The Joy of Sanctification: God is at work in you by…
The doctrine of sanctification is back on the frontburner of discussion in the Bible-believing Christian community. We live in a time of happy renewal of the Gospel accent, grace focus and Christ-centeredness of the preaching in our theological neck of the woods. This is a wonderful thing, for which we rejoice. The superficial practicality and ossified moralism that this emphasis replaces has been a plague on the well-being of Christians and churches. But this new emphasis brings its own challenges. What do we do with sanctification (growth in grace, maturity and obedience in the Christian life)? How do we preach the law (is the law to be considered only as that which convicts of sin and leads us to Christ, but not as a rule of life)? How do we handle the prolific oughts and shoulds and…
July 16th Dr. Duncan will deliver a plenary address at the Matthew Henry Conference in Chester, England (see the full conference schedule below). The University of Chester in collaboration with the Chester Cathedral Library and the University of Manchester, is sponsoring this interdisciplinary conference to commemorate the tercentenary of the death of Matthew Henry (22 June 1714) and his 25-year ministry in Chester (1687–1712). Matthew Henry (1662–1714) is remembered today by two major groups of scholars: by historians as a leading…
Archibald Alexander has some fascinating observations in his chapter “Imperfect Sanctification.–The Spiritual Warfare” in his famous book Thoughts on Religious Experience (1841) that are relevant to current discussions in the Reformed family on sanctification. See especially his remarks in the final paragraph quoted. When he speaks of “ultra-Calvinists” his reference is to Calvinistic Antinomianism (the denial of the moral law as a rule of life for believers and the denigration of progressive sanctification). “It may be difficult to…