02 September 2009

Horton: Sanctification by Gospel

Mike Horton from Westminster Seminary California articulates here something that has just been coming home to my wife Stacey and me in recent months.

The gospel transforms us in heart, mind, will, and actions precisely because it is not itself a message about our transformation. Nothing that I am or that I feel, choose, or do qualifies as Good News. On my best days, my experience of transformation is weak, but the gospel is an announcement of a certain state of affairs that exists because of something in God, not something in me; something that God has done, not something that I have done; the love in God's heart which he has shown me in his Son, not the love in my heart that I exhibit in my relationships. . . . [T]he gospel is 'the power of God unto salvation' not only at the beginning but throughout the Christian life. In fact, our sanctification is simply a lifelong process of letting that Good News sink in and responding appropriately.

--Michael Horton, The Gospel-Driven Life (Baker 2009), 77 (to be released Oct 1)

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