Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (Spectrum Multiview Books)
Overview
How can we grow closer to God? Is there a secret to spiritual life? Do we need a second blessing? Is sanctification God’s work or ours? Is it instantaneous or is it a process? The nature of Christian spirituality has been widely debated throughout the history of the church. The doctrine of sanctification was one of the main fissures separating Luther from the Catholic Church. Even today different groups of Protestants disagree on how we draw closer to God. What distinguishes the different positions and what exactly is at stake in these recurring debates? To answer these questions Donald L. Alexander, professor of biblical theology at Bethel College, has brought together five scholars that represent each of the main historical Protestant traditions. With an introduction by Alexander and responses to each of the main essays by the other contributors, this book provides a helpful and stimulating introduction to an important doctrine of the church.
Top Highlights
“Sanctification, if it is to be spoken of as something other than justification, is perhaps best defined as the art of getting used to the unconditional justification wrought by the grace of God for Jesus’ sake.” (Page 13)
“Two features are central to sanctification: Jesus Christ himself is our sanctification or holiness (1 Cor 1:30); and it is through union with Christ that sanctification is accomplished in us.” (Page 48)
“We miss the radical nature of Paul’s teaching here to our great loss. So startling is it that we need to find a startling manner of expressing it. For what Paul is saying is that sanctification means this: in relationship both to sin and to God, the determining factor of my existence is no longer my past. It is Christ’s past. The basic framework of my new existence in Christ is that I have become a ‘dead man brought to life’ and must think of myself in those terms: dead to sin and alive to God in union with Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Page 57)
“The biblical message declares that the believer in some real sense has been released from slavery to sin and evil powers (see Gal 4; Rom 6).2 The continuing struggle against sin, the flesh and the devil cannot minimize the triumph of Christ’s death and resurrection. At the cross sinners are set free—free to live! We must keep this liberating dimension of the gospel in mind as we attempt to resolve the tension in our call to practical holiness.” (Page 9)
“‘It is tempting for the sake of logical neatness to make a dean division between the two [justification and sanctification] but the temptation must be resisted, if in fact the division is absent from Holy Scripture.’” (Page 17)
- Title: Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification
- Author: Donald L. Alexander
- Series: Spectrum Multiview Books
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 1988
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Sanctification › Comparative studies; Holiness › Comparative studies; Spirituality › Comparative studies
- ISBNs: 9780830888658, 9780830812783, 0830812784, 0830888659
- Resource ID: LLS:CHRSTNSSNCTFCTN
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:41:48Z