Paul's Passing Thoughts

I don’t think the working definition(s) of justification, sanctification or regeneration is what is being contended.  I think we’re pretty much on the same page with those definitions.  It is the cause or motivation behind our sanctification I believe we are discussing.

Any/all acts of obedience, we would say, are empowered alone by the Holy Spirit.  This begins at regeneration and continues until the believer dies or meets the Lord in the clouds J.  Historically, we believe the Holy Spirit uses the means of Scripture, via. the foundational reference of our justification, as motivational towards our sanctification.  Hence, the sacraments of baptism and communion are symbolic “means of grace” whereby the emphasis is upon the life, death and resurrection of Christ and how those events practically effect our lives (i.e., sanctify us).  Or in other words, we would say “the gospel of the sacraments is given and designed to keep our focus Christward alone, that he would receive any/all glory, that our motivation would stem outside of ourselves and upon him, to be conformed into the holy son of God we’ve been called to be.”  The sacraments, we believe, are given as directly connecting sanctification from our justification, something we see as historic as the Scriptures themselves.

Q; I’m not so sure about that clarification. Let’s take a pure, unadulterated NC view of justification and see where you agree or disagree:

“The Present, Continuous Nature of Justification; For all its strength, Reformed theology tends to relegate justification by faith to an initiatory action in the soteriological process. This is because it contends that the subjective (personal) justification of the believing sinner is a once-and-for-all, nonrepeatable act. Hence the relationship between justification and sanctification is seen as justification succeeded by sanctification.

And…Since the life of holiness is fueled and fired by justification by faith, sanctification must constantly return to justification. Otherwise, the Christian cannot possibly escape arriving at a new self-righteousness. We cannot reach a point in sanctification where our fellowship with God does not rest completely on forgiveness of sins.

And…Christian existence is gospel existence. Sanctification is justification in action.”

Second part of this question: I’m not so sure evangelicals would say that, “Any/all acts of obedience, we would say, are empowered alone by the Holy Spirit.” Please distinguish this as opposed to “sanctification by faith alone” which evangelicals would reject out of hand.

Third part of this question: How should we reconcile this with believers being described as “co-laborers with God”  and the Holy Spirit being our “Helper.”

Fourth: What’s you evaluation of the following statement:

“Sanctification is cooperative. There are two partners involved in the work. I must work and God will work. If ever the extra-biblical maxim, ‘God helps those who help themselves,’ had any truth, it is at this point. We are not called to sit back and let God do all the work. We are called to work, and to work hard. To work something out with fear and trembling is to work with devout and conscientious rigor. It is to work with care, with a profound concern with the end result”