Chapter Eight: Holiness: A Gift of God’s Grace
CHAPTER EIGHT
HOLINESS: A GIFT OF GOD’S GRACE
Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” . . . And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
HEBREWS 10:9-10
“The great mistake made by most of the Lord’s people is in hoping to discover in themselves that which is to be found in Christ alone.”[36] These words of Arthur W. Pink focus on a key issue in living by grace. Most of us have the tendency that Arthur Pink identified: to seek within ourselves what is to be found in Christ alone.
To live by grace is to live solely by the merit of Jesus Christ. To live by grace is to base my entire relationship with God, including my acceptance and standing with Him, on my union with Christ. It is to recognize that in myself I bring nothing of worth to my relationship with God, because even my righteous acts are like filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). Even my best works are stained with mixed motives and imperfect performance. I never truly love God with all my heart, and I never truly love my neighbor with the degree or consistency with which I love myself.
Yet God requires perfection. Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). When we take Jesus’ words seriously, we are forced to say with the psalmist, “Your commandment is exceedingly broad” (Psalm 119:96, NASB).
What is the answer to our dilemma? All Christians recognize that we are justified —that is, declared righteous —solely on the basis of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by God through faith (see Romans 3:21-25). But few of us fully recognize that we are also sanctified through faith in Christ.
Sanctification, or holiness (the two words are virtually interchangeable), is essentially conformity to the moral character of God. We normally think of sanctification as progressive, as an inner change of our character whereby we are conformed more and more to the likeness of Christ. That is certainly a major part of sanctification, but that is not all of it.
Scripture speaks of both a holiness we already possess in Christ before God and a holiness in which we are to grow more and more. The first is the result of the work of Christ for us; the second is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The first is perfect and complete and is ours the moment we trust Christ; the second is progressive and incomplete as long as we are in this life.
The objective holiness we have in Christ and the subjective holiness produced by the Holy Spirit are both gifts of God’s grace and are both appropriated by faith. However, the perfect holiness we have in Christ is the answer to our dilemma of how we can appear daily before a perfectly holy God, when even our best deeds are stained and polluted. Our lack of understanding of the distinction between the holiness we do have in Christ and the holiness we want to find in ourselves caused Mr. Pink to say that we mistakenly hope to find in ourselves something that can be found in Christ alone.
CHRIST OUR HOLINESS
The apostle Paul wrote, “It is because of him [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God —that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In other words, it is God Himself who chose us to be in Christ.
But the truth I want to call attention to in the passage is that Christ Jesus has become our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. That Christ is our righteousness is an accepted and well-understood truth and the basis for our justification. But Christ is also our holiness. This fact is not as well understood. All Christians look to Christ alone for their justification, but not nearly as many also look to Him for their perfect holiness before God. The blessed truth, though, is that all believers are sanctified in Christ, even as we are justified in Christ.
In ourselves, apart from Christ, we are both guilty and filthy. We are guilty of breaking God’s law, and we are filthy in God’s sight because of the vile, polluting effect of sin. We need both forgiveness from our guilt and cleansing from our filth. Through justification we are forgiven and are declared righteous in the courtroom of God’s justice. Through the perfect holiness we have in Christ, our moral filth is removed, and we become fit to enter into the very presence of an infinitely holy God and enjoy fellowship with Him.
Hebrews 10:10, 14 help us see this objective aspect of sanctification —the holiness we have in Christ alone. Verse 10 says, “And by that will [of God], we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Note that we have been made holy. This speaks of a completed work. The emphasis here is on the holiness we have in Christ through His once-for-all sacrifice.
Verse 14, on the other hand, says, “By one sacrifice he [Christ] has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” This verse mentions being made holy —the work of the Holy Spirit in progressive sanctification. But this verse also refers to our completed, objective sanctification in Christ when it speaks of those He has made perfect forever. So, in one aspect of sanctification you are already holy because Christ’s holiness is imputed to you. You have been made perfect forever. In another aspect, you are being made holy day by day through the work of the Holy Spirit imparting Christ’s life to you.
Holiness should be an objective for your daily life. But to live by grace, you must never, never look to the work of the Holy Spirit in you as the basis for your relationship with God. You must always look outside of yourself to Christ. You will never be holy enough through your own efforts to come before God. You are holy only through Christ.
