Hold on. Sanctification is two-fold, spiritually it is instantaneous. It means set apart, saved and sealed. But then we must still run the race, conquer temptations, fears and mature as Christians. We grow - or do you not believe that we do not mature. If we mature, then there is point at which we are not so mature. So at the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit, with His guidance and our cooperation to study His Word, transforms our souls into the likeness of Him. Again, spiritually in Christ, fleshly still living on earth - or do you not believe that we still have the flesh? In God's realm, it's a done deal, sanctified, but we live in a time domain, which is the "already but not yet". What is "not yet"? We are not yet redemed, we haven't been resurrectioned. We need to be separated from our flesh completely and that will happened also in an instant someday.
Hi Ron,
I don't think you read the whole paragraph. I will highlight what you obviously missed. YES, there is a process we go through to mature in the fruit of the Spirit, but what is wrong with that second view of sanctification is what it is
called, and what it is
for. You said: "So at the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit, with His guidance and our cooperation to study His Word, transforms our
souls into the likeness of Him." Yes, Yes, Yes! To be like Him, He gives us His glory. John 17. But what the Protestants teach is that, as you said, sanctification is to "conquer temptations, fears." IOW, grow out of sin. John MacArthur calls it "working out our own salvation." That flies in the face of Romans 6. How do you explain that? JMc said we still have the old man, and laughed at holiness, seeing it as instead as a natural man in 1 Cor. 2:9-16 - foolishness. What does this say from Romans 6:
"5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be
in the likeness of
His resurrection, 6 knowing this,
that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For
the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but
the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members
as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Grace is the divine power of God, 2 Pt. 1:2-4)
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin
leading to death, or of obedience
leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that
though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Me: This is the part of the post you replied to but must not have read.
I do not agree with his view on me as entire sanctification before regeneration. No, it is at the same moment. We are sanctified when we are justified, at that moment when all sin and the sin nature itself is removed.
1 John 3:5. JMc goes on in contempt. For one thing he doesn't know the meaning of sanctification. It is not the process we go through, but is merely being set apart unto good works and happens at the same time as Justification. That is why in
Hebrews 10:26-31 "sanctified" is past tense.
That is also why only justification is noted in Romans 8:29-30, and sanctification is not even mentioned. The process through our life is called glorification, noted at the end of Romans 8:30. Only at the end of glorification are we perfect. But sinlessness can be kept by not going against our conscience 1 John 3:21, and living up to the knowledge that we have at every stage of maturity in Christ, Phil. 3:16. JMc is using absolutely NO SCRIPTURES to prove why he has contempt for the scriptures that John Wesley bases his beliefs! If you don't know the Word of God as well as I do, then you might fall into his trap.
