Berkouwer and Gospel-Fueled Sanctification

Here are the quotes from G. C. Berkouwer that I've mentioned a few times which I've found so helpful in understanding how justification is the engine of sanctification, or how the gospel that "Christ died for our sins" is itself what propels growth in godliness. These are from his book Faith and Sanctification. I confess I wish I had heard more of the newly imported foreign power of the indwelling Spirit as that which gives believers new spiritual taste buds to pant after holiness (Berkouwer interacts with Bavinck on this point on pp. 82-84, and I find Bavinck much more convincing); but this hardly detracts from how meaningful I have found Berkouwer to be on this most practical of questions of Christian growth.

Holiness is never a 'second blessing' placed next to the blessing of justification. . . . Our completion is only realized in Christ (Col 2:10) 'for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified' (Heb 10:14). The exhortation which comes to the Church is that it must live in faith out of this fullness; not that it must work for a second blessing, but that it must feed on the first blessing, the forgiveness of sins. The warfare of the Church, according to Scriptural testimony, springs from the demand really to live from this first testimony. (64)

The Reformed Confessions never teach that believers, having gone through the gate of justification, now enter upon a new territory where they must, without outside help, take their sanctification in hand. It is not true that sanctification simply succeeds justification. . . . there is never a stretch along the way of salvation where justification drops out of sight. Genuine sanctification--let it be repeated--stands or falls with this continued orientation toward justification and the remission of sins. (77-78)

The believer's constant 'commerce' with the forgiveness of sins and his continued dependence on it must--both in pastoral counseling and in dogmatic analysis--be laid bare, emphasized, and kept in sight. (84)
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The heart of sanctification is the life which feeds on . . . justification. (93)
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[A]ny view of regeneration, faith, and sanctification, must be weighed and tested by the criterion of whether it does justice to the forgiveness of sins as the only ground and source of sanctification. (96)

And the last paragraph of the book:

In the bond between faith and sanctification we perceive, no less than in the bond between faith and justification, the pulsebeat of the Gospel. If faith will but lift its blossoms to catch the sunlight of God's grace, the fruit will be a life imbued with holiness. (193)

Webster: Evangelical Theology

The best evangelical theological work emerges from delight in the Christian gospel, for the gospel announces a reality which is in itself luminous, persuasive, and infinitely satisfying. That reality is Jesus Christ as he gives himself to be an object for creaturely knowledge, love, and praise. To think evangelically about this one is to think in his presence, under the instruction of his Word and Spirit, and in the fellowship of the saints.

--John Webster, "Jesus Christ," in Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 60; a wonderful statement which did, to my relief, go on to affirm that "the ultimate resource is the text . . . for the text is an act of God's self-disclosure"

A Gospel Primer

In Mike Bullmore's excellent workshop at the Gospel Coalition, "The Functional Centrality of the Gospel," Mike commended to us a little book by Milton Vincent called A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love. Milton is a pastor in California. Mike's comments piqued my interests and I immediately ordered a used copy of the 90-page paperback from Amazon when I got home.

The book looks very good. The point of it is just what I've been discovering myself these days (don't know why it's taking me so long--though I expect in 40 years it will still feel like it's just beginning to sink in!) that the gospel is for believers, not just unbelievers. I had never heard of the book before Mike's recommendation but I look forward to diving in this week.

Religion Humbled Itself to Become Christianity

C. S. Lewis' favorite psalm was Ps. 19 (below for reference). In a 1956 letter to Mary van Deusen he explains why.

First, the mere glory of nature (between the Psalms and Wordsworth - a long gap in history - you get nothing equal to either on this theme). The the disinfectant, inexorable sun beating down on the desert and 'nothing hid from the heat thereof.' Then - implied, not stated - the imaginative identification of that heat and light with the 'undefiled' law, the 'clean' fear of the Lord, searching every cranny. Then the characteristically Jewish feeling that the Law is not only obligatory but beautiful, ravishing: delighting the heart, better than gold, sweeter than honey. Only after that, the (more Christian like) self examination and humble petition. Nearly all that could be said before the Incarnation is said in this Psalm. It is so much better Paganism than the real pagans ever did! And in one way more glorious, more soaring and triumphant, than Christian poetry. For as God humbled Himself to become Man, so religion humbled itself to become Christianity.

--C. S. Lewis, Collected Letters, 3:701-2; emphasis original (on the parenthetical statement in the first sentence, I assume he never read Edwards!)

Psalm 19
To the choirmaster. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
4 Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

The Great Contradiction

"Glorious ruins." --Pascal's definition of fallen humanity

"It seems to me that one can hardly say anything either bad enough or good enough about life." ---C. S. Lewis, reflecting on his autobiography Surprised by Joy

Waltke: The Center of the OT

In his OT theology (Zondervan 2007), Bruce Waltke helpfully suggests that "the center of the Old Testament, the message that accommodates all its themes, is that Israel's sublime God, whose attributes hold in tension his holiness and mercy, glories himself by establishing his universal rule over his volitional creatures on earth through Jesus Christ and his covenant people" (p. 144).

HT: Hassell Bullock (who is currently working on his own OT theology)

Back from the Coalition

A great time.

The Role of Duty

Isn't duty only a second-best to keep one going until one learns to like the thing, and then it is a duty no more? When love fulfills the Law, Law (as such) flies out of the window. Isn't that part of what St. Paul meant by being free from the Law? And of what St. Augustine meant by 'Have charity and do what you like'?

--C. S. Lewis, letter to Mary Van Deusen, Dec 16, 1955 (Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, 3:685)

2 Peter 1:9 and the Gospel

Some of you know I'm working through the connection between the gospel and growth, or justification and sanctification.

2 Peter opens with a reminder that God's "divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness," then exhorts us to "make every effort to supplement" our faith with: virtue, knowledge, self-control, and so on. The point is, this is dealing with the general theological area of sanctification. Growth.

And in light of what I'm slowly becoming convinced of this year--that, against our instincts, it is the gospel itself that fuels sanctification--I was arrested by the principle Peter puts beneath all this "effort": "For (gar) whoever (universal statement) lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins" (1:9).

Amazing. Not growing in virtue, self-control, godliness . . . ? You've forgotten the very gospel that got you in in the first place. You were cleansed from those former sins. As you remember that (note "having forgotten"), "these qualities are yours and are increasing" (v. 8).

Off to the Gospel Coalition tomorrow. At the end of the week I'll get up some quotes from Berkouwer's Faith and Sanctification that have further hammered these nails home.

The Best Available Religion?

According to Theopedia, German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg, who is proving helpful to me as I write a paper on the Trinity, in high school "experienced an 'intellectual conversion' and decided that Christianity was the best available religious option."

On the one hand, I understand what is meant here and I receive it. I know that "religious" is being used here in a generic way. And I acknowledge that for many (C. S. Lewis e.g.) conversion feels largely intellectual. Certainly, God does not (normally) bypass the brain when mediating grace.

Yet this is just the kind of statement that propagates a deeply defective view of Christianity. Christianity is not the best available religious option; it is the one religion in which we are freed to give up on religion. It is the only faith that grants access via the door of self-despair and failure rather than self-actualizing success. Jesus didn't come to tell us about the best religion; he came to end all religion. He is God's alternative to religion. Religion and Christianity are mutually-exclusive options.