Sanctification

Introduction

Passages using the term “sanctification” in the NT: Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:11; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4, 7; 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:2

Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 35: “What is sanctification? Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”

The image of God – distorted and broken by the fall, but now being progressively renewed in Christ and by the Spirit (Gen. 1:26; Col. 3:9-10; 2 Cor. 5:17; Titus 3:5).

Two-age eschatology – the framework of the already and the not-yet. We are already dead to sin and alive to God in union with Christ, yet we must still put to death our members which are on the earth. The tension of the already and the not-yet explains why we still struggle with sin and temptation. Spiritually we are already raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places (the already), but we still live in the flesh as we groan in this tent and long for the resurrection of our mortal bodies (not yet).

Errors regarding Sanctification

Views that emphasize sanctification at the expense of justification

1. Confusing justification and sanctification

According to the Roman Catholic Church, justification is a process by which the believer is actually made righteous. “Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man” (Catechism of the Catholic Church § 1989, citing the Council of Trent).

Critique: This position fails to recognize that sanctification is imperfect and therefore cannot be the basis of our acceptance before God.

Calvin:

“But as it is too well known by experience, that the remains of sin always exist in the righteous, it is necessary that justification should be something very different from reformation to newness of life. This latter God begins in his elect, and carries on during the whole course of life, gradually and sometimes slowly, so that if placed at his judgment-seat they would always deserve sentence of death” (Institutes, 3.11.11).

Charles Hodge:

“Again, justification according to the Scriptures gives a title to eternal life. For this our own righteousness is utterly inadequate. So far from anything in us being meritorious, or entitled to reward, the inward state and the exercises of the holiest of men, come so far short of perfection as to merit condemnation. In us there is no good thing. There is ever a law in our members warring against the law of the mind. Indwelling sin remains. It forced even Paul to cry out, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death.’ (Rom. 7:24). ‘No believer ever performed one work which, if tested by the strict judgment of God, could escape condemnation.’ (Calvin, Institutes, 3.14.11) … If these fruits [of regeneration] are, as our consciousness testifies, defiled by sin, how can they merit eternal life? How can they cancel the handwriting which is against us? How can they be the ground of Paul’s confident challenge, ‘Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?’ It is not what is within us, but what is without us; not what we are or do, but what Christ is and has done, that is the ground of confidence and of our title to eternal life.” (Systematic Theology, vol. 3, p. 131)

That is why Paul clearly distinguishes between justification and sanctification (Rom. 5:1ff.; 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:11).

Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 77:

“Wherein do justification and sanctification differ? Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification his Spirit infuses grace, and enables to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued: the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation; the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.”

Justification	Sanctification
Imputation	Transformation
Once-for-all	Progressive
Perfect	Imperfect in this life
External Righteousness	Inherent righteousness

2. Entire sanctification or Perfectionism (Wesley)

In the 18th century John Wesley taught the necessity of a second work of grace, after conversion, in which a person achieves what he called “entire sanctification.” In this state of entire sanctification, one has perfect love for God untainted by conscious sin.

Critique: The NT does not teach a two-stage theory of the Christian life: conversion, followed by a second work of grace. The passage most frequently used to support this is Romans 6-8 – with the turning point occurring at 8:1 – but this is a misinterpretation of the passage. The Wesleyan theory does not work in practice. It leads to one of two possibilities. The sensitive Christian will never be certain that he has achieved entire sanctification, for he will always be sensitive to his continued sinfulness. This will lead to discouragement in the Christian life and lack of assurance. The pharisaic Christian will claim that he has achieved entire sanctification and will try to explain away and justify his sinfulness – it wasn’t a conscious sin, or it was only a sinful thought but not a sinful action, or I’m not really guilty of sin because it was just my flesh that did it, not my heart. In my experience such super-spirituality breeds self-deception and hypocrisy.

3. Sanctification by the law

Greg Bahnsen:

“The progressive sanctification of the Christian life … is inseparably tied to the law of God … The means of grace which are calculated to build us up in the faith are ineffective without obedience to the law. In short, the law is indispensable in sanctification” (Theonomy in Christian Ethics, pp. 177, 181).

Most Reformed theologians state that the law is merely the standard of sanctification, defining the obedience that God requires. But other Reformed theologians take this a step further and teach that the law is a means of grace. Although it is the Spirit who provides the empowerment to obey, the law is one of the means that God uses to restrain our corruption, mortify the flesh, and progressively make us more holy. This is not legalism (justification by the law) but nomism (sanctification by the law).