Two parallel passages in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians should encourage all of us:
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
EPHESIANS 1:4
But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
COLOSSIANS 1:22
The common teaching in both verses is that we are holy and blameless in God’s sight. It seems like a paradox to state that we are holy in God’s sight. How can we who are not only guilty but morally filthy possibly be holy in the sight of One whose gaze penetrates our very hearts, who knows our every motive and thought as well as our words and actions? The answer is that because of our union with Christ, God sees His holiness as our holiness. Arthur Pink said, “In the person of Christ God beholds a holiness which abides His closest scrutiny, yea, which rejoices and satisfies His heart; and whatever Christ is before God, He is for His people.”[37]
Many Christians grew up in homes where parental acceptance was based, to a large degree, on academic, athletic, musical, or perhaps some other standard of achievement. Often, in that kind of performance environment, they never quite felt as if they measured up to expectations, regardless of how successful they were. Then they transfer that sense of inadequacy to their relationship with God. They continually wonder, Is God pleased with me? Is He smiling on me with Fatherly favor?
The answer to that question is an unqualified yes. God is smiling on you with Fatherly favor. He is pleased with you because He sees you as holy and without blemish in Christ. Do you want to talk about performance? Then consider that Jesus could say matter-of-factly and without any pretentiousness, “I always do what pleases him [the Father]” (John 8:29, emphasis added). When our Father looks at us, He does not see our miserable performance. Instead, He sees the perfect performance of Jesus. And because of the perfect holiness of Jesus, He sees us as holy and without blemish.
I like the translation of Ephesians 1:6 in the King James Version: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (emphasis added). Or to be more direct, God has made us acceptable to Himself through our union with Christ. You will never be accepted in yourself. You can never, to use a figure of speech, “scrub yourself clean.”
I teach a lot at various conferences and retreats. I always seek the Lord’s enabling and anointing on my messages, and I want my motive to be strictly to glorify God and build up His people. But I know it never is, because deep down inside, I also want to succeed as a teacher. As hard as I try to dismiss that base motive, I know full well I never will completely. I can never “scrub clean” that motive.
That is only one of many illustrations I could give from my own life to show that we never reach the point where we can look inside ourselves to find the holiness we need to stand before a holy God. But God in His grace has provided a perfect holiness in the person of His Son. Through our union with Him we have been made holy.
EXPERIENTIAL SANCTIFICATION
God’s ultimate goal for us, however, is that we be truly conformed to the likeness of His Son in our person as well as in our standing. This goal is expressed in Romans 8:29: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
All through the New Testament we see this ultimate end in view as the writers speak of salvation. For example, Paul said that Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). Jesus did not die just to save us from the penalty of sin, nor even just to make us holy in our standing before God. He died to purify for Himself a people eager to obey Him, a people eager to be transformed into His likeness.
So holiness or sanctification is more than just our standing before God in Christ. It is an actual conformity within us to the likeness of Christ begun at the time of our salvation and completed when we are made perfect in His presence. This process of gradually conforming us to the likeness of Christ begins at the very moment of our salvation when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and to actually give us a new life in Christ. We call this gradual process progressive sanctification, or growing in holiness, because it truly is a growth process.
The holiness we have in Christ is purely objective, outside of ourselves. It is the perfect holiness of Christ imputed to us because of our union with Him, and it affects our standing before God. God is pleased with us because He is pleased with Christ. Progressive sanctification is subjective or experiential and is the work of the Holy Spirit within us imparting to us the life and power of Christ, enabling us to respond in obedience to Him. Both aspects of sanctification, however, are gifts of God’s grace. We do not deserve our holy standing before God, and we do not deserve the Spirit’s sanctifying work in our lives. Both come to us by His grace because of the merit of Jesus Christ.
Progressive sanctification begins in us with an instantaneous act of God at the time of our salvation. God always gives justification and this initial imparting of sanctification at the same time. The author of Hebrews described this truth in this way:
“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
Then he adds,
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”
HEBREWS 10:16-17
God promises to put His laws in our hearts and write them on our minds. That’s sanctification in principle or, as I like to express it, sanctification begun. Then He promises to remember our sins no more. That’s justification. Note that sanctification and justification are both gifts from God and expressions of His grace. Though they are each distinct aspects of salvation, they can never be separated. God never grants justification without also giving sanctification at the same time.
