Sanctification and Perseverance

This is my seventh reflection on John Murray's book, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. This reflection covers the 7th and 8th chapters of Part II of the book. As for my previous posts, you can check them below:

• The Necessity of Christ’s Atonement

• The Nature of the Atonement

• The Perfection and Finality of Christ's Atonement

• The Extent of the Atonement

• God's Order in Salvation: John Murray on Effectual Calling, Regeneration, and Sanctification

• Chapters 4 to 6 of Redemption: Accomplished and Applied

As you can see, Murray touched on two important subjects in the doctrine of salvation, which is technically known in theological studies as Soteriology.

Let us turn our attention first to the doctrine of sanctification. In Murray's mind, union with Christ is sanctification, and this union begins logically with calling. The primacy of sin in all aspects of life necessitates sanctification, which starts from regeneration and calling.

Drawing support from Romans 6:14, our author understood that the sanctifying life of a Christian means that sin will have no dominion over his or her life. Murray notes concerning freedom from the power of sin that Perfectionism understood it rightly — in a sense that it was momentaneous. However, they erred on three grounds:

• First, they failed to see the victory as inherent to every regenerated person

• Second, they viewed it as separable from justification; and

• Lastly, they misunderstood it as freedom from sin.

Moreover, according to Murray, Scripture does not warrant such an interpretation. A believer who died with Christ is freed from sin and is therefore not under its dominion. Murray also acknowledges that freedom from sin is not absolute in the sense that it eradicates all inherent sin, both in the mind and in the heart. Hence, sanctification aims for the absolute elimination of sin in the believer, to conform to the image of Christ, and will be fully realized in glorification. Sanctification is constantly and primarily caused by the Spirit, yet Murray also notes that there should be cooperation concerning it. The regenerated person is not passive in his calling; there should be a synergistic aspect in progressive sanctification (Philippians 2:12-13). Yet it must be maintained that the aforementioned is only possible because it was God who worked within him in the first place (I assume this was definitive sanctification).

The second topic is perseverance. Scripture passages and biblical history give a strong account of the perseverance of the saints to be true. Yet Murray also included that both in history and biblical passages there are instances of a “seeming” falling away in the faith — at first glance, and at least when interpreted deviantly (we include Heb. 6:4-6; John 15:1, 2, 6).

Therefore, one of Murray’s goals in this section is to interpret what perseverance is not. Thus, anyone who professes faith is not guaranteed to enter heaven. Also, it does not grant believers a license for sin nor implies that they can indulge in unfaithfulness without consequences. Contrary to the misconception, it does not permit believers to abandon themselves to sin or separate faith in Christ from a life of holiness and fidelity. It refutes the idea that believers can be secure regardless of their subsequent life of sin and unfaithfulness, and it does not teach automatic salvation irrespective of perseverance or continuance in faith and holiness.

In summary, in sanctification, Murray highlights the need for synergistic cooperation between believers and the Spirit, and in perseverance, he refutes the idea that faith guarantees salvation without holiness and faithfulness.

Reference:

Murray, John. Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1955. Reprinted April 1980.

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