It´s cool that you´ve used an album cover from the Hardcore band It Prevails... secret fan?

Great article Tullian

Having been on holiday recently I've not kept up with the last two posts and comments. I have found the comments by Brandon and John (Dunn) particularly helpful, not simply because I agree with them (though that helps :))but because they deepen my understanding.

Many thanks.

"When Martin Luther said, “If they use the Scriptures against Christ, we will use Christ against the Scriptures” my understanding is that he was talking about anabaptists using Scripture to justify division, which would surely be against Christ, not for Him. I’m simply suggesting that it’s rather plain in Scripture that not all imperatives are law that must distract from grace, but that the writers of Scripture, including Paul, frequently base imperatives upon grace."

Luther was talking about anyone who would place the law (what 'we do') above the gospel and Christ's work on the cross. The gospel always trumps the law.

The imperatives are NEVER done by us. When you place the imperatives ahead of the gospel then you have wiped out the gospel.

Those things which Paul mentions ought not be our focus, but natural outcomes of faith.

To turn people in that direction is to wipe out the gospel and place them back into themselves, again.

____

I really have a tough time understanding what the goal is of people who send people back into themselves. There's only two outcomes...either pride...or despair. That's it.

@Paul St

Amen, and 2 Timothy 2:22 also says “But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” It’s not an individual pursuit, but a “with those” pursuit, a corporate pursuit. The Lord Jesus also said, “Where two or three or gathered, there am I in their midst...” On the one hand, we need the deeply intimate, personal, private relationship with the Lord. On the other hand, we’re not self-contained units but members of one Body who need one another. Ultimately, God’s goal is not to bring a bunch of isolated individuals into glory but to join and knit together a corporate Body in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the glorious church which in its final form is the New Jerusalem in the new heavens and new earth.


@John Dunn

I think you are right about our mindset and landscape. The individualism is deeply ingrained into our culture and, as a result, our theology. Our minds need to be renewed through prayerful reading of Scripture which reveals Body of Christ and our identities as members of the Body. A pinky finger or an appendix lacks life, purpose and function outside the body; in the same way, I lack life, purpose and function outside the Body. Much of our talk of growth, fruit and sanctification can only make sense or come to fruition insofar as we are vitally related and built together with other members.

Thank you for your insightful comments and for the book recommendations as well.


--
@Steve M,

I’m not saying that imperatives should be put ahead of grace but that these NT imperatives we’re talking about are not inconsistent with grace.

I’m suggesting that such imperatives lead into the self and wipe out grace only if we bring an individualistic, independent, self-centered, legalistic, merit-based, grace-forgetting, grace-earning mentality to them. But the writers of Scripture don’t seem to think this is inevitable or even normal, since they so freely employ imperatives in the middle of speaking for our Lord’s work in us and for us and in fact base them in grace.

“Those things which Paul mentions ought not be our focus, but natural outcomes of faith.”

They are natural outcomes of faith, yet Paul sees it fit to mention them in verse after verse. In the epistle of Galatians (particularly chapters 5 and 6) he spends substantial time discussing them at length. Faith works in conjunction with the inspired word of God; hence it is a genuine help to us that Paul writes things like “But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.” So, do we say “Amen!” to this verse, or cry in exasperation “Law! Law!”? I’m afraid that without such a verse some people would tell us with all confidence that what Paul is describing in this verse doesn’t exist. My point, again, is that such imperatives need not direct us into ourselves or wipe out the gospel. We can pay adequate attention to them without losing Christ as our focus. It’s not like the less attention we pay to them the better, lest we forget we need a Savior.


“The imperatives are NEVER done by us.”

But it depends upon how we talk about “doing.” Of course, none of us can "do" anything apart from Christ. Yet the apostle Paul testified, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (Phil. 4:13). Here Christ is empowering Paul, yet Paul is speaking of in some sense “doing” all things in Him. I’m sure that the “doing” he describes--as with “work out your own salvation” and similar expressions--includes walking by the Spirit, pursuing Christ, pursuing godliness, and many of the other imperatives he speaks of. Yet clearly he is not talking about “doing” in the “law of capability” sense that Paul Zahl speaks about, or in the sense that you mean.

The thing is that the self being put to death by His cross means not only the putting to death of our self-efforts but the putting to death of our selfish ambition (the underlying motive for our our self-efforts), the self’s goal to do something, have something or be somebody. The mentality that makes “What is God going to do for me?” its chief end. The reason why our attempts at “moral progress” have ended in either pride or despair is because we were seeking something for self--and then we perceived that we either got or didn’t get what we wanted or expected. But since the cross deals with our selfish ambition, and graciously gives us a different center and focus, we can have a genuine and fruitful “pursuit” (Paul’s word) of Christ that is Christ-centered rather than self-centered, that is according to Christ’s interests rather than our self-interest. Then, even if we do bear fruit (even in objective ways, such as bringing 50 people to Christ) we still have the abiding sense that we are nobody and all the glory belongs to God.

Paul writes, “For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died. / And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). His death on the cross for us and His constraining love causes us to no longer live unto ourselves but unto Him--a change from our goals to His goal as the theme of our life. Hence, because of Christ’s work we can have a way of life and fruitful pursuit of Him that is not self-centered but Christ-centered.

What’s puzzling to me, brother Steve, is that it seems that you expect that the believers’ self should be put to death to the extent that they are at times free to stop thinking that they can or need to do things through self-effort, but you seem to think it impossible that any believer’s self could be put to death to the extent that they are at times free to pursue Christ, righteousness, sanctification, fruit, etc. as a result of seeing His worthiness and not out of selfish ambition. Does coming to the cross kill only with our self-efforts but not with our self-ambition?

