. If grace is so defined then one must have it within him at death or he is condemned. In the Protestant sense of grace along with justification, spiritual life is not so precarious This will be treated later in the discussion on justification. It will be seen that Roman thought has confused sanctification with justification and, in essence, has never understood the idea of justification by faith. Protestants retain the biblical idea of grace, meaning "to be graciously disposed toward another." ⁸ This understanding of grace is behind the redemptive acts. The believer benefits because of God’s life, but he benefits by means of the Holy Spirit, not grace as substance. The Spirit is the Being in whom we have our existence. For convenience sake, one might say, "The grace of God abounded to me." But this is to say nothing else than that because of God’s mercy the Spirit of God lives within my life. The separation of the sacraments from the reception of the Spirit may seem strange to Roman ears, but it retains the personalistic dimensions of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is not related to a sacramental system, but to faith.

Faith The Christian life is a relationship to God based upon faith, πιστιs, pistis. The religious relationship in other world religions is not understood in terms of faith. "Paul was the first to use this word to describe the right relationship to God, and by so doing he gave it an absolutely dominating position in religious language."⁹ At the same time, faith is misunderstood in the minds of many. Faith is often equated with believing something to be true. When a Christian recites the Apostles’ Creed, ’I believe in God...." he is affirming the statement to be true. There is no meaning of the New Testament word "faith" in the opening phrases of the Creed. It amounts to saying that God is one in the same sense that I declare my belief in the fact that Napoleon lived. Believing in Napoleon and believing in the Apostles’ Creed are on a par. To believe that both God and Napoleon exist requires nothing on my part. By contrast, when the New Testament speaks of faith it means more than mere intellectual assent to a truth. What is faith? The Greek word for faith, pistuo, is defined as "a conviction full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah--the divinely appointed author of salvation in the kingdom of God conjoined with obedience to Christ."¹⁰ To have faith in Christ is to give oneself to him. Faith speaks of obedience, acknowledgement, and confession.¹¹ Faith "is the condition for receiving salvation."¹² It means that I am no longer master of myself, but I "belong to another"¹³ Faith means to give "an unconditional yes to the God who reveals himself.¹⁴ Faith means dependence upon God. It means that independence is recognized as a sham, and real freedom begins in dependence.¹⁵ If faith is defined as trust some negative ideas must be rejected. Faith is not mere assent. Faith is not the cause of redemption. Faith is not a leap in the dark which has no reasons. Faith is not unwarranted optimism, the avoidance of skepticism, a facade for defeatism, or a despair of facing reality. With the issue of faith as the beginning point, the question may be raise: Who has the faith? In the Roman Church the deposit of faith is in the church and may be represented by the parents or godparents when infants are baptized. In many Protestant churches, a similar parallel prevails until the time a child can consciously affirm his faith. Churches in the Baptist tradition insist upon faith that is personal. This means that one cannot have faith without awareness and personal responsibility. Faith, therefore, presupposes an age of awareness and involvement which cannot be true of infants. While we have stressed faith as commitment in conformity to the New Testament, faith’s relation to knowledge is important. Certainly it is true that believing the Apostles’ Creed as true is different from commitment to Jesus Christ. But while commitment is stressed, it is not blind commitment. Faith and knowledge are related. Faith is dependent upon certain factual assertions.Faith cannot respond until it hears a gospel. The gospel includes a number of historical matters concerning the death and resurrection of Christ and its meaning for man. Aulen has stressed this in saying that "trust involves an ’assent’ to the content and message of the divine revelation." ¹⁶ It seems difficult to suppose commitment to a person who is really dead and whose death has no real significance for our lives. Faith presupposes that Christ is trustworthy, that he is alive, that God exists, that God reveals himself , and that he is love. Faith is always related to the person of Christ. Knowledge of him alone makes one only a historian. Faith in him makes one a Christian. Calvin perceived this when he distinguished between what remains in one’s brain and what is taken to the root of the heart.¹⁷ Because faith and knowledge are closely related, there is real value in teaching of Christ. In teaching there is the witness of Christ that brings the response of faith.¹⁸

Faith also involves a way of knowing. In commitment, which is based upon some knowledge, one also learns of Christ and experiences what he has done.¹⁹ Further, one in faith acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Saviour and in this acknowledgement, one learns for the first time what one really is. In faith I see myself as I really am--in rebellion, in sin, and disobedience. In faith I learn of what Christ can do for me. By committing myself to Christ, I learn of what I will become; namely, conformed to his image. Faith involves obedience. The same Lord who stands before man with the challenge to trust him also stands with the words be this or do this! But obedience cannot be separated from the Person and from faith in the Person.²⁰ Barth wrote, "Faith is not obedience, but as obedience is not obedience without faith, faith is not faith without obedience. They belong together, as do thunder and lightning in a thunderstorm."²¹ This leads naturally to the relation between faith and works. The stress on religious works, in Roman thought, as part of self-redemption is opposed by Protestants who insist on ethical transformation but not in the sense of self-redemption. The Protestant would insist on obedience as a meaning of commitment and faith, but he does not imply perfection in Christian growth in the term. The crucial issue in the matter is--if one is dependent upon personal salvatoric works for pleasing God--when has one done enough? Obviously, no one has loved God with all his heart, mind, and strength. Therefore, it is solely through God’s grace that one can be redeemed. One receives the full gift of God by faith. If faith is true faith, one will not find oneself wanting to rely upon works for redemption. If faith is receptive--which it is--it is not able to take an initiative in self-redemption. Faith as the basis for the Christian life implies a choice. It is "a decision, a venture, perhaps a timid but at the same time a bold yes to God."²² Sometimes faith is spoken of as a gift of God.²³ Faith can be said to be a gift of God in that God has the initiative that creates it. By his call to man, man then gives the response of faith, and in that sense it can be said to be caused by God²⁴ But faith is foremost the personal response of the human heart to God’s gracious gospel. There is no proxy faith, just as there is no proxy love. In line with the personal dimension of faith for beginning the Christian life, faith is also related to confession. When one commits himself to the Master, it is for obedience. The command of confession is given by Jesus and the Christian must hold his banner high. The New Testament does not know anything of "undercover Christians." The Christian is to confess his faith in the language of the church as well as offer a translation of it to the world at large. Barth’s words on confession are poignant: "To someone who hesitates to confession of his faith, he would say, ’Dear friend, you may be a very spiritual man, but see to it that you are deemed worthy to be publicly responsible for your faith. And is your alleged shyness not shyness about emerging from your uncommitted private world? Ask yourself! One thing is certain, that where the Christian Church does not venture to confess in its own language, it usually does not confess at all.’ "²⁵ Faith, by its definition, means faith in someone and hence confession. Confessing and believing correspond to each other as in Romans 10:9.26 Faith in Christ asserts one’s openness to God’s Spirit who works in the believer’s heart. Faith makes possible the redemptive event in which one is renewed in the inner man, declared just or forgiven, and begins growth in Christian maturity.

Repentance The Christian life is initiated in repentance. A number of terms are used in the New Testament to describe repentance, but the most important is μετανοια, metanoia It means "to change one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins." ²⁷ Repentance is thus to turn away from sin and wickedness, and to God and righteousness."²⁸ Although many theologians who speak of repentance divide it into an intellectual, emotional, and volitional element, it is a "unitary act of man as a unitary being involving his mind, will affections."²⁹ Repentance must not be confused with being sorry that one is caught. Genuine repentance means regret for sin although no one find you out. Repentance does not receive the same treatment on the modem scene as faith does. Tillich mistakenly compares it to the illumination of an idea³⁰ and it does not play a large enough role to merit a heading in the index of some theological literature. Yet repentance is a vital concept in the anatomy of the Christian life. Calvin spoke of its importance in connection with forgiveness of sins as being the sum of the gospel³¹ He distinguished it from faith but did not separate it from faith³² In order of discussion, repentance also followed faith in Calvin’s thought.³³ One reason theologians have not spoken at length concerning repentance is that it is presupposed in faith. It is impossible to think of God as holy and trust him in faith without involving a repudiation of sin. Yet repentance cannot stand alone. To repent without the turn toward the object of faith is meaningless. Repentance without faith only leads to despair. For this reason, repentance involves a turn from sin and a turn to God. Repentance is not to be confused with penance. Penance is a Roman Catholic sacrament involving contrition because of sin, confession of sin, satisfaction for it, and absolution of it. Penance thus involves--satisfaction--doing something. But repentance does not involve a "making up" for sin but a "forsaking" of sin. Repentance may involve separation of wrongs or confession of sin, but these are the fruits of it. Repentance is the negative side of faith, but neither stands without the other.

