Moments of Eternal Glory (6): Sovereign over Slips

The previous parts of this series:
Part 1: Santification and Glory
Part 2: Father's Role
Part 3: Son's Role
Part 4: Spirit's Role
Part 5: The Believers' Role

Failures and past sins can be haunts, flaunting their reminders when we are least suspecting, wrapping their ephemeral fingers around us in shadowing shame. They whisper susurrations in our ears, sending shivers of pain and regret. These lies, shames, regrets—these haunts—can hinder our steps forward in the journey of sanctification. We mull in cesspools instead of seeing them as moments in his eternal hand.

God remains sovereign over the process of sanctification; this must include God’s sovereignty over sin as well, although he is not the cause of sin. God could morally transform us instantly—and oh I wish he would! In the future he will do so in the twinkling of an eye. For those reasons that are only known to his thoughts which are not our thoughts, God has left sin in this world and even in believers’ lives. He has conquered Satan but has not yet destroyed him. Eyes of faith are required for this paradox. Yet, Christians see all the Triune God has done and is doing for them in sanctification—the God is who is for his children and who has secured the future.  Take a moment. See it. See it!!! Seeing this goodness, we trust God has a purpose in allowing the struggle and that even our sins and resultant pain will be worked out for our eternal good, the good of others, and for our great God’s glory.

We also see something else in our faltering spiritual steps. Spiritual struggle increases gratefulness for his mercy and grace as we see our own depravity. It augments gratitude for the definitive, freeing work of Christ and his conquering of sin and death as we, with Spirit-revelation and Spirit-opened eyes, see the pain sin wreaks. It enhances daily dependence on the Spirit, Christ’s intercessory work, and the Father’s forgiveness.

Despite the incredible for-ness for believers of the Father’s efficacious call and supplying the desire, Christ’s definitive sanctification, and the Spirit’s enablement, there is a real struggle. In fact, growth in sanctification can only augment the warfare as Christians become increasingly aware of where they do not demonstrate Christlikeness (1). The greater light of God’s grace and glory shows the darkness and dirt all more clearly. Yet, God remains sovereign in the struggle and uses it for his glory and believers’ good.

What is this struggle against? (2) It must be clear that we have made a definite cleavage with sin; we are genuinely new. There is a definitive eschatological break; believers are no longer in the flesh nor under sin’s power, and the old man has been crucified. Believers are new men and now desire to please God and have the capacity to do so by the Spirit. They are “saints who sin” and not merely “sinners who are forgiven;” the Bible is overwhelmingly positive about believers’ new identity in Christ (3). However, there still remains the “sinful nature,” an inner disposition, tendency, or capacity to sin.

The biblical authors recognize the reality of the struggle, yet for us in Christ there is an overwhelming emphasis on the potential for victory (4). Gordon Fee memorably writes, “Paul simply knows nothing about an internal struggle within the human breast, in which the flesh continually proves to be the greater power” (5). The fight is real, but it is not a power struggle. Because we are no longer in the flesh, it is a fight to grow into what we are. God is sufficient and provides a way out in temptation in accordance with our own will and character, and ultimate victory is assured despite momentary slips. In Christ—he has secured our victory!

Will the failure haunts leave us? Will we never fail? It is not a win/lose struggle. Even failures will be used by God in his love to move us toward holiness, and God provides means of cleansing and confession. There is no reason for shame if we struggle. In fact, there is a note of hope—the presence of struggle means that we recognize the darkness that remains in comparison to God’s glorious calling of holiness. All Christians have the Spirit, but some may act as if they were still in the flesh. First Corinthians 2:14-3:3 is often used to distinguish between “carnal” and “spiritual” Christians. Yet, here Paul is urging them to live as who they really are—Christians who have the Spirit and are delivered from the old age of the flesh (6). To rank Christians is to undermine the complete, definitive washing and cleansing wrought by Christ for all.We condemn ourselves or judge others over our sins and failures--but God gives grace. He calls us to let go of our guilt and run to him. Run to him with our shame, our sin, faults, and failures. Trust him with them as well. What freedom and relief this can bring!!!

Our amazing God is for us in every single moment. In the minute we fail, he does not turn away from us in digust, surprise we could do that, even that. What patience and grace and redemption he gives us. He uses each moment of joy, grudge, grime, slips, struggles, quotidian, crazy, or cosmic and limns it with eternal glory for our glory and his good. All three of himself is intimately involved and is for us—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And someday, we will shine in the glory he has given us.  

NOTES

(1) J.C. Ryle, Holiness (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1952), 21.

(2) Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 373; William W. Combs, “Does the Believer Have One Nature or Two?” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal (1997): 81-103; Donald L. Alexanderm The Pursuit of Godliness: Sanctification in Christological Perspective (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999),  153-158. A note on terminology: According to Moo, Paul speaks of the old man/new man to speak of the entire person in a positional, not ontological, sense in Romans 6, Ephesians 4, and Colossians 3. Combs helpfully distinguishes the old man/new man from the old nature/new nature and flesh/Spirit that is spoken of in Galatians 5:16-17 and perhaps in Romans 7:14-25 (90). The old nature/flesh and new nature are used to speak of an inward disposition, tendency, or capacity to serve self, Satan, or the world or God, respectively, as stated by Combs (85). Alexander adds a different light when he speaks of the old nature/flesh and spirit as two different value systems (153); it is perhaps too impersonal a definition, yet it helpfully highlights the cognitive and moral aspects.

(3) Robert L. Saucy, “’Sinners’ Who Are Forgiven or ‘Saints’ Who Sin?” Bibliotheca Sacra 152 (October-December 1995): 400-412, p. 402.

(4) Ronald Y. K. Fung, “The Impotence of the Law: Toward a Fresh Understanding of Romans 7:14-25,” in Scripture, Tradition, and Interpretation, ed. W. Ward Gasque and William S. LaSor (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978), 27; Christopher James Bosson, “A Scriptural Appraisal of the Necessary Connection between Progressive Sanctification and Compatibilist Freedom”(PhD diss., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2010), 180. Fung notes that the attitude of Gal. 5:16-17 is one of victory. Romans 7:14-25 is often brought into the picture to depict the struggle of the believer, yet there is a great deal of debate whether it speaks of a regenerate or unregenerate person. Fung offers an interesting interpretation in that he holds it is a Christian who has tried to pursue righteousness through works of the law, as Paul was arguing against in Galatians. For those who walk in the Spirit, there is a tone of victory. C.f., 1 Jn. 2:13; 1 Jn. 4:4; 1 Jn. 5:4-5, 18.

(5) Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996), 107, 128.

(6) Fee, Paul, 111-112; Bruce Demarest, The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1997), 416.