I am preparing for the last meeting next week in the Theology 2 graduate program. The final topic is sanctification/perseverance of the saints. The immediate reference in mind is the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 14 and 16. However, I find John Murray's Principles of Conduct not only insightful but also an upgrade to my lectures. Perhaps, after publishing this article, I will return to WCF.

Source

The specific chapter, which I consider relevant to the discussion of sanctification, is the 9th chapter, in which Murray speaks of the dynamic of biblical ethic. Providing the overview of the chapter, we will cover four topics:

• Union with Christ
• Death to Sin
• The Old Man and the New Man
• Union in Christ’s Resurrection

For now, due to time constraints, I will just quote the relevant paragraphs and sentences from the chapter, and later, if needed, I will add my personal reflection.

Union with Christ

Based on Philippians 2:1-2, I shared during my last preaching assignment in our chapel service that union with Christ gives encouragement, comfort from his love, mutual sharing in the Spirit, tenderness, and compassion. Any indication of selfish interest, interpersonal conflicts, and rivalry is contrary to this basic reality. These relational issues cannot be addressed by boosting our self-esteem and meeting our emotional needs.

It is interesting that in describing the dynamic of biblical ethics, union with Christ provides the foundational principle. I selected the following three paragraphs where Murray discussed this:

There is, however, one aspect of the biblical witness that is particularly relevant and yet one that is not always sufficiently appreciated. This truth may be stated broadly as union and communion with Christ. More specifically it is the truth of union with Christ in the virtue of his death and the power of his resurrection (p. 203).

If we accept the biblical witness to human depravity and iniquity, then there must be a radical breach with sin in its power and defilement if the demands of the biblical ethic are even to begin to be realized in us. This radical breach with sin is indicated in other phases of the application of redemption. That act of God by which we are translated into the kingdom of God as the kingdom of righteousness, power, life, and peace is nothing less radical than a new birth, a birth from above, and therefore supernatural in character. But at no point is the emphasis of Scripture upon the radical breach with sin more patent and pointed than in connection with the relation which the believer sustains to the death and resurrection of Christ (ibid.).

What Paul pleads as the decisive argument is that, if we are the partakers of God's free grace, it is in union with Christ that we have been thus blessed. And if in union with Christ, then it is in union with him in his death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:1-4). If we have been united with Christ, we have been united with him in his death. And what did the death of Christ mean? 'For in that he died he died to sin once for all' (Romans 6: 10). Hence, if we died with him, we also died to sin once for all (pp. 203-204).

Explaining this union with Christ, Murray prioritized the discussion about the fact that believers are dead to sin.

Dead to Sin

We must fully appreciate the strength of Paul's statement, 'We died to sin.' The simple and apodictic directness must not be allowed to obscure the far-reaching implications. Our understanding of the force of this description must be derived from the obvious meaning of the phenomenal, psychico-physical death with which we are so well acquainted. When a person dies we know from bitter experience that the bond which united that person to life and activity in this world has been severed. He is no longer active in the sphere, realm, or relationship in reference to which he has died; he is no longer en rapport with life here (p. 204).

It is this analogy that must be applied to death to sin. The person who has died to sin no longer lives and acts in the sphere or realm of sin. In the moral and spiritual realm there is a translation as real and decisive as in the realm of the psychico-physical on the event of ordinary death (ibid.).

There is a kingdom of sin, of darkness, and of death. The forces of iniquity rule there. It is the kingdom of this world and it lies in the wicked one (cf II Corinthians 4: 3, 4; Ephesians 2: 1-3; I John 5:19). The person who has died to sin no longer lives there; it is no more the world of his thought, affection, will, life, and action. His well-springs are now in the kingdom which is totally antithetical, the kingdom of God and of his righteousness (pp. 204-205).

Here, Murray used the psychico-physical death as the analogy of the reality that Christians are dead to sin. As common experience attests, a person who died can no longer be found in his usual activities and acquaintances. He is no longer among the living, and so no matter how hard we try to search for him in familiar places, we are seeking in vain.

The same thing is true in the spiritual realm. Christians are no longer living in the kingdom of sin and death. You cannot find them there. He was already translated into the kingdom of life.

Now Murray raised a difficult question. If Christians died already to sin, the question is when does this definitive event take place? Is it something that happened in the past? Or is it a moment-by-moment reality?

A question naturally emerges: When did believers die with Christ and rise with him to newness of life? It might appear that the answer is determined by the historic once-for-allness of the death and resurrection of Christ, that since Christ died and rose again once, in the historic past, and since believers are represented as dying and rising again with Christ, their dying to sin and rising to newness of life can have no other date than that of the historic events of Calvary and the first Lord's day. It must be admitted that the question is not as simple as it first appears to be (p. 208).

