What Is Sanctifying Grace?

“What Is Sanctifying Grace?” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

I. Introduction. A. Orientation. 1. Last Lord’s Day evening, we considered the life of Jonathan Edwards. a. How the Lord gifted him with an amazingly acute intellect. b. How He also blessed him with a sanctified heart and mind. c. How He prepared Edwards through his upbringing in a strong Christian household and at Yale for the work He called him to do. d. And how he faithfully labored in the Gospel ministry for eight months in New York, tutored for 2 years at Yale, labored for more than twenty-three years in the ministry at Northampton, then about eight years at Stockbridge and finally 2 months as president of Princeton before his death. 2. We also considered how the times in which he lived influenced his thinking: particularly the two awakenings that he lived and ministered through. a. His first real experience with revival took place in 1734-1735 with the ‘first’ awakening under his ministry. b. And by God’s grace, he saw a second – the “Great Awakening” – which lasted from 1740-1743. c. The Lord used each of these experiences to shape the mind that would biblically analyze and write regarding the nature of saving and sanctifying grace. B. Preview. 1. This evening, we’re going to begin breaking ground on Edwards’ view of grace. But first, there are a few things we need to understand about it. a. The word “grace” can mean several things in Scripture: (i) In general, it refers to God’s unmerited favor, giving us things we clearly don’t deserve, and often in a context where we deserve just the opposite. (a) It can refer to God’s common goodness to all men, giving them food, clothing, shelter, the blessings of family, a long life. (b) It can refer to God’s saving goodness to His elect, giving them heaven when they deserve hell. (ii) It can also refer more specifically to the spiritual blessings He gives. (a) When He quickens us to life, He is said to give us saving grace. (b) And when He strengthens us spiritually after we have been converted, He is said to give us sanctifying grace. b. It’s this sanctifying grace that we’ll want to explore more fully in this study, through the eyes of Jonathan Edwards.

2 (i) First, with a study of the nature of sanctifying grace from his Treatise on Grace. (ii) Then by considering his Religious Affections, where he will tell us more specifically about the things that show us that saving and sanctifying grace is present in our lives. (iii) As we look at Edwards’ thought on the subject, we’ll see not only how he benefited from the authors we’ve already surveyed, but also how goes far beyond them in his understanding and explanation of these things. 2. But tonight, before we turn to Edwards, we’ll consider a few definitions of sanctifying grace in the history of the church – some more recent and some from the past, to show how difficult it has been to define what it really is. II. Sermon. A. The problem in understanding sanctifying grace. 1. Saving and sanctifying grace can be difficult to understand. a. It’s a concept like time that we often talk about but don’t fully comprehend. b. In Roman Catholic circles, it’s understood as a substance, contained in the sacraments, that is consumed with them and enters the soul. (i) In their system, to get to heaven directly – which is true only of the saints – your soul must be full when you die, which means you have become personally sanctified. (ii) But any amount of it is enough to get you to purgatory, which means you will eventually enter heaven. (iii) We call this the doctrine of justification by infused grace – grace which is infused or poured into your soul through the sacraments. c. Protestants disagree that we are saved by infused grace. (i) The Bible does not teach that we must become filled with grace – or become personally perfect – before we are declared just by God and given entrance to heaven. (ii) It teaches that God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us by faith, so that even though we are not perfect, we are justified by the perfect righteousness of Christ. d. We do, however, agree that we are sanctified through infused grace. (i) We are justified through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. (ii) But we are sanctified through the infused grace He gives. 2. But what is sanctifying grace? a. That was a question I asked my professors in seminary. (i) They agreed that it was something God poured into our souls through the means of grace, but they were unclear as to exactly what it is. (ii) One thought it was divine help of some sort. (iii) Another that it was divine power, communicated by the Holy Spirit to those who have faith that promotes sanctification.

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b. They all agreed it was God’s help, that it came from the Spirit of God, and that it promoted spiritual growth, but none had an adequate explanation of what it was. (i) This also appears to be a common weakness of understanding among theologians. (ii) Many either fail to ask the question of precisely what it is, or having asked it, fail to provide much clarity. (iii) This is surprising considering that an adequate understanding of this doctrine provides a vital key in our understanding of sanctification as a whole, without which we will not see the Lord (Heb.12:14). B. Let’s consider some of these views of sanctifying grace. 1. First, that of Dr. Philip Edgecumbe Hughes. a. He begins where most do – that grace is “undeserved blessing freely bestowed on man by God.” 1 b. After noting that there is both a common and special grace, he defines special grace in this way: “Special grace is the grace by which God redeems, sanctifies, and glorifies his people. . . . God’s regenerating grace is dynamic. It not only saves but also transforms and revitalizes those whose lives were previously broken and meaningless. . . . All is thus ascribed to the grace of God, not merely the Christian’s conversion but also the whole course of his ministry and pilgrimage” (480). Rather than telling us what grace is, he actually tells us what it does. c. He tells us several other things about grace that are absolutely true: (i) First, God doesn’t give it to everyone, but only to His elect: “Unlike common grace, which is universally given, special grace is bestowed only on those whom God elects to eternal life through faith in his Son, our Savior Jesus Christ” (Ibid.). (ii) Second, that God must first bestow it before the elect can respond to the outward call of the Gospel. (iii) Third, when He does give it, it will effect faith in the recipient and bring them safely to heaven (481). (iv) Fourth, that it is irresistible and will accomplish what God wills. (v) And finally, that it is sufficient to save believers now and forever, since infinite power stands behind it (481-482). d. The one thing he doesn’t tell us in his article on grace is what it is – the one thing that will help us most to understand it. 2. Second, let’s consider R. L. Dabney, a southern Presbyterian theologian of the 19th Century.

1

Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, “Grace,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984), p. 479.

4 a. Like Dr. Hughes, he begins by giving us a general definition: “Grace is the exercise of goodness where it is undeserved, as in bestowing assured eternal blessedness on the elect angels, and redemption on hell-deserving man” (Systematic, 169) – it is God’s goodness, bestowing eternal blessedness, on the elect angels, and on fallen man who doesn’t deserve it. b. If God doesn’t give it, then man will die: “The withholding of God’s grace is but the negative occasion of a sinner’s unbelief, just as the absence of the physician from a sick man is the occasion, and not the cause, of His death. Men say that ‘he died because he failed to receive medical help,’ when speaking popularly. But they know that the disease, and not the physician, killed him. So, our Savior teaches, in John 10:26; that the stubborn unbelief of the Pharisees was occasioned by God’s refraining from the bestowal of renewing grace” (242). Grace is absolutely essential to salvation. c. And it is something spiritual, coming from the Spirit’s influence or work. “But last, and chiefly, prayer is a means of grace, because God has appointed it as the instrument of man’s receiving His Spiritual influences” (716). d. Dabney does not, however, put his finger on precisely what it is. 3. Third, there is the view of Dr. Morton Smith, founder, former president and professor of Systematic Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. a. In the context of Christ’s headship over His church, he quotes James Bannerman with approval, “If saving grace is dispensed, it is dispensed through the virtue and power of his Spirit; if a blessing is communicated, it is because he blesses.”2 Here grace is said to be “dispensed,” and the manner in which it is dispensed is “through the virtue and power of his [i.e., Christ’s] Spirit.” b. But what is this blessing He gives? Dr. Smith continues, “The Church does not actually convey grace. She ministers the Word and Sacraments, and it is through these that the grace is received. . . . Berkhof holds that the means of grace should be limited to the Word and sacraments, as: . . . the objective channels which Christ has instituted for the Church, and to which he ordinarily binds himself in the communication of his grace. Of course these may never be dissociated from Christ, nor from the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit, nor from the Church which is the appointed organ for the distribution of the blessings of divine grace. They are in themselves quite ineffective and are productive of spiritual results only through the efficacious operations of the Holy Spirit.3 c. We see that it is again through the work of the Spirit, but it’s not entirely clear what this work of the Spirit is. 2

Morton H. Smith, Systematic Theology, 2 vols. (Greenville, SC: Greenville Seminary Press, 1994), 2:597. This quote may be found in James Bannerman, The Church of Christ, 2 vols. (Reprint, St. Edmonton, AB Canada: Still Waters Revival Books, 1991), 1:195. 3

Smith, 2:603. Emphasis added. The quote can be found in Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), pp. 604-605.