Critique: Paul says that the law, due to the weakness of the flesh, cannot sanctify (Rom. 7:5, 7-11, 24; 8:3a). Sanctification is by faith and by virtue of union with Christ in his death and resurrection, not the law. The promises and threats of the law, the law as a covenant of works, are abolished along with the old covenant. In the new covenant, sanctification is by grace through faith and by the Spirit transforming us from within to be more and more like Christ.

Views that emphasize justification at the expense of sanctification

1. Antinomianism

John Saltmarsh said that the believer should not pray for pardon of sin, since he is reckoned as perfectly righteous in Christ. John Eaton said that God does not see any sin in the Christian, since he is clothed with the covering of Christ’s righteousness. The label “Antinomian” was actually somewhat of a slander, since they did not deny the importance of obeying the moral law. However, their emphasis on justification did lead to a downplaying of the need to pursue progressive sanctification. They did not call Christians to pursue holiness, because they believed that holiness and obedience would spontaneously flow from a renewed heart without any need for external commands or imperatives.

Critique: The NT teaches that the sins that we commit as Christians are real and that we need to confess them (1 John 1:7-10). Although they cannot bring us back under the wrath of God, our sins are not ignored by God. It is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30), to be in need of God’s fatherly discipline (Heb. 12). Moreover, the NT is replete with moral imperatives and exhortations to pursue holiness, thus contradicting the Antinomian view that such exhortations are not needed.

2. Non-Lordship Salvation

This contemporary view is more radical than 17th century Antinomianism. It is held by some, not all, Dispensationalists. Zane Hodges rejects the idea that one must submit to Jesus as Lord in order to be saved. He reduces faith to mental assent to the gospel and argues that once a person prays the sinner’s prayer, he or she is saved forever and cannot lose that salvation, even if they turn away from Christ and stop professing faith in him. Sanctification, obedience, and holiness are not necessary for salvation. These things are optional. Of course you should want to do them, because you will receive additional rewards in heaven. The Non-Lordship Salvation view is also associated with the “carnal Christian” theory.

Critique: All those whom God justifies, he also sanctifies (Rom. 6:1-5). Sanctification is necessary, not optional (Heb. 12:14). Those who give themselves over to the flesh do not have the Spirit and do not belong to Christ (Rom. 8:9-13; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 6:7-8; Eph. 5:5).

3. Radical Lutheranism

“Sanctification is … simply the art of getting used to justification. It is not something added to justification” (Gerhard O. Forde, in Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification, p. 13).

Critique: The NT clearly teaches that there is more to the Christian life than getting used to your justification. There is a real process of spiritual change and growth that we are to expect. The NT uses a number of different metaphors that teach the concept of progressive transformation and renewal:

Transformation: Rom. 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:18
Renewal: Titus 3:5
New Creation: 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15
Flesh-Spirit conflict: Rom. 8:1-14; Gal. 5:16-18
New Man: Eph. 4:17-24; Col. 3:9-10
Fruit-bearing: John 15:4-5, 8, 16; Rom. 7:4-6; Gal. 5:22-23; Col. 1:9-10
Good works: Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:11-14
Spiritual growth: Eph. 4:15-16; Col. 2:19; 1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18

Four Characteristics of Sanctification

1. Sanctification is a supernatural work of the Spirit

Walter Marshall, Gospel Mystery of Sanctification:

“The end of Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection was to prepare and form a holy nature and frame for us in Himself, to be communicated to us by union and fellowship with Him; and not to enable us to produce in ourselves the first original of such a holy nature by our own endeavors” (p. 40)

Gal. 3:1-3; Col. 2:20-23

Marshall:

“They that would cure [the flesh] and make it holy by their own resolutions and endeavors do act quite contrary to the design of Christ’s death, for He died, not that the flesh, or old natural man, might be made holy, but that it might be crucified, and destroyed out of us (Rom. 6:6), and that we might live to God, not to ourselves, or by any natural power of our own resolutions and endeavors, but by Christ living in us, and by His Spirit bringing forth the fruits of righteousness in us” (p. 179).

Gal. 5:22-23

2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2

A common error is to believe that justification is God’s part and sanctification is our part. No, just as justification is the work of God’s free grace for us, so sanctification is the work of God’s free grace in us.

Rom. 8:4 (divine passive); 1 Thess. 5:23

The covenant of redemption: “To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption, he does certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same” (Westminster Confession of Faith 8.8).

What are the benefits of redemption that Christ has purchased? Regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, glorification.

