Holy Spirit For Sanctification

Hey everyone, it's been awhile since updating this blog, but I'm still around :-)

A complicated series of interactions have been taking place with a friend, and to make a long story short, I got raked over the coals in terms of verbal criticism and made to feel lousy. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. While the criticism may or may not be uncalled for, the fact is I'm reminded all too clearly of my failings on a daily basis.

I realize that I've been saved though grace, not of my own effort, and am a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). The doctrine of justification is a familiar one, and it was by the death of Jesus on the cross that I was saved from the power of sin, and not of my own efforts. In other words, the Holy Spirit entered my life after accepting Jesus Christ by faith, and I could not have saved myself.

Preaching in the church today tends to be very clear on this doctrine, and they also make it a point to correctly preach on Philippians 2:12 which says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. This is all good, but it seems that preachers get so focused on contrasting the phrase "work out" as opposed to "work for" our salvation. My guess as to why preachers spend so much time on these words is because they are shooting down a rabbit hole. Namely, they are debating the view by Roman Catholics and others who say we have to work for our salvation.

The debate on this topic can be brutal, but I obviously take the side that we "work out" our salvation, because the Bible tells us this is the case. Nonetheless I still wish preachers would also talk about verse 13 in the same message which says that "God works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

Put together with verse 12 and the justification doctrine, then it is clear that the Holy Spirit who enters a new believer through re-birth and new creation is the same Holy Spirit who works out the sanctification process, because the verse says that *God* works in you to will and to act, not we do it ourselves.

The devil has surely gotten Christians in bondage on this particular point, because he has led us to believe that we have to do the sanctification ourselves. In other words, what Satan seems to have achieved is to have gotten Christians to believe that they can't earn their salvation, but they still have to earn their sanctification.

The consequences of this lie, that we have to earn our sanctification, results in a constant feeling of condemnation, self-pity, or otherwise beating oneself up after experiencing failings as a new believer. This type of worldy sorrow (2 Cor 7:10) can be rightfully rejected as useless in terms of sanctifying a new believer to be more like Jesus.

Even so, we still need to live a godly and holy life, and only with the help of the Holy Spirit can this be possible. This is where the concept of godly sorrow (2 Cor 7:10) comes into play, in that we are convicted of sin in a specific way that leads to joyful repentance and true sanctification.

Godly sorrow, after all, is involved with the initial salvation. So it only seems reasonable that godly sorrow, spurred on by the same Holy Spirit, is experienced in the context of sanctification.