Union with Christ (10): Sanctification

A Malicious Charge

The subject of this series of editorials is union with Jesus Christ. The essence of the salvation of the elect children of God is their union with Christ. That union is eternal because they are chosen in Christ unto salvation from before the foundation of the world. That eternal union produces the fruit of the joining of the elect with Christ through faith by the operation of the Holy Spirit. This aspect of their union with Christ has been the particular interest throughout this series of editorials. That aspect of the union of the elect with Christ is faith. Faith is the bond or graft with Christ. In union with Christ the elect are regenerated and called, receive faith, and are converted, justified, and sanctified. Sanctification is the subject of this editorial.

It is said that the Reformed Protestant Churches cannot and do not preach sanctification. The charge is serious.

If the Reformed Protestant Churches cannot and do not preach sanctification, then they cannot and do not preach the salvation of the children of God. The word sanctification in scripture is frequently used as the shorthand description of all the salvation of the elect. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13 the apostle Paul describes salvation as “sanctification of the Spirit.” The same is true in the Reformed creeds. The Reformed Form for the Administration of Baptism asks parents whether they “acknowledge that although our children are conceived and born in sin…yet that they are sanctified in Christ” (Confessions and Church Order, 260).

Further, if the charge is correct, then the Reformed Protestant Churches neglect the purpose of God in election, for the apostle Paul says that the goal of election is sanctification: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Eph. 1:4).

Still more, if the Reformed Protestant Churches cannot and do not preach sanctification, then they make the cross of Christ vain because the apostle Paul says that the crucified Christ is made unto us our sanctification: “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

Then also, the Reformed Protestant Churches are guilty of denying the Holy Spirit his particular work of purifying the hearts of God’s people by faith, as Peter said, “God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8–9).

The charge is not only false, but it is also malicious. The charge is made by those who know what the Reformed Protestant Churches teach and preach, who know that they teach and preach sanctification, and who hate the teaching and preaching of that truth.

However, the Reformed Protestant Churches are guilty of rejecting—and they are impenitent in that—a wicked corruption of the doctrine of sanctification, especially as that corruption is found in the Protestant Reformed Churches, out of which the majority of the members of the Reformed Protestant Churches came. That corruption of the truth of sanctification consists in the teaching that the Holy Spirit enables the children of God to do much good, if they will only do it. The Holy Spirit gives to them, as it were, the sanctified arm and the strength of that sanctified arm, but it is up to them to get busy and to sanctify themselves. Right along with that corruption of the truth of sanctification is the teaching that the sanctification of the children of God consists in their works. Good works are identified as the sanctification of the children of God. Thus the ministers and professors in the Protestant Reformed Churches preach and teach sanctification by works. Adding sin to sin, the ministers and professors also preach and teach that by their works the children of God gain for themselves many benefits of salvation, such as peace and fellowship with God and the assurance of their justification and salvation. Recognizing their own folly in such teachings, the ministers and professors also preach and teach that by grace God receives the imperfect works as perfect, by which the people can accomplish much good for themselves. In short the theology of sanctification in the Protestant Reformed Churches is not much different from the old Arminian error:

The new covenant of grace, which God the Father, through the mediation of the death of Christ, made with man, does not herein consist that we by faith, inasmuch as it accepts the merits of Christ, are justified before God and saved, but in the fact that God, having revoked the demand of perfect obedience of the law, regards faith itself and the obedience of faith, although imperfect, as the perfect obedience of the law, and does esteem it worthy of the reward of eternal life through grace. (Canons of Dordt 2, error 4, in Confessions and Church Order, 165)

As with the Arminians, so also with the Protestant Reformed Churches: Their corruption of the truth of sanctification is also the corruption of the truth of justification and of the free and gracious salvation of the children of God for the sake of Christ’s obedience and atonement. The Canons condemns and rejects the error of the Arminians:

For these contradict the Scriptures: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood (Rom. 3:24, 25). And these proclaim, as did the wicked Socinus, a new and strange justification of man before God, against the consensus of the whole church. (Canons of Dordt 2, rejection 4, in Confessions and Church Order, 165)

As with Rome, so also with the Arminians and the Protestant Reformed Churches: When man has fellowship with God by Christ, through faith, and in the way of man’s obedience, then that false doctrine is not only a corruption of the truth of sanctification but is also a new and wicked doctrine of sanctification and a denial that man has fellowship with God for Christ’s sake by faith alone.

