What you believe makes
a big difference in your Christian life. Even if the categories of formal
theology seem remote and unfamiliar, you have a theology.
Everything you think about God, Jesus, law, sin, salvation, holiness, the
Spirit, the church, human nature, life, death, and eternity is theological. We
are all theologians. The real question is whether or not our theologies are
true to Scripture.
One of the most
important areas of theology is sanctification: the doctrine that
concerns our consecration to God, the restoration and renewal of God’s image
within us, and our practical progress in holiness. I’ve seen a number of common
errors that Christians make in this area. In fact, here are seven errors to avoid
in following Christ.
1. Looking to
your sanctification for your justification
Justification and sanctification are related, but not
to be confused. Justification concerns our legal status before God. Scripture
teaches that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone. If you believe in Jesus, your sins are pardoned and God already accepts
you as righteous – even though you still struggle with sin.And to the one who does not work but believes
in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness… (Rom. 4:5)
God justifies the
ungodly! Full forgiveness is freely given through faith in Jesus crucified and
risen alone. The verdict is in: “not guilty.”
Who shall bring any charge against God’s
elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to
condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is
at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Rom. 8:33-34)
Don’t measure your
acceptance with God by your progress in holiness or apparent lack thereof.
Sanctification depends on justification, not the other way around.
2. Adding rules
to Scripture
Make no mistake: there
are commands in Scripture and we must obey them. Even Christians, who are freed
the law (Acts 13:39; Rom. 7:4; 8:2; Gal. 5:1-13), are commanded to walk in love, work out their own salvation,
bring holiness to completion in the fear of God, and more (Eph. 5:2; Philip. 2:12; 2 Cor. 7:1). While obeying God’s commands does not justify us, obedience
is an essential part of sanctification. But sometimes people require
more than God requires. When Paul warned of those who would
forbid marriage and require abstinence from certain foods, he said it was
demonic (1 Tim. 4:1-3). That’s pretty strong language! But it underscores the
absolute sufficiency of God’s word for training us in
righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).
If the Bible doesn’t
forbid it or require it, neither should you. Doing so won’t help you or others
become holy. It will only undermine confidence in Scripture. Beware of adding
rules to the Bible.
3. Focusing on
behavior to the neglect of the heart
Behavior is important.
But our words and deeds always flow from the heart.
For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again
does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For
figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble
bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and
the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the
abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)
If you want to change
the fruit, you have to change the root. This doesn’t mean we either can or
should neglect behavioral issues until we feel different. You
should do what God says, even when you don’t feel like it. But if you don’t go
after the underlying motives, passions, and desires that drive your sinful
behavior, your efforts to change will be short lived and superficial.
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal. 5:24)
4. Thinking you
can go it alone
One of the most
overlooked facts about the New Testament letters is that almost all of them
were written to churches. Even Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus were written
with a church context in mind. This means that most of the exhortations and
commands given in these letters are given to churches, not individuals.
It was John Wesley who
said, “The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion.” But when it comes to
holiness, too many of us try to go it alone. It won’t work. You need the
church. You need the church because you need the means of grace: the preached
word, prayer, and the sacraments. And you need the church because you need
other people. Even the Lone Ranger needed Tonto. Holy living is a community
project.
5. Neglecting the
ministry of the Holy Spirit
Sanctification is part
of the Spirit’s ministry (1 Pet. 1:2; 2 Thess. 2:13). The Spirit is the one who fills us (Eph. 5:18), strengthens us (Eph. 3:16), and reproduces the character of Christ in us (Gal. 5:22-23). And while the Spirit indwells the heart of every believer (Rom. 8:9), we are responsible to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25) and to put sin to death in his strength (Rom. 8:13).
Neglecting the
Spirit’s ministry is a sure recipe for stunted spiritual growth. We therefore
need to cultivate continuous, conscious dependence on the Spirit. And Paul’s
writings indicate that the primary ways we do this are through the word and
prayer (study, for example, the parallels between Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18-20, and Paul’s many references to the Spirit in
his prayers).
6. Failing to put
effort into the pursuit of holiness
Sometimes an emphasis
on the Spirit has led believers to spiritual passivity – the old “let go and
let God” approach. But the biblical path leads in the opposite direction: the
greater our dependence on the Spirit, the more active we become. Dependence on
the Spirit is fully compatible with fighting the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12) and running the race set before us (Heb 12:1). Effort is an essential ingredient
in spiritual growth (2 Pet. 1:5-10).
7. Forgetting the
reality of your union with Christ
But we must never
forget the reality of the new identity we already have through union with
Christ. In fact, in Paul’s fullest teaching on the Christian life, this is
always how he starts. We see this pattern in Romans 6 where
he argues that continuing to live in sin is deeply incongruous for those who
are already dead to sin through their faith union in the death of Christ.
This is also the focus of Colossians 3, where all Paul’s commands (imperatives) rest on the realities
(indicatives) that we are already dead, raised, and hidden with Christ.
Or consider Ephesians 4:17-32, where Paul admonishes us to holy living,
because we’ve already put off the old man and put on the new, in learning
Christ. As Paul says in another familiar verse:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who
live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)
Source : Brian G. Hedges
0 comments:
Post a Comment