A Second Work Of The Spirit
By AAM | July 8, 2008
Christian jargon is something I always try to avoid, mainly because it can be off-putting to the very people who I would like to draw to Christ, as well as to new Christians. It is better that, as much as possible, our services and conversations are in the normally used language, that is, using words and forms of speech in common use. Some words however, are both important but also difficult to find a simple equivalent for, an example of this is “Sanctification”. The basic meaning of sanctification is “to be made Holy” in the sense of becoming more as God intended us to be, i.e. Christ-like. It is a process, and is, what might be called, “the second work” of the Spirit of God, a topic particularly relevant today as we give thanks for the coming of the Spirit to us.
When a person becomes a Christian, i.e. when they are born again as a child of God, they are baptised in the Spirit and they receive the Spirit living in them, as is the topic of today’s talks at CCC. This, what might be called, the “first work of the Spirit” is an event, a specific time, when the Spirit takes up residence in a person’s heart, and when this happens they are declared righteous (justified) in the sight of God (Ephesians 1:4). This is the Christian’s status, not because we are worthy of it, but on the basis of Christ’s work on the Cross.
However, the earthly reality, this side of heaven, is that we still have to deal with the old sinful self, which does not automatically and suddenly go away. As Martin Luther put it, the new Christian now has two people living inside them, their “new self”, created by the Spirit, who is helping us to eradicate the “old self” – i.e. “put to death” (a continuous tense) the old sinful nature (Romans 8:13).
That is why Paul (who struggled as much as anyone with this battle, (see Romans 7:7-25) urges the Ephesian Christians (already Christians for some time) to “put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:24), this is the process of sanctification, a life-long process of, for example, “putting off” (again a continuous tense) falsehood, bitterness, anger etc (Ephesians 4:31). In Romans 13:14 Christians are exhorted to “put on Christ” (be clothed in) as an ongoing part of the Christian life, because we continually need to be made more Christ-like in behaviour, even though we become one with Christ at our conversion. Thus, an ongoing process called “sanctification” follows the event of being declared “not guilty” by God at our conversion.
As the New Testament urges us to put on Christ (in terms of our behaviour not our salvation) so we must pray daily for the help of the sanctifying Spirit, that the Lord Christ will increasingly reign in our hearts, and that we will be “filled with the Spirit”, (literally “keep on being filled”, Ephesians 5:18), even though we received the Spirit at the event of our conversion, when we were baptised with the Spirit.
God expects those for whom He gave His Son to live Christ-like lives, but we can only do that as we “put on Christ” as the Holy Spirit increasingly establishes the “rule” of the Kingdom of God in our hearts. This we are not able to achieve ourselves, and so we must pray daily (continuously – 1 Thessalonians 5:17) that we will continually be “being filled” with the Spirit. One of the joyous evidences that we have the Spirit in us, and one which is a guarantee of our heavenly destiny (Ephesians 1:13,14), is when we see that we are actually being sanctified, i.e. see the changes the Spirit is working in our lives, either suddenly, or over time.
Thanks be to God for His Spirit in us!
In Christ,
Martin J. Bragger, Senior Minister.
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