Paul is dealing with the believer's death to sin. 'We died to sin'—this is Paul's thesis. He is dealing with death to sin as an actual and practical fact, shall we not say existential fact? He brings within the scope of this statement not merely the guarantee or the promise of death to sin, but its realization in the life-history of the believer (ibid.).

The question is before us, however, with even greater urgency: How can this be construed as death and resurrection with Christ? For it is still true that the death and resurrection of Christ are once-for-all historic events and are not repeated each time a person is effectually called into actual union with him. We have the tension between two equally relevant and important facts, the one that death and resurrection with Christ are brought within the realm of the actual and practical, the other that the death and resurrection of Christ cannot be conceived of as other than past and unrepeatable events. It is the tension between the demands of the past historical in reference to Christ and the demands o the moral and practical in reference to the believer. How are we to relieve this tension? (p. 209).

Wrestling with the above question, Murray offers an answer:

The solution we shall have to offer is that believers were in a true sense in Christ when he died and rose again, that in a true sense they died with him and rose again with him in the once-for-all events of Calvary and the resurrection on the third day. It is, of course, true that believers did not die and rise again with Christ as believers, nor did this dying and rising again constitute them actual believers (ibid.).

Here we read that Murray seems to see no contradiction between the historical and existential aspects of the question. This response is consistent with his thesis in another book, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. As redemption is both a historical event in the past and an existential reality in the life history of a believer as applied by the Holy Spirit, the same principle applies to the question about the time of the believers' death to sin.

Furthermore, it is impossible for us to exclude the people of God from union with Christ in his death and resurrection if we bear in mind that they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. There is no severance of this union, and that it should not have the most fruitful relevance at the point of the climactic events of Calvary and the resurrection is totally inconceivable (p. 210).

In the above paragraph the eternal aspect of union with Christ was added. This makes the question of time more challenging.

See how Murray resolved the seeming tension in his earlier discussion. The two paragraphs summarized the entire argument.

If this is all true, how are we to relate this once-for-all historic fact to the moral and the practical? When Paul spoke,'we died to sin', he is thinking of actual and practical translation from the world of sin to the kingdom of God's own Son. And this did not take place once for all at Calvary (ibid.).

The distinction between redemptive accomplishment and application lies on the face of the New Testament and is verified by observation and experience. And just as there is the distinction between the accomplishment of redemption and its application, so there is the distinction between the once-for-all dying and rising with Christ and the actual and practical realization of the implications of these once-for-all events (ibid.).

Old Man and New Man

The discussion about the old man and the new man is a sub-topic under the believers' death to sin. This is an example of a New Testament teaching that many find challenging to understand.

There are several features of the New Testament teaching which are to be interpreted in the light of this decisive breach with the world of sin and which also, in turn, confirm the actuality and necessity of such a definitive transformation (p. 211).

Murray identified two features of Paul's teaching, which are particularly relevant to the death of believers to sin:

• The first is that which bears upon the crucifixion of the old man

• The second that which is concerned with freedom from the dominion of sin

The contrast between the old man and the new man has frequently been interpreted as the contrast between that which is new in the believer and that which is old, the contrast between that which the believer is as recreated after the image of God and that which he is as not yet perfect. Hence the antithesis which exists in the believer between holiness and sin, between the Holy Spirit and the flesh is the antithesis between the new man and the old man in him. The believer is both old man and new man; when he does well he is acting in terms of the new man which he is; when he sins he is acting in terms of the old man which he also still is. This interpretation does not find support in Paul's teaching; Paul points to something different. And the concept which his teaching supports is of basic significance for the biblical ethic (pp. 211-212).

When Paul says, 'our old man has been crucified', we have to take into account the terms, the background, and the context of this statement. The term 'crucified' is that of being crucified with Christ, and therefore indicates that the old man has been put to death just as decisively as Christ died upon the accursed tree. To suppose that the old man has been crucified and still lives or has been raised again from this death is to contradict the obvious force of the import of crucifixion. And to interject the idea that crucifixion is a slow death and therefore to be conceived of as a process by which the old man is progressively mortified until he is finally put to death is to go flatly counter to Paul's terms. He says 'our old man has been crucified', and not 'our old man is in the process of being crucified' (pp. 212-213).

Exegetically speaking it is no easier to think of the old man as in process of crucifixion or mortification than it is to think of the resurrected Lord as being still in process of crucifixion. The completed fact of Jesus' crucifixion and the abiding reality of his resurrection life must govern our conception of the crucifixion of the old man. And when we are thinking of the resurrection sequel as it applies to our crucifixion it is not the old man who is raised up but the new man” (p. 213).

As we study other passages in Paul's Epistles this view of the contrast between the old man and the new man, so far from being negated, is confirmed (p. 214).

