I agree with the premise that the process of sanctification is ongoing throughout the life of the Christian. I find a real problem with the thought that I don't need to hear that my sins are forgiven as (but especially after) I am being exhorted to work toward sanctification. Understanding my position as a 'beggar', I readily see my sinful nature at work - damaging and perhaps destroying all my efforts toward sanctification. Hearing that I should work toward sanctification without the assurance that I am forgiven for my failings as a spiritual athlete leaves me approaching despair; wanting to leave the church as a place of condemnation and never return. It seems almost like the evil one's action in exhorting me to do what I am really incapable of in my present state.
However, with the assurance and understanding that I do not do this on my own; rather that the Holy Spirit does this (brings me to a more sanctified life) to and through me, under Christ's grace, I continue to persever.
Please never forget as a pastor that Christ's message is that he has provided us salvation without any work on our part as we are dead in our trespasses. That was and is his message to us to start and to end with. While we should produce fruit reflecting our growth as a Christian, we have no measure of where anyone is that we should hear the law exhroting our improvement without the blessed assurance that Christ has covered our failings.
I think this is a good demonstration of the oppositional law-gospel problem. You will never have a shortage of hearing about justification in a Lutheran church, you will never not be told your sins have been forgiven. But sanctification is rarely addressed beyond a few superficial touches in most churches. The root of this is a cultivated allergy to pietism and the insistence that to “get wisdom”, per Proverbs, is to defect to self justification.
The second issue is our allergy to Methodism. We are afraid that sanctification can only be understood as progressive self perfection and the attainment of Christian nirvana - to achieve enlightenment and holiness before natural death.
None of St Paul’s admonitions or the advice from Proverbs is incapable of pursuing. We will fail, often and badly, but the gospel is there to put us back on the bike.
For the Christian, law and gospel proceed together, equally yoked. For the unbeliever, only the law proceeds. For the antinomian, only the gospel proceeds. The Christian will not hear condemnation when he falls short of getting wisdom, but exhortation, encouragement, and renewal.
The Holy Spirit is present where wisdom reigns, not where filth is, so it will simply go better for our Christian lives when and where we can find wisdom.
The purpose of this article is not to set aside or diminish justification, but to elevate concern for Christian sanctification.
As Dr. David Scaer once said, the third is of the law does not, like a faulty transmission, slip gears into the second. Your point that law and gospel are together for the Christian is, I think, key to this whole thing. Without the gospel, there is no third use of the law. It is only because of the New Man that we can delight in the law of God as Christians.
The error of Pietism is to cast aside the comfort of the gospel in exchange for the admonitions of the law. In a strange way, Pietism and antinomianism are two sides of the same coin, for they both misunderstand the use of God's law for the Christian.
But God's law is good, and righteous and right. We should be exhorted to holiness and virtue in living, and this does not accuse because it is the New Man who is being exhorted. I often think of the third use of the law as the natural conclusion of justification. For example, being forgiven of greed doesn't mean you're freed to go back to being greedy, like a dog returning to his vomit, but rather you are freed from the vice of greed altogether, and now can (and should!) use your wealth for the good of your neighbor, knowing you have a greater inheritance in everlasting life.
Overall, excellent points. Thank you for the article!
"Are we doing enough in our congregations to overcome the unintended levelling effect that turns universal objective justification into universalist justification?"
NO, we are not. I've been in the LCMS a long time, and have repeatedly witnessed that egregious sin and attacks of some members toward others are brushed aside and victims are told to pray, love and work toward reconciliation, while the abusers are either told nothing, or mildly rebuked and allowed to brush it off and continue their behavior. This absolutely turns people away from the LCMS and sometimes even the church. I heartily believe that this issue is much more serious than one would think, and is rarely addressed as a cause for decline.
Thank you. That is a problem worth noting. We seem to fall too quickly on 1 Peter 4:8 as the answer for all things, even when it is clear we are dealing with open impenitence or premeditated repentance. The law and gospel response somehow nearly always resolves to a "gospel issue" when the law needs to be applied. We don't want to be policemen, but neither do we want to be known for being reliably permissive in all situations.
