Reformed/Calvinist Sanctification Process - Question for Personal Edification

[Carbon]

Sanctification is just getting used to justification, isn’t it?

 

[ElectedbyHim]

Sanctification is just getting used to justification, isn’t it?

Agreed.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Sanctification is just getting used to justification, isn’t it?

Is that how you would put it?

That's actually probably a good way to think of it .. thanks.

 

[makesends]

Well, there's a down side to that. If I were to be told "I never knew you" then best to put off dying as I think things here are better than for those whom He never knew. Like, I'll go for the convert instead of the 2 point after touch down play.

"All is vanity and vexation."

CS Lewis dealt with this. (I need to start collecting his best sayings.) He said something about those who go for what they can get before they die will find there that those things are no longer remembered fondly, but will be seen for the corruption from which they come —something like that. And the things that are done for God, and not at enmity with him, will be so much more than what we thought they were.

He mentions something of the sort in his book, "Weight of Glory" "The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation."

It is within that thought that I myself have considered an apparently unrelated subject—that of God's efficiency: Nothing in this life is done at random or by chance. There is a purpose to it ALL. To me, it is quite likely that NO THING temporal is without its consummation in the afterlife. Both Good and Bad, and whatever we consider neutral or without moral import. Nothing that is past will be remembered for what it was to our view here, but for what it actually was. And within that can be found from the parameters of Scripture concerning Heaven and Hell, a clearer definition to the view of Heaven or Hell.

 

[Carbon]

Is that how you would put it?

That's actually probably a good way to think of it .. thanks.

Well I heard that explanation from a Lutheran. And I agree with it.

 

[Carbon]

Is that how you would put it?

That's actually probably a good way to think of it .. thanks.

It works perfectly with my understanding of it, which is monergistic

 

[makesends]

So, does one fall into sin or plan to sin?

Edit: Verses I think support that we can plan to do sin or willfully sin.

Micah 2:1 Woe to those who devise wickedness, Who work out evil on their beds! When the light of the morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands.

Psalms 36:4 He devises wickedness upon his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not despise evil.

James 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
James 1:15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death.

Thoughts?

Edit 2: These verses indicate we have sin that we do not even know about (12) and there seems to be a dispute with commentators on presumptuous sins.

Psalms 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
Psalms 19:13 Also keep back Your slave from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

I think I may have went off topic.

Apologies.

I think it's worse than falling into or planning sin. If sin is rebellion (enmity) against God, then everything the unregenerate does is sin. And those of us who have been born again have no business there. Sin is not making a mistake, the anger we didn't acknowledge earlier is no better than the anger we daily put to death now.

Yeah, true. Might be worth starting another thread on.

Hmmm. You know, how a TV series can generate a spin-off series of its own. Maybe there can be a way to link one thread to the tangents from it, like a flowchart. So people can see where that thought went!

Oh, sorry. Off-topic.

 

[Hazelelponi]

...

 

[Hazelelponi]

To both @Rella and @Hazelelponi and @myself

One thing that has been long-time been a constant thorn in the side of Christianity, is the notion that Sanctification, and becoming like Christ, and pretty much any other description both Biblical and extra-biblical, is generic maturity and Jesus-copy, quite apart from any dynamic differences between individuals. Not that I claim any wisdom here beyond anyone else, but it has been (mercifully, but painfully) beat into me that Sanctification has EVERTHING to do with God's 'end-game' and his purposes concerning us —I think that becoming 'like Christ' is literally becoming that particular 'member of His Body' that we will finally will see ourselves as being. This is a literal being "IN CHRIST".

I may be overstating, or, more likely, side-stating (if there is such a thing), and therefore misusing the term, "IN CHRIST", but I think there is definitely something to what I am trying to get across, here. It is important to recognize that although we do have our consciences' understandings to live up to, and our need to listen to and obey the Spirit's voice, and our need to study and adapt to Biblical principles, and on and on, in the end, OUR assessments and judgements of ourselves and of what is going on with us, are not the measure that God himself uses as to what he is making of us.

Reminds me of a kind of saying between my siblings: "'Shall we sin that grace may abound?' OF COURSE NOT!!! But we do, and it does." Growing in Christ is not just about success in faithfulness (and by no means do I intend to reject that principle). Growing literally IN CHRIST is about becoming more and more dependent on him as our very sustenance and essence. And THAT is not generic. We are his members.

Excellent

 

[makesends]

Carbon said:
Sanctification is just getting used to justification, isn’t it?

It works perfectly with my understanding of it, which is monergistic

I have a bit of trouble thinking of the treatment, "Sanctification", as "just getting used to justification". That is a clever way to look at it, and it may well be a summarizing commentary on our point-of-view concerning what God is doing monergistically, and of our responses to what he is doing.

But then, I don't think that, were someone to ask you, "What is the Doctrine of Sanctification?", or even, "What is Sanctification?" that you would respond with, "Oh, that's 'just getting used to justification." After all, Sanctification is, among several other things, God's preparing us for our each one's position as members of the Bride of Christ, and all the other references to what is going to happen after the resurrection.

 

[Carbon]

But then, I don't think that, were someone to ask you, "What is the Doctrine of Sanctification?", or even, "What is Sanctification?" that you would respond with, "Oh, that's 'just getting used to justification." After all, Sanctification is, among several other things, God's preparing us for our each one's position as members of the Bride of Christ, and all the other references to what is going to happen after the resurrection.

Yes, it would require some explanation. A chunk like that can't be swallowed immediately.

 

[Hazelelponi]

God's preparing us for our each one's position as members of the Bride of Christ, and all the other references to what is going to happen after the resurrection.

You make us sound in some way important.

 

[makesends]

You make us sound in some way important.

Funny (odd), that. At first, "Self-esteem" was meant, I'm sure, to be a merely clinical term, only "how one sees oneself". But it has become an institution all its own, and almost completely a self-involved notion. We don't dare to damage anyone's self-esteem. We value the human individual because of some intrinsic worth, and we attribute all sorts of facts, sacrosanct quotes from Scripture (out of context) or extractions from Scriptural notions, and beyond reach of anyone's criticism —which are, oddly, the same things I quote (hopefully more in context, or amended) to make my point— "made in the image of God", "the reason for creation", "esteem others better than yourselves", "God loves each and every one, and is delighted to know you", "we are all God's children", "we are fearfully and wonderfully made", etc etc.

Then I open my big mouth to get slapped, "We are only what God has in mind concerning us, and only good according to God's assessment of us." And, predictably, cries of, "foul", ensue, when, to my mind, that statement should elicit comments like yours! Our identity IN CHRIST is inestimably valuable, and to be held in God's mind for whatever purpose he will use us for is more than any creature can ask. Who are we, compared to God??? Even the reprobate should thank him!

 

[Hazelelponi]

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