And to re-clarify, when pastor Tullian says that we should be grace-centered with regard to sanctification (i.e. by remembering our justification), I agree. What some of us are trying to say, though, is that grace and Christ’s work is not limited to forgiveness and justification judicially, but the release and impartation of His resurrection life in His Spirit to form the Body of Christ organically. Grace doesn’t mean only that we are sinners who are forgiven and can now live in the realization of that forgiveness. Grace also means that we have been regenerated and organically united to Christ and can now live in that oneness as the corporate Body of Christ. This matter doesn't fit within the conventional framework of law versus gospel that is concerned mostly with judicial categories (legal requirement and forgiveness), and it also readily encompasses the fact that the New Testament contains a plethora of imperatives that--as intended--are not dampers upon grace but filled with grace.

@Brandon
I enjoyed the last comment especially the last paragraph. Because we need each other to grow in Christ. The last scripture reference 2 Tim 2:22 NLT mentions our pursuit of righteous living, faithfulness peace, love. In Rom. 8:13 Paul tells us to put to death the misdeeds of the body. We do this by the choices we make-not only to say no to temptations , but also to say yes to the positive steps we must make to pursue Holiness.(Jerry Bridges The Practice of Godliness)

an excerpt: VI THE NEW LIFE; "What is involved here, of course is what nullifies the operation of sin in man. The new life the Work of the Holy Spirit, faith as the new mode of existence, these must all come up for discussion here. In short the entire reverse side of that which could be ascertained in chap III with respect of the outworking of sin in the death and bondage of man." pg.205
not too heady here.

@Mark
I think that is a good question. I would offer some comments as an imperfect response.

I personally don’t think we can just intentionally bear fruit or do a good work on command as such. We’re subject to God’s timing in His work. I also don’t think that we can accurately quantify or measure how sanctified our living is overall (or in comparison to others) or should try to do so; this tends toward independent introspection or self-analysis. If God were to show us everything that is actually wrong with us in one instant, we probably would not be able to handle it; His way is to shine on specific things bit by bit, and hence we should not in our selves to evaluate our whole being.

I would echo what John Dunn has said, and point out that the Scripture speaks of Christ living in us (Gal. 2:20), Christ being formed in us (Gal. 4:19), Christ making His home in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17), beholding and reflecting Christ and being transformed into His image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18), Christ being wisdom to us from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30), our being a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death (Phil. 3;10), having the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), having the inward parts of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:8, cf. Col. 3:12), abiding in Christ as branches in the vine that we may bear much fruit because apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:4-5), Christ being our life (Col. 3:4), the Spirit of Jesus Christ bountifully supplying us to magnify Jesus in our mortal bodies (Phil. 1:19-20), and much, much more.

In short, transformation unto the image of Christ and bearing fruit isn’t a matter of cultivating and exhibiting our own virtues, of us “getting better” in that sense. It’s really a matter of Christ, with whom the believers are already organically united, really and truly living in and with us, that His life and virtues may be expressed in our living. The flavor, the atmosphere, the aroma, of any genuine growth or fruit we might have is not us being expressed, but Christ in us being expressed. Hence, we have no cause for boasting except in the Christ Himself. Why boast in yourself when it is another, more glorious and attractive one who is being expressed in you? To boast in our self in this case is not only prideful and self-righteous but illogical, akin to someone boasting in how well a job they did in their receiving the free gift of the forgiveness of sins. Seeing the vision in Scripture that Christ is the reality of our growth and fruit-bearing can cause us to have a change of concept of what transformation is that can govern our Christian life.

Also, the Scripture quite often speaks of growth and fruit-bearing not in terms of individuals but in the context of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12-16; Col. 2:19; Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:14-31; 1 Pet. 2:2-12, 2 Tim. 2:22; also note that in John 15 all the branches are attached to the one Vine). A lot of our actual growth and fruit-bearing is corporate in nature, where we enjoy Christ with one another, where each member plays a part, where we receive help and perfecting from others, where even the weaker members are necessary, where we live and serve with one another in coordination. No individual member can adequately express what Christ is; it takes the Body corporately to do so. Hence it is hard for any one person to honestly take credit for something that was a Body matter, something that we’re all in together while depending on the life and grace of our Head. A lot of us have a very individualistic, self-focused concept of growth and fruit-bearing simply because we haven’t received a clear word concerning growth being in and for the Body of Christ. When we have a change of focus from self and individuals to Christ and His Body, the self will be not be the focus.

@John Dunn
I am trying to read "Paul-An Outline of His Theology" by Herman Ridderbos. It's not easy reading for me but I gleen as much as I can.

@Steve M.

So when Paul says, “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; / For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure” is he taking us into the self, just because he says, “work out your own salvation”?

When you assert, “When all the Scripture verses come that take us into the self....” you seem to be missing the parts of the same passages that speak of what God in Christ has graciously done for us, which show that the imperatives are rooted in grace.

When Martin Luther said, “If they use the Scriptures against Christ, we will use Christ against the Scriptures” my understanding is that he was talking about anabaptists using Scripture to justify division, which would surely be against Christ, not for Him. I’m simply suggesting that it’s rather plain in Scripture that not all imperatives are law that must distract from grace, but that the writers of Scripture, including Paul, frequently base imperatives upon grace.

The cross of Christ does it all for us.
We ought cling to it.

But is this word law, directing us to the self, simply because you’re saying “we ought” to “do” something?

If not, why do you find what I've said so objectionable, anti-grace, and against Christ and His cross? Would you deny that we should (as John Dunn has just suggested) cling to "His cross, his resurrection, his heavenly intercessions, and his resurrection life that now working powerfully in us by His Spirit"?

Steve, clinging to the cross of Christ is great for having all of your Adamic wrath taken away, but Christ's work did not end there.

After Christ's Paschal death/Exodus-event He rose from the dead. Then like Moses, He ascended the hill of the Lord (Zion) fifty days later and poured out His new "law", the law of the Spirit of Life, upon his newly redeemed covenant people.

We must cling to His cross, his resurrection, his heavenly intercessions, and his resurrection life that now working powerfully in us by His Spirit.


@Mark
When we walk by the Spirit, producing his fruit, it is not our own fleshly work wherein we can boast. It is Christ who lives in us (Gal 2:20). When we walk by the Spirit there will be no room for proud self-righteousness, since those who walk by the Spirit do NOT walk according to the flesh (Rom 8:5-11).

When all the Scripture verses come that take us into the self,instead of sending us to the foot of the cross, remember this quote from Luther, "If they use the Scriptures against Christ, we will use Christ against the Scriptures."

The self offers us nothing (really)in these matters of faith. The cross of Christ does it all for us. We ought cling to it.

Brandon,

Thank-you so much for sharing your insights on the corporate dimension of the Body of Christ! This vital aspect of understanding and applying the Scriptures to the corporate new covenant community, as opposed to simply the individual ME, is foreign in our evangelical/reformed Western landscape. Our Western mindset is myopically individualistic and self-centred, and our traditional theological understanding reflects this.

I have been greatly helped in my understanding on the corporate dimension of the new covenant community by Dr. Tom Holland (Wales Evangelical School of Theology). His books on Paul's theologcial contours and Romans are stellar:

1. Contours of Pauline Theology (Mentor - October 19, 2004)
2. Romans: The Divine Marriage (Pickwick Publications - August 8, 2011)

@Brandon,

Agreed. There are many here who have a very individualistic, legalistic, and synergistic view of sanctification, as if all New Testament commands/imperatives are under the condemning and impossible "law" category of the flesh, which speak to men AS IF they have not really been redeemed from the dominion of Sin through Christ's death and powerful resurrection life, by the Spirit.

The error of this view is that it unbiblically separates Gospel Grace from Gospel Grace empowered living for the corporate believing community (the Church) which has been raised up with Christ as the "new creation" by the Spirit of Grace. The Gospel cannot be separated from the life-giving Gospel commands which give birth to new life in the saints.

At creation, when God commanded (by His breath - the Spirit) the light to shine out of darkness was He speaking "law" words of death and condemnation? Or life-giving fiat?

When God now commands His redeemed "new creation" (by His breath - the Spirit) to shine forth as lights in the world (through faith working by love) is He speaking forth "law" words of death and condemnation? Or new creational fiat? If the Indicative (Christ) gives measureless abundance of new covenant grace to dead sinners and the abundant resurrection power of His life-giving Spirit, are the new covenant commands which flow from Him then to be viewed as a law centred "ministry of death"?

Our deliverance from the Old Covenant slavemaster (Law) in Christ's death is complete. In His resurrection the redeemed Bride has been raised to newness of life, to serve Him in the New Covenant way of the Spirit (Rom 7:6). Why then do some here continue to resurrect the law/death/flesh specter which Christ has put to death once and for all?

The marked difference of New Testament ethics is that it does not frame its commands and imperatives in same covenantal formula of *conditional* legal code as at Sinai. Paul does not say "do this or else all the covenant curses of death and destruction will come upon you".

Rather He points believers to Christ and shows them the fulness of His righteousness, grace, and the 100% perfection that the Saints already possess in Him by faith. Then he says, "Therefore O Church grow up into the glorious image of all that you already are in Him . . . and don't do this by the works or power of the flesh from which you have been delivered . . . for if you live by the flesh you shall die. Rather, live and walk by the Spirit of God who has taken up residence in His corporate Body, the Temple of the living God. Walk in the Spirit and you are guaranteed to mortify the flesh and produce His heavenly fruit. This type of new life is impossible for those who are unaquainted with the Spirit (unregenerate unbelievers). For only those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them know Him, and are able to discern spiritual things, and are empowered with Christ's resurrection-life for new service to Him."

Great post. As for the comments, thanks to all for the discussion. My question is, how I can have an intentional good work that is not connected to my own self-righteousness?...I haven't accomplished that one yet. For me, my pride is alive and well in the yardstick that I use to inspect my own sanctification.

Steve M,

Every demand that our existence places upon us to fulfill our humanity, is law.
There is no escaping it.
We actually need a Savior.


But no one here is denying that we actually need our Savior. Even after our physical bodies are transfigured at the resurrection, our flesh of sin is removed, and we are made sinless, we will be utterly dependent upon our Savior and glory in His person and work, because He is our redeemer and our life.

Yes, in this life we are all vulnerable to sin, we fail countless times every day, and in our flesh we are capable of the most despicable things. We all need the blood of Christ. Probably most of us have done or will do something we never thought ourselves capable of doing, and the only way to break through is to realize the power of the blood of Christ and His grace and unconditional love.

However, it doesn’t follow that all imperatives are “law” that detract from grace. As one of many examples, the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, a church beset by problems (1 Cor. 3:1-3), saying “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). Can anyone do this perfectly? No, the only absolutely steadfast, immovable and abounding one is the Lord. But this doesn’t mean that such a word is “law” intended only to kill and expose, as if the more faltering, passive and discouraged in their labor the Corinthians are the better, lest they forget that they need a Savior. The word is meant to encourage, to supply them to carry out what would appear to be a demand--what we might call a grace-filled imperative. In doing so, Paul is not distracting the Corinthians away from Christ’s person and work to their person and work, but applying Him to their person and work. He’s directing them to the knowledge of the Lord as their all-sufficient supply in another area of their life and service, that they may carry out their work in oneness with Him rather than independently. The steadfast, immovable and abounding Lord lives in us, and we can do all things not by our own strength but in oneness with Him, as the apostle Paul himself testified “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (Phil. 4:13), and “But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). Here Paul takes heed of his doings and work, and the Lord's work in him, yet all the credit and glory goes to Him and His grace.

Neither does it mean that we aren’t (in the words of the apostle Paul) to “pursue” Christ as our righteousness, godliness, sanctification, holiness, peace, etc. The apostles and the Lord Jesus Himself plainly commend this (Phil. 3:9-16; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22; Heb. 12:14; 2 Pet. 1:3-11; Gal 5:15-26, cf. John 15:1-17). Although we can abuse their words by making “our pursuit” our focus while losing sight of the Lord Himself and His accomplishments for us, I believe it is more than fair to say that the genuine pursuit Christ as righteousness, godliness, etc.--that is, living in oneness with Him--is part of being Christ-focused. (Otherwise, the apostles and the Lord Himself would not have commended it.) We see Him and what He has done for us and treasure Him, therefore we pursue Him and want what He wants--a Body that bears fruit to God and glorifies Him on the earth. Hence the apostle Paul could speak our desire to be well-pleasing to Him in all things (2 Cor. 5:9; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 4:1). It’s a desire rooted not in law and independence but in grace and faith operating through love.

That’s why I’m saying that not every imperative in Scripture is “law” in the sense described in this blog post, or as defined by the law-gospel hermeneutic. We can make pretty anything into “law”; it doesn’t mean that in itself that statement or principle is in itself incompatible with grace. “We should only be grace-centered.” “To be a good theologian one must properly distinguish between law and gospel.” “We shouldn’t mix law and gospel.” Are such statements law, incompatible with grace? What if one doesn’t abide by them as well as others, are they a "less-than" Christian?

--
Mark,
Brother, I agree that we so often mistake our self-efforts for the Spirit’s work in us, our independence for dependence on Him. But I also believe that we sometimes can let our experience determine truth rather than let the Scripture determine truth. Does the New Testament contain many imperatives directed towards regenerated believers, and entreat them to pursue Christ, righteousness, sanctification, etc.? Yes it does. The apostle Paul frequently directs imperatives to the believers in the middle or right after speaking of what our Lord has done. Often he roots these imperatives to something our Lord is or has done for us--“since the Lord has done this, therefore walk in this way.” I just read Philippians; the whole epistle is constructed largely in this way, imperatives rooted in indicatives. And it’s a pattern consistent throughout the New Testament.

That we often lose sight of Christ in our work or begin comparing ourselves to others doesn’t mean that all imperatives are “law” that distract from grace or that any pursuit of sanctification must necessarily be self-centered rather than Christ-centered. I believe that grace is free, but that being grace-centered shouldn’t cost us an honest look at how the Scripture actually talks about these things. I believe that our first priority day by day is to enjoy the Lord, to let Him fill our vision that we might be filled with His grace; the Lord cares more for our person than our work. But this is different than saying that we should avoid all or almost all notions of pursuing sanctification, which is the route that some seem to be taking.

Everyone should stop for a second and read this (on the law) by Steven Paulson (student of Gerhard Forde and professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN):

http://1minutedailyword.com/2012/04/13/romans-51-2/

This is golden.

@Steve M.

Sin is our condition. It’s not something that we step into and out of.

I agree. I believe that we all have the flesh of sin in this life (a sinful nature), that we often sin according to our sinful nature, and that we can’t achieve “sinless perfection” in this life.

On the other hand, the apostle Paul says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves....Do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal body so that you obey the body's lusts; Neither present your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness to God. For sin will not lord it over you, for you are not under the law but under grace” (Rom. 6:1, 12-14), and “For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:2)

I feel that you’re absolutizing human sinfulness over and against aspects of what the Lord has done for us that you’re not paying attention to, e.g. the believers’ old man having already been crucified with Him, their being regenerated with His life, indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, having received a new heart and a new spirit, made a new creation in Him, being organically united to Him as branches in the Vine (John 15), being "one spirit" with Him (1 Cor 6:17), etc.

Many truths in Scripture have two sides (God being one yet three; Christ being 100% God yet 100% a man, etc.) and it's no use to emphasize one side of the truth to the exclusion and neglect of the other. Do regenerated believers have the flesh of sin, a sinful nature? Yes. Do they also have a new heart, a new spirit, a new life and nature in Christ? Yes.

Sounds like something else I need to do.
We Lutherans don’t like that language. It curves it all back in on us and robs us of assurance.

In Philippians 2:12-13 the apostle Paul said “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; / For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” He says, “it is God who operates in you...” yet he also says, “work out your own salvation.”

I don't interpret this passage in a way that should rob us of assurance; yet it is clearly an imperative rooted in an indicative. And, of course, this kind of thing is not an isolated passage; the apostle Paul gives imperatives related to the Christian life all the time, whether it’s pursue Christ, pursue righteousness, walk by the Spirit, do not quench the Spirit, let the word of God dwell in you richly, in everything give thanks, "Look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, / Redeeming the time, because the days are evil"(Eph. 5:15-16), etc.

Do Lutherans not like this language?

Or, does the Lord Jesus having done everything mean that you literally and actually have no need to confess your sins, and that to suggest otherwise would be to make everything curve back upon you? When you are conscious of a sin you have done, do you really always wait around passively until you suddenly find yourself listening to a sermon, or at church receiving the sacraments? Or do you practice to simply confess your sins in your daily life during the week?

Also note that I didn’t say anything that should rob anyone of their assurance. When I say “break through” I meant breaking through crippling self-condemnation by seeing and receiving His gift of grace, not by human manufacturing and maneuvering. God is the giver of light; it's not a gift we give ourselves. I don’t see how this is any worse than implying that we should be grace-centered.

I would love for everyone to despair of that little bit of the self, and cling totally to the cross and the finished work therein.

But is this not implicitly just as much a "demand" or expectation of what Christians should be doing as any of the things you’re presently condemning as defending a little room for self?

You see what is going on here?
What is being defended? Some little bit of the self.

What is being defended is how the Scripture actually talks about these things. Do the writers of Scripture, including the apostle Paul, often speak of the Spirit’s work in the believers, the believers' work in the Spirit, and direct many imperatives to regenerate believers concerning their Christian walk (all rooted in or based upon what Christ has done for us)? Yes, yes and yes. Is Paul therefore distracting the believers from grace to self, that they may pride and glory in their self for having a part in God's work? No. Does Paul say that all his imperatives are “law”? No.

I believe that the accusation of defending a little bit of the self, to be fair, would equally have to be leveled against the apostle Paul.


---
@John Dunn,

Well said.
“Repent and believe in the gospel” is an imperative, yet to those who believe it is not “law” but filled with grace. God supplied everything that was necessary, we just repented and believed.

I believe it’s similar with the many imperatives directed to regenerate believers in the New Testament. God’s life-giving word supplies us with what it commands and portrays. His word is breath and life to us, a means by which He works out what He commands based upon what He has already done, and should be received as part of the every word of God by which we live (Matt. 4:4; John 6:63). Which is why it should be no surprise that Paul habitually releases imperatives to believers that are rooted in or based upon what Christ has already done. The fact that we can abuse such words by bringing a legalistic and self-centered view of sanctification to them (as you noted), turning them into law that distracts from grace, does not mean that the imperatives are in themselves law as opposed to grace, that we should treat these passages as law-based acid on our grace-centered skin. To say that it is in the very nature of imperatives to neutralize or “tone down” grace is a divorce from Scriptural realities. Many of the imperatives in Scripture are His means of supplying us for our living as children of God in God's household, citizens of the kingdom, members of the Body of Christ, branches abiding in the vine.

I also agree about the separation of the gospel grace from gospel-grace-empowered living. The fact of the matter is that the Lord Jesus’ work in His crucifixion and resurrection is not limited to dying for our sins in order that we may be forgiven judicially. There’s more to the good news! Our Lord also terminated the old man of the old creation in His death and germinated the new creation in His resurrection life to produce the church that lives in organic union with Him. This is for His ultimate intention to have the new creational church as His corporate kingdom, Body, dwelling place and bride that is one with Him for His expression (glory) on the earth.

Praise the Lord for our “fire-insurance,” but the Lord is more to us than a get-out-of-hell-free card or a correction to a mistake that happened in Genesis 3. We have a lot more to praise Him for. He’s also our life. Through His death and resurrection He has dealt with all the problems that prevented us from receiving His life, released His life and imparted this life into us through His Spirit. As such, “how now shall we live” is not limited to living in the realization of our justification and forgiveness based on Christ’s accomplished work, but includes living and serving in His life in oneness with Him based on His accomplished work, all for the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12-16). The New Testament imperatives depend upon this reality produced through Christ’s accomplished work.

It’s not just that we are forgiven while we remain altogether in our former status and condition. Through faith and baptism we were transferred from one realm or dominion (the slavery of sin, bondage to the law, the old creation, the old man in Adam, the kingdom of darkness, the authority of Satan) to another (the Triune God, Christ, the new creation, the new man in Christ, the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ). We still have the flesh of sin in this life, and will continue to have our sin nature until the transfiguration of our bodies. For this reason we need always to cleave to the Lord, not trusting in our self or our self-sufficiency but depending upon and owing everything to His mercy and grace, a dependency and healthy fear of independence that only increases with maturity. Yet, at the same time, as regenerated persons indwelt by the Spirit, we are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and Christ is in us. We have a new life and nature abiding in us. As such, the apostle Paul often entreats the believers to not to identify with the old man but with the new (Rom. 6:6-23; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) and as such directs imperatives to them as constituents of the new creation, children of God and members of the Body of Christ.

And don't we all want "something to do with it." The repentance, the ability to even consider living the life, are God's gifts, as salvation is. We are too inward and self-focused.

God's grace does not *require* our sanctification.

Rather, God's Gospel grace has already *provided* for our complete sanctification. Our sanctification is the fruitful branch that irresistably grows out of the life-giving, grace-laden Vine of Jesus Christ, who is our living justification, righteousness, and hope of glory.

Sanctification is the ongoing sovereign operation of the Spirit in us which was monergistically begun at justification and which is already secured *in Christ* to be monergisticallly completed at glorification. In this way, the Indicative and imperative are organically united by the sovereign work of the Spirit. The imperative is completely dependant upon the Indicative for fulfillment.

Said another way, the Head and the Body are organically united by the abiding presence of the same life-giving Spirit (Rom 8:11). The Body produces life/fruit/obedience by virtue of her life-giving faith union to the Head.

Therefore, the branches are guaranteed to produce Spirit-wrought fruit (imperative acts) since they are organically united to the living Vine (Indicative) by faith. The Vine is the one-way life/grace source from which the brances irresistably recieve the life-giving supply of the same Spirit which raised Christ from the dead for their daily obedience of faith. The fruit of the Spirit is love . . . this Spirit-generated love is the eschatological fulfillment of the law at work in us.

You see what is going on here?

What is being defended? Some little bit of the self.

The self needs to die (that's what Baptism does), and then it is ALL on Christ.

It really is liberating. I would love for everyone to despair of that little bit of the self, and cling totally to the cross and the finished work therein.

"Yes, in this life we are all vulnerable to sin"

Sin is our condition. It's not something that we step into and out of.

____

"...the only way to break through is to..."

Sounds like something else I need to do.


We Lutherans don't like that language. It curves it all back in on us and robs us of assurance.

Nope. "It (really) is finished."

Now you're talking!

Thanks Jim. I really appreciate you!

The question is, "Does God's grace require our sanctification or does our sanctification require God's grace?"

A focus on the former produces self-righteousness and joyless obedience (not very attractive to the unbelieving world) while a focus on the latter produces joy and fruit as a result of our freedom in Christ (very attractive).

If I have been misunderstood and people want to moderate all this talk of God's lavish grace to us in Jesus Christ and our need to be preoccupied with it, I consider that quite a compliment! It is even more complete and greater than we will ever know in this life and I look forward to the day when "I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known". (1 Cor. 13:12).

I have already taken too much time on this blog...but I appreciate all the new friends and appreciate the insights! Blessings to you in the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[...] looking to our reliable standbys, Tullian Tchividjian’s post earlier this week entitled “Grace Prevails” is absolutely wonderful and hits on a number of our favorites subjects (and via a couple of our [...]

I had a thought about how to think about fulfilling the law without being under the law a while back.

I have four sons. Now my youngest is 10, I have two big athletic teens, and my oldest is 21. We have a standing rule in the house, that no one in the family ought to poop in their pants. When they were infants, we had a lot of 'grace' for this. We actually examined their poop closely and remarked on its consistency. Once they reached a certain age, pooping became an issue. We scolded them for accidents and encouraged them to poop in the potty. We celebrated instances where they successfully pooped in the potty! We helped wipe their bottoms.

