Lance Waldie

Box 1667

Dr. Lowery, 205

 

A THEOLOGICAL PAPER ON SANCTIFICATION

 

Introduction

What is sanctification? It is a word used in theological circles, and too often it is misunderstood and thus forgotten about. The problem with this is that the word is a crucial word in which to know if one is a believer. Simply put, the word means "to separate," but it has many different English translations from various Greek nuances. As Unger has said, "The dominant idea of sanctification, therefore, is separation from the secular and sinful and setting apart for a sacred purpose." The subject is used in various contexts throughout the Bible, Old and New Testaments alike. In the OT the word deals with things consecrated to and for holy purposes (Gen. 2:3; Exo. 13:2; 40:10-13). Things, places, times, and persons were sanctified. There were also the Mosaic rites of purification (Num. 6:11; Lev. 22:16,32; Heb. 9:13) which were designed to sanctify.

However, this sanctification had nothing to do with moral and spiritual purity but rather had the ceremonial and legal rites in view.

There are at least three aspects of sanctification in the NT: positional, experiential, and ultimate. All those who are "in Christ," that is, believers in His death and resurrection, are positionally sanctified. They are justified and that justification sets them apart as sanctified. The NT epistles present life "in Christ" as that of a saving grace (an indicative) and then urge the believer to live a life that manifests the new life given to him (Rom. 12:1; Eph. 4:1; Col. 3:1-2). Unger has said, "Positional sanctification is just as complete for the weakest and youngest believer as it is for the strongest and oldest. It depends only upon one’s union with and position ‘in Christ.’ All believers are ‘saints’ and are ‘sanctified’ (Acts 20:32; 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Heb. 10:10,14; Jude 3). First Corinthians presents proof that imperfect believers are nevertheless positionally sanctified and therefore ‘saints.’ The Corinthian Christians were carnal in life (1 Cor. 5:1-2; 6:1-8), but they are twice said to have been ‘sanctified’ (1:2 and 6:11). Thus, this positional aspect of sanctification is absolutely essential if the doctrine as a whole is to be clearly understood."

Experiential sanctification relates to sanctification as experienced by the believer. This type of sanctification depends on at least one of three aspects of the Christian walk. First, the degree to which one is submitting to God. As Romans 12:1 states, our reasonable service to God is to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. By being obedient to this task a Christian is classified as being set apart for God by his own free will. In this aspect the Christian now has his fruits unto holiness (6:22).

The second aspect of experiential sanctification is a separation from sin to some extent. The Bible takes full account of the sins of Christians, and it does not teach that only the sinless are kept for eternal life. The sins of Christians are preventable through at least three avenues: Study of the Word, the interceding ministry of Christ in heaven, and the enabling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is important to note here that the sin which so easily entangles us is never said to have died so as to relieve anyone of a life of sin, and thus become perfect. We are blameless due to Christ’s work, but we are not without fault. We are completely sanctified in one sense through Christ’s death on the cross, and as Romans 6:1-14 teaches, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin as our human responsibility.

The third aspect of experiential sanctification is the Christian’s growth in their day to day walk with Christ. This is crucial to "growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). New Christians are to be considered as babies with much to learn and nowhere to grow but up. Growing in the knowledge of the Word and gaining wisdom and knowledge along with experience are all part of the progression of growth. These marks of growth are crucial to standing out among the non-justified. As Unger has said, "The basis of experiential sanctification, or actual holiness of life, is positional sanctification, or what one is in Christ. Only those ‘in Christ,’ that is, regenerate and thus concomitantly sanctified, are candidates for experiential sanctification."

The final aspect of sanctification in the life of the believer is "ultimate" sanctification. This is glorification or complete conformity to Christ at His coming (1 John 3:1-3; Rom. 8:29-30; Jude 24-25). Our spirit, soul, and body will be so changed by His appearing that "we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Only at that time will we be presented as "faultless."

Various Views on Sanctification

During the last 2000 or so years since Christianity changed the world there have been various interpretations on many Bible doctrines. The doctrine of sanctification is no exception. With the large variety of denominations today and the various ways of interpreting the Bible that exist within those denominations, the doctrine of sanctification has also seen many different twists as to what it really means.