Christ in Us

What is sanctification?

The word sanctification means consecration or holiness. This is the thought of the Hebrew and Greek words for sanctification and holiness. There are other Hebrew and Greek words that emphasize sanctification as purification. Thus sanctification is the consecration of the children of God to God and the purification of them from the defilement of sin. At the heart of sanctification stands the covenantal idea of fellowship with God. Further, sanctification is closely connected with and inseparable from justification. Being justified by faith, we must be brought near to God. Our righteousness before God requires and demands that. Inseparable also from the truth of sanctification is separation. The words for sanctification in scripture emphasize that those who are consecrated to God are separated from all that is common, profane, and defiled, so that the antithesis as both reality and calling is part of the subject of sanctification. Very really we are sanctified from all eternity because in the decree of election we were separated by God from the world and consecrated by God to himself in Christ. That election has its fruit and effect in our sanctification in our union with Christ in time.

Very simply and briefly, our sanctification is Christ in us through his Holy Spirit. Or, saying the same thing with different words, our sanctification is the Spirit of Christ in us.

When we are joined to Jesus Christ by the bond of faith, the reality of that connection with Christ is that we are in Christ, and he is in us through the Holy Spirit. In that union with Christ, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:30, Christ is made unto us our sanctification: “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” According to the passage God is the author of our union with Christ. In that union God is also the author of our sanctification. In our union with Christ, God makes Christ sanctification unto us.

That is also the thought of Peter in Acts 15:8–9: “God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” The thought of these verses is not that faith is our work through which or by means of which the Holy Ghost sanctifies us. Rather, the idea is that through faith we are united to Christ, and in that union the Holy Spirit purifies our hearts—sanctifies us—by Christ.

A Doctrine of Comfort

This truth of sanctification the apostle speaks about in 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” This is the apostle’s word of comfort to the Thessalonian Christians and thus also to us over against the appalling apostasy that Paul prophesies will come.

The truth of sanctification is not a cold and dead doctrine that is learnedly discussed by theologians stuck away in ivory towers. Rather, the truth of sanctification is of vital importance to the lives of the members of the church and is of comfort for the church in the world. Sanctification is comforting! The word of God to us in the truth of our sanctification is not, “Get busy working for your sanctification!” Rather, God’s word to us in our sanctification is, “You are mine! I have separated you from the world! I have consecrated you to myself as my precious possession!”

There will come a great falling away, which is departure from the truth by those who once appeared to adhere to the truth. Perhaps their adherence to the truth included a vigorous defense and explanation of the truth. They were instructed and grew up in the truth. They confessed and contended for the truth. Then they fall away from the truth, condemn the truth as a lie, and confess the lie as the truth.

The apostle speaks of an appalling apostasy that not only takes place apart from the circle of the believer’s friends but also takes place among his father and mother, his sisters and brothers, and his acquaintances and former friends. In the apostle Paul’s day, his former students and fellow ministers Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus denied the resurrection. In the churches of Galatia, the false apostles denied the liberty of Christians through their justification by faith alone and sought to bring the church back into bondage. In the Corinthian congregation the false teachers taught that dead saints do not rise. Peter contended against false prophets who promised liberty to the people, but in reality the false prophets were no better than washed pigs that return to their wallowing and dogs that return to eat their vomit. James fought against the respectable hypocrisy of those who claimed to have faith but were respecters of persons. And John called several of the seven churches of Asia Minor to repentance for leaving their first love, tolerating false teachers, being dead in faith despite having a name that they lived, or being lukewarm and disgusting to the Lord in their self-righteousness. Those are examples of the fearsome apostasy that took place in the days of the apostles, and apostasy has continued throughout history. Far and away the larger state of the church has been weakness and apostasy from the truth rather than strength in the truth. Apostasy continues in our day. The members of the Reformed Protestant Churches came out of a denomination that is sick with the terrible disease of apostasy, from which she is now dying. The short history of the Reformed Protestant Churches has been one of almost continuous apostasy from the truth by those who confessed the truth with their mouths but did not believe it.

In Paul’s warning to the Thessalonians about apostasy, he makes clear that apostasy from the truth is part of the larger movement of the coming of antichrist. In a similar way that Jesus Christ comes throughout history in every event and advances especially through the preaching, so also the antichrist, the ape of Christ, comes throughout history and advances especially through the preaching of the lie. The lie is always essentially that man is God, and thus the lie always glorifies the works of man and especially makes man his own savior. All throughout history the lie is taught, develops, and changes its form and mode of expression, but it is always the same lie. The lie will culminate in the final antichrist, who will sit in the temple of God saying that he is God and whose coming will be with all the power of Satan, who will work lying wonders to prop up his man and to confirm his message. The devil has his man and his wonders too.

