Subject: Is sanctification a joint effort? |
Bible Note: Zach, I enjoy questions. (As long as you don't ask how much I ate for dinner.) Judging from the last two questions, I take it that you see the answer to your first question as "Yes". Romans 6:11 says, "Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ." From my understanding of the how "consider" is used, in the Greek, it is a "present imperative" meaning basically that 1) it is a command or a request, and 2) the considering is an ongoing process. Now lets look at James 4:7 - "Submit therefore to God...." Here (and in the following verses) we have an "aorist imperative" - meaning that it is a command that doesn't carry with it the idea of an ongoing process. Rather than "keep doing it", it just says "do it". "Submit", "resist", "draw near", "cleanse your hands", "purify your hearts", "Humble yourselves". Do we do these once? I don't know about that, but if we aren't doing them, we must do them. Can we refuse to daily submit? Do we still sin? Yes. 1 John 1:5-10. I would, however make a distinction between what God would like to accomplish in us, and what He intends to and will do, Philippians 1:6; 2:13. I could say more, but I have to go now and this is enough to start with. In Him, Benjamite |