<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"]Nope. I don't have a view on the process of sanctification except that it's already completed.</font><hr></blockquote><p>If sanctification, i.e., being made perfectly holy, like unto the Lord Christ, then there would be no sin committed by the sheep. What you are espousing is what shall take place at GLORIFICATION.<blockquote>1 John 3:2 (KJV) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.</blockquote>As I mentioned before, there are myriad injunctions for believers to abstain from sin and to put on Christ, i.e., to live perfect and holy. (cf. Matt 5:48; Jh 15:1, 2; 1Cor 15:53, 54; Eph 4:24; Jas 2:20, 26; 1Pet 1:15, 16)<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"]Jesus, standing before the newly planted field (or perhaps the shoots were already beginning to show), said the field was already white for harvest. So that seems to me like a perfectly reasonable way to view the work of God in His children: completed.</font><hr></blockquote><p> Again, [color:red]A text out of context is nothing more than PRETEXT!</font color=red> The Lord Christ, when He referred to the "fields" wasn't speaking about believers and their sanctification. No, no... He was referring to the world of sinners who were yet lost and who among them were ready to hear the gospel of grace and come to Christ. He was speaking of the "fields" as the great mission field that His disciples were to enter and "reap". If you are determined to use the Bible as your source of your beliefs, at least have the respect for it that recognizes that it is inspired and it was written with a specific purpose. Wrenching it from its context is dishonoring to God and if nothing else, to do so is akin to linguistic genocide.<br><br>In His Grace,

[Linked Image]

simul iustus et peccator

[Linked Image]