Since we are having quite a fruitful and important discussion on this topic, thought I'll post Porlin's and Tim's reply here in regards to the "Not Yet" aspect of our famous "Already and Not Yet" doctrine. Here it is:
With regards to the "not yet" part... We are already justified and sanctified like the verse you quoted but to add on, we have not yet been judged by God since Christ has not yet come for the second time so we are not proclaimed to be justified. Quoting D.M. Lloyd-Jones, “We have only been made righteous in the sense that God regards us as righteous, and pronounces us to be righteous”. This means that on one hand, we are already considered as righteous (justified) in Christ, on the other hand, we have not been given the temporal “chop” that we are justified in the Judgement.
Sanctification is mentioned in the bible in two different ways. Firstly, sanctification is something that has taken place when God set us apart for service to Him. This sanctification is ours because we are saved, because we are in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2). Secondly, the Bible refers to sanctification as a process that involves a moral and spiritual change in us once we are saved. No one attains to complete sanctification in this life (1 John 1:8), hence the “not yet”. The Scriptures tell us that the saints in heaven are completely free from the power of sin (Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 14:5). This means our sanctification is completed either at or immediately after death. As The Shorter Catechism Q37 states ‘The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into their glory…” In other words, we start the process of sanctification the moment we believe.
Very Well Written Porlin and Tim! =) Good job!
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| Union w Christ: Justification and Sanctification |
(not sure if i'm allowed to comment hehe)
ReplyDeletebut woahh that's really deep stuff! just wondering: does the last paragraph mean that "we're saved" refers to us being set aside for sanctification and not that we're already sanctified? but what is the difference between "being set aside for sanctification" and "being sanctified when God sets us apart for service to Him" if
1)God exists beyond space and time
2)If his word is everlasting (meaning once he sets us aside to be sanctified we will be anyway so why is there this process where we're "not yet" and can only be sanctified after life)
this is really cooool.
nat
Hi Nate,
ReplyDeleteThe sentence you quoted is in the context of the "Already Sanctified" view, and therefore there is no difference b/w "being set aside for sanctification" and "being sanctified when God sets us apart for service to Him", so the process view is not considered at this point.
However, I think your question is about the secondary (or eschatological level) where there is a PROCESS of sanctification. The reason why there is a "not yet" is because we will not be FULLY and PERFECTLY sanctified until after life. In fact, his everlasting word (referring to your second point)actually reveals to us that our sanctification is both an immediate sanctification (1 Cor 1:2) AND also a Process of sanctification (or as Phil 2:12b says "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
Hope this clears things out. =) Good question. Keep asking!