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4. Other views: a. For Rome, there is no question: “This grace is a supernatural power that is infused into man, and works ex opere operato. Thus in the sacraments, which are visible signs, the invisible grace is always present.”4 It was determined in the seventh session of the Council of Trent and recorded in the section concerning the Sacraments in General, Canon vi, “If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify; or, that they do not confer that grace on those who do not place an obstacle thereunto; as though they were merely outward signs of grace or justice received through faith, and certain marks of the Christian profession, whereby believers are distinguished amongst men from unbelievers: let him be anathema”5 b. Luther understood grace in much the same way. Berkhof writes, “He, too, conceived of the grace of God as a sort of substance contained in the means and not to be obtained apart from the means.”6 c. Reflecting the Protestant view, Morton Smith writes, “While the grace of God is generally imparted mediately through the means of grace, it is not because the grace is deposited into the means. Rather it is the Spirit’s accompanying the means that gives them their efficacy.”7 Grace is not in the sacraments, but the Spirit communicates grace through them. d. And A. A. Hodge writes, “The same covenant of grace provides at once for the infusion of grace in the heart, the exercise of grace in the life, and the reward of the grace so exercised.”8 Notice he says that grace is infused, that sanctifying grace is something measurable, poured into our souls by God’s Spirit, that gives us the ability to do something we were unable to do before. But the question still remains: What is it? 5. One final view: Charles Hodge, professor of systematic theology at Princeton in the 19th Century. a. He comes the closest to hitting the mark regarding sanctifying grace, where he writes, “Hence it is that the greatest of all gifts secured by the work of Christ, that without which salvation had been impossible, the Holy Ghost, in the influence which He exerts on the minds of men, has in all ages and in all parts of the Church been designated as divine grace.”9 Here, at least, is a 4

Smith, 2:604

5

Philip Schaff, ed., The Creeds of Christendom, 6th ed., rev., David S. Schaff, 3 vols. (Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990), 2:120-21. 6

Smith, 2:604. This quote may be found in Berkhof, page 607.

7

Smith, 2:605.

8

A. A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith (Reprint, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1983), p.

9

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 3 vols. (Reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing

228.

6 definition of what grace is: the influence of the Spirit exerted on the minds of men. b. He spells this out more fully in this next quote: “A work of grace is the work of the Holy Spirit; the means of grace, are the means by which, or in connection with which, the influence of the Spirit is conveyed or exercised. By common grace, therefore, is meant that influence of the Spirit, which in a greater or less measure is granted to all who hear the truth.10 By sufficient grace is meant such kind and degree of the Spirit’s influence, as is sufficient to lead men to repentance, faith, and a holy life. By efficacious grace is meant such an influence of the Spirit as is certainly effectual in producing regeneration and conversion. By preventing grace is intended that operation of the Spirit on the mind which precedes and excites its efforts to return to God. By the gratia gratum faciens [the grace that makes one gracious] is meant the influence of the Spirit which renews or renders gracious. Cooperating grace is that influence of the Spirit which aids the people of God in all the exercises of the divine life. By habitual grace is meant the Holy Spirit as dwelling in believers; or, that permanent, immanent state of mind due to his abiding presence and power. Such is the established theological and Christian usage of this word. By grace, therefore, in this connection is meant the influence of the Spirit of God on the minds of men.”11 c. Hodge is essentially correct here, but needs on important correction. (i) Is grace the Spirit’s influence on the mind, or on another important faculty that directly influences the mind? (ii) Edwards believed that His influence was on another more fundamental faculty of the soul. (iii) This is what we’ll begin to consider next time. (iv) But at this point, considering what we have seen of what grace does, search your heart to make sure it is at work there. (v) As the author to the Hebrews reminds us, without holiness there will be no heaven, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (12:14). (vi) You may only be holy through faith in Christ. Amen.

Company, 1986), 2:654. 10

This definition of common grace appears to be too narrow, for common grace is common to all, not simply to those who hear the Word. 11

Ibid., 654-55.