When the lie comes, many go after and believe the lie. The coming of antichrist is with the lie and the “deceivableness of unrighteousness.” And many perish. The apostle explains that the perishing of many—former friends, family, whole churches, and denominations—is “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10). God did not give the love of the truth to them. There is no love for the truth in the heart of man. He loves and naturally gravitates toward and embraces the lie. If God does not give the love of the truth, then man will never receive it but will condemn the truth and embrace the lie.

God withholds the love of the truth for the purpose that man not be saved. Man does not receive the love of the truth because of something in him or something that he does or because of his superior intellect or ability to apprehend the truth. Rather, a man receives the love of the truth according to God’s eternal purpose for that man’s salvation. And if a man does not receive the love of the truth, that is according to God’s eternal purpose for that man’s damnation. So the apostle says, “For this cause”—that is, that they not be saved—“God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:11–12). The belief of the truth is of God, and the rejection of the truth is of God. That rejection of the truth takes place by means of God’s sending a strong delusion that lays hold on men’s minds, hearts, and wills. God casts a cloud over men, and they are captured by a lie, and they perish with that lie.

We may not blame God for that. He works in such an excellent manner that he is not the author of man’s sin and unbelief. Neither may we suppose that man is panting after God and Jesus Christ and that God sends a delusion upon man to prevent him from believing. The apostle describes the natural condition of perishing man: He has “pleasure in unrighteousness.” That is the description not only of the world, but also of the ungodly church world. The churches that we left and that are perishing under the lie have pleasure in unrighteousness. The truth does not please them. Unrighteousness pleases them and tickles their fancy. Man with his suit, church membership, preaching, and sacraments has pleasure in unrighteousness. That is not my evaluation but the Spirit’s. Unregenerated man has pleasure in unrighteousness and has no pleasure in the truth.

Yet there is something mysterious and astounding in what the apostle says. The truth of Jesus Christ, God, and our gracious salvation is so wonderful, glorious, and heavenly that it is astounding that men do not believe it. Christ explained the reason for that unbelief: “Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep.” Having the lovely Christ before them and the fulfillment of all the promises of God talking to them, they did not believe. Astounding! So also today the beautiful gospel of Christ goes into the whole world, and for a time many appear to adhere to the gospel. Then they turn from the gospel and curse it because God sends a strong delusion in order that they believe a lie that they might be damned.

“But not you!” says the apostle. Over against that background of apostasy, the apostle teaches the truth and comfort of the sanctification of elect believers. “We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren  beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). Paul intends to give the Thessalonians and all God’s elect a strong consolation in the face of apostasy that there is no danger at all that they will depart because God and his election cannot be overthrown.

When the truth of the gospel comes, we believe it. Is that not true? Does it not give you pleasure to hear the gospel? When you hear and have the gospel and you hear someone sneer at the gospel, criticize it, and damn it, you think to yourself and perhaps say to that person, “I pity you. I have more pleasure in the gospel than you have when your corn and wine increase. I feel sorry for you that your pleasure is elsewhere. I love the gospel.”

What is the reason? Sanctification of the Spirit. God who has chosen us has also separated us unto himself in the belief of and therefore the love of the truth. We are consecrated to God by his Spirit, with his Spirit, and in his Spirit. It does not make much difference how we understand the phrase “sanctification of the Spirit.” We are consecrated to God. That is the basic meaning of sanctification. Sanctification is by his Spirit because he is the worker of it, with his Spirit because with the gift of the Spirit comes the gift of sanctification, and in his Spirit because the Spirit is the essence of the communion that we have with God in Christ.

In the explanation of sanctification, it must be emphasized that sanctification is not man’s good works, and man’s good works are not his sanctification. Good works and sanctification are not to be identified with each other. They are to be distinguished. Man does not need good works to be sanctified. The proof of this are the babies who are brought for baptism. They are sanctified in Christ, according to the baptism form and the confessions and oaths of parents who bring their children for baptism. Those babies have not performed one work; yet they are as sanctified as their parents. Christ expressed the same thought over against the cruel theology of his disciples, who forbade parents to bring their children to Christ. Christ rebuked his disciples, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). Christ meant that little children belong to the kingdom of God as little children without any works. Without one work they are God’s children; they belong to his kingdom and are his friends. Those children to whom Christ referred did not have a special program in order to belong to the kingdom of God. What was true of those children is true of us; we do not need one single work to be sanctified.

