By request, here’s the complete paper from July 2010 from which the Completed by the Spirit blog series was adapted. You’re welcome to download it and distribute it freely as long as you do not modify it:
Completed by the Spirit: New Covenant Sanctification in Paul (PDF, 240 kb)
This is the 22nd and final part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
The apostle Paul writes throughout his epistles that the law was given for a different covenant and that believers are not under its jurisdiction. He makes no qualifications in this: he does not separate the law into component parts – moral, civil and ceremonial – and he does not prescribe commands of the Torah for our Christian walk.
Paul warns us of the power of the law to promote sin in the flesh and implores us not to submit to its yoke of slavery.
While John is often referred to as the apostle of love, love is a major focus of Paul’s teaching. (A search for “love” in the Pauline epistles returns 115 results in the ESV.) It is love that fulfills the law in the Christian; it is a perfect love of God and of neighbor that is a reflection of the relationship among the Trinity and it is a perfect love of God and of neighbor that is the outworking of our completed Christ-likeness in glory.
Until then, an increasing reliance upon the love of Christ – given to us by His Spirit –molds us more and more into His image.
No law can produce the fruit of the Spirit. All that the law can do is produce sin, despair, self-condemnation and self-righteousness in our remaining imperfection.
It is our union with Christ through His Spirit that results in our sanctification.
“I have come to realize,” writes Jerry Bridges, “that the deep work of spiritual transformation of my soul has been what the Holy Spirit has done, not what I have done. I can to some degree change my conduct, but only He can change my heart.”[1]
Thus, while Paul gives us imperatives in his exposition of what it means to be a follower of Christ in our hearts and in our conduct, those imperatives have their basis only in the indicative of what Christ has done in us.
“[1] There is therefore now no condemnation,” self or otherwise, “for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:1–2).
Next: Commentary on this series, the aftermath of the paper, and further thoughts on the Gospel vs. Law sanctification debate — perhaps several posts!
[1] Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2006), 106.
This is the 21st part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
Given all that we’ve studied in this series, how do we apply what is shown to us about sanctification in Scripture?
How do we grow in holiness or counsel those who are combating sin by relying on the Holy Spirit and following imperatives grounded in the indicative of the gospel and the gift of the Spirit of Christ to dwell in us?
Our study has provided us two answers: one positive and one negative.
We do focus on the gospel.
We do not focus on the law.
When we set our eyes on Christ and look at His person and work, we behold more and more what it is that our union with Him has granted to us. Continue Reading…
This is the 20th part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
As we noted from the writings of Thomas Schreiner in our previous installment, Paul doesn’t give us commands, or imperatives, in the form of laws, but rather as based in the indicative — that is, in our position in Christ. Paul exhorts us to be who we now are.
In addition to those previous examples, we can also look to Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians for imperatives grounded in the indicative.
Ephesians 4:1–3: [1] I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk,” (imperative), “in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, [2] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, [3] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” (indicative).
This is the 19th part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
We certainly are given imperatives — commands — in the New Testament. Indeed, many imperatives are included in Paul’s epistles.
But it is vitally important to understand that Paul’s imperatives are not in the form of laws, but are imperatives that are dependent upon the indicative of the gospel.
Professor and theologian Thomas Schreiner explains:
Paul’s exhortations do not fall prey to legalism, for they are rooted in his gospel and the promises of God. Another way of saying this is that the imperative (God’s command) is rooted in the indicative (what God has done for believers in Christ). Believers are saved, redeemed, reconciled, and justified even now, and yet we have seen that each of these blessings is fundamentally escahatological. Believers are already redeemed, and yet they await final redemption. Justification belongs to believers by faith, and yet they await the hope of righteousness on the last day (Gal. 5:5). Believers would not need any ethical exhortations if they were already perfected. But in the interval between the “already” and the “not yet,” ethical exhortation is needed. If the priority of the indicative is lost, then the grace of the Pauline gospel is undermined. The imperative must always flow from the indicative. On the other hand, the indicative must must not swallow up the imperative so that the latter disappears. The imperatives do not compromise Paul’s gospel. They should not be construed as law opposed to gospel. The imperatives are part and parcel of the gospel as long as they are woven into the story line of the Pauline gospel and flow from the indicative of what God has accomplished for us in Christ.[1]
This is the 18th part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
If sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, why do believers — who have received the Spirit — still need instruction and exhortation?
First, it is important to remember that believers are still imperfect this side of glory. As we have seen, the incarnate Christ as God-Man was the prototype of the believer given the Holy Spirit.
But unlike us, the incarnate Jesus’ communication with the Holy Spirit was perfect.
In Christ, the Spirit’s communication was complete. Continue Reading…
This is the 17th part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
Paul’s repeated explanations of the gospel and his doxologies to Christ are not given because the people to whom he writes do not have Christ — or don’t know Him — but because they do know him. Paul writes to the Romans words that echo those we saw last time from 1 Thess 4:9:
[14] I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. [15] But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God [16] to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:14–16)
Paul is bringing the words and truth of Christ to remembrance, because it is the gospel of Christ that brings about all aspects of salvation: justification, sanctification and glorification.
But that’s not new information to these saints. Continue Reading…
This is the 16th part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
Abraham Kuyper
The Holy Spirit is “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Paul wrote in Colossians 1:27. It is, according to Abraham Kuyper, a “mystical union with Immanuel.”[1]
Our sanctification is achieved by God through our union with Christ. “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thess 5:23–24).
The great existence-altering event that happens in our salvation is our union with Christ through His Spirit.
Paul writes in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
To the Romans, he writes:
[3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. [5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (Rom 6:3–5).
This is the 15th part of a series of posts adapted from a paper I presented at a New Covenant Theology think tank in upstate New York in July 2010.
While we have seen that the law is ineffectual against sin, and (as Paul argues) that the law promotes sin in sinful flesh, and while we have just seen that it is love that fulfills the two tables of the law, we then must ask, “What, according to Paul, produces growth in holiness?” And that brings us to the great antithesis between the Spirit and the flesh that Paul expounds in Galatians 5. Let’s emphasize once again that Paul is writing to the church. He is not writing a treatise solely on justification by faith. He reminds the Galatians, as we noted above, “You were running well!” These are believers that Paul is cautioning against turning from the Spirit.
[16] But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Gal 5:16–17)
While the struggling man of Romans 7 may or may not be a representative of the unregenerate man facing despair in trying to obey the law, the man addressed by Paul is one who fights the Christian fight, the war between the flesh and the Spirit. Continue Reading…
Pastor Moe Bergeron
Pastor Moe Bergeron spoke at the Earth Stove Society’s 2011 Think Tank (in which I participated) on July 27 on the topic “The Neglect of the Spirit of God in NCT.”
Paul contrasted the Old Covenant economy of the letter with the New Covenant economy of the Spirit (2 Cor 3, Gal 3) but most theological systems — including the New Covenant Theology movement — obscure, ignore or diminish the role of the Holy Spirit as the indwelling Spirit of Christ in the believer. Moe believes that it’s time to change that.
I highly recommend you give Moe a listen: http://earthstovesociety.com/?p=314
