A Gospel-Centered Approach to Growth in Grace, Part 2

A Word from Bob: You’re reading Part 2 of an RPM Ministries blog mini-series on sanctification—how we grow through Christ’s grace to become more like Christ. I’ve developed my thoughts in this blog series from chapters 15 and 16 of Gospel-Centered Counseling: How Christ Changes Lives. My goal in this series is to outline a biblical way of thinking about heart transformation. You can read Part 1 here.

Let’s Stay Practical 

You and I struggle to live and love like Christ. In our struggle, God has implanted in our heart a desire to be more like Christ. But how does this occur? 

The gospel indicative-only approach (Part 1) says:

• My sanctification involves simply believing more in my justification. “Let go and let God.”

In Part 1, we examined the weaknesses of this “gospel indicative-only approach. We saw the difference between two descriptions of sanctification:

• “Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification” (gospel indicative-only). 
• “Sanctification is the art of applying our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption” (comprehensive gospel-centered focus). 

The Deficiency of the Gospel Imperative-Only Approach: Sanctification by Self-Effort & Hard Work 

Today, we explore the weaknesses of another either/or approach—the gospel imperative-only approach. Here’s how the gospel imperative-only approach answers the question, “How do we become more like Christ?” 

• Sanctification is the active process of putting off the old you and putting on the new you. “Try harder.” 

When you’re longing to become more like Christ, is sanctification simply trying harder to obey the commands of Christ? 

If we follow the gospel imperative-only approach, then we tend to skip over and fly by Ephesians 1-3 and our position/identity in Christ. We race to and settle in Ephesians 4-6 and principles of putting off and putting on—the gospel imperatives. 

Putting off and putting on is vital. However, in this either/or approach, we separate put off/put on from their foundation in gospel indicatives. 

To assess this perspective, let’s see if the summarizing quote meets the test of a comprehensive biblical perspective: 

“Sanctification is the active process of putting off the old you and putting on the new you.” 

Prior to outlining deficiencies, it will be helpful to recognize the strengths of the quote. This description of sanctification: 

• Has the advantage of communicating Paul’s Romans 6 concepts of “not letting sin reign” and “yielding.”
• Has the advantage of communicating the Romans 6, Ephesians 4, and Colossians 3 concepts of putting off and putting on. 

However, left to itself, this definition: 

• Focuses less on our position in Christ and more on our obligation to Christ,
• Focuses less on our identity in Christ and more on working for Christ,
• Focuses less on resting in Christ and more on our active effort to be like Christ, and
• Focuses less on Christ’s empowering grace and more on our sustained effort. 

This definition also: 

• Diminishes the gospel-indicatives,
• Diminishes Christ’s grace for sanctification, and
• Fails to clearly address a comprehensive biblical understanding of what is to be put off and put on. 

The Goal of Sanctification 

So…what are we to put off and put on? What is our target, our goal in sanctification? 

Everyone answers these questions by saying, “the heart” and “heart change.” But what is the heart? What is heart change? 

Far too often our ideas of sanctification are far too nebulous, generic, and abstract. Biblical sanctification is clear—becoming more like Jesus. 

Our sanctification target or goal is heart change defined as our inner life increasingly reflecting the inner life of Christ—His relational, rational, volitional, and emotional life. In sanctification: 

• We are to increasingly relate like Christ (relational heart change),
• We are to increasingly think like Christ (rational heart change),
• We are to increasingly choose (motives) and act (behavior) like Christ (volitional heart change), and
• We are to increasingly respond emotionally like Christ (emotional heart change). 

Toward a Comprehensive Description of Sanctification 

Now we are ready for a comprehensive biblical definition of sanctification. By combining today’s imperative-only deficiencies with the indicative-only deficiencies (Part 1), we know that a biblical definition of sanctification at least needs to say: 

• Sanctification is the grace-motivated and grace-empowered art of applying our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption so that our inner life increasingly reflects the inner life of Christ (relationally, rationally, volitionally, and emotionally) as we put off the old dead person we once were and put on the new person we already are in Christ.   

The Rest of the Story 

I’ll be the first to confess that my sanctification summary is much less tweetable than: 

• Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification. 
• Sanctification is the active process of putting off the old you and putting on the new you. 

The good news is that in Part 3, I’ll offer you a tweet-size summary of sanctification. But, of course, our goal is not “brevity” but biblical clarity. So in addition to a tweet-size summary of sanctification, in Part 3, we’ll explore: A Biblical Understanding of How Growth in Grace Blossoms. 

Join the Conversation 

How would you compare and contrast the following summaries of sanctification? 

• “Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification” (gospel indicative-only). 
• “Sanctification is the active process of putting off the old you and putting on the new you” (gospel imperative-only).
• “Sanctification is the art of applying our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption” (comprehensive gospel-centered focus—short version). 
• Sanctification is the grace-motivated and grace-empowered art of applying our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption so that our inner life increasingly reflects the inner life of Christ (relationally, rationally, volitionally, and emotionally) as we put off the old dead person we once were and put on the new person we already are in Christ (comprehensive gospel-centered focus—long version). 

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth