The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Sanctification monergestic, synergestic or both.

Perhaps THIS is your problem? That is you are looking at a truth taught in Scripture; the closer one gets to God, the more one comes to see his/her own sinfulness, and then wrongly deduces that it is contrary to the historic Protestant doctrine of "progressive sanctification". If I'm not mistaken, haven't we been around the block on this issue at least once before?

It not either/or but rather both/and. One cannot come to see how sinful they are until they come to see how holy God truly is. And contrariwise, one cannot come to realize how holy God is until they see how sinful they are. "Growing in grace" is a synonym for "sanctification". It is the work of the Holy Spirit Who brings about one's being conformed to the image of Christ (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10; 2Pet 1:4). Is it even feasible for a believer to be transformed into the image of Christ without becoming more "holy", i.e., righteous? Progressive sanctification does not teach any form of perfectionism but rather that one progressively lives more and more in accordance with the moral law of God and whose nature is more Christ-like. But because one's old nature continues to exist and will exist throughout the life of a believer . . . and because the depth of that sinfulness is so deplorable should God choose to allow one to see it's depth they would so loathe themselves that they would cease to strive after holiness and would in all likelihood seek to take their life immediately out of shame and despair . . . the revelation of that old nature is meted out, by God's mercy and grace, as is fitting to each individual.

The issue is simply this: If the Scriptures teach that believers are progressively sanctified, i.e., conformed more and more to the image of Christ; putting off the old man and putting on the new man, then it is a doctrine to be believed, embraced and practiced. Evidently, the vast majority of Christians throughout history have found it to be true as can be witnessed from the myriad writings available to us today.

1. Sanctification, by Thomas Watson, one of the major authors of the Westminster Confession.

2. Sanctification, by B.B. Warfield.

3. The Necessity of Progress, by John Angell James.

4. The Gradual Conquest, by Ralph Erskine.

5. Definitive Sanctification, by John Murray.

In His grace,