A Disturbing Post by John MacArthur
Confusion over sanctification, thanks to the Reformed camp, continues to reign in Christianity. The few who do get it in the institutional Reformed church are not calling out the perpetrators by name, and I think that is a big mistake. A post by John MacArthur is indicative of the horrible confusion being propagated among God’s people in regard to sanctification.
Per the typical, the grave concern is “Counterfeit Sanctification.” This concept in and of itself is confusing and unbiblical. The overriding concern among the apostles and Christ was counterfeit justification, not a micromanaging of our motives in sanctification. To this point, in vogue among the Reformed is the idea that Galatians is primarily a sanctification concern. Hence, the tone of Galatians is lent to confusing justification and sanctification. The post by MacArthur reflects the reason that paralyzing fear and confusion are rampant in Christianity. Most Evangelicals in our day are ill prepared to lead others to Christ because they are unclear themselves on the difference between justification and sanctification.
Though much of the post is agreeable (no surprise since error always swims in the lake of truth), MacArthur begins to state confusing concepts in the third paragraph:
But that’s not true spiritual growth—it’s counterfeit. If you truly love the Lord, you can’t be willing to move the goalposts on biblical sanctification.
Then in the next paragraph…
There are many varieties of counterfeit sanctification. Some are easier to spot than others, but all lead to the same kind of spiritual shipwreck. Here are a few to be on the lookout for in your own life.
For sure, sanctification is deep waters, but notice the close correlation MacArthur makes between properly understanding sanctification and the separate issue of justification; viz, “If you truly love the Lord,” and “all lead to the same kind of spiritual shipwreck.” And there are “many varieties” with varying degrees of difficulty in ascertaining. But then MacArthur follows that up with warnings about things that the Bible specifically tells us to practice in sanctification!
Restraint is another possible kind of counterfeit sanctification. People don’t always avoid sin in favor of righteousness—sometimes they’re simply afraid to face the consequences of sin. They don’t necessarily have a heart to obey God or His Word. They’re just afraid of pursuing temptation because of the results.
The Bible instructs Christians to “abstain” (2Thess 4:3) from unrighteousness and even posits the fear of judgment as a motivation (2Thess 4:6). When offering an example of “counterfeit sanctification” that is something the Bible instructs us to do, it would seem that further qualification would be in order to prevent confusion. Nevertheless, MacArthur continues:
That fear could be the sign of a well-trained conscience. Maybe the person was raised in a Christian home and has built-in convictions about right and wrong. Maybe he grew up under the moral standard of God’s Word and can’t shake the nagging of his conscience. Rather than face a troubled conscience or the consequences of his sin, he’ll simply not do it.
But again, the New Testament, in many places, commands us to “keep a clear conscience before God.” The New Testament writers had much to say about utilizing and developing the conscience for purposes of spiritual growth. The Bible even speaks directly to a well-trained conscience being the opposite of spiritual immaturity (Romans 14).
My primary point of contention here is MacArthur’s steroidal hypocrisy. While chiding others for not being biblically clear and concise, he warns Christians against specific biblical imperatives with little qualification.
It’s eerily similar to the whole Reformed motif of sanctification being something that we shouldn’t try at home without the infinite wisdom of Reformed thought. Learn and do is a concept that is grasping at shadows without their deep knowledge of God’s word.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
Lydia,
I am not talking about judging someone else’s motives. I am talking about a person judging his/her own motives. You, on the other hand, seem to have judged the motives of every pastor you don’t like.
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All,
By the way: MacArthur’s “counterfeit sanctification” is a bogus concept. What a Christian does in sanctification will result in reward or loss of reward, but does not qualify the legitimacy of sanctification itself.
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All,
Notice that Jon can’t answer the following question:
Jon,
Answer this question: “The rightly informed Christian certainly knows there is nothing he can do to earn God’s favor”…for justification, or sanctification? Which one are you referring to Jon? What’s your context?
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“I am not talking about judging someone else’s motives. I am talking about a person judging his/her own motives. You, on the other hand, seem to have judged the motives of every pastor you don’t like.”
Jon, The focus on motives is a useless black hole. I don’t need to know the motives of any pastor or anyone. What good would it do anyway as so many people either claim they don’t know their own “motives” or they claim their motives were good even though what they DID was wrong.
I can only go by what I see, hear, etc. I can only judge actions/words. And when it comes to the Body of Christ and what pastors teach, say and do– scripture says not to judge the world but we must make judgments in the Body. (1 Corin 5)
The whole idea of “judging motives” is ridiculous and a diversion from dealing with real time behavior, words, etc.
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“The rightly informed Christian certainly knows there is nothing he can do to earn God’s favor, but that is the problem. Too many professing believers have not been rightly informed. It was no doubt MacArthur’s purpose to inform them.
“To be seem by other people” is the wrong motive, Lydia. You gratuitously impute too much to my belief system. Why don’t you try asking what I believe instead of making unwarranted assumptions?
”
Jon, You told us what you believe in your first comment.And have continued to try and defend it. I simply disagree and for that– you claim I hate pastors and have made assumptions. But all I have done is respond to your own words here.
Here is your first comment:
“The issue is not whether believers should restrain ourselves or not. Of course we should. If we are doing so to avoid future punishment, we have not understood the message of the gospel at all, and what we thing of as “sanctification” becomes works religion. A person with such an approach does not lose justification; he never had it.”
The problem could be you have not taken what you believe or have been taught to its logical conclusions. You have not really thought it through. So in your view the Gospel message means we must have a heart of gratitude when doing good things. If not, we do not understand the Gospel. (I agree with Paul you could be fusing Just/Sanc together and that is causing the disconnect.)
So, can you describe for me what that “heart of gratitude for grace” feels like? Looks like? Does it mean no negative thought at all during that process of doing a good thing? I would like to hear how you process check yourself for a heart of gratitude that every single time you do good. Would you have time if you are running to a wreck to pull someone out? I just want to know how this works in real application and not just warm fuzzy words from a guru on a stage or in a book.
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Paul,
Of course I can answer the question. The true believer knows there is nothing he can do to earn God’s favor as his judge for justification. Clearly, the believer seeks to please God in sanctification, but if a professing believer is still under the delusion that he is somehow earning or keeping his right standing before God by his performance, he has never been justified. Sanctification is only sanctification in the life of a person who has been justified. In the life of an unbeliever or mere professor supposed obedience amounts to dead works.
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Jon,
You, like MacArthur, argue from a false premise, and frankly, a false gospel. The premise is that justification is an ongoing work called “sanctification.” Hence, sanctification can be “counterfeit.” The premise presupposes progressive justification. The whole, “sanctification being the ‘ground’ of our justification” is a biblical anomaly and totally bogus. Problematic sanctification is addressed biblically in context of rewards and the loss thereof, not in context of, “the ‘ground’ of our justification.” Progressive justification makes all references to rewards in the Bible–the reward of salvation. Your progressive justification can also be seen in your assertion that the lost cannot do good works–that’s not true. Obviously, among many other reasons, this is why there is various degrees of eternal punishment. Obviously then, some works of the unregenerate have merit. But more specifically, the Bible plainly states that unbelievers are free to do good works but are also enslaved to unrighteousness. Hence, at issue is a direction, not a perfection. This also points to the progressive justification tenet that justification is defined by a perfect keeping of the law.
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Lydia,
Then why are you continually accusing Reformed teachers of seeking wealth, fame, and power. I know those are not your words, but that is your basic accusation. The truth is, you don’t know their motives and you clearly don’t understand their message.
And, by the way, the reason I don’t always know my own motives is not because they are unknowable but because I don’t always take time to examine them.
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Lydia,
I have known many professed believers whose approach to God continued to be performance based. Though they had professed faith in Christ, they continued to think in terms of attaining or retaining a right standing with God by their performance. If that is our view of the Christian life, we are clearly not believers. I am not suggesting that we must question our motive for everything we do before we act. I am suggesting that we must examine our view of life. Are we “obeying” to gain God’s justifying favor or because we have been fully accepted in the Beloved one?
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“I am talking about a person judging his/her own motives.”
No you implied a person needs to have the motive of a “heart of gratitude for grace” when they do good things in sanctification. That doing any thing good (which could mean refrain from doing bad) because we fear God means we do not understand the Gospel. how ridiculous. Just another contemplative navel gazing burden to make zombies of people.
And by the way, I can think of several things a believer would refrain from doing because of the “fear of God”. For example– seeking revenge on your childs molester because they got by with it in court. To tell someone who refrained from seeking revenge for their child being molested and affected for life –they must NOT -NOT do it out of a gratitude for grace instead of a fear of God— is sicko but sounds very Piperish, CJ Mahaney (who loves cheap grace for molesters), etc.
Oh, and the irony is when you are relegated to only “doing” good when the attitude of gratitude of grace is conjured up— it means you cannot speak negative truths about the charlatans or you are in sin.
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Paul,
That is not what I am arguing at all. Sanctification is in no way the ground of justification, and justification is not progressive. Such a teaching would indeed be a false “gospel.” When I say the unregenerate cannot perform good works, I mean they cannot perform justifying works. Of course, it is preferable for people to act morally. In that sense their works may be good. Ungodly people can act benevolently, but they can’t merit justifying favor by their actions.
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Jon,
Are you saying you don’t believe that perfect law-keeping is the standard for justification? And is justification static? How many resurrections and judgements are there in the future? That’s 3 questions.
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