Progressive Sanctification & the Assurance of Pardon - 6

     Below are some comments on Forde’s words:

"It [sanctification] is what happens when we are grasped by the fact that God alone justifies."

"It is what happens when the old being comes up against the end of its self-justifying and self-gratifying, however pious. It is life lived in anticipation of the resurrection."

     Certainly no protestant would disagree that a very large portion of what it means to be sanctified is, being “grasped by the fact that God alone justifies”, and living life in light of the resurrection. It is the realization of this fact (essentially belief in the gospel) that sets us and our belief apart from the world in the first place—the mental ascent to the dire need for salvation and finding it only through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is part of what it means to have been justified by God but, and perhaps this is the main issue Forde is attempting to counteract in his argument, after being justified by grace through faith we are not then left to be sanctified by any other means.  It is by the same grace and through the same faith that we are sanctified until the end of our lives; until that time when we “see Him as He is” and are glorified and rid of all possibility of sin.

"Now, living morally is indeed an important, wise and good thing. There is no need to knock it. But it should not be equated with sanctification, being made holy. The moral life is the business of the old being in this world. The Reformers called it "civil righteousness." Sanctification is the result of the dying of the old and the rising of the new. The moral life is the result of the old being's struggle to climb to the heights of the law. Sanctification has to do with the decent of the new being into humanity, becoming a neighbor, freely, spontaneously, giving of the self in self-forgetful and uncalculating ways."

     My only real objection here, and it turns out to be a major one, is that I must, because I believe the Scriptures to do so as well, include “becoming a neighbor, freely, spontaneously, giving of the self in self-forgetful and uncalculating ways" as part of living the moral life. Jesus says that the greatest commandment or the summation of the Law is to love God with all your soul and mind to and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:34-40). So I must ask Forde how “becoming a neighbor” is not part of the moral life—“the old being’s struggle to climb”.

     Quotes and comments to be continued...