stuff I think about – Page 2

The power of sanctification

If you have already read my first post on sanctification, you’ll know that I think the term has been unfortunately misdefined as a process in which we become more like Jesus. It’s not that I don’t think we should become more like Jesus; far from it. It’s just that we are missing out on so much more.

Just what is sanctification?

Ask any 21st century Christian the above question and you’ll no doubt hear that it’s the process of becoming more like Jesus. You’ll hear verses like these:

Romans 8.29: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Romans 12.1: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
2 Corinthians 3.18: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

Did you notice anything about these verses? None of them use the word sanctification. Now, I’m all for Christians becoming more like Jesus, but I think that using the word sanctification to describe this process robs the word of its most common biblical meaning, and does us a disservice.

Original sin and spiritual death

Proponents of original sin uniformly state that we are all born spiritually dead as a result of the sin of Adam. But just what does it mean to be spiritually dead?

Original sin and our own tendency to sin

I’ve often seen this question posed as a defense of original sin:

Wouldn’t we all have sinned just as Adam did in the garden? Doesn’t that make it justified for God to impute Adam’s guilt to us?

On the surface, this sounds like a great argument, and it’s powerful — because we are so in tune with our own sin. It only takes me a moment to consider my sinful ways, and how easily I give in to sin, and I quickly respond in the affirmative: I absolutely would have sinned if I were there in the garden instead of Adam.

What we would have done in Adam’s place is irrelevant.

Original Sin and Psalm 51

Proponents of original sin really like to use this psalm to support the contention that all humanity is sinful (that is: full of sin, guilty) from birth. The key verse is verse 5:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psalm 51.5

Proponents of original sin take this psalm to be a commentary on the nature of mankind. For example, Calvin says of this verse that David acknowledges that even within the womb “his nature was entirely depraved” and he “was absolutely destitute of all spiritual good.” (You can read Calvin’s commentary on the entire psalm here.) Indeed, Calvin taught elsewhere that all infants (including David) are “odious and abominable to God” by virtue of their inborn sinful nature.

Is that what David is saying? Is David teaching on the sinful nature of mankind in this psalm? My contention is this: although David could be making this point, it’s far more likely that he is instead using poetic language to reflect on his own sinful state.