I agree with the premise that the process of sanctification is ongoing throughout the life of the Christian. I find a real problem with the thought that I don't need to hear that my sins are forgiven as (but especially after) I am being exhorted to work toward sanctification. Understanding my position as a 'beggar', I readily see my sinful nature at work - damaging and perhaps destroying all my efforts toward sanctification. Hearing that I should work toward sanctification without the assurance that I am forgiven for my failings as a spiritual athlete leaves me approaching despair; wanting to leave the church as a place of condemnation and never return. It seems almost like the evil one's action in exhorting me to do what I am really incapable of in my present state.
However, with the assurance and understanding that I do not do this on my own; rather that the Holy Spirit does this (brings me to a more sanctified life) to and through me, under Christ's grace, I continue to persever.
Please never forget as a pastor that Christ's message is that he has provided us salvation without any work on our part as we are dead in our trespasses. That was and is his message to us to start and to end with. While we should produce fruit reflecting our growth as a Christian, we have no measure of where anyone is that we should hear the law exhroting our improvement without the blessed assurance that Christ has covered our failings.
I think this is a good demonstration of the oppositional law-gospel problem. You will never have a shortage of hearing about justification in a Lutheran church, you will never not be told your sins have been forgiven. But sanctification is rarely addressed beyond a few superficial touches in most churches. The root of this is a cultivated allergy to pietism and the insistence that to “get wisdom”, per Proverbs, is to defect to self justification.
The second issue is our allergy to Methodism. We are afraid that sanctification can only be understood as progressive self perfection and the attainment of Christian nirvana - to achieve enlightenment and holiness before natural death.
None of St Paul’s admonitions or the advice from Proverbs is incapable of pursuing. We will fail, often and badly, but the gospel is there to put us back on the bike.
For the Christian, law and gospel proceed together, equally yoked. For the unbeliever, only the law proceeds. For the antinomian, only the gospel proceeds. The Christian will not hear condemnation when he falls short of getting wisdom, but exhortation, encouragement, and renewal.
The Holy Spirit is present where wisdom reigns, not where filth is, so it will simply go better for our Christian lives when and where we can find wisdom.
The purpose of this article is not to set aside or diminish justification, but to elevate concern for Christian sanctification.
As Dr. David Scaer once said, the third is of the law does not, like a faulty transmission, slip gears into the second. Your point that law and gospel are together for the Christian is, I think, key to this whole thing. Without the gospel, there is no third use of the law. It is only because of the New Man that we can delight in the law of God as Christians.
The error of Pietism is to cast aside the comfort of the gospel in exchange for the admonitions of the law. In a strange way, Pietism and antinomianism are two sides of the same coin, for they both misunderstand the use of God's law for the Christian.
But God's law is good, and righteous and right. We should be exhorted to holiness and virtue in living, and this does not accuse because it is the New Man who is being exhorted. I often think of the third use of the law as the natural conclusion of justification. For example, being forgiven of greed doesn't mean you're freed to go back to being greedy, like a dog returning to his vomit, but rather you are freed from the vice of greed altogether, and now can (and should!) use your wealth for the good of your neighbor, knowing you have a greater inheritance in everlasting life.
Overall, excellent points. Thank you for the article!
"Are we doing enough in our congregations to overcome the unintended levelling effect that turns universal objective justification into universalist justification?"
NO, we are not. I've been in the LCMS a long time, and have repeatedly witnessed that egregious sin and attacks of some members toward others are brushed aside and victims are told to pray, love and work toward reconciliation, while the abusers are either told nothing, or mildly rebuked and allowed to brush it off and continue their behavior. This absolutely turns people away from the LCMS and sometimes even the church. I heartily believe that this issue is much more serious than one would think, and is rarely addressed as a cause for decline.
Thank you. That is a problem worth noting. We seem to fall too quickly on 1 Peter 4:8 as the answer for all things, even when it is clear we are dealing with open impenitence or premeditated repentance. The law and gospel response somehow nearly always resolves to a "gospel issue" when the law needs to be applied. We don't want to be policemen, but neither do we want to be known for being reliably permissive in all situations.