Heb. 13:20-21

Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 75: “What is sanctification? Sanctification is a work of God’s grace, whereby they whom God has, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life.”

Notice that the definition grounds our renewal and growth entirely in God’s gracious work.

That does not mean we are completely passive. The Spirit enables us actively to put sin to death and walk in obedience. There is a role for our effort, but that effort depends upon the Spirit’s prior working in us, rather than something we generate by our own will. Faith looks to Christ for this strength and expresses itself in obedience: we pursue holiness because God is at work in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil. 1:6; 2:12-13).

2. Sanctification is by faith

Acts 26:18; 2 Thess. 2:13

Marshall:

“Faith in Christ is the duty with which a holy life is to begin, and by which the foundation of all other holy duties is laid in the soul” (p. 43).

“Because all the blessings and perfections of our new state – as justification, the gift of the Spirit, and of the holy nature, and the adoption of children – are seated and treasured up in Christ and joined with Him inseparably, we can receive them no further than we receive Christ Himself by faith” (p. 173).

James Fraser of Alness, A Treatise on Sanctification:

“… of how great importance it is, to preach the special doctrine of the gospel, the doctrine of faith; and that, not only in order to give sinners encouragement respecting free justification, but also with regard to sanctification. The Gospel, the doctrine of faith, is the special truth of God and of divine revelation; this is the great means of sanctification” (p. 463).

William Romaine called faith “the great spring of all gospel obedience” (The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith, p. 156).

We must not view faith as a one-time thing. As long as we live in this world, we must continue in faith and become stronger in faith.

Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:23; 2:6-7

Faith is like a muscle. The more you use it, the more you will be able to feed upon Christ.

Sanctifying faith means reckoning that we are dead to sin and alive unto God in union with Christ.

Indicative: Rom. 6:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:14-17; Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 3:1-4

John Murray:

“We are compelled to reach the conclusion that it is by virtue of our having died with Christ, and our being raised with him in his resurrection from the dead, that the decisive breach with sin in its power, control, and defilement has been wrought, and that the reason for this is that Christ in his death and resurrection broke the power of sin, triumphed over the god of this world, the prince of darkness, executed judgment upon the world and its ruler, and by that victory delivered all those who are united with him from the power of darkness, and translated them into his own kingdom. So intimate is the union between Christ and his people, that they were partakers with him in all these triumphal achievements, and therefore died to sin, rose with Christ in the power of his resurrection, and have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Collected Writings, vol. 2, p. 289).

Reckoning by faith: Rom. 6:11; 2 Cor. 5:16

Herman Ridderbos:

“What [Paul] wants to teach [the church], over against the reality of sin, is beyond anything else a new basis for self-judgment in its belonging to Christ and having died and been raised with him. As he says in 2 Corinthians 5, that henceforth … he will know no man ‘after the flesh,’ but will understand him as participating in the new aeon and the new creation … The new life of believers is not a matter that can be known or approached out of the inwardness of the spiritual life, but only out of what has taken place in Christ’s death and resurrection. Their life is in Christ” (Paul: An Outline of His Theology, pp. 209, 213-214).

3. Involves mortification of the flesh

Rom. 6:6; 8:13; Gal. 5:24; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:5

John Owen:

“Mortification of sin is peculiarly from the death of Christ. It is one peculiar, yea, eminent end of the death of Christ, which shall assuredly be accomplished by it. He died to destroy the works of the devil … Let faith look on Christ in the gospel as he is set forth dying and crucified for us. Look on him under the weight of our sins, praying, bleeding, dying; bring him in that condition into thy heart by faith; apply his blood so shed to thy corruptions; do this daily … The Spirit alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with its sin-killing power” (Works, vol. 6, “Of Mortification of Sin,” pp. 19, 83, 85, 86).

4. Results in being transformed into the image of Christ

Rom. 8:4, 9-11, 29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 3:16-17; 4:22-24; Titus 3:5

Charles Hodge: How is a soul gradually transformed into the image of Christ?

“First, it is led to exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ … This is the first step, and secures all the rest ….

“Second, the soul by this act of faith becomes united to Christ. We are in Him by faith. The consequences of this union are, (a) Participation in his merits.

His perfect righteousness … is imputed to the believer. He is thereby justified … (b) Another consequence of the union with Christ effected by faith, is the indwelling of the Spirit … Where the Spirit is, there Christ is; so that, the Spirit being with us, Christ is with us; and if the Spirit dwells in us, Christ dwells in us. In partaking, therefore, of the Holy Ghost, believers are partakers of the life of Christ ….