In the Lutheran view of sanctification, sanctification if it is to be separated from justification, according to Gerhard O. Forde, is the art of "getting used to justification." It is not something to be added to justification because the two are inseparably linked. Sanctification is the life Christians live in eager expectation of the resurrection. It is not to be confused with living a "moral life." Many believers, according to this view, have a difficult time understanding and accepting what Christ has done for us by grace alone, and to compensate for this lack of understanding we attempt to live a moral life in order to add to Christ’s work of grace and be considered "worthy" to enter into eternal life with Christ. This is where the distinction of "getting used to justification" and living a moral life separate. The Lutheran view believes living morally is important, but it is never to be confused with sanctification. Sanctification "is the result of the dying of the old and the rising of the new." Whereas the moral life is what occurs when a person lives his life by the moral code of the law, striving to attain perfection, sanctification "has to do with the descent of the new being into humanity, becoming a neighbor, freely, spontaneously, giving of the self in self-forgetful and uncalculating ways." Quoting from Matthew 6:3-4, the Lutheran view believes that sanctification is God’s secret, hidden even from those who are sanctified. It would be unimaginable for those who are sanctified to boast of their sanctification "process" or make claims of achieving it. Rather, those who are truly sanctified are more likely to do as Paul did and speak more of their weaknesses. Sanctification is never to be separated from justification in the sense that God does His part and we do ours. God justifies and He sanctifies. It is not man’s responsibility to do the sanctification. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, and it is "given to us in the buffeting about, the sorrows, the joys, the sufferings, and the tasks of daily life." Sanctification is given at the moment of justification, but it grows as the Christian "gets used to justification." This view is most concerned with safeguarding salvation by grace alone -- and justifiably so. This viewpoint is biblically accurate and tirelessly seeks to defend justification by faith alone. The only problem I see is that "good" works seem to be looked at as anathema. By contantly defending justification by faith alone the fruitful works of a believer through obedience to Scripture seems to be frowned upon as if to attempt to gain favor with God.

The second view of sanctification concerns the Reformed view. In this view justification is distinct but not separated from sanctification. God Himself is the justifier in that he declares righteous the ungodly by grace through faith. At the same time God imparts the life-giving Holy Spirit who brings about a progressive moral-spiritual renewal in the life of the Christian through various means.

Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson says that there are two central features of sanctification. First, Jesus Himself is our sanctification or holiness (1 Corinthians 1:30). Jesus is the author, captain, and pioneer of our salvation due to His redemptive work on the cross. In this sense Christ is our sanctification. He has fulfilled it and consummated it. Jesus lived, died, and rose again in order to sanctify our human nature in himself for our sake. Because Christ grew, not from imperfect to perfect but from infancy to maturity, and cried out on the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30), and with royal dignity gave his spirit into the hands of his Father, he was the first person to have lived a perfect life through obedience and sanctification. Due to the fact that this sanctification has first taken place in the life of Christ our representative, Christians now can have the same life through the Spirit. Christ is the only adequate resource the Christian has for development of sanctification in their own lives. "Sanctification is therefore neither self-induced nor created in us by divine fiat. Like justification, it has to be ‘earthed’ in our world (that is, in Christ’s work for us in history) if it is to be more than a legal faction." In sum, the dynamic for sanctification and the entire life of the Christian is to be found in union with Christ.

The second central feature of sanctification, according to Ferguson, is our union with Christ. It is through this union with Christ that our sanctification is accomplished. In effecting one’s union with Christ, the Christian must understand that all is accomplished through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Union with Christ is a transforming act that takes place right where the Christian is, and it engages his whole being. Faith is the means by which this union with Christ occurs, and this faith involves trusting in and resting on the resources of Christ as though they were our own. The duties of sanctification constitute the "means of grace," and they involve time spent in the Word, working our way through the trials and temptations sent by God, fellowship in a local church, and taking part in the sacraments.

The Reformed view makes perfect biblical sense. It is true to Scripture as it strives to keep justification and sanctification as one but also two separate entities. The defense of salvation by grace through faith alone is applied with this view, but works are also seen a fruit of justification -- not the attainment thereof.

