A Gospel-Centered Approach to the Christian Life

A Word from Bob: You’re reading Part 1 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. 

A Biblical Way of Thinking about Heart Transformation 

Let’s get 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? 

Consider a few questions about the nature of sanctification—about the nature of heart transformation so that our inner life becomes increasingly like the inner life of Christ. 

• Is my sanctification simply believing more in my justification? 
• What place does effort and discipline have to play in the sanctification process, if any? 
• Is the old adage, “Let go and let God” a model to follow in growth in grace? Or, is “Try harder” more accurate? 
• Is our role in sanctification passive or active, or something else entirely? 
• If both salvation and sanctification are by grace, and if we play no role in our salvation, does that mean we play no role in our sanctification? If we do play a role, does that mean we grow by works and not by grace? If we do grow by grace, how are we supposed to tap into Christ’s grace for our sanctification growth? 
• Is there a place for striving in the Christian life? 
• Does the gospel make any demands on the believer for growth in grace? 
• Sanctification flows from a true grasp of the gospel—but how do good deeds spring up from good news? 

The questions could continue almost endlessly. 

While wanting to acknowledge the complexity of growth in grace, I’m not wanting to discourage you. I believe that God’s Word provides the wisdom we need to sort out answers to these practical Christian living questions. 

It Is Not: Either/Or. It Is: Both/And 

In this blog series, I’ll introduce you to the difference between an either/or approach to sanctification and a both/and approach. Here we will address the question: 

• “Is sanctification all of God, all of us, or does sanctification in some way involve God and the believer?” 

God calls us to join one another in the sanctification journey as saints who struggle with suffering and sin. As we commit ourselves to this relational journey with one another, and as we start reading the current evangelical literature, we quickly discover the debate between two either/or approaches.^[i]  

Gospel Indicatives and Gospel Imperatives 

One approach has been labeled the gospel indicative approach which in its extreme seems to emphasize that sanctification entirely or almost exclusively involves the work of God where our only “role” is to remember and re-believe what God has already done for us in the gospel (gospel indicatives). 

The other approach has been labeled the gospel imperative approach which in its extreme seems to emphasize that sanctification, while always initially the work of God, primarily involves our active effort to change as we obey the commands of God (gospel imperatives). 

Of course, life and ministry are never so nice and neat. So, it is unlikely that anyone would self-select into either of these outlier approaches to sanctification. However, these stereotypical extremes can help us to think through a both/and comprehensive approach to biblical progressive sanctification. 

Biblical Sanctification and Gospel Indicatives: The Art of Getting Used to Our Justification? 

If we followed the gospel-indicative-only approach, we would be inclined to immerse ourselves in Ephesians 1-3 and the gospel indicatives—focusing entirely on our position in Christ and our identity in Christ. It is vital that we grasp together with all the saints who we are in Christ. However, in this either/or approach, we would never or rarely move on to Ephesians 4-6 and the gospel imperatives. 

Perhaps we could summarize this perspective with the oft-quoted phrase: 

• “Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification.” 

In church history this might have been labeled the “Let Go and Let God” approach where we are more passive and inactive as we rest in the realities of the gospel of Christ’s grace. 

To assess this perspective, let’s see if the summarizing quote meets the test of a comprehensive biblical perspective: “Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification.” 

To be fair, before showing possible deficiencies, it helps to appreciate the intent of the quote. In Romans 6, Paul clearly highlights the truth that Christians are to know and reckon on their new identity in Christ—that our former self was crucified, that baptism into Christ is baptism into His death and resurrection, and that through our union with Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God. John Stott says it like this. 

“We are to recall, to ponder, to grasp, to register these truths until they are so integral to our mindset that a return to the old life is unthinkable. Regenerate Christians should no more contemplate a return to unregenerate living than adults to their childhood, married people to their singleness or discharged prisoners to their prison cell. For our union with Jesus Christ has severed us from the old life and committed us to the new.”^[ii] 

Wonderful truths, but perhaps incompletely stated. In Stott’s quote and in the quote about “the art of getting used to…” what’s highlighted and implied are “knowing and reckoning” (Romans 6:1-11). 

But Paul does not stop with knowing and reckoning. On the basis of those gospel realities, Paul says, therefore don’t let sin reign, but instead yield yourselves to God (Romans 6:12-14). 

“The art of getting used to” seems to truncate Paul’s comprehensive biblical model in Romans 6. Paul is saying that based on what we know and what we “get used to,” God calls us to a grace-empowered and grace-motivated response. 

The quote also says that sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification. As amazing as our justification is, justification is not a comprehensive biblical summary of our complete salvation. At the very least the quote should say: 

• “Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption.” 

In fact, Romans 6, with its emphasis on our newness in Christ, stresses regeneration more than it does justification. And since Paul highlights “not letting sin reign and yielding” along with “knowing and reckoning,” a Pauline working definition of sanctification would at least have to include: 

• Sanctification is the art of applying our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption. 

By retaining the word “art,” I am communicating the unique application of universal biblical truths, the person-specific and situation-specific ways in which an individual applies gospel truth to his or her life.

By inserting the word “applying” in place of “getting used to,” I am communicating the comprehensive nature of knowing, reckoning, not letting sin reign, and yielding based upon the realities of our complete salvation—our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption. 

The Rest of the Story 

In our next blog post in this series, we’ll look at another either/or approach—the gospel imperative approach. Is sanctification simply trying harder to obey the commands of Christ? Come back and we’ll answer that question together. 

Join the Conversation 

What is the difference between these two descriptions of sanctification: 

• “Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification.” 
• Sanctification is the art of applying our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption.

 [i]For a well-developed both/and approach that contrast with these either/or approaches, see Stuart Scott, “The Gospel in Balance,” in James Macdonald, Bob Kellemen, and Steve Viars, editors, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling, 167-180.