We know that our Lord Jesus Christ was sinless and therefore free from all moral impurity, and yet He prayed, And for their sakes, I sanctify myself . The exhortation is not to try to die to self by some effort of our own, but to realize that when Christ died on the cross we did die to self with Him. Total self-dedication to God is the result of self-determined separation to God. Paul is here addressing all believers in the Corinthian Assembly, not only those who were spiritual but the carnal ones also. In the case of some Christians, the failure to distinguish between Sanctification as taught in the Bible and the deception known as sinless perfection results from a misunderstanding of the New Testament words perfect, perfected and perfection. When the Bible uses these terms in connection with us mortals, it refers to spiritual or ethical maturity whether in a person or the finishing of a work. Mans nature is depraved, so much so that God Himself makes no attempt to improve it to make it fit for His holy presence. In the Divine plan God set apart Jeremiah for His work before ever Jeremiah was born, separating and appointing him to be a prophet to the nations. What is regeneration according to the Bible? | GotQuestions.org Man has nothing to do with it except to receive it through faith, and that as the Holy Spirit enables him. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10, 23). The war is done, armistice has been declared, and God holds nothing whatever against us. This was the only way that God could have reckoned to us His righteousness, and it is the one way He found of not reckoning to us our sin. The Blood of Christ and the grace of God compose the basis of justification and the principle upon which it is offered to man. But a considerable part of New Testament teaching places sanctification in this category. The English word regeneration is the translation of palingenesia, from palin (again) and genesis (birth). The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. Our first parents were driven out from the garden; Cain was driven out from the presence of the Lord; Israel was kept afar off from the foot of Mount Sinai lest some of the people should approach it. His first recorded act that could not be produced instanteously by natural means was the turning of water into wine (John 2:1-10). Regeneration is particularly ascribed to the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8) working through the gospel (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23-25). It is nowhere taught by Christ nor expressed in the writings of the Apostles that infant baptism was believed by them. God said, And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar . And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it . Upon this foundation God goes into action. Both have reference to justification before men. We lack righteousness. Apart from the atoning Blood of Christ, man could not be set apart unto God. Most of us have at one time sought to improve ourselves by turning over a new leaf and attempting to throw off bad habits. There is always the danger of men trying to live the Christian life when they are not Christian at heart. The unsaved man is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1), alienated from the life of God (Ephesians 4:18). Sanctification is the process whereby God the Holy Spirit transforms the believer into the image and likeness of Christ. When a man is justified by faith, good works are sure to follow. With their finest instruments and technological knowledge they cannot always perceive the current of the air masses. Follow peace with all men, and holiness (i.e., the Sanctification), without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Regeneration then, may be defined as an act of God whereby He bestows upon the believing sinner new life. Here the Apostle is drawing a contrast between children and adults, exhorting them, not to sinless perfection, but to show forth the kind of understanding that would be expected of mature adults. It is the function of the Bible to interpret experience, rather than the function of experience to interpret the Bible. There is no trace of infant baptism in the New Testament. These are different ways of describing the same work of God in us . The Letter is addressed unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints . These miracles, or signs, or wonders, were performed by our Lord as an evidence of His Deity, and they were done by Him so that sinners would believe in Him and be saved. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer; the sin of the unbeliever is imputed to Christ as if that sin were Christs. 4. When Paul, for example, addresses the believers at Corinth as . The Apostle is saying that God does two things for the guilty but believing sinner that no man can possibly do for another; that is, He both forgives and justifies. In the preceding lesson we discussed the doctrine of Regeneration. If a criminal is found guilty and convicted of crime, he may be forgiven by the offended party and even pardoned by the governor, but he remains guilty of his offense. If my reader will heed my plea for charity, I promise not to be quarrelsome. If a man is not guilty of a charge made against him, he should be justified. The behavior of some of the Christians at Corinth was anything but commendable. The scholarly Nicodemus, to whom our Lord expounded the New Birth, could not fully understand it. And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand (Leviticus 27:14). He did not use it with reference to repeated action, but rather in contrast to our physical birth which is from beneath, or earthly. However, it is equally true that God in His sovereignty has ordained that men should be the means of carrying His Gospel to the unevangelized. Paul was set apart for the ministry long before the cradle. James is speaking of the evidence of justification. There is glory for the believer which has not yet been manifested. This passage is not an attempt to analyze the constituent parts of man; therefore it is not a proof text in support of trichotomy (the three-fold nature of man). The Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and must therefore be led by the Spirit. The utter inability of the natural man to enter into the Kingdom of God shows the necessity of being born again. For one thing, growth takes time. In connection with the mystery of the New Birth, there is a verse of Scripture which speaks of the mystery of another Birth. In this statement He was simply testifying that He had set apart Himself to fulfill the holy purpose for which He came into the world. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1, 2). of all things (Acts 3:21). Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17). The Meaning of Regeneration All regenerated persons are one in Christ, and love is their badge. Righteousness is that character or quality of being right or just in the sight of God. Every saved person is as much a saint now as he ever will be in time or eternity. . (Exodus 39:44). The Adoption is not experienced in this life while we remain in this mortal body. The baptismal regeneration theory is not merely erroneous but dangerous, because it holds that baptized babies of believing parents are saved, and unbaptized babies who die as such, are lost forever. What? Christians are now saints, already set apart, sanctified. He makes his point clear by use of illustration: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? (James 2:21). God was satisfied with the sacrifice of His Son, and never again will He take up a case against those who have been justified by faith. In the Fathers plan for the Son we see the principle of Preparatory Sanctification. When William Carey was pleading for missionaries to carry the Gospel to unevangelized peoples of the world, a group of preachers in England tried to silence him with the words, If God wants to evangelize the heathen He will do it without your help or ours. It was true, and still is, that God can reach the heathen with the Gospel without the help of any of us. Justification and sanctification are inseparable gifts of redemption because they are applied to the elect by the Holy Spirit, who unites them to Christ by faith. It is erroneous teaching which says that spiritual life can be transmitted from parent to child. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1). It works! All efforts to recover his body were futile. Think you it was a fair exchange? The man who contends that he does not need to be justified by God must first establish the evidence that there is no accusation against him. Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart (II Timothy 2:21, 22). Young believers must not feel that they are not making progress because they are not surging ahead at a fast rate of speed. God cannot be just and the Justifier of the ungoldly (Romans 3:26) unless a just penalty has been exacted. God stands at the commencement of all life. I can testify with Paul that God put me into the ministry and has enabled me to continue (I Timothy 1:12). G. Prayer. Sanctification | Bible.org. The glory of the revelation of the Lord from heaven will be shared by Christs Church at that day (Colossians 3:4). The Psalmist wrote, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalm 119:11). Abraham had nothing, or did nothing, that would stand boasting before God. The basic error of false systems of theology, philosophy and science is the failure to accept the most sublime and comprehensive statement in human language which introduces us to the greatest revelation of truth ever given to mankind. For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Romans 10:2, 3). Romans 9:10-13); Samson before he was conceived (Judges 13:3-5); and John the Baptist prior to his conception (Luke 1:13-17). . It happened in December 1927, and it has been blessedly real.
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