The third view of sanctification in the history of interpretation is the Wesleyan view. Articulated by Dr. Laurence W. Wood, this view has to do with the views of John Wesley. Wesley distinguished between sanctification, an act of the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion, and entire sanctification which is the experience of being made perfect in love. Wesley believed that all Christians must make it their goal to be perfect in love while on the earth. However, this "perfection" must be seen as "Christian perfection" and not the perfection which describes the character of Christ. This being made perfect was not something Wesley believed was humanly possible to achieve except through faith as a gift of God’s grace. Based on the testimony of Christian experience, as well as the Scriptures, Wesley maintained that the possibility of perfect love is realizable in this life. He put a lot of weight on the human experience in light of Scripture, and believed that if human experience did not line up with Scripture then he had interpreted the Scriptures wrongly. So both the Scriptures and experience led him to the conclusion that normally one receives the gift of perfect love subsequent to the new birth and often prior to death.

Being made perfect, according to Wesley, was an instantaneous act, brought about by a "second blessing" according to Wood. But holiness was not to be achieved through ritualistic processes. The sanctified life was a life that was continually lived and always in process. Man must make up his mind to love God with all his heart, and if he does not he will not attain entire sanctification. This "entire sanctification" has a specific meaning in that it denotes a quality of being, not an abstract, quantitative measurement. "Entire sanctification relates to the quality and purity of love (intent), not to the degree of love. It implies a pursuit of love, and only that." It appears that, with regard to Romans 6:1-14, Wesley believed that though the Christian was dead to sin, he still battled sin daily, and in doing so worked toward the entire sanctification he felt was so crucial the Christian life leading up to perfection.

This view is defensible from the Scriptures, and it appears to be the most applicational of the all the views. Justification and sanctification are seen as given to man by God, but growing in grace is something the Christian not only has the ability to do through the Holy Spirit, it is something he must do. Sanctification is seen as using one’s God-given ability to grow in grace and produce life-giving fruit.

The fourth view of sanctification is the Pentecostal view as articulated by Russell P. Spittler. Pentecostal beliefs have evolved over the last 100 years due to their priority of the human experience as over and above that of Scripture. But sanctification in this view occurs through a "second baptism" of the Spirit, so to speak, accompanied by the speaking of tongues, or strange languages that only the one praying and God alone can understand. Sanctification is about experience in the believer’s life, and it can take many different forms unique and unrepeatable to the one having the experience. The experience the disciples of Christ experienced at Pentecost in Acts 2 is an experience this movement prays for and seeks earnestly over and over again. When it happens they are sanctified in a special way that equips them for greater evangelism and ministry in their lives on earth. It does not make them perfect, per se, and it does not make them the only "saved" persons on the planet. It does, however, distinguish them from other believers who have not received this "second baptism," and gives them, in their view, a greater dose of the Holy Spirit with greater sanctification and greater ability to communicate the truth of Jesus Christ.

This view, is the most heretical of all views regarding sanctification, but its heresy is not so crucial as to lead its believers into eternal torment I do not believe. Simply put, when human experience is measured against the Scriptures and held in higher esteem then various problems will arise. The fact that so many of their experiences contradict one another is proof that this view is to be rejected. The Bible hermeneutics of this view are of concern, but by and large this group loves the Lord and strives to please him.

The fifth and final view of sanctification that will be presented is the contemplative view. Contemplation, in the words of E. Glenn Hinson, "has to do with this loving attentiveness to God. It is based on the premise that God is immanent in the created order, particularly in the human order." This view views the Christian life as integrating the life lived to God with the daily life of menial tasks and activities. Though the two are separate, the life lived to God permeates itself throughout the life of menial tasks. As a person grows in Christ his life he lives to God becomes more and more at ease with his daily life in the secular world.

Sanctification occurs through "seeing" God or being united with Him. This is attained in part through one’s purity of heart (cf. Matthew 5:8). This purity of heart "denotes a character that is downright good. Being good in route to a pure heart means to surrender, abandon ourselves, submit, yield, humble ourselves, and give ourselves over to God." In sum, this view is of the inner self striving to be good and thus attaining a greater and progressive sanctification.