A Change of Condition

If the simple explanation of sanctification is Christ in his people by his Spirit, then the question becomes, what does Christ do in his people for their sanctification?

Sanctification is that work of God whereby he breaks the ruling power of sin in elect sinners, cleanses them from the pollution of sin, and consecrates them to God in holiness. Thus sanctification, among the works of God’s grace to save sinners, can be distinguished from regeneration, which is the work of God’s grace to make the elect and in themselves dead sinners alive. Sanctification can be distinguished from faith, which is the work of God to implant elect sinners into Christ. Sanctification can be distinguished from conversion, which is the work of God’s grace to turn elect sinners from sin to the living God. And sanctification can be distinguished from justification, which is the work of God’s grace to forgive elect sinners their sins and to impute unto them the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Jesus Christ.

To simplify the meaning of sanctification, I would say that sanctification is the continued work of regeneration in the hearts of elect sinners.

There are two works of God in the salvation of sinners. The first is justification. God in this work changes the state of those sinners before God and in their consciences and experiences. Their state is God’s verdict concerning them in light of God’s justice and just demand as summarized in the law.

By nature we are guilty and are the ungodly. God justifies the ungodly, whom he declares to be righteous for Christ’s sake and worthy of eternal life. On that basis God assures us of eternal life now and forever. Justification is our salvation. We are justified absolutely apart from works, deeds, and activities on our part. Thus we are saved absolutely apart from our works, deeds, and activities. Whether we sin or do not sin and whether we obey or do not obey are not considerations in our justification. What matters is the righteous life and atoning death of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to us, elect and justified sinners, as our own. God justifies the ungodly. God does not and will not justify the obedient, the righteous, or the good. He justifies the ungodly.

Justification is received by faith. This means that we are incorporated into Christ by faith and are covered by the righteousness, holiness, and satisfaction of Jesus Christ as members of his body and corporation. This one act of God for our salvation changes our state before him, so that he deals with us as righteous people. God loves and blesses the righteous. God dwells with the righteous and brings them to heaven. And to emphasize how completely without works justification is, it must be added that we are righteous by the decree in eternity, and we are righteous at the cross of Christ. Justified we are in eternity and at the cross before being born or doing any works. This is the first great aspect of our salvation.

The second great work of God for our salvation is regeneration. Scripture calls salvation a recreation, a regeneration, a rebirth, a being born from above, or simply life and resurrection. We were dead in trespasses and sins, and God makes us alive. Being made alive is not a return to a former life but a going beyond any kind of life that this world knows. This new life is a higher life than man possesses by nature, for that life is merely death. This new life is a higher life than Adam had in Eden, for that life was losable and was lost. The higher life is the life of Christ Jesus, a life of fellowship with God, a life that cannot be lost or diminished. And that life cannot die; it is an immortal life. We are made alive, and in that life we are alive to God.

There are three great parts to this act of God to make us alive. First, God takes us dead sinners and implants us into Christ. Union with Christ is first. And implanting us into Christ, God blows on us with his Spirit, and we are made alive. You see a little picture of this in Ezekiel’s valley of bones in chapter 37. Jesus Christ by his Spirit blows on us, and we live. This happens once and cannot be repeated. The second great part of this work is conversion, or turning us from sin. While we are walking in the ways of sin, God arrests us in our sins and turns us to himself in love. This is an ongoing and continual work of God in us. Conversion is not a one-time event but a way of life. We live in conversion, that is, we are constantly being turned from sin unto God. The third part of regeneration, or making us alive, is sanctification. God consecrates us to himself in love. We are drawn near to God, and as a consequence we draw near to God.

This work of God changes our condition. Our condition is our mode or state of being. We were dead, and now we live. We were far from God, and now we are near to God. We hated God, and now we love him. We were deaf to the word, and now we hear the word. We were lame, and now we walk. We were prisoners, and now we are free. We were blind, and now we see.

Sanctification as Purpose

God’s work of sanctification is based on his work of justification. Christ’s righteousness imputed to us demands that we be freed and cleansed from sin and that we live before God and in his presence. And God in righteousness accomplishes this.