• Colossians 3: 9, 10

The prima facie sense of this passage corroborates the interpretation propounded above. Paul is not exhorting believers to put off the old man and to put on the new. He is urging them to desist from certain sins, sins which are indeed characteristic of the old man, and the reason he adduces for such abstinence is that they have put off the old man and have put on the new man. Since this is the case, Paul is saying in effect, do not practise those sins which are after the pattern of the old man but behave as new men, as indeed you are (ibid.).

• Ephesians 4: 22-24

But exegetical considerations and the analogy of Paul's teaching elsewhere point to the entirely different conclusion, namely, that when Paul speaks of putting off the old man and putting on the new man he is thinking in terms of result rather than in terms of exhortation (pp. 214-215).

Murray summarized the above insights and related them to the dynamic of biblical ethic:

Our theme in this chapter is the dynamic of the biblical ethic, the dynamic in its actualization and fruition. We have found the pivot to be the death and resurrection of Christ. Union with Christ in his death and resurrection is that which achieves the radical breach with the world of sin. Believers died to sin. The old man has been crucified. Sin will not have the dominion (p. 221).

This is the dynamic of ethical living. We are thus brought to the threshold of another phase of New Testament teaching (ibid.).

Union in Christ’s Resurrection

Union in Christ's resurrection is the last New Testament theme that Murray discussed in relation to biblicale ethic:

And we are in a better position to understand the bearing of Christ's resurrection upon the achievement of the demand of the biblical ethic. It is in virtue of union with Christ in his resurrection that the believer is able to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). But if this is union with Christ in his resurrection, it is union with the resurrected Lord in that pneumatic conditioning, endowment, and power which are his. This is why the resurrection of Christ is the dynamic of the biblical ethic; the resurrected Lord is life-giving Spirit and therefore communicates life to those who are in him. If we keep in view the correlation which we have found, this is but another way of saying that the dynamic of the biblical ethic is the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ, sent forth in accordance with the promise of the Father (pp. 223-224).

The fact that the Holy Spirit is the leading and directing agent in the believer's life brings into focus some considerations of paramount importance for the attainment of the biblical ethic. We shall reflect on but two (p. 224).

• First, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (John 14: 17; 15: 26; 16: 13; cf. I Corinthians 2: 9-15; I John 2: 26, 27).

Integrity begins with the implantation of truth in our inward parts and the reception of the love of the truth and of the truth in love (p. 225).

It is the function of the Spirit to lead us into all the truth (John 16: 13) so that we may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God (ibid.).

• Second, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love (cf Romans 15:30; Galatians 5: 22; Colossians 1:8).

When we thus think of the Holy Spirit we properly think of him as the one who generates love towards God in our hearts (p. 226).

We must not forget that the fountain from which our love to God flows is the love of God to us (cf I John 4: 19), and love to our fellowmen proceeds from the same source (cf I John 4: 11). When we are thinking of the biblical ethic as motivated by and fulfilled in love to God and our neighbour, it is a caricature and travesty of this love that we entertain unless it is a love generated in us by the apprehension of the love that passes knowledge, the love of God in Christ (ibid.).

How vacuous and hypocritical are the pretensions of those whose religion and ethic consist in the maxim, 'As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them' (Luke 6: 31), but who know nothing of the constraint of the love of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and therefore as the Spirit of love he captivates our hearts by the love of God and of Christ to us (ibid.).

The biblical ethic knows no fulfillment of its demands other than that produced by the constraint and claim of Christ's redeeming love (cf. II Corinthians 5: 14, 15; Galatians 2: 20). Our love is always ignited by the flame of Christ's love. And it is the Holy Spirit who sheds abroad in our hearts the igniting flame of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The love that is ignited is the fruit of the Spirit (ibid.).

Murray concluded about the indispensable role of the gospel in the realization of the biblical ethic.

How indispensable is the gospel thesis! It is of the Holy Spirit that love is the fruit and 'the fruit of the Spirit is love'. It is of the Spirit of the Father and of Christ that Paul here speaks, the Spirit of Pentecost, the Spirit given by the Father and sent by the exalted Lord, the Spirit with whose power the risen Christ is endowed and who conditions the world of the resurrection. It is the Spirit who generates love in the hearts of those whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditate thereon day and night (Psalm 1: 2; cf. Romans 7: 22, 25). Hence the love that fulfils the law, the love on which the law and the prophets hang, the love that blesses them who curse us and prays for them who despitefully use us,the love patterned after the perfection of the Father in heaven, is the love that is generated, fostered, maintained, and perfected in the realm of the Spirit (p. 227).

As for the AI-generated song version of this article, check Alive in Christ. I published the lyrics in two different musical styles:

• Contemporary Christian worship pop-rock anthem

• Greek laika, rebetika bouzouki, entehno ballad

Grace and peace!