Sanctification has to do with progress in the Christian life—becoming more holy and more Christlike in our attitudes and behaviour. You say, “That would be nice, but how do I do that?” How can we make progress in the Christian life? How can we get victory over our besetting sins? These are extremely practical questions, and if you’re a true Christian, then you want the answer to these questions! I'd like to take up the important and relevant topic of sanctification using the 2nd London Baptist Confession as a guide to the Bible’s teaching on this subject.

Of Sanctification: An Exposition of the LBCF XIII

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Bob Gonzales Jr., Dean
Reformed Baptist Seminary
Easley, South Carolina

"Persons need not and ought not to set any bounds to their spiritual and gracious appetites." Jonathan Edwards

by Dr. Bob Gonzales:

I've asked this question more times than I care to admit. God's standard does not change. It is still, "Be holy as I am holy." I know I have been sanctified determinatively, just as I am also glorified (Rom. 8:30). Knowing this my finite mind cries out, "Lord, why are you not making me fit for heaven in the way I live?"

One comfort I have is that any victory I have against sin is not really my victory, but Christ's. There is no formula to inoculate us from sin. Reading the Word, prayer, Christian service; these are all good things and marks of a person who loves God, but in themselves they do not prevent a person from sinning. Perhaps one of the ways the Holy Spirit can aide us in our struggle against sin is through the process of renewing our minds (Rom. 12:2). We are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), but our minds have yet to be renewed. We are supposed to be dead to sin (Rom. 6:2), but our minds dwell on it constantly.

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Bill Brown
Elder
Reformed Baptist
Maryland

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