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The Reign of the Servant Kings By Joseph C. Dillow A Review-Summary-Outline
Chapter 9—Justification and Sanctification 2
There are other arguments offered for the teaching that the New Testament connects justification and sanctification as an inseparable unit.
The New Creation
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
While some have interpreted this to refer to subjective internal moral renewal, the fact that Paul connects the new creation with our being in Christ points to a positional status rather than an experiential one.
The new man in Ephesians 4:24 is the regenerate self (Colossians 3:3, 4). He is in no sense the old self made over or improved (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:10). The new self is Christ “formed” in the Christian (Galatians 2:20; 4:19; Colossians 1:27; 1 John 4:12). He is the new nature united with the ego.
The new nature is a new metaphysical entity, created perfect by God at regeneration. It is a “creation.” In Ephesians 4:24 one learns that the new man was created kata theon, “according to the standard of God,” in righteousness, and in hosiotes, “holiness, piety” of truth. It appears that this new self is as perfect (sinless) as is God. The fact that it has been “created” means that it has no sin in it. God would not create something with sin in it. Does this mean that the person is perfect? No. The person, the “ego” either lives in his new capacity or his old. The person always has both and is always sinful. But when viewed from the single perspective of the person as united to the new creation, i.e., the new man, he is perfect (sinless). That union, that identity is man as God intends man to be. However, no person will ever live life as the perfect new creation until his old nature is experientially as well as forensically eliminated at the resurrection.
Finally, in Colossians 3:10 we are told to “put on the new man who is renewed.” The “new self” is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the creator. How can a perfect new man in Christ be “renewed”? The renewal is “into” (eis) knowledge and “according to” (kata) the image of God. The new man, while without sin, is not mature. In the same way, Jesus, who was perfect, was “made perfect” (Hebrews 2:10) through suffering. Like Jesus, the new man who really is in Christ, is renewed through suffering (2 Corinthians 4:16).
Paul refers to the perfect new creation in Christ when he says:
But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. . . . Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (Romans 7:17, 20)
His meaning is transparent when seen in this light. The sin in the believer’s life is not a product of the new creation! The new creation is sinless and created according to righteousness. Sin is no longer part of our true identity. This helps explain John’s perplexing statement in 1 John 3:9, “No one born of God sins.” The new man in Christ cannot sin; he is sinless. John is speaking of the believer from the viewpoint of the new creation, and sin, he says, cannot come from that.
Therefore, when Paul says that we are now a new creation in Christ, he is not saying that we have been experientially transformed and will inevitably manifest a life of good works. In fact, he repeatedly asks us to act like who we really are. He tells us to “reckon ourselves dead to sin” and to present ourselves to God “as those alive from the dead” (Romans 6:13). He commands us to “put on the new man” (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). His meaning is that we are to be in experience what we already are in Christ. If it is automatic and inevitable that this will happen, why command it? More to the point, nowhere does the Bible assert that just because a man is a new creation, he will act like who he is in Christ to the final hour.
The Christian Cannot Live in Sin
Any discussion of the relationship between God’s free gift of the justifying righteousness of Christ and the life of works that should follow cannot ignore the central passage on the subject, Romans 6. The context begins with Romans 5:20, “. . . But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,” where Paul then concludes that sin produces more grace to cover it up. He marvels at the grace of God! As might be expected, however, such a doctrine is open to the charge that it leads to a life of license. Paul puts the words of the imaginary objector into his epistle and opens Romans 6 with this complaint: “What shall we say, then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might abound (increase)?” (6:1). He is not discussing whether or not it is possible for a believer to continue in sin but whether or not such a lifestyle is logically derived from the premise that grace abounds where sin increases.
His answer to the objector is one of horror, “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Whether or not true believers have this capacity to fall into sin is not Paul’s question. He is refuting the notion that a life of sin is a logical outcome of the gospel of grace. Paul’s response will be to insist that such a life-style is in no way a logical deduction from his doctrine.
