Between Two Worlds

Tony Lane:

The Reformation doctrine makes a deliberate and systematic distinction between justification on the one hand and sanctification or regeneration on the other hand.

• Justification refers to my status; sanctification to my state.
• Justification is about God's attitude to me changing; sanctification is about God changing me.
• Justification is about how God looks on me; sanctification is about what he does in me.
• Justification is about Christ dying for my sins on the cross; sanctification is about Christ at work in me by the Holy Spirit changing my life.

The Reformers were careful to distinguish these two--but not to separate them. One cannot have one without the other--as with the heat and light of the sun. The sun gives out heat and light. These two cannot be separated. When the sun shines there is both heat and light; yet they are distinct and not to be confused. We are not warmed by the sun's light nor illumined by its heat. To use a modern illustration, justification and sanctification are like the two legs of a pair of trousers, not like two socks which may well become separated and, in the author's experience, too often do become separated.

Anthony N.S. Lane, Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue: An Evangelical Assessment, p. 18.

Carolyn McCulley passes along a very helpful illustration on sin and the human heart. It's simple--but when I first heard it there was the light-bulb-going-on effect.

Follow the links on her post for more edifying material on this topic.

I've been looking forward to the appearance of this book for years. Multnomah has now published John Piper's book Battling Unbelief. Though I recommend lots of books on this blog, I try not to overuse the term "must have" or "must read." Well this is not one of those times! Quite simply, I think this is some of the best material we have today on sanctification--putting sin to death and trusting in the promises of God in Christ through the power of the Spirit.

Future Grace was first published in 1995. It's a thick book (both in terms of content and pages). But sprinkled throughout the book are "application" chapters that take the concept of future grace and apply them to eight broad categories of unbelief: (1) anxiety, (2) pride, (3) misplaced shame, (4) impatience, (5) covetousness, (6) bitterness, (7) despondency, and (8) lust.

These chapters are now lightly revised and collected in Battling Unbelief, along with a new introduction. If you can't afford it, skip a meal, shovel someone's driveway--do what you need to do to get your hands on this book.

Desiring God has also put together a DVD (clip) and a study guide, along with some group specials.

Eric Simmons offers wise and grace-filled counsel in his blog posts on an "Idiot's Guide to Correction" (part 1 | part 2)