I think of justification and sanctification as being like the jacket and pants of a suit. They always come together. A friend once wanted to give me a suit. He took me to a clothing store, and I walked out with a jacket and matching pants —a complete suit. Neither the jacket nor the pants alone would have been sufficient. I needed both to have the suit that my friend wanted to give me.
Sometimes we think of salvation as more like a sports coat and a pair of slacks. We think God gives us the sports coat of justification by His grace, but we must “buy” the slacks of sanctification by our own efforts. But salvation is like a suit. It always comes with the jacket of justification and the pants of sanctification. God never gives one without the other because both are necessary to have the complete suit of salvation.
Sanctification in us begins as an instantaneous act of the Holy Spirit and is carried forward by His continued action in our lives. This instantaneous act is described in a number of ways in Scripture. It is called the “renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5), making us alive with Christ when we were dead in transgressions and sins (see Ephesians 2:1-5). It results in the new creation Paul referred to in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
One of the best descriptions of this initial act of God in sanctification is found in Ezekiel 36:26-27 where God makes this gracious promise: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
Note the changes God brings about in our inner being when He saves us. He gives us a new heart and puts a new spirit within us —a spirit that loves righteousness and hates sin. He puts His own Spirit within us and moves us to follow His decrees and keep His law; that is, God gives us a growing desire to obey Him. We no longer have an aversion to the commands of God, even though we may not always obey them. Instead of being irksome to us, they have now become agreeable to us.
David said in Psalm 40:8, “I desire to do your will, O my God.” Why did David have this desire? It was because, as the remainder of the verse says, “Your law is within my heart.” David found a law written in his own heart corresponding to the law written in God’s Word. There was an agreeableness between the spiritual nature within him and the objective law of God external to him.
It is that way with a person who is a new creation in Christ. There is a basic though imperfect correspondence between the law written in a believer’s heart and the law written in Scripture. This does not mean we can discard the law written in Scripture, because the law written in the heart is not self-directing —that is, it does not tell us what to do. It only agrees with and responds to the law written in Scripture.
This instantaneous act of God by which He begins sanctification in us is just as much a gift of God’s grace as is justification. God does not wait until we “surrender all,” make a second commitment to Christ’s lordship, or anything like that. God gives sanctification by His grace.
Immediately after Paul’s declaration in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” he said, “All this is from God” (verse 18). God has made us new creatures. God has given us the gift of sanctification, and He gives it by the same grace and at the same time as He gives us justification.
One reason we do not appreciate the grace of God more is that we either do not understand or do not appreciate the radical dimension of this instantaneous act of sanctification, which God gives at salvation. Perhaps because many of us had a moral lifestyle before conversion, we find it difficult to accept Paul’s description of our attitude toward God: “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8). As we think back to our pre-conversion days, we don’t think of our attitude as being hostile to God’s law.
But human morality and submission to God’s law are entirely different in principle, though they may appear to be similar in outward appearance. Human morality arises out of culture and family training and is based on what is proper and expected in the society we live in. It has nothing to do with God except to the extent that godly people have influenced that society. Submission to God’s law arises out of a love for God and a grateful response to His grace and is based on a delight in His law as revealed in Scripture. When the societal standard of morality varies from the law of God written in Scripture, we then see the true nature of human morality. We discover that it is just as hostile to the law of God as is the attitude of the most hardened sinner.
Sanctification begun in our hearts by the Holy Spirit changes our attitude. Instead of being hostile to God’s law, we begin to delight in it (see Romans 7:22). We find that “his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3), but rather are “holy, righteous and good” (Romans 7:12). This radical and dramatic change in our attitude toward God’s commands is a gift of His grace, brought about solely by the mighty working of His Holy Spirit within us. We play no more part in this initial act of sanctification than we do in our justification. As Paul said, “All this is from God.”
WE DIED TO THE LAW
One reason we have this new attitude toward sin and God’s law is that we “died” to the law. Such a statement may sound strange after my insistence in chapter 7 on the importance of God’s law as a moral rule in the believer’s life. But though the law reveals God’s moral will for us, the law in itself has no power to enable us to obey it.
Because the law commands obedience without providing any enabling power, it is in this sense a source of bondage. And because we were hostile to God’s law prior to our salvation (see Romans 8:7), it was also a source of provocation to us. Instead of being a means of obedience to God, the law actually provoked us and incited us to sin (see 7:7-8).
But Paul said we died to the law. Here is how he put it:
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
ROMANS 7:4-6
In verse 4, Paul said we died to the law. In what sense did we die to it? Three passages of Scripture will help us understand what he meant:
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
ROMANS 3:20
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
ROMANS 6:14
All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
GALATIANS 3:10
From these passages we understand that we died to the observance of the law as a requirement for attaining righteousness before God. We died to the curse and condemnation that resulted from our inability to perfectly keep the law. Then we see in Romans 6:14 that being under the law is the opposite of being under grace. Because of our sin against the law, being under law implies the wrath of God, whereas grace implies forgiveness and favor. Law implies a broken relationship with God, whereas grace implies a restored relationship with Him. So when Paul said we died to the law, he meant we died to that entire state of condemnation, curse, and alienation from God.
The most important thing for us to see in our death to the law, however, is the purpose of our death. We died to the law in order that we might live in the realm of grace. We died to the law that we might bear fruit to God. And according to Romans 7:6, we died that we might “serve [God] in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code [the law].”
The new way of the Spirit is not a new and less rigorous ethic than the old way of the written code. The difference does not lie in the content of the moral will of God. Since that is a reflection of the holy character of God, it cannot change. Rather, the difference lies in the reason to obey and in the ability with which to obey.
Verse 6 gets right to the heart of what it means to live by grace. For serving in the new way of the Spirit is the same as living by grace instead of by works. Although it is clearly God’s design that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, far too many Christians still serve in the old way of the law.
Consider the following contrasts between the old way of the law and the new way of the Spirit:
Old Way of Law
New Way of Spirit
External Code
1. The moral precepts of God are only an external code of conduct. The law commands obedience but provides no inclination or desire to obey.
Internal Desire
1. The moral precepts of God are written on our hearts as well as being an external code. The Spirit inclines our hearts and gives us a desire to obey.
Commanding
2. The law commands but gives no enabling power for obedience.
Enabling
2. The Spirit enables us to obey the law’s commands.
Hostility
3. Because of our hostility to God’s law before our conversion, the commands of the law actually provoked and incited us to sin.
Delight
3. The Spirit, by removing our hostility and writing the law on our hearts, actually causes us to delight in God’s law.
Fear
4. The law produces a legalistic response to God. We try to obey because of a fear of punishment for disobedience or in order to win favor with God.
Gratitude
4. The Spirit, by showing us God’s grace, produces a response of love and gratitude. We obey, not out of fear or to earn favor, but out of gratitude for favor already given.
Working
5. Under the law, we perform in order to be accepted by God. Since our performance is always imperfect, we never feel completely accepted by Him. Thus, in our Christian life, we always work from a position of weakness. We work to be accepted but feel we never quite make it.
Relying
5. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are accepted by God through the merit of Christ. By relying solely on His perfect righteousness, we feel accepted by Him. Thus, in our Christian life, we work from a position of strength, because we have been accepted through Jesus, and through Him, we have “made it.”
Look back over the five contrasts I have listed, asking yourself, “Am I serving under the old way of a written code, or under the new way of the Spirit?” I’m not asking, “Are you a Christian?” I’m asking how you view God’s law and God’s grace. Are you seeking to build and maintain your relationship with Him on the basis of “keeping the law,” that is, on the basis of your personal performance, or on the basis of the merit of Jesus Christ?
Do you view God’s moral precepts as a source of bondage and condemnation for failure to obey them, or do you sense the Spirit producing within you an inclination and desire to obey out of gratitude and love? Do you try to obey by your own sheer will and determination, or do you rely on the Spirit daily for His power to enable you to obey?
Do you view God as an ogre who has set before you an impossible code of conduct you cannot keep, or do you view Him as your divine heavenly Father who has accepted you and loves you on the basis of the merit of Christ? In other words, in terms of your acceptance with God, are you willing to rely solely on the finished perfect work of Jesus, instead of your own pitifully imperfect performance?
There probably is no other passage of Scripture that suggests more starkly the contrast between living by grace and living by works than does Romans 7:6. Paul intended the contrast between serving in the new way of the Spirit and the old way of the written code to represent the contrast between the believer and the unbeliever.
All believers have died to the law, whether we recognize it or not. But the sad fact is, many believers do not recognize it or are unwilling to accept it because, to them, it seems too good to be true. All too often, we who are believers living in the realm of grace, live out our daily lives as if we were still living under the bondage of the law. And to the extent we live that way, we are still serving in the old way of the written code and not in the new way of the Spirit.
I am convinced that the sinful nature still present within every believer tends toward a legalistic spirit as much as it tends toward sin. The sinful nature despises the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ as much as it despises the ethical righteousness that comes from obeying God’s law. If we are going to serve in the newness of the Spirit, we must resist the legalistic spirit of trying to “live by the law” as vigorously and persistently as we do temptations to sin.
GROWING IN CHRISTLIKENESS
In the last few pages, we have been focusing on the initial act of sanctification: the radical change God brings about in the heart of a person who trusts Jesus Christ as Savior. It is the passing from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is the beginning of a new creation in Christ and the writing of God’s law in our hearts. It means a new relationship to the law of God and a new attitude toward it. And all this is from God. It is a gift of His grace just as surely as is the gift of justification.
God does not bring us into His Kingdom then leave us on our own to grow. He continues to work in our lives to conform us more and more to the likeness of His Son. As Paul said, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). This continuing work of God is called “progressive sanctification.” It differs from initial sanctification in two respects.
Initial sanctification occurs instantly at the moment of salvation when we are delivered from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of Christ (see Colossians 1:13). Progressive sanctification continues over time until we go to be with the Lord. Initial sanctification is entirely the work of God the Holy Spirit, who imparts to us the very life of Christ. Progressive sanctification is also the work of the Holy Spirit, but it involves a response on our part so that we as believers are actively involved in the process.
The progressive nature of sanctification is implied throughout the New Testament epistles in all those instances where we are exhorted to grow, to change, to put off the deeds of the old man and put on Godlike character, and so on. It is also clearly implied in Paul’s own testimony that he had not yet been made perfect and his statement that he had learned to be content in all circumstances (see Philippians 3:12-14; 4:11).
Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18 explicitly teach the progressive nature of sanctification:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.
ROMANS 12:2
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18
The common word in both passages is transformed. In both instances the verb transformed is in the present tense, indicating that the action is continuous. William Hendriksen translated the phrase be transformed in Romans 12:2 as “continue to let yourselves be transformed.”[38] And John Murray commented,
The term [transformed] used here implies that we are to be constantly in the process of being metamorphosed by renewal of that which is the seat of thought and understanding. . . . Sanctification is a process of revolutionary change in that which is the centre of consciousness. . . . It is the thought of progression and strikes at the stagnation, complacency, pride of achievement so often characterizing Christians.[39]
As to the nature of this process, 2 Corinthians 3:18 indicates it is the work of the “Lord, who is the Spirit,” while Romans 12:2 indicates it is through the renewing of our minds. In both passages, however, the verb transformed is passive, indicating it is a work done in us rather than by us. (Plenty of Scripture passages stress our part in the work of progressive sanctification. And I have examined our responsibility in detail in an earlier book, The Pursuit of Holiness.[40]) Since in this book we are studying God’s grace, I want to focus primarily on the work of God in our sanctification. And the passive voice of the verb be (or being) transformed indicates that the transforming work of progressive sanctification is the work of God’s Spirit. He is the One who changes us more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
This transformation is much more than merely a change of outward conduct. It is a renovation of our inner being, or as someone has said, it is a transformation of the essential man. It means our motives as well as our motivations are being constantly changed, so that we can say with the psalmist, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long,” and “I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches” (Psalm 119:97, 14).
However, although the verb be transformed is in the passive voice, it is in the imperative mood; that is, it is a command to do something. This indicates that we as believers are not passive in this transforming process. We are not like blocks of marble being transformed into a beautiful sculpture by a master sculptor. God has given us a mind and heart with which to respond to and cooperate with the Spirit as He does His work in us. That thought leads naturally to the Scripture passage that is considered to be the classic statement of the working together of the believer with the Holy Spirit who is at work within him. The passage is Philippians 2:12-13:
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed —not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence —continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
In verse 12 Paul urged the Philippian believers to apply themselves diligently to working out their salvation. He urged them to display the evidences of salvation in their daily lives through their obedience to God’s commands and through putting on the godly character traits that Paul elsewhere called the fruit of the Spirit. And according to William Hendriksen, the tense of the verb continue to work out indicates “continuous, sustained, strenuous effort.”[41] Here again we see that sanctification is a process, and a process in which we, as believers, are very actively involved.
But Paul’s strong exhortation to the Philippians is based on the confidence that God’s Spirit is working in them. He is working in them to enlighten their understanding of His will, to stimulate in their emotions a desire to do His will, and to turn their wills so they actually obey. Most of all, He gives them the enabling power so that they are able to do His will.
So progressive sanctification very much involves our activity. But it is an activity that must be carried out in dependence on the Holy Spirit. It is not a partnership with the Spirit in the sense that we each —the believer and the Holy Spirit —do our respective tasks. Rather, we work as He enables us to work. His work lies behind all our work and makes our work possible.
The Holy Spirit can and does work within us apart from any conscious response on our part. We have seen this in the initial act of sanctification when He creates within us a new heart and gives us an entirely new disposition toward God and His will. He is not dependent on us to do His work.
But we are dependent on Him to do our work; we cannot do anything apart from Him. In the process of sanctification there are certain things only the Holy Spirit can do, and there are certain things He has given us to do. For example, only He can create in our hearts the desire to obey God, but He does not obey for us. We must do that, but we can do so only as He gives us the enabling power to obey.
So we must depend on the Holy Spirit to do within us what only He can do. And we must depend on Him just as much to enable us to do what He has given us to do. So whether it is His work or our work, in either case, we are dependent on Him.
We are not just dependent on Him; we are desperately dependent on Him. Because we so often equate Christlike character with ordinary morality, we fail to realize how impossible it is for us to attain any degree of conformity to Christ by ourselves. But if we take seriously the long lists of Christlike character traits we are to put on, we see how impossible it is to grow in Christlikeness apart from the sanctifying influence and power of the Spirit in our lives.
Consider, for example, the lists of Christlike character traits found in Galatians 5:22-23 and Colossians 3:12-15 (I have eliminated five duplications in the two lists):
love
joy
peace
patience
goodness
faithfulness
self-control
Colossians 3:12-15
compassion
kindness
humility
gentleness
forbearance
forgiveness
thankfulness
Those are fourteen positive character traits we are to put on (and there are others in Scripture), in addition to the many negative traits —pride, envy, jealousy, lust, covetousness, selfish ambition —we are to put off. Surely we must say with Paul, “And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:16).
We’ve all been to the circus or the carnival or the county fair and watched with amazement the juggler tossing and catching his four or five Indian clubs. Think what it would be like to juggle fourteen! Yet that is essentially what we are called to do when we are told to put on fourteen —or more —different character traits, as well as trying to put away some bad ones.
Only the Holy Spirit is equal to such a task. Only the Holy Spirit can orchestrate such a diverse and well-rounded development of Christian character. And yet we are told to clothe ourselves with these Christlike qualities. We are to do it; we are responsible. But in Galatians 5:22, Paul called the qualities the “fruit of the Spirit” —the result of the Spirit’s work in our lives. Putting together those two thoughts leads to the conclusion that we are both responsible and dependent. We are responsible to clothe ourselves with Christlike character, but we are dependent on God’s Spirit to produce within us His “fruit.” We cannot make one inch of progress in sanctification apart from the powerful working of the Spirit in us. And He does this, not because we have earned it with our commitment and discipline, but because of His grace.
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing —including the working of the Spirit in our lives —in Christ Jesus, that is, by His grace through the infinite merit of Christ. As we pray for the sanctifying influence and power of the Spirit in our lives, we can do so in confidence that God will answer our prayers because His answers are not dependent on us and our holiness, but on the merit of His Son.
We have seen, then, in this chapter a threefold view of sanctification or holiness. We have seen that our holiness is first of all an objective, perfect holiness, which is ours by virtue of our union with Him who is perfectly holy. Then we have seen that there is an initial act of sanctification in which a person’s basic disposition toward God and His law is changed. This change is experienced by the believer, but is not dependent on the believer. It is solely a work of the Holy Spirit. Finally, we have seen that this initial act of sanctification is followed up by the continuous action of the Holy Spirit throughout our lives as He works in us “to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
In every one of these views of sanctification we see the grace of God. God in His grace sees us as perfectly holy in Christ. God in His grace sends His Holy Spirit to create a new heart within us and to write His law on our hearts, thus changing our basic disposition. And God in His grace continues to work in us through His Spirit to transform us more and more into the likeness of His Son.