Sanctification

[EnglishPuritan]

Do we cooperate with God in our Sanctification or is is solely God's work? Can we resist God in our Sanctification?

 

[Imblessed]

Great question! There's been a couple of threads started on this very subject(one by me a while back).

Personally, I think yes, we can resisit God--but I also think that the resisiting is all part of God's plan.

I've always understood it something like this: We have free will right up until it bumps up against God's will, and His Will overrides ours every time.

There are plenty of examples of God's people resisiting Him---Jonah, Moses, etc---and personally, I think this "resisting" is all part of the Santification "process"---it wouldn't be santification if we weren't learning hard lessons along the way.

I could be totally off on this. I'm sure someone will come along and correct me if I am!

BTW---
welcome~!

 

[Jon_]

Do we cooperate with God in our Sanctification or is is solely God's work?

That depends on what you mean by "cooperate." If you mean if man has the ability to sanctify himself or if he has any power to somehow enable the Holy Spirit in his work of sanctification, then the answer is a resounding No! If you mean that the process of sanctification both involves the work of the Holy Spirit transforming the heart of the believer and the believer acting from his ever-transforming heart, then the answer is yes.

The "cooperation" with the God in sanctification is consequential not effectual. We will act in a sanctified manner because of the work of the Holy Spirit. We do not cause our own sanctification through good works.

Can we resist God in our Sanctification?

No. The Lord does as he pleases. If he desires to sanctify you, he will.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jon

 

[Paleoconservatarian]

We cooperate with God, but it is solely His work. Much like justification, sanctification is not something that is forced on us that we do not desire. We want to obey because the Lord had given it unto us to want it. But we cannot, apart from the Holy Spirit, work toward our sanctification.

 

[edie19]

This week's White Horse Inn (my favorite radio show) was on "Big Words of the Bible." One of their words was sanctification. They explained sanctification as the affect of our justification.

Ken Jones described it as objective (Christ's work) and subjective (we recognize that we're covered by Christ's work but we intentionally pursue holiness). Our subjective sanctification is imperfect and incomplete.

www.whitehorseinn.org

 

[EnglishPuritan]

That depends on what you mean by "cooperate." If you mean if man has the ability to sanctify himself or if he has any power to somehow enable the Holy Spirit in his work of sanctification, then the answer is a resounding No! If you mean that the process of sanctification both involves the work of the Holy Spirit transforming the heart of the believer and the believer acting from his ever-transforming heart, then the answer is yes.

The "cooperation" with the God in sanctification is consequential not effectual. We will act in a sanctified manner because of the work of the Holy Spirit. We do not cause our own sanctification through good works.


No. The Lord does as he pleases. If he desires to sanctify you, he will.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jon

I agree that God soes as he pleases but if we can not resist God why do we see men - mentioned by Imblessed - resisting the will of God?

 

[EnglishPuritan]

Personally, I think yes, we can resisit God--but I also think that the resisiting is all part of God's plan.

So can we really be said to be resisting if it is God's will that we resisted?

 

[edie19]

I agree that God soes as he pleases but if we can not resist God why do we see men - mentioned by Imblessed - resisting the will of God?

because God stiffens their necks and hardens their hearts - so that ultimately He may be glorified more.

 

[EnglishPuritan]

because God stiffens their necks and hardens their hearts - so that ultimately He may be glorified more.

But if that was God's will - that they should harden their hearts - and so he withholds his grace, how can their hardening be against the will of God?

 

[Imblessed]

So can we really be said to be resisting if it is God's will that we resisted?

I think, yes, in a way.... It's hard for me to get my brain around it---but there has to be a reason that despite God's Total Soveriegnity, we don't "feel" like robots, we "feel" like we have free will, we really do fight God sometimes, don't we? Sometimes, we fight God alot, especially if we are being led in a direction we don't really want to go because it's hard, or it requires sacrifice.

Personally, I think that when we accept Jesus into our lives, we have more "free will" than the unregenerate does, because now we are free to choose that which is right and holy and that which gets us closer to God---but because we are still human, we still have that part of us that doesn't WANT that, because it's hard, it involves risk, it involves sacrifice, it makes us look "crazy" etc etc.

If I don't accept that I still have the ability to "fight" God's will, then I will fall into that dangerous area of being a fatalist---which is actually easy for me to do, because it gets me out of feeling accountable for my actions(or lack thereof)--you see?

In my opinion, there HAS to be a measure of self will involved. But that's just me. Others may feel different about it......

 

[reformedfan]

this is where man's responsibility & God's sovereignty is seen pretty clearly.

 

[EnglishPuritan]

this is where man's responsibility & God's sovereignty is seen pretty clearly.

Would you care to expand? We have a responsibility to be holy for he is holy yet it is he who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure? So what is we do not do whathe wishes, has he been defeated?

 

[reformedfan]

of course not. Refusing to submit to God's will is sin, our failure, not His. Man has a responsibility to co labor with God in our sanctification, when we grow, it is a testimony of God's grace; when we stumble, it is our fault.

God's sovereignty isn't an excuse to sit on our hands & wait for Him to sanctify us, & our sin nature isn't a blockage to the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. i can't explain how man's responsibilty & God's sovereignty exactly line up, but somehow they do, as this is a Biblical principle, not one i plucked from thin air.