DOES THE WORD OF GOD TEACH THE DOCTRINE OF PREGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION?

I hear men talk of becoming less and less sinful and progressively holier from day to day. I hear men talk about their "progressive sanctification" a great deal. "God's children", we are told, "grow in personal righteousness and personal holiness progressively, until they are ripe for heaven." There are men who actually believe that glorification in heaven is the end result and reward of their own progressive attainments in "personal holiness"! Such doctrine I flatly reject. It is nowhere taught in the Word of God. Be sure you understand what I mean, when I assert that the Word of God does not teach this doctrine of "progressive sanctification". The Bible does not teach that in sanctification the believer's old nature becomes less sinful and more holy. Sinful flesh will always be sinful flesh. It is never changed. And the Bible certainly does not teach that we who believe attain progressively increasing degrees of "personal holiness", and thereby improve our favor and acceptance with God. If such doctrine were true, if it is possible for men to gradually become less sinful and more holy, then it is possible for men, by diligence, self-denial, and mortification of the flesh, to eventually attain sinless perfection in this life. Such doctrine, of course, is contrary to Holy Scripture AND FAVOR BEFORE GOD IS ENTIRELY, ENTIRELY A MATTER OF DIVINE GRACE. We are accepted in the Beloved. We are favored of God in Christ. CHRIST ALONE IS OUR HOLINESS BEFORE GOD, BOTH IN JUSTIFICATION AND IN SANCTIFICATION (I Cor. 1:30). There is no such thing as "personal holiness" or "personal righteousness", except in the minds of self-righteous men. Until a sinner learns that he has no righteousness and has no ability to produce righteousness before God, he will never trust Christ for righteousness. You must recognize that your "personal righteousness" is a loathsome menstruous clothe, a stench in God's nostrils, or you will never have the righteousness of God in Christ (Isa. 64:6).

YET THE SCRIPTURES PRESENT SANCTIFICATION

AS A PRESENT, CONTINUAL WORK OF GRACE

(I Thess. 4:3-7; 5:23-24).

We who believe are perfectly holy in Christ, and we have a perfectly holy nature implanted within us by God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. And that new man created in us grows in Christ (II Pet. 3:18). It does not become more holy. It is already perfectly holy and cannot sin (I John 3: 9; 5:18). And the old man of flesh does not become less sinful. But that new man grows. Perhaps the best illustration is Christ himself. When he came into the world, he was perfectly holy. During the years of his life on earth he did not become more holy. But he did grow as a man (Luke 2:52). As a man, his faith grew, his dedication to God grew, and his love to God as a man grew. Every living thing grows. That is the way it is with believers. We grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we do not become more holy.

As soon as a sinner is born-again by the Spirit of God, he possesses all the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22-23). But that fruit grows and ripens. As he walks with God by faith, his love for God, joy in God, and peace from God grows. He grows in longsuffering, gentleness, and goodness toward men. And as he walks with God by faith in Christ, he matures in faithfulness, meekness, and temperance. (He does not become more holy. And though he grows in grace, his old nature of flesh does not become less sinful. Our outward acts of sin are more restricted and controlled than they used to be; but the inward evil of this heart of flesh has not diminished. If anything it is worse than ever.) This growth in grace is a work of grace. It is the continual operation of the Holy Spirit in sanctification, accomplished by the means God has given (Ps. 119:9-16). It arises from our vital union with Christ by faith. As the grafted branch draws its life and strength and fruit from the tree into which it is grafted continually, even so the believer continually draws spiritual life, spiritual strength, and spiritual fruit from Christ by faith.