Active Sanctification

At various times the Christian Church has struggled with the balance between the definitive/positional/outside-of-ourselves/passive aspects of sanctification versus the progressive/through-ourselves/active aspects of sanctification. There is a careful Biblical balance on the subject of sanctification.  In my mind the part of the Evangelical church that considers itself Reformed contains movements right now that tend to downplay the active aspects of sanctification. We all agree that even our progressive sanctification is ultimately grounded in the gospel, but too often, I think, a dislike of exhortations to sanctification is perhaps disguised in complaints like “those imperatives were not grounded enough in the gospel, etc.”, ignoring that the Gospel itself contains imperatives!

Clearly, there is a level of activity in the faith we exercise in sanctification that is not present in the faith we exercise in justification. We cooperate with God in progressive sanctification in ways that we cannot cooperate in regeneration.  This is not to say that we are the starting point, just that we are very active in it. From start to finish, we can only be active in sanctification because God has regenerated us in Christ.  This is not a highly theoretical topic, it has huge implications in terms of how we carry out the Christian life, how our pastors exhort believers, etc.  To the end of hopefully sharing some useful information, I will now share some quotes which survey what I feel is support for the active aspects of sanctification. This is by no means an extensive survey.

Biblical Sources

1. I Thessalonians 4:3-4 (ESV) – “    For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor.”
2. Hebrews 12:24 (ESV) –   “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
3. 2 Peter 1:5 (ESV) – “    For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,”
4. Ephesians 5:3-21 – “…Let there be no…do not become partners with them…Walk as children of light…Look carefully then how you walk…do not be foolish…[etc]“
5. Colossians 3:5 (ESV) – “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…”
6. Philippians 2:12 (ESV)- “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

Continental Reformed and Puritan

1. “As it is an arduous work and of immense labour, to put off the corruption which is in us, he bids us to strive and make every effort for this purpose. He intimates that no place is to be given in this case for sloth, and that we ought to obey God calling us, not slowly or carelessly, but there is a need of alacrity” – John Calvin in his commentary on 2 Peter 1:5
2. “[Genuine faith] bows the heart to imitate that righteousness for sanctification, and to hate all that sin it seeks the pardon of” – Thomas Goodwin in Exposition of Ephesians
3. “And so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after an heavenly life, in evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King, in His Word hath prescribed them.” – London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) in “On Sanctification”

Dutch Reformed

1. “They are saints and sanctified in Christ Jesus and must nevertheless become holy in all their conduct…pursuing and perfecting their sanctification.” – Herman Bavinck in Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation

Anglican

1. “In sanctification our own works are of vast importance and God bids us fight, and watch, and pray, and strive, and take pains, and labour” – J.C. Ryle in Holiness
2. “Moreover, the Scriptures nowhere teach us that faith sanctifies us in the same sense and in the same manner that faith justifies us! Justifying faith is a grace that ‘worketh not,’ but simply trusts, rests, and leans on Christ (Rom. 4:5). Sanctifying faith is a grace of which the very life is action: it ‘worketh by love,’ and, like a mainspring, moves the whole inward man” – J.C. Ryle in Holiness

Princeton

1. “[S]anctification does not cease to be supernatural, or a work of grace, because the soul is active and cooperating in the process.” – Charles Hodge in Systematic Theology

Post-Puritan British Baptist

1. “Albeit sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, yet it is equally true that the Holy Spirit makes us active agents in our own sanctification.” – Charles Spurgeon in A Passion for Holiness In A Believers Life

Recent Sources

1. “[O]ur activity is enlisted to the fullest extent in the process of sanctification” – John Murray in Redemption Accomplished and Applied
2. “Sanctification..is in one sense synergistic..[a] cooperative process in which [they]..are required to exert themselves in sustained obedience.” – J.I. Packer in Concise Theology
3. “Sanctification is not monergistic. It is synergistic…it demands the cooperation of the..believer…We are to work hard” – R.C. Sproul in Chosen By God
4. “Unfortunately today, this ‘passive’ role in sanctification, this idea of yielding to God and trusting him to work in us…is sometimes so strongly emphasized that it is the only thing people are told about the path of sanctification…this is a tragic distortion of the doctrine of sanctification, for it only speaks of one half of the part we must play, and, by itself, will lead Christians to become lazy and to neglect the active role that Scripture commands them to play in their own sanctification.” – Wayne Grudem in Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine
5. “Justification is our position before God. Sanctification is our practice.” – C.J. Mahaney in The Cross-Centered Life