Conversion

Conversion is the end result of faith in Christ and the turn from sin to him. It is described as being necessary to enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mat 18:3) by no less a person than Jesus. What then is conversion? "It is just this turning in upon oneself, this turn right-about, this return God."³⁴ Conversion is the "shattering of worldly standards," not in the sense of fleeing the world, but in the sense that one finds in God the true standard.³⁵ Conversion is "the beginning of the new life in fellowship with Christ"³⁶ because it is associated with faith and repentance. Conversion might be regarded as the human response, but from another perspective would be designated regeneration with its beginning spiritual life. Conversion is in one way a once-for-all experience; and in another way it needs repetition. It is once for all, like that of birth. One does not continue being born again. It is repetitive in that after failures and sins one can and may always begin over, or reassert faith and repentance. This combined idea is expressed by Barth when he describes conversion as the "transition, the movement, in which man is still wholly the old and already wholly-the new man"³⁷ Conversion is generally neglected where infant baptism is practiced. Obviously since everyone is a baptized Christian from birth, there is no place for conversion. Confirmation generally takes its place and assent is given at an early age to the deposit of teaching held by the Church.³⁸ This practice leads to a culture Christian rather than a committed one. Going through the instruction of a catechism class at an early age is not a substitute for personal commitment in which one gives one’s life to Christ. The empty cathedrals of Europe give witness to the lack of conversion.

Regeneration

We now turn to examine aspects of the Christian life that are more precisely termed the divine side of redemption. Although faith and repentance may be thought of as related to God’s action upon us, yet regeneration is something that we cannot do ourselves. The word regeneration refers to God’s work in the human heart that is compared to a birth--but spiritual-- whereby a man once dead or nonexistent now comes alive to God. This is being born from above, γεννηθη ανωθεν as the words of Jesus indicated to Nicodemus. This change in the human heart is the result of the inward work of the Spirit. God’s presence is like the wind but the results of the Divine Wind are felt and known. Regeneration means that one’s life is linked with Christ, hence the term "being a new creature" is used. Of this doctrine, Brunner says, "Regeneration consists in this, that in this invisible core of personality the great, eternally decisive change takes place, that ’Christ is formed in us’ through the death of the old man and the creation of the new, and that from this origin something new, even if only relatively new, comes into visible existence also."³⁹ Regeneration is a term used to sum up the meaning of several words in the Bible. The word does occur in Tit 3:5, where the new spiritual life is meant. The idea of being born again occurs several times, mainly, but not exclusively, in the Johannine writings.⁴⁰ Another idea is that of being a new creation (Eph 2:10 ) or a new creature (2Co 5:17; Gal 6:15 ) or a new man (Eph 4:24 ) . In addition to these, the idea of making alive (Eph 2:5; 1Co 2:12) is used. That which was alive to sin and dead to the rule of God now becomes alive to God and dead to the rule of sin. The idea of regeneration means that man is not simply reformed in the hope of obeying God and winning his favor, but instead is transformed by the Spirit of God and is given his favor. Instead of viewing the Christian life in quantitative terms, it is seen in qualitative terms. Part of the goal of Kierkegaard was to declare that the Christian is "infinitely qualitatively different" from the non-Christian. This is not to engender smugness on one’s part, but to recognize that God is at work in the hearts where faith exists. It is the activity of God in the human heart that makes the difference and it is because pride has been spurned and faith affirmed that God is there. Because of the new spiritual life within, which is the indwelling of Christ, there is a change in moral relations. We are to become renewed in righteousness and holiness of love (Eph 4:23-24). Because one is regenerated and justified, he has access into the presence of God. Regeneration is not the addition of some new substance in the makeup of man’s nature as in the Catholic position, but it is the making alive of the "old man." It is not a deposit of grace, a "created reality of an altogether higher order,"⁴¹ as held by Roman theologians. Regeneration is the "giving of a new direction or tendency to powers of affection which man possessed before."⁴² Man possessed love in the unregenerate state, but turned it in upon himself. Regeneration means that his love is supremely on God. If one is to speak of a new element permeating man’ existence it is not a substance derived from a sacrament, but the living Spirit of God himself at work in him. In experiencing regeneration, the believer is delivered from the rule of sin, but not from the confrontation with sin.⁴³ Regeneration must not be equated with sinlessness or confused with justification. The believer still must fight against sin even though he is no longer dominated by it. Regeneration is not nullified by virtue of his failure or lapse into sin. Instead, the fact that God’s Spirit is at work in him makes it possible for him to start anew in his spiritual life. Failure on the part of a child does not mean he must be born anew to physical life. By the same token, because the believer possesses spiritual life, he can now grow in maturity and find victory over sin. Regeneration is recognized as a necessity by most theologians, but the central issue is how it comes to pass. The two differing positions are basically through baptism (via infant baptism) or through faith alone. The advocates of baptism as the means of regeneration make their appeal to certain passages in the New Testament (Mark 16:16; John 3:5). Certain other passages in which the word "water" occurs are used to bolster the idea. Some words of caution are urged in using these verses. The passage in Mark (16:16)is not a firm foundation to support a doctrine. Not only is it a questionable passage, not being recognized as an integral part of the early Greek manuscripts. but the passage continues to say that he that believeth not shall be condemned. Emphasis is placed on the believing, not the role of baptism. The other general comment is that a passage like John 3:5 and others really make no mention of baptism. It is inferred, or presumed that "water" must refer to baptism. It would have been impossible for Nicodemus to understand it as such for the following reason. The principle of historical propriety in interpretation means that a passage must be understood from the standpoint of what the hearer could have understood by it. This means that it is illegitimate to force a sacramental view of baptism into the conversation of Nicodemus and Jesus. A sacramental view of baptism is alien to the New Testament. Hence, for these reasons and others, we must relate regeneration to faith alone. The conclusion of John 3:16, with reference to the conversation with Nicodemus, is that the believer’s spiritual life depends upon believing in or committing oneself to Christ. Although differences abound over the meaning of John 3:5, it still states--and almost all Christians agree--that regeneration, or being born anew, or from above, is necessary to enter the kingdom of God.

