Sanctification and spiritual growth is about…
- a journey...
- allowing God to invade one’s life...
- a continued openness to His Lordship (A & B)
- an awareness of the tension between the “old man” and the “new man” (A)
We don’t hear these concepts much any more: “the old man” and “the new man.” For most of my Christian life, until recently, these two phrases were descriptions used to describe the old way of life as a sinner and the new way of life as a Christian. More specifically, when the appeal was made to Christians—not so much to unbelievers—to be sanctified, the old man was the reference to their “old, but currently active” sinful nature that continued to be in affect even after being born again. “Put off the old man” was equivalent to “Crucify your sinful nature” and/or simply “repent and put away sinful actions.” Here I don’t want to debate whether the Biblical term “the old man” is rightly or wrongly translated to mean “the sinful nature in a Christian” or not (but I will hint at what I think), but to reflect here on how these two biblical concepts help in moving us toward a more sustainable sanctification.
Sanctification, like all elements of the redemptive and spiritual life experienced through God’s action in Christ Jesus, are eschatological. Eschatology is usually understood in its popular form as being about the future, the end times, the last days. While this is true, this is only one aspect of it. Eschatology is, of course, the “study of last things,” but the “last things” stretch over from one redemptive act to the next—in this case the redemptive act of the birth/cross/resurrection of Jesus to the redemptive act of His second coming. Although I do include the coming of the Spirit as the fourth component of the last redemptive act—i.e., the birth/cross/resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the spirit—it functions also as the event that seals (or gives a down-payment of) the guaranteed fulfillment of God’s eschatological promises in Christ, presents itself as the first fruits of those promises, and as well, applies and makes real the promises in Christ in this redemptive era. The fulfillment is still pending, but it is realized now through the presence and activities of the Holy Spirit. This is what is often referred to as “the already, but not yet.” So I attribute this breath of meaning to the concept of eschatology. Thus, eschatological then means part of God’s redemptive activity in history, including the present time, whereby He brings about His promises, particularly the promises of His coming rule and reign over creation.
Applying an eschatological framework (which is the biblical framework) to sanctification then helps us to see santification as an “already, but not yet.” Understanding this will help us to understand and even experience it rightly. So as I reflect on sanctification, I am reminded that sanctification is not a point in time, but a journey of realizing (experiencing) the fullness of the promises of Christ and the actualization (Spirit generated) of the life of Christ in and through the believer. So, when we model a point in time sanctification, filling, or break-through through a Christian event or spiritually high moment or activity, we are actually working contrary to the work of the Spirit and as a result, does not ultimately produce sustainable sanctification for the believer.
No better way of conceptualizing this than with the two concepts “the old man” and “the new man.” To be continued…
Posted by Chip Anderson at 06:00 AM. Filed under: In the Margins • Discipleship • Spiritual growth •
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