Some notes on Romans 6:1, and the concept of continuing to sin for grace. Not sure where these notes came from (I think it was a message from a Dallas Reformed Seminary mp3.)
Perfectionism is not taught in the Bible, and yet on the flip side is the attitude that sin is not all that serious. The writer of Hebrews instructed to "pursue holiness". Its important to understand the idea being that sanctification is just as important as justification. Hebrews speaks especially about being set apart for God.
Sanctification of God, taken from Ezekiel, speaks about God being set apart from false gods.
Sanctification of man, in the Old Testament, was illustrated in separating from what was unclean.
Sanctification of the redeemer we see in the example of how Jesus sanctified self (John 17).
Sanctification is ultimately about the believer being set apart more and more for God. This is a continuing process solely through the indwelling and working of the Holy Spirit.
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This is a source of a great deal of angusih to me. For I want to be perfect in all of my ways a lot more now than I ever did when I believed in an angry God, and it troubles me greatly that I am still far from being so.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I fully understand that this is a trap set by Satan. For if I spent all of time focusing upon trying to cleanse myself, there would be no time left to serve just as I am.
Be assured that Romans 7:14-8:39 is of great comfort to me, as is Philippians 2:12-13. Of course, it is of even greater comfort to have been allowed and enabled to hear the witness of our Heavenly Father's Holy Spirit, and I thank you for ending this with something from Him, "Sanctification is ultimately about the believer being set apart more and more for God. This is a continuing process solely through the indwelling and working of the Holy Spirit."
It was brought to my attention that I neglected to include something in my last comment. For it is just as much a trap to want to take our Heavenly Father's grace too much for granted, and as it is with everything else, truly hearing His voice is the key to being at peace within ourselves. For anyone who can be completely honest with themselves should be able to clearly see that they are just plain not good enough to be considered one of His children--even by faith, but His reassurances should make that all right. Of course, ignoring His counsel about which way to go is another matter entirely.
ReplyDeleteSome good comments Jerry. To me, sanctification is about yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit, and not seeing closeness to God as being a results of our own works-based striving. And taking grace for granted, like you said, can be a dangerous trap, I agree.
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