Justification

Justification is God’s declaration to the man of faith that he is accepted in Christ. Justification means that the man of faith is forgiven. It is another way of talking about regeneration, but a difference persists between the two ideas. Regeneration speaks more of beginning, while justification or an accepted standing before God is related to the whole of the Christian life. Because justification by faith stands as a key doctrine of the Reformation, two definitions will be useful. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, following the Reformed tradition, says,

"Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and receiveth by faith alone" (Q. 33 ) . Calvin defined justification as "nothing else than to acquit from the charge of guilt, as if innocence were proved.⁴⁴ The acquittal motif is misleading, for it suggests that one is innocent; whereas in reality, in justification one is profoundly guilty. Thus justification is intimately related to forgiveness of sins.⁴⁵ Justification has certain ambiguities about it. It made its way into early theology in the

West in Latin, with the idea found in the legal system of a judge who rewards and punishes. In the same manner also the term "righteousness of God" has suggested a standard to which men must conform. The real meaning of these terms in the New Testament is removed from these traditional ideas. First, justification means to declare the sinner righteous.⁴⁶ It does not mean, as is sometimes stated, that God makes the sinner righteous. In this way, justification is not a quality of the soul but a relationship. Likewise, "it does not mean the ethical quality of a person."⁴⁷ Similarly, the righteousness of God is better understood with the preposition "from." It is the righteousness from God. It is not a standard to which man must conform but a gift of life in Jesus Christ. The righteousness from God means that God gives acceptance to man who is related in faith to Jesus Christ (Rom 1:14-18).

A modern term used by Tillich expresses the meaning of justification as acceptance by God, "although being unacceptable according to the criteria of the law ... and that we are asked to accept this acceptance."⁴⁸ This leads us to consider the paradoxical nature of justification. At the same time that man is declared accepted, he is also unacceptable. How can this be? Because God created this new relationship. "What counts in ’God’s sight’ is for God alone and no one else to say. But he says: ’I assure you that, just as you are, you are right with me. I am the final authority that makes this decision. I love you, not because you are worthy of my love, but in spite of your unworthiness, simply because it is my will to do so.’"⁴⁹ The paradoxical nature of justification must be stressed in all its fulness. Man the believer is not half sinner and half justified but simultaneously fully the sinner and fully the justified.⁵⁰ Not only is this true concerning justification, but the paradoxical nature extends to other areas. The paradoxical nature of justification must not be interpreted to mean that God is only declaring man accepted and is not concerned with changing man and his way of life. Conversely, God not only declares man accepted but proceeds to work in man’s life so that his eventual transformation (in the consummation) will conform to God’s declaration. This leads naturally to the discussion of justification and its relation to religious works or deeds. Is one accepted by God only on the basis of faith, or does one need to speak of faith--acceptance plus works, or the development of ethical religious deeds to augment justification by faith? Roman theology affirms the latter. A fundamental principle in their theology is that Christ does what man cannot do, while on the other hand, man must do what is in his power to do. Traditional Roman theology seems to have misunderstood Luther by confusing justification with the idea of regeneration. This results in the necessary distinguishing of the types of sins into venial and mortal. If justification is regarded as the "interior renovation which blots out sin," then the return of sin in the believer leads to one of two alternatives: deny the seriousness of sin as in venial sins; or, accept its seriousness, admitting the re-alienation of the believer from God. Roman thought traditionally has done this. If one does not die in a state of inward grace free of mortal sin in the Roman sense he is judged. On the other hand, venial sins are not serious enough to throw one out of the state of grace. The issue then becomes another question : Can the distinction between sins be valid? The New Testament does not warrant such a distinction. Jesus regarded lust equally as bad as adultery; hate as bad as murder. The reason that justification by faith alone is so important is that only in it could one really have hope. If I must rely partly on my own works for salvation, three questions arise: could I ever do enough? when would I do enough? and how would I know when I had done it? Consequently, the place of personal merit and works was rejected as being contrary to the Scriptures. Calvin declared that "the Lord does not promise anything except to the perfect observers of the law; and none such are anywhere to be found." ⁵¹ Luther’s despair reflects the result of a work’s type redemption and hope only came when he saw clearly the real meaning of justification by faith alone. It is to misunderstand the meaning of grace when additional human requirements are added. "Righteousness, then, cannot be won by human effort, nor does any human accomplishment establish a claim to it; it is sheer gift."⁵² If faith is obedience, it can never be an accomplishment for an accomplishment means that I assert my own will. Obedience means that I renounce my will for his.⁵³ If man is to have hope in his religious life, it will come only through a proper understanding of justification by faith. Any other alternative leads to pessimism. Even the statement of Jesus in answering the question," What must I do to inherit eternal life?" must be seen within the context of Judaism and not Christianity. To enjoin the fulfilling of the commandment "Thou shalt love God with all thy heart, soul, and mind" as the way to redemption is typically Jewish. It is an impossibility. But of course there was nothing else to say for he had not died nor had the new covenant been established. The new covenant is precisely what it says. It is new. It is a covenant of justification declaring forgiveness of sins not only at the point of regeneration but throughout the believer’s life. We spoke of justification with regard to forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sin is hard to believe and accept and it is for this reason that justification is hard to accept. For before forgiveness can come pride must be surrendered and annihilated. The hesitancy to believe in forgiveness of sin makes one suspicious of whether there is full forgiveness. Much of human forgiveness is half-hearted and involves remembering the wrong. God forgives and remembers to forget.⁵⁴ Justification is declared to be a once-for-all-declaration, but its relation to forgiveness is continuing. Forgiveness is not an act that occurs once and then one must make up all deviations. Just the opposite--forgiveness belongs to the whole of one’s spiritual life. Justification and forgiveness of sins is not a barren experience. It involves the restoration of our broken relationship with God, Because we are justified and forgiven, we are invited to abide in him, to live and move and relate our lives to him⁵⁵ To sum up, justification involves two basic things: to be forgiven --which implies that deserved judgment has been remitted; and to be restored to fellowship with God.

Sanctification

As we turn to consider sanctification perhaps we should speak of its relationship to what has been considered. Justification is the declaration of God concerning the believer’s new relationship. Regeneration is the work of God’s Spirit in making alive the spiritually dead. Sanctification is God’s work in nurturing, or as we might say, "parenting" the new being from its birth to its fullness of maturity in Christ, a nurturing that is not completed until after death. Sanctification without its beginning of regeneration is like trying to conceive of life without a birth. Sanctification without the standing in Christ as declared in justification would remove the fact of personal assurance from Christian faith. But now what is sanctification? A historical definition is that it is "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."⁵⁶ Sanctification deals with the Christian becoming Christlike. It recognizes the paradoxical truth of justification in being totally just and totally sinner, but sanctification involves the growing commitment to the direction of God’s Spirit in making the believer the property and instrument of God.⁵⁷ Sanctification speaks of God’s taking to himself that which stands against him, and in this claim upon the person he makes him serviceable to himself. The work of God in the human heart spreads over the lifetime. He begins in the heart, the seat of human affections, by making it alive unto himself. Just as leaven permeates the loaf slowly, God presses out from the center of our lives slowly, taking captive our feelings, our thoughts, our desires, and ourselves. It is a paradoxical truth in the area of sanctification that the more one is controlled by God’s Spirit the more one is sensitive to the distance that separates him from God’s nature. It would be a mistake to identify sanctification with sinlessness. The ethical passages in the New Testament Epistles abound with warnings to the Christians not to sin. The truth of sanctification is that one is free from the rule and dominion of sin, but this is not to say that one is free from ever committing sins.⁵⁸ Sanctification must not be confused with moralism or the keeping of a prescribed set of rules. Adhering to rules solely is to overlook the inward change, which is the real meaning of sanctification. Equally wrong is to think of sanctification in terms of negating the world or fleeing from it. The Christian becomes truly human in Christ--that is, he grows in approximation of what a person should be. To be God’s person is not something one is in isolation from society, but it means to be Christ’s servant in community with mankind at large.⁵⁹ The influence of Greek philosophical dualism in the early centuries of Christianity made many flee from the world to be hermits and monks. In spite of all the contributions of monasticism, it yet stands as a perversion of the Christian idea of sanctification. Likewise, the term "saint," used in the New Testament to speak of all who are set apart unto Christ, became corrupted to refer to a person who stands head and shoulders above other men in moral purity, or to mean a person who has little to do with the secular world. A saint in the New Testament is one committed to Christ and his will. The saint is Christ’s man to his neighbor in need, and not the pious, indifferent person who is not concerned for his neighbor. The saint is not one who has renounced the pleasure of the world for a life of asceticism, but one who receives the good things of life from God and uses them in his service. While we speak of the use of the term "saint" in popular applications, it is yet true that no person singularly is designated such in the New Testament. Saints are only mentioned in plurality.⁶⁰ With reference to sanctification, Paul Tillich describes it as the "New Being" in process. He gives four principles relating to the new life. First, the believer has increased awareness regarding the struggles within and around him. The struggles relate to both demonic and divine. One becomes acutely aware as a Christian what one should be but disturbed in the slowness of progress and alarmed at the ease with which one can regress. Second, the believer has increased freedom from the religious law as he lives in the commanding presence of the Spirit, and according to love. Third, the believer experiences increased relatedness implying a triumph over seclusion of oneself and others too. Man, the believer, seeks matured relatedness. This is the experience in which the believer triumphs over loneliness "by providing for solitude and communion in interdependence."⁶¹ Introversion is conquered by turning the person toward its help who is God. Fourth, in sanctification the believer perceives self-transcendence. This means that awareness, freedom, and relatedness, cannot be achieved "without participation in the holy."⁶² The last point calls for some program of action. Participation in the holy is related to some form of devotional life. Spiritual growth comes when we hear God speaking to us. Meditation upon the sacred Scriptures plays a vital role in nurturing the Christian life. Without regularly listening to the word of God and meditating upon it, the believer will be living in a vacuum. By the same token, Christian life is nurtured as one speaks to God. Prayer is commanded in the Scriptures. Intercession is to be made for all men, especially the political leaders. The Model Prayer, commonly called the Lord’s Prayer, teaches us to pray in gratitude, for our daily needs, both physical and spiritual. The Christian life is nurtured when one speaks about God. Sharing the good news is a tonic to the spiritual life. Not only is there the opportunity to help others, but in helping others, we grow ourselves. Participation in the service of God includes many other things: the love of the neighbor; caring for the orphans, the widows, the sick; and many other deeds of mercy. However, the Christian life must not be reduced to mere activism which is not the same as participating in the holy. Self-transcendence does not come through sheer activism, but only as one is related to God through Christ. Sanctification can be discussed from another perspective. It is in one sense the work of God and in the other a work of man. If we speak of it as the work of God, a parallel can be drawn to the doctrine of justification. In justification, the believer is a participant in the righteousness of Christ. In the same sense, we are declared righteous in him; we are declared sanctified in him.⁶³ Barth argues that much false teaching and many practical mistakes would have been avoided had this aspect of sanctification been emphasized.⁶⁴ After all, it is God who sanctifies us, not we ourselves. Christ did not die merely to justify us and leave the rest to us. Just as justification is achieved in our behalf, and accomplished, faith is called forth in response, so sanctification is accomplished in Christ and our obedience is commanded with our supreme love. Surely this emphasis leaves no room for despairing spiritual pessimism or a tedious legalism. If we have sanctification in Christ, we come to the believer’s response which involves the call to discipleship or obedience. To obey his call, "Follow me," is to submit to the transformation of self, which is eventually described as Christlikeness. Where there is disobedience to the call of Jesus, no progress can be made in being transformed to the image of Christ. When the call to obedience takes place, the follower of Christ is a disturbed sinner. The Master calls for the forsaking of the "old man," or the old way of life, and gives the presence of his Spirit to overcome. The call to obedience includes direction toward the goal of Christlikeness. Obedience to Christ’s call produces the fruit of the Spirit as recorded in Gal 5:22-23. In the same breath that the believer is commanded to put to death the earthly--immorality, impurity, and so on, he is called to put on or to be alive to compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and love (Col 3:5-16). In light of obedience to Christ’s command, can we speak of a reward for our good works? Traditional Roman Catholic theology has argued that grace enables a man to do "good works" and thereby receive a reward. It is a recognized principle of society that rewards are the result of work and activity. In a case where work is volunteered, one may justly demand payment. "God respects this general human law, recognizing man’s responsibility, rewards his fidelity in His service; only He raised the conception of reward for such service on to an altogether higher level."⁶⁵ Protestants in general recognize no such principle of reward. God does not need volunteer laborers. Nor is he hiring laborers. Our labors in terms of good works are the result of a reward, not the basis for receiving one. We obey out of gratitude. If God has made us sons in Christ, joint-heirs in Christ, has given us the guarantee of his Spirit as the down-payment of everlasting life, what more can we desire?⁶⁶ If God then praises us for our faithfulness, it is not because we earned it, but because he is pleased in that his mercy has borne fruit in man’s life. One final matter in this doctrine is the teaching of some that the Christian attains perfection in this life. The biblical issue seems to center around passages like 1Jn 3:61Jn 3:9, which in the King James Version imply a state of sinlessness. The problem is one of translation and context. Williams gives the impact of the Greek tense in translating 1Jn 3:6 as, "No one who continues to live in union with Him practices sin," and 3 :9 as, "No one who is born of God makes a practice of sinning ... because he is born of God." The word "practice" is the key to understanding. Christians do sin, but they do not practice sin as the guiding principle of life. The context of 1 John indicates that sin is a problem to the believer. The writer included himself in the verse when he wrote, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1Jn 1:8 ). It is because of sin that we have an advocate (1Jn 2:1-2). While we argue against a state of perfection in the Christian’s life, equal emphasis must be placed upon the command of Christ to follow in discipleship. Remembering the apostle Paul’s query in Rom 6:1-2, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid," Arnold of Rugby is supposed to have said, "Always strive for perfection: never believe you have reached it."⁶⁷

Glorification The Christian life begins now. The Gospel of John emphasized that everlasting life is a present possession. Everything that has been said so far is related to the Christian life in time. However, Christians are to live forever. This idea is summed up in the rather bulky word "glorification." Because Christians are citizens of two worlds, two dimensions, attention has been focused upon the Christian life in this world first, then on the next under the heading of glorification. This idea serves as a transition point to the next chapter on eschatology, the last things. The term "glory," δοξα doxa, appears nebulous to us. In a general way, it relates to brilliance, splendor, or brightness. It refers to God in terms of magnificence and excellence. Our interest here is primarily concerning the believer. The word thus means the "glorious condition of blessedness into which it is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour’s return from heaven."⁶⁸ The idea appears in a number of different contexts. The present life in its sufferings is inconsequential in comparison to the glorious life to come (Rom 8:18). The termination of life is to experience the "glorious liberty" of the children of God (Rom 8:21). Life in the present may be lived in affliction and persecution, but everlasting life is glorious beyond all comparison. The future existence and fulfillment of the Christian’s life is connected to Christ, the hope of glory (Col 1:27). The return of Christ means the beginning of this new state of existence for the believer (Col 3:4 ) . Note should be made of the difference in the "state of the glorious life" and everlasting life. The believer has the second now and the first in the future. The future nature of the Christian’s life is emphasized in 1Pe 5:11Pe 5:1, where the believer is a participant in the glory that is to be revealed. The concept is related to the full nature of man. The physical nature of man will participate in the future existence of man’s spiritual existence (1Co 15:44 ) . The most concrete conception of this change for the physical nature is the comparison made between Christ’s resurrected existence and what we shall be like. His was a glorious body and so shall ours be (Php 3:21). In conclusion, it must be stressed that the anatomy of the Christian life seems to suggest temporal sequence, whereas none is intended or can be made. At the same time one is converted, one is also glorified--for all of it takes place in Christ.

Addenda to the Christian Life and Glorification

We have purposely omitted a section on the doctrine of perseverance. Among many people, the issue of whether or not a person can fall from grace is discussed. Using the New Testament definition of grace as benevolent favor, falling from grace would be a contradiction in terms. As long as life still exists for man. God seeks his return to himself. The question should be better phrased as, "Can a person be ’saved’ and then ’lost’ again?" When the question is asked in this fashion, it then becomes a meaningless question. It is meaningless because the initial proposition cannot be established, namely, that a person was a genuine Christian. All that can ever be established is the statement that the person makes himself; namely, "I am a Christian," or one may say, "He says he is a Christian." It can never be proved whether there is genuine faith or not. If this could be proved beyond deception, then the argument would be meaningful. In reality, all one can say is that John Doe professed once to be a Christian but no longer makes such a profession. He was once active in Christian living but has now given it up. Some passages of Scripture are used to suggest the possibility of apostasy. However, they are quite controversial and generally prove more than advocates of "falling from grace" really want to prove; namely, it is impossible to repent once one has committed apostasy. The passages in Heb 6:4-6, should be interpreted in terms of a pastor who assesses the problems of his people. There are people today who have been "enlightened," "tasted of the heavenly gift," and it appears that the Spirit has been active in their lives, but they no longer meet in fellowship with God and his people. Their testimony is such that they crucify anew the Son of God and hold him in contempt. It appears impossible to restore them again to repentance. As a pastor works repeatedly to restore man to faithfulness, he appears always in defeat. However, these verses do not pronounce a theological decree from heaven that such people will never be restored to their fellowship in Christ. Only at the present can we make the statement, "It is impossible to restore again," not omitting the possibility that at some future time he may be restored. The Christian life has its ups and downs. It is not a straight line growth-though it is sometimes so understood. There is yet a war being fought in the breast of man as God is at work in him. At a given time in the life of another person it might appear that God’s side is not winning, but we can never conclude rightly. The truth that is basic to the doctrine of perseverance, or the continued faithfulness of the believer, is that the believer must trust the faithfulness of God.. The passages most often appealed to for support of the believer’s perseverance are ones in which God’s faithfulness is emphasized.⁶⁹ Our assurance in the Christian life is found in God’s acceptance of us.

XI. The Christian Life Footnotes

¹A Handbook of the Catholic Faith, p. 213. (This term must not be confused with the idea of sanctification as understood in Protestant thought.)

²Ibid., p. 211 ³George D. Smith, The Teaching of the Catholic Church, p. 588.

^4I Ibid., p. 616 ⁵Ibid., p. 567; cf. p. 606

⁶Ibid., p.602

⁷Ibid., p. 552 8 Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951 ),I,284.

⁹Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, p. 140.

¹⁰Thayer, op.cit., p.511 ¹¹Bultmann, op.cit., pp.318-319

¹²Ibid., p. 316 ¹³ Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith and the Consummation, p. 141.

¹⁴Aulen, op.cit., p.315 ¹⁵Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith and the Consummation, p. 286 ¹⁶op.cit.,p. 315 ¹⁷op.cit., p. 510 ¹⁸Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith and the Consummation, p. 241 ¹⁹Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T. & T. dark, 1956), IV-1, 766.

²⁰ Cf. Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, p 297.

²¹Church Dogmatics, IV-2,538 ²²Aulen, op. cit., p. 320.

²³So understood, it raises the question of whether all men are given this gift. Some theologians then speak of two types of grace: enabling grace or helping grace which makes it possible for one to have faith and thereby obtain saving grace.

²⁴Cf. Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, p156 ²⁵Dogmatics in Outline, p. 31.

²⁶Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, I, 317.

²⁷Thayer, op. cit., p. 405.

²⁸Halverson and Cohen, p. 321.

²⁹Ibid., p. 322 ³⁰Cf. Systematic Theology, III, 219.

³¹op.cit., p. 509

³²Ibid.

³³Ibid.

³⁴Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, p. 289.

³⁵Ibid., p. 167.

³⁶ Friedrich Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith (New York: Harper & Row, 1956), II,p,480 ³⁷Church Dogmatics, IV-2, 572 ³⁸Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, p. 276.

³⁹Ibid., pp. 273-74.

⁴⁰John 1:13; John 3:3-8; 1Pe 1:23; 1Jn 2:29; 1Jn 3:9; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 5:1; 1Jn 5:4; 1Jn 5:18.

⁴¹A Handbook of the Catholic Faith, p. 212.

⁴²Strong, op. cit., p. 823.

⁴³Calvin, op. cit., p. 516.

⁴⁴Ibid., p. 39 ⁴⁵Aulen, op. cit., p. 291.

⁴⁶Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith and the Consummation, p. 200.

⁴⁷Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, I, 271-72.

⁴⁸Tillich, Systematic Theology, III, 224-25.

⁴⁹Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation p. 196.’

⁵⁰Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV-1, 596.

⁵¹Calvin, op, cit., II, 105 ⁵² Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, I, 281.

⁵³Ibid., pp. 315-16.

⁵⁴Cf. Aulen, op.cit., p 293 ⁵⁵ Ibid., p. 290.

⁵⁶Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 35.

⁵⁷Cf. Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, pp. 295-96.

⁵⁸Rom 6:1-23; Rom 7:1-25; and Bultmann, op.cit., p. 332 ⁵⁹Cf. Brunner, Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, p 304.

⁶⁰Cf. Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV, 512.

⁶¹ op, cit., Ill, 234.

⁶²Ibid., ;. 235 ⁶³Cf. 1 Corinthians 1:30 64 Church Dogmatics, IV-2, 511-33.

⁶⁵A Handbook of the Catholic Faith, p. 219 ⁶⁶Schleiermacher, op. cit., p. 521.

⁶⁷Quoted in Strong, op.cit., p.880 ⁶⁸Thayer, op. cit., p. 156.

⁶⁹John 10:28-29; Rom 11:29; 1Co 13:7; Php 1:6; Php 2:1-30 These. 3:3; 1Pe 1:5; Rev 3:10.