This view is not as biblically grounded as the three of the four former views, but has a good premise in that it strives to please God. Pleasing God in this view does not entail attempting to gain eternal life through works, rather, it promotes pleasing God through living out our faith as the backbone of our lives. It is to be commended for its progressive sanctification view in that a Christian grows in Christ as he matures in Christ.

Sanctification in Romans 6

In Romans 6 the Christian is identified with Christ using indicative verbs, but he is also given human responsibility through Paul’s use of imperative verbs. "A necessary connection between biblical doctrine and holy living is fundamental to the biblical and apostolic way of thinking. That is why Scripture is so full of moral imperatives logically derived from doctrinal indicatives: since these things are true, this is how you should live (cf. Matt. 6:32-34; Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 4:20-25)." The believer is sanctified by God through the Lord’s justification. He is "set apart" due to the fact that he is justified. In this sense sanctification can be argued to be synonymous with justification. The very fact that God has justified him also makes him sanctified. However, sanctification in this sense cannot come about without justification. Sanctification is only possible through justification, but justification cannot occur through an effort at sanctification. This would be a "works" salvation, and that is something that is foreign and outright heretical in Scripture. This would make justification and sanctification non-synonymous. In sum, one cannot be sanctified without having first been justified, and one cannot be justified through sanctification because sanctification can never occur outside of justification. In Romans 6 Paul teaches concerning our standing in Christ and what that standing entails through what is expected of us.

At the close of chapter 5 Paul has written that where sin has increased God’s grace has increased all the more. In other words, God’s grace is all the more abundant where sin is so prevalent. At the beginning of chapter 6 Paul anticipates the unorthodox response that some might present to him: "Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound?" He answers with an emphatic "NO!" This is a clear indication that Paul expected the believer in Jesus Christ to change his ways and live according to the Spirit, hence, the process of sanctification. The fact that he emphasizes his "no" shows that in Paul’s view for a person to go on sinning, or even increase his sin, so that God’s grace may abound all the more, was absolutely ridiculous. This shows that Paul expected a real change in a person’s life as evidence of his being justified. He goes on to say that all those in Christ have died to sin, and he asks how can one who died go on living. Either they have died or they have faked their death to sin. The implication here, and Paul explains this in 6:3, is that it is impossible to continue a life of sin after having died to it. Just as Christ lived a new life following His resurrection, we too live a new life following our conversion to biblical Christianity. This concept and all the verbs describing this concept are described using indicative verbs which is the mood of assertion or presentation of certainty (the presentation of certainty can also include untrue statements as part of the indicative mood).

It is obvious that Paul is speaking to Christians in Romans, and in the sixth chapter this is no less obvious. In verse 5 Paul uses more indicative verbs to describe the life of the Christian. Because they are united with Christ in His death they will certainly be united with Him in His resurrection -- all of which happened so that the sinful body might be done away with so as to relieve the believer of his sin (vv. 5-6). These are indisputable facts given in the indicative mood. Verse eight, once again, tells of the fact that those who are in Christ will live with Christ, and they will live forever due to the fact that death no longer has any affect on Christ -- and believers in Christ are united with Christ. The pivotal verse in this paragraph (vv. 8-10) is verse 10 because it expounds on the idea of sanctified living. Christ died for sinners once and for all, and He rose out of the grave. Now the life He lives, He lives to God. Since we are united with Christ we too must live our lives "to God." In this sense the Christian is sanctifying himself through righteous living (living to God). One can also argue that growing in this position of living "to God" is the act of progressive sanctification. Those not living their lives "to God" are not part of the audience Paul is speaking to in this passage.

Beginning in verse 11 Paul uses an imperative verb logivzesqe ("you are to consider"). He says to consider yourselves "dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." "The imperative mood is the mood of command and involves somewhat different nuances with each verb tense. With the aorist, the force generally is to command the action as a whole, without focusing on duration, repetition, etc. In keeping with its aspectual force, the aorist puts forth a summary command. With the present, the force generally is to command the action as an ongoing process." In this instance the verb logivzesqe is in the present tense signifying an ongoing process of self-consideration.