“Third, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit thus secured by union with Christ becomes the source of a new spiritual life, which constantly increases in power until everything uncongenial with it is expelled, and the soul is perfectly transformed into the image of Christ … The Spirit … especially opens the eyes to see the glory of Christ … This apprehension of Christ is transforming; the soul is thereby changed into his image, from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. It was this inward revelation of Christ by which Paul on his way to Damascus was instantly converted from a blasphemer into a worshipper and self-sacrificing servant of the Lord Jesus” (Systematic Theology, vol. 3, pp. 226-229).

Everything we need with regard to sanctification – victory over sin, empowerment to obey, the powerful work of the Spirit – all of these things are found in Christ. Christ is the storehouse, the treasury of sanctification. He is the fountain of the springs of living water. Therefore, we can only enjoy these benefits of sanctification to the degree that we hold fast to the Head, to Christ himself, by faith. You cannot get these things apart from Christ. If you try to get victory over sin, or if you try to obey, apart from Christ, you will fail. But if you go to Christ first by faith, then you will receive victory, power, obedience, and everything else that you need to grow in holiness.

Col. 2:19

Marshall:

“Believers while they are on earth have all perfections of spiritual blessings, justification, adoption, the gift of the Spirit, holiness, eternal life and glory, in and with Christ (Eph. 1:3). In the person of Christ, who is now in heaven, the old man is perfectly crucified; they are dead to sin and to the law and its curse, and they are quickened together with Him, and raised up with Him, and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6). And believers do in their own persons receive and enjoy by faith all these perfect spiritual blessings of Christ, as far as they receive and enjoy Christ Himself dwelling in them, and no farther” (p. 176).

Ridderbos:

“Because Christ is their life, it has also gone with Christ to heaven, it is also hidden with Christ in God, and it waits for its revelation at the appearing of Christ from heaven. The church, so far as its life on earth is concerned, is determined, governed, nourished from heaven” (Paul: An Outline of His Theology, p. 214).

The Pursuit of Sanctification by faith

If sanctification is by faith in Christ by the Spirit, then we need increased faith. What are the means that God has given to strengthen our faith in Christ, leading to a closer walk with Christ and the experience of Christ dwelling in us by his Spirit?

The means of grace = means of faith

The Continental Reformed tradition has two: word and sacraments

Heidelberg Catechism Q. 65:

“Q. Since, then, faith alone makes us share in Christ and all his benefits, where does such faith originate? A. The Holy Spirit creates it in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments.”

The Anglo-Scottish Reformed tradition has three: word, sacraments & prayer

Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 88:

“Q. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption? A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.”

I think the Anglo-Scottish tradition helpfully mentions prayer, because prayer is communion with God. What could be more important for our spiritual growth than that?

However, the Continental tradition is probably correct insofar as they are thinking of the means of grace in terms of official, ecclesiastical channels.

I like the way the Heidelberg Catechism connects the means of grace with faith. The means of grace are essentially means of faith. The Spirit, by the preaching of the Word, creates faith in our hearts. By the sacraments – and I would add, prayer – the Spirit strengthens and confirms our faith.

I also believe there are at least two additional means of grace, which are not mentioned in the Reformed confessions, but are certainly biblical – God’s providence and Christian fellowship. The following five practical helps are gifts God has given us in order to strengthen our faith and thereby to promote spiritual growth and progressive sanctification.

1. The Word

John 17:17: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

a. It tells you who Christ is and what he has done for you (the gospel) Rom. 10:17: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

b. It tells you who you are in Christ (indicative) Example: Col. 2:9-14

c. It sweetly calls you to be who you are in Christ (imperative) Example: Col. 3:1-11; 1 Cor. 6:12-20

2. The Sacraments

The Second Helvetic Confession 19:

“Sacraments are mystical symbols … whereby … he seals his promises, and outwardly represents, and, as it were, offers unto our sight those thing which inwardly he performs for us, and so strengthens and increases our faith through the working of God’s Spirit in our hearts.”

Baptism

Baptism reminds you who you are in Christ, that you belong to Christ

“It is given for the arousing, nourishing, and confirming of our faith” (Calvin, Institutes, 4.15.14)

Rom. 6:3-4, 11

Listen to the voice of Christ as he speaks to you in baptism and believe that you are in fact dead to sin and alive to God in Christ

Baptism into Christ means your life is hidden with Christ.

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper helps us to feed upon Christ’s body and blood by faith.

John 6:51-56

Calvin:

“As it is not the seeing but the eating of bread that suffices to feed the body, so the soul must truly and deeply become partaker of Christ that it may be quickened to spiritual life by his power … In this way, the Lord intended, by calling himself the ‘bread of life,’ to teach not only that salvation for us rests on faith in his death and resurrection, but also that, by true partaking of him, his life passes into us and is made ours – just as bread when taken as food imparts vigor to the body” (Institutes, 4.17.5).

Westminster Confession of Faith 29.7:

“Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements, in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually, receive, and feed upon, Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death.”

3. Prayer

a. Confessing your sins – 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

b. Asking the Lord for strength to fight against sin and become more holy.

c. Communing with Christ – developing a personal relationship with Christ.

The key to getting more of the Spirit is feeding upon Christ by faith, which means, communing with Christ in prayer.

Jesus is your Lord. He purchased you with his blood. You belong to him.

“I belong – body and soul, in life and in death – not to myself, but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ” (Heidelberg Catechism).

You are his servant – “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus” (Rom. 1:1).

Therefore, you can ask him for his Spirit, that he might dwell in your heart by faith, by his Spirit. One of my favorite prayers in all the Bible is Eph. 3:14-19.

One of the most important Scriptural metaphors for explaining this communion that believers have with the Lord Jesus Christ is the analogy of the marriage relationship.

Rom. 7:4: “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”

2 Cor. 11:2: “I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”

Eph. 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her … that he might present to himself the church in all her glory.”

John Owen:

“He is married unto us, and we unto him; which spiritual relation is attended with suitable conjugal affections. And this gives us fellowship with him as to his personal excellencies. This the spouse expresses, Cant. 2:16, ‘My Beloved is mine, and I am his;’ – ‘He is mine, I possess him, I have interest in him, as my head and my husband; and I am his, possessed of him, owned by him, given up unto him: and that as to my Beloved in a conjugal relation.’ … Christ gives himself to the soul, with all his excellencies, righteousness, graces, and eminences, to be its Savior, head, and husband, forever to dwell with it in this holy relation … This is the first thing on the part of Christ – the free donation and bestowing of himself upon us to be our Christ, our Beloved … On the part of the saints, it is their free, willing consent to receive, embrace, and submit unto the Lord Jesus, as their husband, Lord, and Savior – to abide with him, subject their souls unto him, and to be ruled by him forever. Now this in the soul is either initial, or the solemn consent at the first entrance of union; or consequential, in renewed acts of consent all our days. I speak of it especially in this latter sense, wherein it is proper unto communion … Let believers exercise their hearts abundantly unto this thing. This is choice communion with the Son Jesus Christ. Let us receive him in all his excellencies, as he bestows himself upon us – be frequent in thoughts of faith, comparing him with other beloveds, sin, world, legal righteousness; and preferring him before them, counting them all loss and dung in comparison of him … Let us tell him that we will be for him, and not for another” (“Communion with God,” Works, vol. 2, pp. 54-59)

4. God’s providence, especially trials

According to Romans 8:28, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” And what is God’s purpose? That we should become conformed to the image of his Son. Therefore, God’s providence is another means of grace.

Berkhof:

“God’s providences, both favorable and adverse, are often powerful means of sanctification” (p. 536).

Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:17; Phil. 3:10; Heb. 5:8; 12:10-11

Why are trials important for sanctification? Because they test and confirm our faith – James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1:6-7. They wean us from the passing things of earth and draw our affections closer to Christ. The less we value earthly things, the more we value Christ. And the more we value Christ, the more we have a sense of his Spirit in our hearts - Rom. 5:3-5.

5. Fellowship with other Christians

Acts 2:42; Eph. 4:15-16; 1 Thess. 5:11; Heb. 10:23-25

Again, how does this work? Our faith is strengthened as we see the faith that God has put in other Christians around us – Rom. 1:8-12.

We need godly models to imitate – 1 Cor. 11:1. Imitate those who are most Christ-like.

Bibliography

Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology.
Calvin, John. Institutes.
Fraser, James, of Alness. A Treatise on Sanctification.
Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. Vols. 1-3.
Marshall, Walter. Gospel Mystery of Sanctification.
Murray, John. Collected Writings. Vol. 2.
Owen, John. “Communion with God.” In Works, vol. 2.
Owen, John. “Of Mortification of Sin.” In Works, vol. 6.
Ridderbos, Herman. Paul: An Outline of His Theology.
Romaine, William. The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith.