"Sanctification by Faith"

"The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3 NRSV)

Justification by faith in Jesus Christ is the biblical doctrine which teaches that Jesus died on the cross for our sins; when we accept this wonderful gift of forgiveness through faith we are justified and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. While we are still sinners, we are nevertheless considered by God to be as perfect as Jesus. For many Christians this would appear to be the "end" of the story. Many churches, and a great deal of preaching these days, is focused upon trying to "save" souls. And, while such is important, it is not the totality of the Christian message nor the "end" of God's grace in our lives. In other words, there is more to the Christian life than just salvation.

Methodism proclaims a "method," or "discipline," of spiritual formation and growth through partaking of the many means of grace. Wesleyan-Arminianism (the theology of Methodism) affirms that, apart from the grace of God we can do absolutely nothing; if we are going to respond to God in faith, if we are going to live a life which is exemplified by the fruit of the spirit, if we are ever going to change and do good works, we must first receive God's unmerited favor. This is true for salvation and, indeed, for sanctification. As Paul affirmed in his letter to the Galatians, we begin our Christian life with faith in Jesus Christ; we continue our Christian life, we grow in grace and live the life that God wants us to live, through faith in Jesus Christ. We don't have to "cut on ourselves," obeying external rules and regulations, in order to become a Christian, and we don't have to do this in order to continue to be and grow as Christians. In other words, if Justification is by faith - and it is - then Sanctification is also by faith.

It is this gospel, this "good news," that Paul proclaimed to the early Gentile Christians. He didn't require that they add to their lives Jewish practices of circumcision, dietary regulations, clothing regulations, or other features of the Mosaic law. He recognized that the law played a role as a teacher, showing us how much we fall short of God's standard and how much we are in need of the grace of Jesus Christ, but Paul never made keeping the law as part of what was required for one to either begin one's life as a Christian or to grow as a Christian. The Jewish Christians who followed Paul into the mission field, and were preaching to the new Church which Paul had founded in Galatia, were "bewitching" these gentile Christian. They were telling them "you must obey the law of Moses if you're going to be a Christian." They viewed the Christian Church as if it were a sect, or a denomination, of Judaism. It was okay that Gentiles began their Christian lives by faith, but now they must complete their Christian conversion and be sanctified by works. Paul's letter to the Galatians rejected this idea, and instead proclaimed our freedom from doing the works of the law for either salvation or sanctification.

"But how are sinners going to know that they need to change if they're going to be Christians?" That's an excellent question, but it is one that misses the whole point of the role and nature of God's grace in Sanctification. It also reflects a failure to truly trust that God can change sinners; indeed, it reflects a deeply seated desire on our part to remake others not into the image of Christ but into the image of what we think they should be. So often we want to tell sinners what they should do and how they should change their lives when, in point of fact, if God wants a sinner to change God can and will change them. God will provide the insight, the ability, and the will for them to change ... and without us having to stick our nosey opinions in the middle of it. We should be more concerned with our own Christian walks and less with the walks of others - or, to quote a certain Jewish Rabbi, we should be more concerned with the logs in our own eyes before we pretend to deal with the specks in other people's eyes.

This is why I don't often preach against particular sins. I preach grace and peace; I preach about faith and the means of grace as the foci of faith through which we are enabled to live the Christian life and overcome the power of sin in our lives. Even though I don't preach against specific sins, it is amazing to witness that people will hear the Gospel and their lives are changed by God's grace. Imagine that! I don't beat on people, and yet God still changes them!

Rev. Greg Neal

Community Spiritual Director

Dallas Men's Walk #97, Table of Luke