In verse 12 the climax of Paul’s teaching is introduced with oun "therefore." This is an inferential conjunction, denoting that what it introduces is the result of or an inference from what precedes. Paul is moving his audience from thought to action beginning with this verse, and reflecting back to verse 11, he presents what it means for the believer to consider himself dead to sin and alive to God. He uses two prohibitions: "do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies" and "do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of righteousness." As Moo has said, "The former imperative is matched by the promise at the end of verse 14a, and without this, which recapitulates the main idea of verses 1-11, the imperative would be futile." It is only because of the truths about the believer’s relationship to God that the believer knows in his mind and heart that makes him able to exercise his will successfully against sin and prevent it from reigning in his mortal body. There is a separation between "sin" and "sins." The former is an entity while the latter is something we do against God. Sin will always be a force the Christian deals with, but its mastery over the believer is over, and the Christian is to resist it with all that is in him. The reason? "So that you do not obey its lusts." Paul seems to picture sin as a monarch that has been dethroned in the life of the believer. Though dethroned from reigning in his life, he still exists and lives to taunt the believer at every turn. Of course this "sin" is actually Satan the tempter, but it is no less the Christian’s responsibility to walk with Christ and resist evil -- this is the point that Paul makes here in verse 12 with the use of the imperative.

Verse 13 includes the second of two prohibitions Paul makes in the imperative. It is due to the fact that the mortal body continues to be subject to sin that Paul makes the appeal not to present our bodies as "instruments of unrighteousness." The "body" that Paul speaks of here may be the physical body as evidenced by the Greek word qnhtw`/ (mortal) which literally means "subject to death." Moo says that it is more likely the whole person as evidenced by 6:6, and it is viewed in terms of the person’s interaction with the world. Paul is reminding us that the same body that has been severed from its servitude to sin (6:6) is nevertheless a body that still participates in the weakness, suffering, and dissolution of this age. Paul says nothing of not allowing sin to reign in our souls or spirits but in our bodies, the one place where Satan preys. No wonder Paul says in Romans 7:18, 22-23: "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." "For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members."

It is very clear that sin can reign in the mortal body, but it is equally clear that it does not have to. Paul’s point is to not let it reign, instead, to "present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." When Paul says to "present your bodies..." he uses an imperative (the same word he uses in Romans 12:1). This is Paul’s command from God. We are to present our bodies as those alive from the dead, blameless sacrifices acceptable to God. Our bodies are the sacrifice, and Paul equates that body as an instrument. He uses the word "instrument" in such a way as to depict a weapon of sorts. If one had a knife Paul might tell that person not to use the knife to slay another man, but to use it in a more uplifting way. In the same way we are to use our bodies to bring glory to God -- not to let sin grow and take glory away from God. By using the body to glorify God we inevitably grow in Christ and illustrate the sanctification process which follows justification.

In verse 14 Paul returns to the indicative mood by saying, "Sin shall no longer have lordship over you." The use of the explanatory conjunction "for" grounds the specific commands of verses 12-13. This is the main thrust of chapter six. These words are to be understood as a promise that is valid for every believer at the present time: "sin shall certainly not be your Lord -- now or ever!" The Christian is to be ruled by God’s Spirit and not the reigning power of sin. It is that simple. But how does the Christian accomplish this and grow in grace? It goes back to what was previously said about experiential sanctification and how the believer grows, namely, through the study of the Word, prayer, the interceding ministry of Christ in heaven, and the enabling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

In verse 14b Paul expounds on how the believer keeps sin from having lordship over him by using the explanatory conjunction "for" once again. He introduces a concept he will explain in greater detail in chapter 7 by telling the readers that they are not under the law but under grace. Being under the law produces sin (7:7-13), and that sin leads to death. However, as Paul has been explaining here, we as believers are not under that law any longer. We are under grace, and grace has no laws by which a person can come to Christ. A person is drawn to the Father through Christ (John 6:44) (justification) and is sanctified at that moment. By obeying the commands of Scripture, as in chapter 6, the believer grows in a sanctification as baby grows into an adult.