There are three arguments that Experimental Predestinarians derive from this passage in Romans 6, which they use to justify their notion that sanctification necessarily follows justification:
Dead to Sin
Central to the understanding of this important passage is the significance of the concept “dead to sin.” The prevailing view is that it means a break with sin’s power and not sin’s penalty in the believer’s life. We must ask, “Is this death to sin actual in our experience or actual in the reckoning of revelation?” The fact that Paul says in 6:7 that the man who has died is “justified” from sin implies that for Paul this death to sin is legal, forensic, positional, and not automatically real in experience; it is absolute, not partial. The Greek word dikaioo is his normal word for the legal justification of the sinner. It is a forensic and not a “real in experience” term.
Death to sin is real in our position but not necessarily real in life. Paul’s commands to present ourselves to righteousness and to reckon ourselves dead to sin certainly imply that we might not necessarily do this. If the believer’s death with Christ described in Romans 6:1-10 is “actual,” then exactly what is meant by Romans 6:11? If death means cessation of existence “actually,” then why does Paul urge believers in that verse to reckon (count, consider as true, realize, believe) themselves dead to sin?
No More Dominion by Sin
When Paul tells his readers that “sin will not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14), it is a victory conditioned on what he has just said. It will not have dominion if the believer follows Paul’s advice to reckon and yield now. If the believer does not reckon and yield, then sin can have dominion in his life. This is a promise of success for the believer if he applies the God-appointed means, and not a statement of reality irrespective of those means.
The text does not say that sin does not have dominion. It says sin will not have dominion (Gk. kyrieusei, future tense, in contrast to the aorist and perfect tenses of the context), IF a believer will reckon and yield. If he does not reckon and yield, then sin can have dominion in the life of the believer. The fact that the believer has died to sin does not automatically mean he will reckon and yield. It means that, if he does, he’ll be successful over sin in his life.
If sin’s lack of dominion is automatic, regardless of a believer’s choices, then why does Paul continually, in this very context, set choices before him? “For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness [sanctification].” (6:19) It is true that a believer becomes obedient from the heart (6:17), but now he must continually make choices regarding which master he will serve, sin or Christ. The victory is that he no longer has to obey sin, and if he chooses not to, he will not be successful over sin in his life.
Paul is refuting a logical argument against grace, that believers should continue to sin to make more grace abound. But this is illogical because grace not only includes the forgiveness of sin but the removal of sin’s legal dominion and the impartation of life. Because believers are united with Christ in His death, sin no longer has the legal right to rule them. Since they are united with Him in resurrection, they have new life within them that gives them the power to overcome sin and the motivation to want to overcome it. The fact that a believer can subsequently “quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), become carnal (1 Corinthians 3:1-4), stop growing (Hebrews 5:11-14), or fall away (1 Corinthians 5:1-5) does not strengthen the objector’s case.
Slaves of Righteousness
The fact that a man may not reckon and yield is proven by the existence of the commands to do so. If obedience is automatic and “real,” then there is no more need to command it than there is to say, “Be human.”
It is in this light that the contrasts in the latter half of the chapter must be seen. They were “slaves of sin,” but now they have “become obedient from the heart to that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17). They were “slaves to sin” and are now “slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:18). They have been “freed from sin” and “enslaved to God” (Romans 6:22). Paul explains that we are only slaves of the person we obey:
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)
Death for the non-Christian is, of course, eternal and final. For the Christian, death is temporal judgment and spiritual impoverishment as in Romans 8:13—“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The righteousness here comes as a result of obedience, and therefore we may conclude that moral, and not forensic, righteousness is in view.
These Roman Christians had not only received the righteousness of Christ through faith alone, but in addition, they had submitted themselves to the lordship of Christ subsequent to saving faith and had become obedient from the heart to the truth to which they were delivered, which submission and obedience produced moral righteousness:
But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17, 18)
In addition to committing themselves to the gospel message and through faith alone becoming positionally freed from sin, they had heeded Paul’s advice and had become experiential slaves of righteousness. When they were non-Christians, they were slaves to impurity. Now they are Christians, and Paul wants them to keep on presenting (Gk. present durative implied by context) their members to righteousness. If they do, they will be sanctified. This further substantiates the observation that the righteousness referred to in vs. 16 is moral righteousness and not forensic justification. This righteousness is a product of sanctification. It is not automatic that they will keep on presenting themselves as slaves. They have made a good beginning, and Paul wants them to continue it:
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (Romans 6:20, 21)
When they were non-Christians, they received no benefits from their profligate (immoral and dissolute) life-style. The result of it was death, both eternally and in the sense of spiritual impoverishment and wasted life (e.g., 7:9). He does not want them to return to that:
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness (sanctification), and the end, everlasting life. (Romans 6:22)
They were positionally freed from sin when they became Christians (vss. 1-14). They became enslaved to God when they chose, after that, not to go on presenting the members of their bodies to sin (6:13). They are freed by the act of Christ; they were enslaved as a result of their own act of “presenting.” The former is positional and unconditional, and the latter is experiential and conditional. Paul had already made it clear that this slavery to righteousness is a personal choice, and nowhere does he say it is the necessary and inevitable outcome of their regeneration.
It is a simple truth that Christians, freed from the slavery to sin, have entered into the slavery of another. But their service as slaves to their new master is not automatic and inevitable. They must be good and obedient slaves. The possibility that they may not be is why Paul commands, “Present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification” (Romans 6:19). If they do not obey that command, they may be slaves, but they are not acting life it, and they will not be sanctified!
Faith Lacking Works is Dead
When James said that faith without works is dead and that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (James 2:20, 24), he was unaware of the volumes that would be written throughout history attempting to harmonize his words with those of the apostle Paul; and, further, how so many would misconstrue his use of the word “faith” as that of “saving faith,” and not, as intended, a “sanctifying faith.”
What is Dead Faith?
To understand “faith” in James, one must first consider what James meant when he used the term “dead faith.” The dead faith was alive at one time, or it would not have died. Even the non-Christian, born dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), was once alive in Adam; but when Adam sinned, all his progeny died with him federally (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22).
But furthermore, James seems to say that he precisely intends this idea by the analogy he uses, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). The body dies, according to the Bible, when the spirit departs (John 19:30). Just as the body dies when the spirit departs, even faith dies when works depart. Just as the spirit is the animating principle that gives the body life, so work is the animating principle that gives life to faith. There is no question that in the absence of works a believer’s faith becomes useless and dead. His Christian experience deteriorates into a mere dead orthodoxy, which is evident in many Christian churches.
Salvation is Not by Faith Alone
With this in mind James’ comment about “the inability of faith alone to save” takes on a new meaning.
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (James 2:14)
The Greek construction of this question requires a negative answer: “No, faith without works cannot save him,” which leads to an apparent and major conflict between this comment by James and the teachings of Paul regarding regenerate salvation. Because of this Luther called James “an epistle of straw.”
Luther’s problem was caused by the fact that he always equated salvation with “salvation from hell.” But death from sin could be physical death, for believers or unbelievers. It could be spiritual death—separating a believer from fellowship with God. In James, to be saved refers to salvation from physical death, the death-producing consequences of sin (as discussed in chapter 5, the phrase “save a soul” never means deliverance from hell and always refers to the preservation of one’s physical life). In other words, salvation is the finding of a rich and meaningful Christian experience! It is true that faith alone will save us from hell, but faith that is alone will not save us from a dead or carnal spiritual life.
It is evident that James is using the term “salvation” in this sense when the context in which his statement in placed is considered, in which James describes the deathly consequences of sin in the life of the believer:
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:13-16)
It is the “beloved brethren” who are in danger of experiencing the deathly consequences of sin. In view of the possibility of death in our Christian life, what shall a believer do to prevent this catastrophe? James responds by saying:
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)
These are “beloved brethren” who have been “brought forth by the word of truth” in whom the Word has been “implanted.” They are saved people in the sense of final deliverance from hell! However, these saved people need “salvation.” This salvation is the salvation contextually defined as a deliverance from the death-producing effects of sin and a lack of good works in their lives. He goes on to say that to receive with meekness the engrafted Word is simply to apply the Word of God to one’s life by acts of obedience.
But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. . . . But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22, 25)
Salvation here is the deliverance from the spiritually impoverishing consequences of sin and the experiential blessing of God now. James makes it clear that this is what he means by salvation in his closing words:
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:19, 20)
Just as it is possible to “save” one in whom the Word has been implanted (James 1:21), it is also sometimes necessary to “save” one who is of the “brethren” and is “among us.” A man who is already saved in the sense of final deliverance from hell needs only to be saved from death. The death here may be the “sin unto death” referred to in the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians (vs. 30) and 1 John 5:16. Certainly this is the ultimate consequence of divine discipline brought upon the sinning Christian. But short of that, the life of the sinning Christian can only be characterized as spiritually dead.
