If we look at the big picture God is conveying to us through the entire Bible we can see the theme of reconciliation. Starting with justification which then leads to sanctification and will place us into the final area of our reconciliation and that is glorification. John MacArthur breaks down God’s salvation plan like this: First justification is looked at from the point of view of being past tense. Sanctification is looked at as being in the present tense and finally, glorification is looked at in the context of being in the future tense. Justification can therefore be looked at as being saved immediately upon a person’s conversion, which is their accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Sanctification can be seen as a progressive growth, which will cause us to live our lives with sin having less power over us. Finally, the future of our glorification will ultimately save us from sin’s presence.[1] For the sake of this discussion we will be exploring the area of justification.
Another explanation that I will be covering is by Wayne Grudem. The order that follows is taken from his Systematic Theology book. First there is a calling, which is a calling from God to the unbeliever to trust Christ as their savior. The next phase is regeneration which is God’s imparting to us a new spiritual life. This can also be looked at as God breathing life into the spiritual lifeless body of the new believer in Jesus Christ. The next step in the process of salvation is conversion. This is when a person responds to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they realize they are sinners. They fall short of the Glory of God and they place their faith in Jesus Christ as their only source for salvation. I especially like how Wayne Grudem summed up this process.
“
[2] (Grudem, Systematic Theology 1994, 722)
Another explanation that I will be covering is by Wayne Grudem. The order that follows is taken from his Systematic Theology book. First there is a calling, which is a calling from God to the unbeliever to trust Christ as their savior. The next phase is regeneration which is God’s imparting to us a new spiritual life. This can also be looked at as God breathing life into the spiritual lifeless body of the new believer in Jesus Christ. The next step in the process of salvation is conversion. This is when a person responds to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they realize they are sinners. They fall short of the Glory of God and they place their faith in Jesus Christ as their only source for salvation. I especially like how Wayne Grudem summed up this process.
“
Regeneration made it possible for us to respond to that invitation. In conversion we did respond, trusting in Christ for forgiveness of sins. Now the next step in the process of Applying redemption to us is that God must respond to our faith and do What He promised, that is, actually declare our sins to be forgiven. This must be a legal declaration concerning our relationship to God’s laws, stating that we are completely forgiven and no longer liable to punishment.”[2][1] (MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary 2005, 1519)
[2] (Grudem, Systematic Theology 1994, 722)
No comments:
Post a Comment