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Discussion Forum : General Topics : Sanctification vs. Glorification

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 Sanctification vs. Glorification

When preaching holiness, people usually ask the difference between sanctification and glorification. I thought I would post my thoughts here:

[b]THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SANCTIFICATION AND GLORIFICATION[/b]

In time, the Christian is sanctified. In eternity the Christian will be glorified.

In time, the Christian is capable of sinning [b]BUT[/b] he is also capable of not sinning. In eternity, the Christian will not be capable of sin.

In time, the Christian has a corruptible body. In eternity the Christian will have an incorruptible body


[b]Sanctification Scripture[/b]

Hebrews 10:14 "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

[b]Glorification Scripture[/b]

1 Corinthians 15:51-71

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

 2005/3/3 22:42









 In eternity, the Christian will not be capable of sin????

What makes you think that?

Does the Christian lose his freewill in heaven?

Christ had the capacity to sin when He was here.

Please explain.

 2005/3/5 6:03









 Re: In eternity, the Christian will not be capable of sin????

FreeCd,

The bible says, "When we see him (Jesus in Glory) we will be like him." Which means that we will have shed the "corruptable" for the "Incorruptible" which means that we will have "glorified bodies" like Christ has. We will be sinless, like Christ is in Glory. Certainly our "Corruptible" bodies here on earth are capable of sinning or being corrupted. Equally true is that our "Incorruptible" bodies cannot be penetrated by sin in any form. Certainly, you are not suggesting that because Christ was capable of sinning here on earth that he is equally capable of sinning now that the throne of Glory and all things eternal have been given over to him by the Father. Are you?

Here are some definitions from Merriam Webster for your consideration:

Corruptible:

1 a : to change from good to bad in morals, manners, or actions; also : BRIBE b : to degrade with unsound principles or moral values
2 : ROT, SPOIL
3 : to subject (a person) to corruption of blood
4 : to alter from the original or correct form or version
intransitive senses
1 a : to become tainted or rotten b : to become morally debased
2 : to cause disintegration or ruin

Incorruptible:

incapable of corruption: as a : not subject to decay or dissolution b : incapable of being bribed or morally corrupted

Not to mention the fact that being a Christian here on earth is an entirely different experience than being a Glorified saint in Heaven in the very presence of the Jesus and his throne. You speak as if the heavenly experience of being a Christian is simply a mirror image of being a Christian here on this wretched planet. Just keep studying your scriptures my friend, you will see the glory that awaits you.

Sincerely,
Steve

 2005/3/5 15:20









 What about free will?


 2005/3/5 15:42









 What about free will?

Even the angels in heaven have free will.

When we go to heaven do we lose free will?

 2005/3/5 15:43









 Re: What about free will?

Ah, good question! Ask the scriptures about that one. I'll not go down that road with you. Therein is the crux of the matter though. I can only give you my opinion based on what has been revealed to me through the scriptures. We must let the explicit rule over the implicit though whenever dealing with this subject. Also we must let the greater context of scripture rule over the situational context.

Here is what I think about free will. Free will, in the Arminian context, is a myth. Free will, in context of "God's Greater Will and purpose", is however a reality. The unregenerate do have "Free will" insomuch as is afforded them to daily life. They have free will to work where they want, go to bed when they want, etc. but they do not contain the ability of free will to do what they "Ought" to do (i.e. Choose god).

[We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
Romans 7:14]

This is an explicit example of our context prior to salvation. We are slaves to sin completely. As slaves we cannot attain our own freedom from that which we are enslaved to. A slave back then was a slave until citizenship in the Kingdom was granted to them by executive order. A slave is also often a slave for lifetime and knows nothing else than that. So also is our life prior to Christ. We have the free will to do things only in the greater context of a life of sin.

That scripture is also interestingly describing our lives subsequent to salvation. However, now, we have the law "written on our hearts" which adds a greater context (lives of freedom to do what we "ought".). Herein lies the dicotomy of living life as a Christian. We are now free to live for God without being held captive as slaves to sin under the "Law of Sin and death". The Law no more has the power to condemn us. That which once impeded our ability to serve God in freedom of conscience (through guilt) now is rendered powerless to condemn us through Christ's blood. However Paul later says this;

"So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law (law written on my heart); but I see another law at work in the members of my body (my earthly tent), waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members." (Romans 7:21-23 Parenthesis mine) Because we have not left this earthly tent behind, we remain "Corruptible" and able to sin. The key is that through Christ's blood we are no longer condemned and thusly our conscience is cleansed to serve God (even though we still sin occasionally).

As Paul said, this is not liscence to sin like wild pagans, by no means. Rather we have a liscence to serve God freely without the constant threat of judgment snapping at our heels. The "Free Will" which we now enjoy is not the Arminian idea of stepping in and out of Christ but rather the "Free Will" to serve our living Christ with our hearts "Cleansed of a guilty conscience" by the sprinkling of the Blood. Our free will as believers is not a negative towards freedom to sin but a positive towards freedom to serve as a New Creation, motivated by a New Spirit. We truely are "New Wineskins". If we do not serve then we only demonstrate that we are not new wineskins and unregenerate.

The one thing that the Arminian version of Free will does that is simply nothing sort of atrocious is that it denies the New Creation that God has made of each and every believer. To think of believers as having the ability to step "in and out" of Christ by their own free will is, at its best, a worldly mindset as Paul says:

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:" (2 Corinthians 5:16-18).

Nothing about this scripture leads us to believe that any of this is a result of our own free will. "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ". It is because of Christ that we are "In Him" and made "New Creations". How can anyone "Unmake" that which the Lord himself has "Made". We might as well "unmake the heavens and the earth" than to unmake a Christian, one of God's "New Creations".

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God." (Galatians 6:14-16)

Here we see Paul saying that following the Law did not matter. The only thing that mattered was whether or not one had been made a "New Creation" through Christ. So also we should say, "Free will or not free will, it matters not. What matters is the New Creation." The Arminian idol of "Free will" is a wooden statue that will not produce the righteousness that "surpasses that of the Pharisees" and definitely does not produce the righteousness required by God. The only thing Arminian free will does is "lower the bar" of the righteous standard of the Law in order to let in the "self-righteous" and worldly minded. It also introduces doubt, which is equivallent to the sin of "unbelief", into the minds of steadfast believers about the security of their own salvation and the Gospel as a whole.

The subtle implication of that type of Free will is also that one will be able to stand before God on judgement day and claim righteousness of their own. There is no righteousness of any kind other than that of Christ's that anyone will be able to claim or attribute to their own merit towards the aquisition of heaven. If Arminian "Free Will" is scriptural then I guess Jesus was remiss when he simply handed the Kingdom over to the "little Children".

Paul, actually a very righteous Pharisee, forfeits all rights to any of his own righteous deeds here in this scripture (which actually gives us an idea of their worth in God's eyes):

"If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." (Phillipians 3:4-9).

Paul puts it all in perspective here. He suggests that anyone claiming any "obedience" or "righteousness" apart from that of Christ's own righteousness is actually putting "confidence in the flesh." and that person will be pitifully disappointed on the day of Judgement. He actually even qualifies true believers as only being ones who consider fleshly acts of righteousness as "Rubbish" and those who throw them off that they may be "found in Christ not having a righteouness of their own but that which is from God, and is by faith".

The other thing the Arminian version of "Free will" does is that it implies that men have free will to do virtually anything but God himself is restricted and does not have free will to do that which "He" wills with his own creation. This is the most offensive to the nostrils of God, in my personal opinion. He is denied the Sovereignty due him.

Think about it, did you exercise any will of your own to be born in a country that was primarily Christian so that you would redily hear the Gospel and be saved. No, it was by God's sovereign will that you be born here and heard the Gospel and was saved. He foreordained it! You could have just as easily been born in Iraq where you would have not heard the Gospel but would have rather been a Sunni Muslim or born in China and been a Buddhist monk.

My advice to you Freecd is that you lay down the idol of "free will" and count yourself blessed that God chose you. For you did not choose him, he chose you while you were in the depth of your imprisonment in sin and death and called you forth from the grave and made you a New Creation. Even King David was familiar with the concept of God's sovereignty and predestination (I know that's a bad word for Arminians) over even over the days of his life,

"All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be." (Palms 139:16)


Be blessed! You have been chosen!!! Halleluiah!!!!

Sincerely,
Steve


freecd wrote:
Even the angels in heaven have free will.

When we go to heaven do we lose free will?


 2005/3/5 19:01





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