It is concluded that the word “saved” in James does not refer to final deliverance from hell. It refers, instead, to deliverance from the terrible consequences of spiritual impoverishment and ultimately physical death, which can come upon the regenerate person if he fails to vitalize his faith with a life of works. Divine discipline is certain, but loss of salvation is not under consideration. Reviewer’s comment: The author at this point goes into a discourse for the purpose of demonstrating that James 2:18, 19 reflects the comments (position) of an objector. Since this presentation is somewhat complex, the reviewer will leave it up to the reader to obtain Mr. Dillow’s book and cover this argument.
When James says in 2:24 that we are justified by works, he is not disagreeing with Paul. He is simply saying that justification by faith is not the only kind of justification there is. Justification by faith secures our eternal standing, but justification by works secures our temporal fellowship. Justification by faith secures our vindication before God, and justification by works secures our vindication before men. It is by works that our justification by faith becomes evident to others and is of use to others, including orphans, and those who are hungry, cold, or thirsty.
James’ point then is not that works are the necessary and inevitable result of justification. Rather, he is saying that if works do not follow the believer’s justification, his faith will shrivel up and die. He is in danger of spiritual impoverishment, “death.” Nor does he say that the failure to work will result in the loss of regenerate-salvation. This is not a passage to prove the inevitable connection between justification and sanctification at all! Rather, it proves that the connection is desirable.
By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them
Probably the most commonly recognized statement of Jesus thought to support the Reformed doctrine of perseverance is his famous warning, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16). The assumption is made that Christ means by this that one can discern whether or not another person is truly a Christian by examining the evidence of good works in his life, i.e., good works equals a regenerate person. This impression is reinforced by Christ’s stinging rebuke to these false teachers to whom His remarks applied, “I never knew you,” and His explanation that only one “who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21, 23). Such an interpretation obviously contradicts the clear teaching elsewhere that entrance into the kingdom of heaven is based upon faith alone.
Experimental Predestinarians offer the seemingly plausible explanation that, since all true believers persevere in holiness to the end of life, it is certainly true that only those who do the Father’s will enter the kingdom. All true believers will do this, and if a person fails to do this, this proves he was not a Christian at all.
But there is a more plausible interpretation of Christ’s remarks. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ directs his attention to the subject of false prophets.
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:13-15)
The reference to entering by the gate, the sheep, and the wolves immediately suggest a common theme in Jesus’ teaching found elsewhere—entrance into the sheepfold.
Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches (snatches) the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.” (John 10:7-13)
The wide gate leads to destruction, and the narrow gate leads to life. The wide gate represents the many rival religious claims. The Hindus, the Moslems, and the Jews all enter through a different gate, a gate that leads not into the sheepfold but to destruction. And there are false prophets who would lead the sheep to the wrong gate. These men come in “sheep’s” clothing, but inwardly they are “ravenous wolves.” The “hireling” in John did not protect the sheep from these false prophets or wolves. So, who are the hirelings? It is unlikely that the Lord had the Pharisees in mind, who better were representative of the “false prophets or wolves.” Reviewer’s comment: The author at this point attempts to compare the hireling to many of today’s television evangelist who prophesy, heal, cast out demons, etc., yet are later revealed as “ravenous wolves” who live in opulent excess. In doing this the reviewer believes the author is confusing his analogy of the “hirelings” and the “wolves.” The reviewer believes it is more consistent to view the hirelings as those ministers who place more emphasis on signs and emotions, rather than on sound doctrine, which alone will protect the sheep from the wolves (false prophets). Many of these hirelings are connected to the charismatic movement of today, which movement promotes surface behavior (emotion, “physical healings,” demonstrations, etc.) instead of the inner strength of sound doctrine and a central focus on Christ and loving one anther.
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? (Matthew 7:16)
To what does the “fruit” refer? In Matthew 7 the fruit is unspecified, but the parallel passage in chapter 12 suggests that the doctrine of the false teachers was in view, and not their life-style:
Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:32-37)
In Matthew 7 their life-style outwardly seems to indicate they are Christians. They are called sheep; they look like Christians; they perform miraculous works in Jesus’ name. They do some of the works that Christians do. Therefore, the reason that Jesus “never knew them” is not that their outward behavior is corrupt. Rather, it is because they have not done the will of His Father who is in heaven. Some of the most gentle and kindly mean are workers of many good works, and yet they are not regenerate. It would be impossible to discern them by their works. Only their teaching reveals who they are.
The “fruit” is the false teaching of these false prophets. What is obvious is what they say. Even though their character is clothed in sheep’s garments, and they are “gentle and meek in their outward appearance,” their incorrect teaching is evident to all. Jesus is saying that the teaching of false prophet is the fruit by which they can be identified.
The idea that a false prophet can be discerned by comparing what he says with Scripture is widespread in the Bible (see Jeremiah 26; Galatians 1:6-9; 1 John 4.2ff). Their “fruit” is their doctrine. An examination of their works will lead to a wrong conclusion. Jesus said that by their fruit you shall know them in Mathew 7:16, and the antecedent to “them” is the description in verse 15, “. . . false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” It is not professing Christians in general who are the subject of discussion but men who openly announce themselves as prophets and who claim to do miraculous works in Jesus’ name. The passage has nothing to do with the notion that we can test the reality of the faith of a professing Christian by examining his good works.
The Lord continues:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (false doctrine)!” (Matthew 7:21-23)
When these false prophets are confronted with Christ at the judgment, they then confess Him as Lord, but it is too late. But only those who do “the will of My Father in heaven” will be known by the Lord. And what is the “will of the Father”?
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)
For all their outward gentleness and show of Christian profession and miraculous works, this is the one thing these false teachers never did. They never believed on Christ by trusting Him for their personal salvation.
Only Believers Go to Heaven
In support of their contention that justification and sanctification are inextricably related, there are those who point to the tense of the word “believe” in John 3:16, stating that because it is in the “present tense,” it essentially conveys a “durative” action, i.e., one who continues to believe. Their argument is that one who believes, but then later stops believing, will no longer “have eternal life.”
As argued elsewhere, it is possible for a truly born-again person to fall away from the faith and cease believing. He is called a carnal Christian and will be subject to severe divine discipline. If this is not possible, then the warnings are empty of meaning, as will be discussed in chapter 10. However, many are impressed with the fact that in many verses the present tense of the verb “to believe” is used or the participle is an articular present participle meaning “the one who believes.” The fact that these verbs are in the present tense, they say, implies that Jesus meant that “whoever continues to believe” has everlasting life.
The argument from the articular present participle is simply wrong. While it is true that the present tense can sometimes carry a durative force (“continue”), it is not intrinsic to the tense and must be established from the context. The articular present participle, however, rarely, if ever, has durative force, it is merely a substantive (a pronoun or other word or phrase functioning or inflected like a noun).
The adherents of perseverance are reading into the term “believe” the meaning “believe at a point of time and continue to believe up to the point of physical death.” This is not only foreign to normal Greek usage but to English usage as well. Reviewer’s comment: The author at this point goes into an involved discussion of the use of verbs in their present tense and as an articular present participle in order to demonstrate his position. The reviewer accepts the position that the context must be considered in order to interpret any durative quality in the present tense of a verb. After all, if a person who stops believing no longer “eternal life,” then he would have never had it when he first believed, which would then make John 3:16 erroneous. Why, because “eternal life” is nothing, if not “eternal.”
While it is horrible to contemplate, possible apostasy and cessation of belief is a very real danger set before the readers of the New Testament, particularly in the book of Hebrews. Though it is possible that a man who professes belief once and then rejects the faith is not a true Christian, it is also theoretically possible that he is genuinely born again. Saving faith is “the act of a single moment whereby all the benefits of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection suddenly become the irrevocable possession of the individual, per se, despite any and all eventualities.” It is certain, however, that if he is born again, what he forfeits when he “falls away” is not his eternal destiny but his opportunity to reign with Christ’s metochoi (partners/disciples) in the coming kingdom. “And he who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations” (Revelation 2:26).
The Implied “All”
There are number of passages that ascribe to the saints, in apparently inclusive terms, the benefits of the future kingdom. For example:
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? . . . . (1 Corinthians 6:2)
Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. . . . (Matthew 13:43)
And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:8)
There are those who read these passages to mean that “all” the saints will judge the world, that “all” the righteous will shine forth, and that “all” members of the bride are arrayed with “righteous acts.” But “all” must be read into each passage, since it is not there and there is nothing in the context that requires it to be there.
It is true that the saints will judge (reign), but Paul elsewhere clarifies that only those saints who are faithful will reign with Christ (2 Timothy 2:12). Furthermore, it is clear that not all believers will function as priests (Exodus 19:5, 6). Only those believers who obey and persevere will serve as priest, even though it is God’s intent that all should attain this privilege. With this the writer in Hebrews agrees (3:6).
Regarding Matthew 13:43, it is true that the righteous will shine but nowhere does it say that “all” of them will. Furthermore, to be “righteous” in Matthew does not always mean to be in possession of the forensic legal righteousness of Christ, as in Paul’s epistles, but to possess a righteous life (see for example, Matthew 1:19; 5:45; 9:13; 10:41; 13:17; 20:4; 23:28, 29, 35).
Only those saints who live righteous lives will shine in the kingdom. The unfaithful will not; unless of course, the reference is only about the shinning glory of the resurrection body, which all saints will possess.
As to Revelation 19:8, the claim that the wedding garment is for “all” the saved, is a misreading of the text. The text says only that the wedding garment, i.e., righteous acts, adorns the bride as a whole and not each individual saint of which she is composed. Each saint makes various contributions (righteous acts) to the bride’s wedding garment, and some may not make any at all.
Another passage that is sometimes thought to be all inclusive is as follows:
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)
Paul’s statement in this verse has led some to the conclusion that all who are saved will be rewarded. Yet Paul has just said that some will enter eternity with their works “burned up” (1 Corinthians 3:15). He evidently does not intend to teach that all without exception will receive praise. Instead, he is saying that each person who has earned praise will receive it.
Christians Have Crucified the Flesh
And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)
It is common to understand this passage as saying that all true Christians have crucified the flesh. This is, of course, true. However, the event referred to is not self-crucifixion of the believer but the co-crucifixion of the believer with Christ at the point of saving faith. There is nothing here about a believer’s determination to subdue the flesh as a part of the saving transaction. It simply refers to the positional crucifixion of the flesh mentioned in Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:1-11.
Or, as an alternate view, it is possible to take the phrase “who are Christ’s” as a genitive of source and not of possession. The Greek is “of Christ.” This would mean that those who are “of Christ” in their behavior crucify the flesh. Some Christians are, and some are not. Paul does use the genitive “of Christ” in the sense of source elsewhere (1 Corinthians 1:1, 12; 11:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 3:3; 4:4; 5:14; 10:7 [see vs. 2]; 11:13; 12:9). From this perspective then those who crucify the flesh are those Christians who are led by the Spirit.
He Who Began a Good Work
Reflecting with joy on the spiritual vitality of the church at Philippi, Paul says of them:
[I thank you] for your fellowship in the gospel [Gk. koinonia] from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:5, 6)
Some have understood this to teach that God will continually work to sanctify all who are truly born again until the point of physical death or the return of Christ. The lack of the continuing transformation of life is then proof that a man is/was born again. Final failure is not possible according to this verse, they say.
However, as many commentators acknowledge, the “good work” to which Paul refers is not sanctification or regeneration but financial contributions or a more general assistance and partnership, including financial help, in the cause of Christ—their “fellowship in the gospel” (vs. 5) for which he thanks them now and also later in the letter (4:15-17). The sense of “financial contributions” fits the context of the epistle well.
Elsewhere, Paul speaks of “fellowship” (Gk. koinonia) in terms of financial aid (e.g., Romans 12:13; 15:26; 2 Corinthians 8:4; 9:13; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 6:18: Hebrews 13:16), and he certainly refers to this in 4:15-17 where he uses the verb from of koinonia, “to share.” Reviewer’s comment: Although the author goes on with further argument for this point-of-view, the reviewer refers the reader to the author’s book for it. The reviewer agrees that the “good work” mentioned in the subject scripture does indeed refer to the Philippians’ monetary contribution (fellowship-sharing) to Paul’s ministry, which “God will complete it—or continue it—until the day of Jesus Christ,” as is evident and verified in 4:17.
Conclusion Reviewer’s comment: The author here illustrates 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 as the definitive refutation of the position that justification and sanctification are inextricably connected from new birth to physical death.
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