Justification is the aquittal from the guilt of sin. Sanctification is the deliverance from sinning. The two must never be confused, and they must never be separated though they are two distinct acts of God imputed to the believer at the moment of belief. The Westminster Larger Catechism says, "Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in tha God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other it is subdued."

Conclusion

It appears that, according to Paul, a genuinely justified life will do two things: it is a sanctified life in that it is set apart from the unbeliever, and it will continue to be a sanctified life in that it will continually grow in grace. Sanctification follows justification, and this is to be concluded and taught for purposes of systematic theology so as to make God’s work of redemption more clear to the finite human mind. "There is a sense in which justification involves what is often called a forensic, or legal, declaration of righteousness that is immediate, complete, and eternal. But justification and sanctification are not separate stages in salvation; rather, they are different aspects of the unbroken continuum of God’s divine work of redemption in a believer’s life by which He not only declares a person righteous but recreates him to become righteous. Holiness is as much a work of God in the believer as any other element of redemption." When a person trusts Christ as personal Lord and Savior God declares him righteous and begins to develop Christ’s righteousness within him. In this sense salvation is not just a legal transaction, it actually results in a transforming character -- something Paul commands Christians to do with their lives in Romans 12:1-2. This is not unlike the imperatives of Romans 6:12-13.

The Christian life is a growing process, and no one while on the earth will attain full growth "until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Some believe that there is no such thing as a true convert to Christ in whom justification has been accomplished but in whom sanctification, both forensic and practical, has not already begun. This is the belief of the this writer. In this sense, there is never a gap between justification and sanctification, since they are so much the same instantaneous work of Christ, but there is a huge gap between the old life of the unbeliever as opposed to the new life of the believer. As Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, "Holiness (sanctification) starts where justification finishes, and if holiness does not start, we have the right to suspect that justification never started either."

In conclusion, there is no such thing as justification without sanctification. A divine life cannot occur outside of divine living, and a person who has truly confessed Christ as Lord and Savior will live the godly, righteous life the Bible spells out for him in the imperative. Just as Romans 6:2 says, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" Salvation of the soul is a transforming act, and it must affect every facet of a person’s new life. This sanctification does not occur all at once, and it is not a prerequisite for salvation. It is simply a fruit that follows and develops into more and more fruit as evidence of God’s redemptive act on a person’s life.

When a person truly "accepts" Christ, or more rightly, trusts in Christ, they are both justified and sanctified; justified in the sense that they are delcared righteous, and sanctified in the sense that they are separated from unbelievers as a result of their justification. What follows is a life that strives to please the loving Savior who died for them. How can one not truly desire to fully know and serve Christ who gave his life on our behalf? One’s life will be evidence of one’s true conversion, and if it does follow, then the Wesleyan view of sanctification, which views it as growing in Christian perfection, is the natural course the Christian will take without ever having

set out to do so intentionally. Growing in Christ is the natural course the Christian will take and in doing so will not only grow in grace but take the natural course that sanctification is meant to take following justification.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORKS CITED

Barnhouse, D.G., 1961. Romans, Vol. 3. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Bauer, Walter, Gingrich, F. Wilbur, and Danker, Frederick W., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) 1979.

Ferguson, S.B., 1988. Christian Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification, ed. Donald Alexander. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.

Forde, G.O., 1988. Christian Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification, ed. Donald Alexander. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.

Hinson, E.G., 1988. Christian Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification, ed. Donald Alexander. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.

Kittel, Gerhard, and Friedrich, Gerhard, Editors, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) 1985.

MacArthur, J., 1991. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Romans. Chicago: Moody Bible Institute.

Moo, D., 1996. The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Epistle to the Romans.Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

New Unger's Bible Dictionary, originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (C) 1988.

Spittler, R., 1988. Christian Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification, ed. Donald Alexander. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.

Wallace, Daniel. 1996. Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament.Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Walvoord, J., Chafer, L., 1974. Major Bible Themes. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Wood, L.W., 1988. Christian Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification, ed. Donald Alexander. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.

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