Sanctification is rooted in election. God appointed his people unto sanctification of the Spirit. The will and purpose of God is not only that we be forgiven of sin but also that we become holy, and in that holiness that we are consecrated to God, to love and to serve him. Or I can say that the will and purpose of God is that we walk before him and are perfect. I want to be clear that sanctification is eternal. Election is the separation of the elect from the rest of the human race and the appointment of the elect to salvation. In the election of God, we are perfectly consecrated to God. He beholds the end from the beginning. The end of our salvation, which is our perfect consecration to God in everlasting life, was perfect with God from all eternity in his counsel. He is the God who declares the end already from the beginning. This purpose he unfolds in time. We are perfectly sanctified to God in the decree, while in time our sanctification awaits its final form, which we will receive in heaven.

Christ accomplished our sanctification at the cross. Our sanctification was Christ’s purpose in the cross. His purpose was not that we be left afar off but that we be brought nigh to God. This consecration God also accomplishes in us.

And I must say that sanctification is the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost. He is our consecration to God. When the apostle says “sanctification of the Spirit,” then he simply identifies the Spirit as both the worker and the real essence of our communion with God. The Holy Spirit’s purpose and will is that we be holy in Christ.

When we speak of us sinners as being holy, we mean two things. First, the holiness of Christ is imputed to us. In that holiness of Christ, we are perfectly holy. We are absolutely without spots or blemishes in Christ because Christ is perfectly holy, and his holiness is imputed to us. Second, our holiness means that in actual fact we are washed from sin’s pollution, freed from sin’s dominion, and consecrated to God in Christ. And I note that in fact we are perfectly sanctified before God for Christ’s sake without our works and that we are perfectly sanctified in principle in our hearts. We are perfectly sanctified without, absolutely without, our works. We are saints without works.

Sanctification by Faith Alone

Thus works do not sanctify us. Our sanctification is absolutely without our works and is by faith alone. We do not do one work to be sanctified. Peter says in Acts 15:9 concerning the salvation of the Gentiles, “Put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” In explaining this controversial text, some deny that when Peter says “purifying their hearts” that he is talking about sanctification. That explanation is incorrect because Peter is referring to the gift of the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles as the sign that they had been incorporated into God’s covenant and were heirs of God through Jesus Christ. Whatever else that means, it means that the Gentile converts were consecrated to God in Christ Jesus. That is sanctification.

Peter also speaks of the place or root of sanctification in the hearts of the Gentiles when he says “purifying their hearts.” The work of the Holy Ghost, who was given to the Gentiles as heirs of the promise of God to Abraham, is that he purified their hearts. That purification of their hearts had a twofold meaning. First, it meant the forgiveness of their sins and their assurance of salvation. That purified their hearts of guilt, fear, terror, and judgment. Second, it means that the Spirit purified their hearts by cleansing them from sin’s pollution and dominion. That is sanctification.

Further, Peter says that the purification of the hearts of the Gentiles was by faith. Faith in scripture always means not by works. The issue in the controversy at the Council of Jerusalem was works. The question was, did the Gentiles have to do some work in order to be righteous, holy, and part of God’s family? The answer was no because the Gentiles had been purified and thus also consecrated to God by faith. That means not by works. Works do not make us holy. Works do not consecrate us to God. Works do not make us more pleasing to God. Works do not bring us into God’s favor. Works do not grant us more of God’s favor. Works do not gain anything in our salvation. And understand that we are talking about good works—works done by faith, according to the law of God, and for the glory of God. Those works do not sanctify us in the least bit. Our works are worthless to sanctify us.

When Peter says “by faith,” he means Christ. Faith in scripture means Christ. Thus Peter is teaching nothing different from what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 1:30, that “Christ Jesus…is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Christ is made unto us sanctification. He is not only our righteousness, but he is also our sanctification. We are consecrated to God through Christ. We are brought to God and live before God through Christ. Thus sanctification is as much by faith alone and not by works as justification.

Good Works as Fruits

Only in this light can we speak of good works.

Defined theologically, good works are deeds that proceed out of true faith, are done according to the law of God, and are for the glory of God. Acts of love toward God and toward the neighbor are good works.

