Sanctification

Sanctification As Crisis and Process

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

Study Text: Philippians 3:1-14

The Christian life is initiated by momentous spiritual experiences. A dead and sinful soul is enlightened to the Gospel, moved to repentance and faith, and thus brought into living union with Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. There are several immediate consequences of this union: The believer is justified by faith (Romans 5:1, 9); He is regenerated (Ephesians 2:1, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 1:23); He is adopted into God's family (Galatians 4:4-7); He is baptized into the Church which is the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).

These are amazing experiences, though many Christians are so familiar with these terms and ideas that they have ceased to be awed and thrilled by them. Perhaps more amazing still, however, New Testament writers everywhere insist that these are only the commencement experiences of the Christian life. They are infancy experiences in a life which is to grow and develop toward spiritual maturity. They are experiences that are associated with the start of the Christian race. Everywhere in the New Testament there is deep concern and sorrow for those who, having been born again and having started the race, are so slow to grow up and so slow to press on in the Christian life. (1 Corinthians 3:1-2, Hebrews 5:12-14).

The plea for progress in the Christian life pervades the New Testament. Amongst many Scriptures, note carefully the following: "Follow after charity" (1 Corinthians 14:1); "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him" (Colossians 2:6-7); "Let us go on unto perfection" (Hebrews 6:1); "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2); "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).

The Philippian passage which is the basis of our present study powerfully presents this plea for progress. It is the more powerful because Paul includes himself as still in need of spiritual development and progress after over twenty-five years of Christian experience on the deepest and highest levels: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14.

If St. Paul felt himself in need of spiritual progress, how much more should we? Indeed, Paul's attitude is normal Christianity. If ever our Christian experience becomes fixed and static, something has gone grievously wrong. If ever a Christian thinks he has arrived, he has begun to decline.

Immediately prior to the statement which we have quoted in full, Paul mentions some of the things which are included in a developing Christian life. In verses 7-8 he recalls his own conversion, giving a revealing insight into what repentance and faith in Christ meant for him--the abandonment not only of outward sins, but also of self-trust in all its forms, racial, family, moral, and religious. (He had not been a prodigal son, but an elder brother!) He had "suffered the loss of all things" and "counted them but dung" that he "might win Christ." Thus had he started the Christian race.

In verse 9 Paul mentions one aspect of the immediate consequences of winning Christ: justification by faith. As we have seen, there are other aspects, but this would appear to be the aspect which seems to have seized hold of the mind of Paul, as later it did of Luther. Then, in verse 10, he touches upon some features of the developing Christian: "that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." It is to be feared that with most of us the things which Paul here mentions are only words and phrases which roll off our tongues. In actuality they are real spiritual and practical elements within a developing and progressive Christian life. Let us ask ourselves these questions: How truly and intimately do we know Christ? To what extent do we know experimentally the power of His resurrection? To what degree do we have fellowship in Christ's sufferings? Are we, in character and conduct and service, really conformed unto His death? To ponder such questions with an honest and prayerful mind might lead us to see how infantile we really are, and how little progress we have made in the spiritual marathon on which at our conversion, we made a start.

PERFECTION AS THE FINAL GOAL

(verses 11-14)

In these verses Paul is evidently thinking of the racing stadium which was a popular feature of most Greek cities, and especially of the foot-race. “The purpose of the race was to reach the goal opposite the entrance, or to run up and back, and this once or even twice” (W. Hendriksen).

Notice that in verse 14 the Apostle mentions “the mark” and the “prize.” These two things were the objectives in the race. The goal was a pillar which marked the end of the race-course. The prize was the award given to the winner of the race. “This prize was a wreath of leaves. At Athens after the time of Solon, the Olympic victor also received the sum of 500 drachmai. Moreover, he was allowed to eat at public expense and was given a front-row seat at the theater” (Hendricksen).

Thus, goal and prize, though not synonyms, nevertheless were necessarily link together. There were different aspects of the same thing. Attaining the goal brought the prize, but there could be no prize without the attainment of the goal.

Now St. Paul clearly has this in his mind in this great passage. He is a runner in a spiritual race. His conversion (with it’s attendant blessings) was the start of the race. The deeper experiences which had followed (and were still following!) were all stages of spiritual progress. But he is still running! “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after. Mark the words ‘attained’ and “perfect”. They are the equivalents of the twin ideas of ‘prize’ and ‘goal’ respectfully. In verse 11 he describes the ‘prize’ more fully: “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” This cannot refer to the general resurrection of the dead, which is not a prize for those who triumph in the Christian race, but an inevitability for all men (John 5:28-29 and Rev. 20:11-15).

Literally translated Paul’s words are: “If haply I may attain unto the out-resurrection of the dead.” This is evidently and event that is to precede the general resurrection of the dead, and it is a special reward of glory and honour for all those believers who reach the goal of the race. This is the prize. It is believed that the companies of people described in Revelation 4:4-11; 5:8-14; 7:9-17; 14:1-5 are various groups of those believers who reach the goal and receive the prize.

But what is the goal which St. Paul describes in the one word “perfect”? If we look again at the various stages of progressive Christian life which we have already examined, the goal of final perfection will become clear. In conversion we “count all things loss for Christ” (verse 7) and “win Christ” (verse 8). In early Christian experience we are ‘found in Christ” and possess “the righteousness of Christ” (verse 9). As our experience deepens “we know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (verse 10). Is it not clear that the Christian race ever-increasing development in Christ-likeness? It is becoming more and more like Jesus Christ in character and conduct and service. Therefore, the goal to which we should ever press on is total likeness to Christ. (See also Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:11-13; Col. 1:28-29).

The goal of perfect Christlikeness can only be reached by a process. And there is more to that process than the time element. We must beware of the idea that progress in Christlikeness is inevitable. Man and women do not inevitably become Christlike simply because they grow older any more than men win races if they lounge about the starting post. If a man is to win a race he must have a certain temper or frame of mind. He must fix his heart on winning. He must be as St. Paul who declared: “This one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize…”

PERFECTION AS A CRISES EXPERIENCE

( verse 15 )

In this fifteenth verse, St. Paul appeals to his readers that they endeavor to have a frame of mind like his own: “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.” That is, let us get our eyes on the goal of final perfection and press toward true Christlikeness. Yet in his appeal he makes use of a phrase which, on first sight, seems to contradict what he has already said: “Let us, as many as be perfect…” A moment before he had denied perfection: now he affirms it, not only of himself, but also of some of his readers.

Can one, then be perfect and imperfect at the same time? John Wesley says “Yes!” and devotes an entire sermon to proving it, showing “In what sense Christians are not, and in what sense Christians are perfect.” Opponents of the Wesleyan view have adopted various expedients to disprove the distinction, but the Wesleyan position is a sound one, being in harmony with the facts of experience, confirmed by other portions of the Scriptures, and has scholarly backing. Dr. R. Newton Flew, for example, states: “Paul distinguished between absolute perfection, which was reserved for the future (I Cor. 13:10; Phil. 3:12-14), and a relative perfection which he regarded as realizable by himself and his converts. Indeed, that relative perfection was the goal of apostolic work (Col. 1:28; 3:14; 4:12; I Cor. 2:6, Eph. 4:12-13)” (The Idea of Perfection in Christian Theology). Like wise Dr. W.E. Sangster writes: “Paul had a double idea of perfection in mind: a perfection absolute, celestial, and seen as some distant goal to which he pressed; and a perfection relative, terrestrial, and capable of achievement by all who receive the gift of new life in Christ. Only…as this distinction is kept in mind can coherence be found on this theme in the Pauline writings” (The Path to Perfection).

Thus, there is a perfection on the way to perfection. There is a state of heart and life which St. Paul describes as “perfect” and which may be a present realization, even whilst one is still running the race and the goal of final perfection is still a great way off.

In the first Corinthian epistle Paul uses similar terminology. He declares: “We speak wisdom among them that are perfect” (I Cor. 2:6), implying that some Christians are “perfect” NOW, long before they arrive at the goal of total Christlikeness. In another verse in the same chapter (1 Cor. 2:15) he speaks of these as ‘spiritual’ people. Then, he states that not all regenerated people are spiritual: “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ” (I Cor. 3:1). These statements make it unmistakably clear that even whilst we are running toward the goal of final perfection, we may be in a condition of heart and life which is designated as “perfection” and “spirituality.” Furthermore, not all born-again people are in this condition of heart and life. Some, though definitely “in Christ,” are nevertheless ‘babes” and “carnal.”

To revert again to the analogy of the runner in a race: there is one thing vital to every runner who hopes to succeed, namely, perfect fitness. Unless he be in perfect health and fitness he will be impeded and thwarted in all his endeavors.

This is what St. Paul has in mind when he says: “Let us, as many as be perfect…” And this is what some of the Corinthians lacked, of whom Paul says: “I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal…” Unless we have perfect spiritual fitness we cannot run the Christian race effectively and we cannot grow in Christlikeness normally. Dr. Sangster once declared: “Some Christians grow in grace at a snail’s pace: others seem to grow at the speed of a racehorse.” What makes the difference?  It is perfect spiritual fitness. Those Christians who are in the condition of heart and life described by Paul as “perfect” and “spiritual” have the spiritual health and vitality to make the grade. The ‘carnally-minded” are weakened and vitiated, and are hampered all along the way.

--Work in Progress-

Sanctification As Cleansing and Consecration

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1

Study Text: Genesis 21:9-14; 22:1-12

--Work in Progress-

Sanctification in Character, Service, and Conduct

"Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2

Study Text: Romans 12:1-21

--Work in Progress-

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Last updated: October 6, 2004