Now, the rule still stands. But even though there is the occasional tread mark, we just don't think about it any more. They never poop anywhere else except the potty, and we never mention it. We no longer even celebrate potty pooping.

In 10,000 years it will still be true that we ought not covet. Someone might come along and say, "remember, we ought not covet!" Everyone will say, "What? No one has coveted in millennia. If we need anything, God makes 10 universes full of it. Why would we covet, we have an abundance of everything!"

Maybe this is the dynamic we have actually entered in the here and now. It is at least the kind of spirit-led living we are aiming at, and if we need a bit of guidance here and there, it is to guide us from infancy to childhood. I think some of it is meant to become second nature.

Just a bit of speculation there, I'm sure there is some council of dort provision somewhere that runs counter to it.

Jeremiah - absolutely. Sorry if I implied that.

Jeremiah, yes that is the way I understood it. Blessings.

Thanks Tullian.

Mark, Paul and Jim I was asking a question and not making an accusation regarding cheap grace. I hope you can differentiate.
grace and peace

Tullian that is helpful because essentially "cheap grace" is grace without Christ and what he has accomplished for us.

Also, with regard to the "law of capability" it helps me to understand that this all really began in the garden where we first started to cover our shame by sewing on "the fig leaves of our own righteousness" (Gen. 3:7) rather than being clothed by a sacrifice that God provides (Gen. 3:21).

The Law then in the Old Testament and in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus lets us know that fulfilling the Law goes beyond external behavior, really destroys our "capability". Without the the "law" about us as humans as well as God's "Law" fulfilling its purpose, we would never be able to understand the overwhelming freshness of the gospel and what God has done that we are incapable of doing ourselves.

I slip into the "default mode" of what this "law of capability" demands daily and knowing what God's Law demands only makes it worse! The world in which we live reinforces this thinking and much advertising in free-enterprise takes advantage of it. Many times the church and "Christian sub-culture" we've created reinforces it and I certainly have been part of that! Ugh!

This is why we continually need the gospel to speak outside of us so we can be rescued from ourselves. The mistake I/we often make and as Tullian has written so well, is that we think we can move on from the gospel after we are regenerated. We then become pre-occupied with our sanctification and "what we do for God in comparision with others" rather than what "God has done for us" in Christ. The thing pursued "fruit of the Spirit" becomes a means to promote self-righteousness and no one is honest anymore. We know we're not pulling it off but we need to protect ourselves from others finding that out.

A focus on Christ and what he has accomplished for us releases us from the bondage the "law of capability" puts on us, fulfills God's Law, and frees us to serve our God in humble honesty without the walls of self-protection, fear, and condemnation. This is the power of the gospel and it is good news!

I love what Tullian writes in the article in MR "Jesus + Nothing = Everything", "When we stop obsessing over our need to improve, that is what it means to improve!....Sanctification is forgetting about ourselves; it involves receiving Christ's words, 'It is finished' into our rebellious regions of unbelief." So true!

Until Christ returns and makes all things new I will continue to struggle but I'm starting to be okay with that on most days. "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom. 7:24-25).

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thess 4:7-8)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Gal 5:16)

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Gal 5:18)

For the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the (Sinaitic) law of sin and death . . . in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:2-4)

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Rom 8:13-14)

Be filled with the Spirit. (Eph 5:18)

Hi Jeremiah,

For what it's worth, in William Hordern's excellent book "Living by Grace", he defines cheap grace as "the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner." I think that's helpful.

Tullian

Also, just to head it off, it isn't really cheap grace, it cost Jesus everything. But we don't really understand how much it cost, and He forgives that too. And it isn't cheap to us, it is free, it is a gift. Free is less than cheap. However, I have received some very very nice gifts in the past that cost me nothing. Love and grace!

Mark,

1. You are going to the Mockingbird conference? Lucky!
2. RIGHT ON! I agree with Paul, I am happy to be accused of cheap grace. Amen!

I think that fire-insurance, sloppy-agape, pure cheap grace is the only chance we've got, and the only door to true Christian virtue.

Mark said: "Let us be overwhelmed by his grace daily and everything else follows….and you won’t even know it! To be accused of “cheap grace” or “the need for both” is really to be in good company with the Apostle Paul (Rom. 6:1)".

Wow, Amen Mark. When I find myself eaten up by pitty, guilt, condemnation and self rightousness...focusing on my performance... I ask myself, when's the last time I believed the Gospel and was overwhelmed by grace? Thats my problem, I am not reminding myself of the Gospel everyday. God Bless

Correction:

Christ’s Spirit is all what we need
Lest our work is filthy deed.

Thx

GRACE PREVAILS

There is a grace for us to keep
That is for children who are sheep.
It flows right from the heart of God
Compelling us do what we ought.

Though there is still a yoke to bear
This grace empowers us to share
His love that is for everyone
Poured out solely by His Son.

There is a fruit that comes from grace
That only grows by Christian faith.
Christ’s Spirit is all what need
Lest our work is filthy deed.

Though our hearts cannot create
No love no good no change of fate
We may believe that He has power
To free us from the law this hour.

If we’re afraid to remain sinners
We hinder God to create winners
Who may walk by the spirit then
And put to death the flesh you can.

Do we believe that God has might
To re-equip us losing sight?
I know this doesn’t happen rarely
That I feel helpless, hopeless, barely.

But He will never hesitate to come
To whom who seeks the only Son.
Maybe, we are at our wits’ end,
Be sure, He’s near for He’s your friend.

Blessings,
Susanne

Thank You Tullian! I have truly been impacted by your article in MR as well as this blog after being a person who has been gripped by anxiety/depression about not "being able to measure up" for years. Your insights about he "law" and "Law" are amazing and describe the human condition so well..and the need for relief that can only come from the gospel. It is truly good news again!

I think this is why the Spirit is the "shy" member of the Trinity. His role is to point us to "Jesus Christ and him crucified" and away from his empowerment or our efforts in sanctification. A focus on the Spirit's work in us which many times get mixed up with our own efforts as a result of the effects of sin only breeds self-righteousness and hypocrisy ( I know from my own life). Gospel-motivated obedience only comes from being invaded by God's grace and seeing that all of what has been required by God has been performed outside of us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let us be overwhelmed by his grace daily and everything else follows....and you won't even know it! To be accused of "cheap grace" or "the need for both" is really to be in good company with the Apostle Paul (Rom. 6:1).

I am so looking forward to meeting Paul Zahl at the Mockingbird Conference next week!

@Jeremiah
I think I am more inclined to agree with you. I believe in Free Grace, and "walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit was multiplied Acts 9:31. Paul and Peter both use the fear of the Lord as a motive to Holy living." (The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges)(O_0)

Jeremiah, how would you discribe cheap grace?

Pastor
In laymans terms God is not so much interested in our religious activity as He is interested in us.('_') Matt.23:1-7

Tullian, how would you describe the difference between what you are espousing and cheap grace, as you understand it? How would you distinguish them?
thanks

Every demand that our existence places upon us to fulfill our humanity, is law.

There is no escaping it.

We actually need a Savior.

____

"Things aren't as bad as we think. They are much worse than that."

- Gerhard Forde

I read of Jesus in many places preaching 'costly grace'. Repentance is the first word of the gospel. The only way of rest for our souls is to come to Jesus learn of Him and take up His yoke. This is after we are regenerated and not to make ourselves more saved or anything like that. He also said why do we call Him Lord and do not do what He says. I want to follow Jesus, He liberated me to be able to do so.
I understand that some can abuse this mindset but it in itself is a friend of the gospel and not an enemy. New life presupposes new living, that in itself is primary.

I'm reminded of two simple quotes:

"The accusation of 'Cheap Grace' is from the pit of hell. If it wasn’t cheap (free!) then none of us could afford it. If it wasn’t easy then we’d all be in big, big trouble." -Steve Brown-

"The imperatives are dragons that must be slain." -Rod Rosenbladt-

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Jeremeah, is this the thought that was in the back of your head? What would you say to my comment that Grace requires nothing from from us? Most people who talk about Cheap Grace believe those of whom they are talking about are false believers because they did not pay some cost. They would say "God's Grace is free but cost you everything". God Bless

Jeremiah, I also appreciate the dialog and the work you did to pull this quote from Bonhoeffer whose theology I also have never been a fan of but is someone whome I respect. The whole time reading it felt like "Law" to me.

Jim thanks so much for your post. Wish you were going to be at the Mockingbird Conference next week! Did you happen to read the article "Reflections on a Midwestern Church" on the mbird website. Is is so telling how subtly the law gets cloaked as law and vice versa.

Blessings on you both in the name of our magnificent Savior. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Jeremiah, I appreciate the dialog, and thanks so much for hunting down this awesome quote. I hope you don't mind if I comment frankly on it.

One starts to wonder if expensive grace is any kind of grace at all. If we don't have perfect repentance, if we don't have harsh enough church discipline, if we don't have deep or exhaustive enough confession, is the blood of Christ sufficient for these things?

Bonhoeffer parses this all backwards. Costly grace is no free gift! Tacking on "My yoke is easy" after all that business is disingenuous. Just because he suffered at the hands of the Nazis doesn't mean he has excellent theology. I have never been a fan of his writings personally. What has cost God much and is given as a FREE GIFT must cost us nothing.

Count me on the side of free grace, of sloppy agape, of fire-insurance faith. Was His death enough, or wasn't it? Is it Christ's blood plus nothing, or Christ's blood plus something? I just got into this today on a forum on FB, I posted an excerpt here:

http://thereforenow.com/2012/04/dying-for-us-wasnt-enough-yes-it-was-enough/

Here is a portion of Bonhoeffer's description of cheap-vs- costly grace.

"Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. ‘All for sin could not atone.’ Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin….

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I have not read William Hordern, I was working with Bonhoeffer's description of cheap grace which was in the back of my head. It would be interesting to contrast the two and see where there is agreement and disagreement.
thanks to all of you.

I think that pastor Tullian is making a very good point here that is somewhat tainted with the background notion that all imperatives/commandments even in the New Testament are in themselves “law” and opposite the gospel.

But to me it seems more than fair to say that the New Testament contains many imperatives/commandments that are based upon, rooted in and spoken in the immediate context of indicatives/promises given to believers concerning their daily Christian walk. Many could be cited, but some of the first passages that come to my mind are Matt. 5:13-16; John 15:1-17; Rom. 6:6-19; 12:1-2; Gal. 5:16-26; Phil. 2:11-12; 3:7-16; Col. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3-11. Such imperatives are not antithetical to grace but based upon grace; that is, while we lay hold of grace (which is to lay hold of the Spirit of Jesus Christ concerning a new covenant blessing recorded in Scripture), such things won’t be “the law” to us.

To illustrate the principle: when we treasure and enjoy the Lord’s table, coming to this church meeting seems less like a demand than a great honor and privilege. But if we don’t treasure and enjoy the Lord’s table, coming to this meeting could seem like a demand or chore, something we might do just to win points with God or favor among men. Hence, the same statement “You should come to the Lord’s table meeting” can be interpreted and lived out in two radically opposite ways. In the same way, when the apostle Paul says something like, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58), the same word can be understood in two different ways.

I think that the problem with lower-case “law” is in our being, in our modus operandi. It’s not that all imperatives in the Scripture are actually “law” or intended to be “law,” but that we convert them into law when we spontaneously (and largely unconsciously) try to live up to a standard with our own independent/natural life, strength and ability or according to our commercial concept of reward and punishment. Stated another way, our natural way of living is according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (head-knowledge independent from the life of God) rather than dependence upon the the tree of life (a symbol of Christ, the eternal of life of God, cf. John 14:6, 11:25; 15:4-5).

That’s why we can become so self-righteousness in our apparent victories and self-condemned in our defeats--it’s still the independent “I” that’s habitually living, not the “no longer I but Christ who lives in me” that the apostle Paul speaks about (Gal. 2:20). We’re still so used to doing things independently even while asking God to strengthen and reform our own life with help from above. We’re not so used to realizing that our old self has already been co-crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 6:14) and now through regeneration there is another person--Jesus Christ Himself--inside of us (2 Cor. 13:5; Rom. 8:10; Col. 1:27; Eph. 3:17; John 14:20; John 1:12-13, 1 John 5:10) that we may live by Him as our life, abide in Him, walk by the Spirit, etc.

Thankfully, the Lord is training us, I believe, to live by “the law of the Spirit of life...in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2), just as John Dunn is describing, that Christ may increase and the old, independent self may decrease in our being. This gradually brings us into an atmosphere in which work and fruit-bearing is the overflow of grace and in which we learn to be active not in our independent life but in the divine life in dependence upon Him (cf. John 15:4-5; 1 Cor. 15:10, 58).

Here's an interesting article. I know it convicts me! It seems relevant sometimes on Tullian's blog:

http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2012/04/how-to-lose-your-influence-in-theology/

All of this talk about Law/law and grace, and not one mention about the new eschatological law of our new covenant Mediator, Jesus Christ . . . the "law of the Spirit of Life", the "law of liberty", or Spirit-wrought LOVE as the fulfillment of the Law (Gal 5:14, Gal 5:22)?? Really? I find this incredible.

Where does walking by the Spirit or producing the fruit of the Spirit or being made into the image of Christ fit into your understanding of the Christian's walk of faith?

I'm beginning to wonder whether your systematic theology includes any substative purpose for the Spirit's work beyond regeneration.

Are we to simplistically imagine then that all new covenant "Law/law/imperative" categories are simply about impossible commands, bondage, and slavery for those who are in Christ?? Really?

If that's the case then you are unaquainted with the life-giving resurrection power of the Holy Spirit who has come to deliver those in Christ into incredible liberty, freedom, and immeasurable greatness of His power, according to His glorious might (Eph 1:19, Eph 3:16, Col 1:11) for every day living and growth in to Christ's likeness. New covenant commands/imperatives are not about bondage and impossible standards! It's about Spirit-wrought liberty from Sin, to serve Righteousness . . . Christ! (Rom 6:15-19) We serve Him in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code (Rom 7:6).

Fellow Christian believers, we are new covenant children of the Abrahamic promise, born according to the Spirit, as promised of old(Gal 3:14). We are true children of Abraham's singular promised Offspring *Christ* by virtue of our living union to Him by faith (Gal 3:16, Gal 3:29). The slave woman and her children (those under Sinai's Law) are now cast out. Let us then walk abundantly by the power and life of the Spirit of Christ who dwells richly in us!

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (Gal 4:28-31)

How does the 'two-word' hermeneutic deal with 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 or Hebrews 12:14?

Love this one, it is really what Mockingbird is all about. And of course Paul Zahl is simply amazing isn't he? Just to corroborate an already well made point, Paul says in Romans:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)

In context, Jews with the Law and gentiles without the Law, but with a law of the heart, all sin. Sin in Romans 2 could thus be looked at as describing things in terms of "Law" and "law", but all of it is in terms of falling short of glory, which is quite a bit more difficult than simply not murdering!

Anyway, you made the point better than I have, but I felt like taking the risk to chime in.

Luther: "We are declared righteous for Jesus' sake."

St. Paul: "To one who works his wages are not reckoned as a gift, but his due. And to one who doen not work but trusts in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness."

Many Catholics and Evangelicals will bark like rabid dogs at those statements...because they haven't come to the end of their rope, yet.

Kevin DeYoung wants a bit of both: “Effort” should not be a four-letter word in your theological vocabulary. As gospel Christians, we should not be afraid of striving, fighting, and working.

Ryle: “The child of God has two great marks about him: he is known for his inner warfare and his inner peace.”

Calvin: “As it is an arduous work and of immense labor 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 to sloth, and that we ought to obey God calling us, not slowly or carelessly, but that there is need of alacrity; as though he had said, ‘Put forth every effort, and make your exertions manifest to all.’”

Hodge: “In the work of regeneration, the soul is passive. It cannot cooperate in the communication of spiritual life. But in conversion, repentance, faith, and growth in grace, all its powers are called into exercise. As, however, the effects produced transcend the efficiency of our fallen nature, and are due to the agency of the Spirit, sanctification does not cease to be supernatural, or a work of grace, because the soul is active and cooperating in the process.”

Monergism v. synergism is not the right debate for sanctification. That has to do with regeneration.

Bavinck: “Granted, in the first place [sanctification] is a work and gift of God (Phil 1:5; 1 Thess. 5:23), a process in which humans are passive just as they are in regeneration, of which it is the continuation. But based on this work of God in humans, it acquires, in the second place, an active meaning, and people themselves are called and equipped to sanctify themselves and devote their whole life to God. . . .”

We don’t just say “get more gripped by the gospel.” We also need to work. We don’t hold to Keswick’s “let go and let God.” Sanctification is not by surrender but by divinely enabled toil and effort.

This is one of the best things I've ever read! thankyou....
and the last paragraph really finishes it well. This is something I think about pretty often, the whole "coming to the end of ourselves" and is reassuring that is not nec. a one time thing (seems obvious I guess). After reading Michael Horton's book over 10 yrs ago, Putting Amazing Back Into Grace - maybe sometimes have felt that I really "got" grace even better then/esp. felt how freeing this truth is, and I think of it as also the decade of coming to the end of myself after a close family member died. Somehow though I feel that I needed to hear the way you wrote the end of this article.

Pastor
And Jesus is the friend of the sinner.

Thank you for continuing to beat this drum of grace; God is teaching me to walk to his beat but it is hard after so many years of failing under the Law. Praise God for his matchless grace and unfailing love!