And I emphasize that we do good works. We do good works with our minds and wills, consciously and willingly, as the desires of our hearts. But that we do good works is not the main issue. That we do good works is often made the main issue in sanctification. So the mantra is, “We do good works; we do them; we do them.” But the fact that we do good works is not the main point in connection with sanctification. To make our doing good works the main point makes the focus of sanctification to be man. That emphasizes man. But sanctification teaches God—God and the works of God in the sinner. The point in the relationship between sanctification and good works is that the inevitable and infallible fruits of sanctification are good works. They—the good works—must be so. Good works must happen. If you cannot receive the truth that the must of good works is God and not man, God’s grace and not man’s efforts, God’s Spirit and not man’s spirit, then you cannot understand the must of good works. The must of good works is God and his decree and will for our salvation, the cross of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Good works must happen according to God’s decree. We must and we will walk in all the good works that God appointed to us. Not one good work will be missed.

Good works must happen according to the death of Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us and to purify to himself a people zealous of good works.

Good works must happen according to the Spirit’s work of sanctification. It is an utter impossibility that God’s people do not walk in good works.

Good works are the fruits of sanctification. Sanctification bears fruit. The relationship between sanctification and good works is of branch to fruit. The apple does not make the tree an apple tree, but the apple tree produces apples because the tree is an apple tree. So we are engrafted into Christ, made partakers of Christ, and consecrated to God in Christ; and God by his power frees us from sin’s dominion and causes us to love God. And because that is who we are, saints and members of Christ, we must—the must of divine grace—produce good works, as the apple tree must produce apples. Thus because we are saints, the inevitable fruits of that are good works.

Because we are saints, we are exhorted to do good works. But admonitions do not make us saints. God makes us saints by his grace; then he also calls us, exhorts us, chastises us, and all the rest. Those are effectual because God’s voice and word never return to him void.

Sanctification bears fruit in our lives. God’s works always bear fruit. The Spirit, who makes life to abound and causes the ground to be fruitful, causes life to abound in us. So when God justifies us, this bears the fruits of peace of conscience, joy, happiness, freedom, and hope. When God sanctifies us, this bears fruit in holiness of life. We are consecrated to God wholly, so that wholly in all our lives we bear fruits to God. We bear fruits to God in our minds, wills, hands, feet, bodies, souls, and in every area of our lives. We live before God, rejoice in him, confess his name, and stand antithetically as a people consecrated to him in the world that opposes him.

The end or goal of our salvation is holiness in lives of obedience to God. And saying that, I emphasize that those works, good works, the best works, do not gain one thing in salvation. Those works do not gain assurance, comfort, joy, happiness, God’s blessing, or his favor. Works are fruits, strictly and wonderfully—I hesitate to say only, for fear that I minimize the reality that wretched and dead in themselves sinners obey God—fruits of grace and salvation.

Since sanctification is out of election, so also the good works in which we walk are out of election. God appointed us to each and every good work. Every good work is of God, and he gives every good work to us in Jesus Christ. So the apostle says in Ephesians 2:8–10 in his description of our salvation,

8. By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We will walk in all the good works that God appointed to us. It is impossible that we not walk in them. It is the must of divine grace! The truth about good works is not that God enables saints to do good works. That is only Arminianism if we stop there. The truth about good works is that God gives the works too. He sanctifies us, and he gives us all the works that he ordained before the foundation of the world that we should walk in them.

Then also in light of 2 Thessalonians 2:13, I must say that the great work in believers is love of the truth: “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” When the apostle says that God chose us to “sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,” he teaches that God sanctifies us to believe and to love the truth. God does not give that to those who perish. He does not give the love of the truth to them. They believe a lie, and those who had pleasure in unrighteousness are damned.

But not us! God chose us to sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. When the apostle says “belief of the truth,” he has in view the root of the love of the truth in us. When he says “sanctification of the Spirit,” he refers to the one who works the belief of the truth in us. The Spirit works that love in us, and that love is sanctification, the consecration of us to God. We are God’s, and God is ours. And that love of God manifests itself in the love of the truth, which truth is God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. The root is faith. The truth comes to us. The truth works true faith in us. Out of true faith comes the love of the truth. That love of the truth is the great fruit, the great manifestation, of sanctification. Everything else in our lives flows out of that. Because of the love of the truth, we forsake all: family, friends, possessions, and our lives. Because of the love of the truth, we cannot be deceived by the coming of the antichrist throughout history in all the lies and false doctrines of the devil. Because of the love of the truth, we are safe from the appalling apostasy that characterizes every age and this age in particular.

And that because God chose us and appointed us to sanctification, and he works that in us!