Sanctification

I doubt that many readers will have any difficulty accepting the premise that we live in tumultuous times. Consider the contradictory claims surrounding the recent election: “There was no Fraud!” “Stop the Steal!” How about claims related to COVID 19? “Masks do not do any good.” “Mask demonstrably...

Perhaps you have noticed by now that Proverbs 6:16-19 is not simply a list of ills that God hates though it most certainly is that. But it is more. On the surface of this list is an explanation. God is not only telling us the things He hates but why He hates them. Have you noticed what is included...

As we come to the end of our series on walking in the book of Ephesians it is appropriate that Paul would urge believers to walk carefully. [1] The adverb “carefully” has the idea of walking deliberately. I can just imagine a young person carelessly trundling along only to hear his mother bark out...

“Therefore, become imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2). In much Jewish thought the idea of imitating God was anathema. With the initial sin of Adam and Eve in “desiring to...

In 2003 the Free Church of Scotland published an updated psalter entitled Sing Psalms where Psalm 16 versus 8 through 11 reads thus: “Before me constantly, I set the Lord alone. Because he is at my right hand I'll not be overthrown. Therefore my heart is glad; my tongue with joy will sing. My body...

For a number of years, my family enjoyed a mid-summer escape from the hot winds of the Kansas plain to the cooler heights of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado. With Horn Peak looming above our cabin, we were nourished by the warm-hearted fellowship of the saints and the heart-warming...

Christian sanctification is normally understood as the on-going spiritual growth of a believer where that believer is more and more conformed into the image and likeness of Christ. The moment a person believes in Jesus and thereby becomes one with Him, the Spirit of Christ enables and works within...

The Story Retold Benjamin Gladd is the associate professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS. He joins James and Jonathan to discuss The Story Retold: A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament, his recently published book co-written with G.K. Beale. No...

Our English term sanctification derives from two Latin terms sanctus and facio . When brought together they mean “to make holy.” If we are to understand how the term sanctification is used in Scripture, we must understand the Scriptural use of the term holy . The biblical notion of holiness, or...

When it comes to justification and sanctification, you cannot have one without the other. It is important to understand that justification and sanctification are distinct aspects of our salvation in Jesus Christ but justification and sanctification are also inseparable aspects of our salvation. The...