Sanctification: the Process of Perfection - Created vs Begotten

In the previous blog post, I began this survey of the doctrine of Sanctification by explaining the doctrine of Justification. The reason for this approach is relatively simple; Justification is the first step in the process.  It’s the entrance, or the gateway to the journey of becoming wholly sanctified. In short review, Justification is the moment when God, the great judge of the universe, looks at the body of sin that we have compiled, recognizes our undeniable guilt, and then passes judgment. He has two options that He can declare over our eternity, and the choice He makes comes as a direct result of a personal decision on our part. The personal decision is just this; what have you done with Jesus? If you choose to accept the sacrifice of Calvary and make Jesus the Lord of your life, God will blot out every wrong doing you have ever committed and declare you “justified”. This means you are not guilty; you are innocent, as if you have never sinned, and beyond that you are declared perfect in the eyes of God. If you choose to deny Jesus and the sacrifice He made on your behalf, God will deny you and declare that you are “condemned”. The Word tells us that “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Pet 3:9). God, out of His great love, made a way where there was no way; He formulated the perfect plan before the foundation of the earth that would allow you and me the opportunity to choose. He has done all He can, and at this point, the choice is ours to make….condemned…or justified.

Okay, with that clarified, let’s move to the main course….Sanctification. Assuming that you’ve chosen wisely and found yourself in the position of being declared Justified by God, you are now automatically thrust into the process of Sanctification…well, what does that mean?

First, a quick definition…then an explanation.

 What is Sanctification? It is the process of turning a “created” child of God into a “begotten” child of God. Got it? No? Okay, then allow me to break down created vs. begotten.

A created object or being is one that may have similarities and likenesses of the original source, but is not of the same kind. On the other hand, a begotten being is one of the same kind, which comes from the original source. Let me illustrate this with a more real-to-life example. Imagine that I took a block of stone and began sculpting a likeness of myself. Over several days, I worked and worked to give the sculpture every possible detail to fit my physical representation. When I was finally finished, there was no mistaking that the sculpture was David…apart from it being a stony grey color, the similarities were uncanny. You might say, as you looked at the finished product, “this work of art was a great “creation”. On the other hand, you would be completely batty if you looked at the piece of crafted stone and believed it was actually me. Obviously the artwork was stone….even if it held many striking similarities to the artist.

Now, imagine if I were to introduce you to my youngest child, Taylor. He is seven years old, and if you know me, especially when I was a youngster, you would see many similarities between the two of us. We don’t look exactly the same…though there are some likenesses. We don’t act exactly the same, however, he does naturally take after me. Here’s the bottom line, if you were to say, “David you did a fine job creating Taylor”, I would thank you for the compliment, but you would in fact be speaking in error. You see, Taylor is not my created son, he is my begotten son.

A man creates a sculpture of himself…even if the sculpture bears an uncanny likeness to the artist, it is still only stone. It is “like” the sculptor, but it is not of the same kind…it is not a human. It is a creation.

A man fathers a son…even if the child has his own personality and unique appearance, he would never be considered his father’s creation. The son came from the father; they are of the same kind. The son is begotten.

John 3:16 may be the most well known verse in the entirety of the Word of God. We all know that it declares that Jesus is God’s “only begotten son.” From the previous paragraphs, you now understand that Jesus is the only human ever born that came from God…and is of the same kind as God. Jesus is the only human ever born of woman that did not come into the world with a nature of sin. Even better, He was the only human ever born of woman that came into the world with the nature of God. Imagine a man with God’s nature, God’s thoughts, God’s emotions, God’s reactions, God’s love, etc, etc, etc. He wasn’t just similar to God, no, he was from God, and the same kind of being…God’s only begotten.

Okay, now, what about you and me? Genesis 1:27 reveals much, it says: So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. See that? He repeated it 3 times just to underline the point. CREATED, CREATED, AND CREATED!!! We were formed by the hands of God to mirror His image. Like a sculptor crafting his own self image. You and I were “created” to resemble our creator. But make no mistake about it…we are created beings…not begotten son’s. We were created like Him, but we are not of the same kind.

Where Jesus was born in perfection, we were born in sin. Where Jesus was born with the mind of the Most High, we were born with the mind of our earthly father. Where Jesus was born to be about his Heavenly Father’s business, we were born to be about OUR OWN selfish business. Where Jesus was born with a divine nature, we were born with a sin nature. Jesus was born in perfect communion with Jehovah; we are born separated from Jehovah. We have obvious similarities to God, our creator, but the differences between the created and the begotten is vast.

However, there is one more point to be made. In as much as we are repeatedly called God’s creation…the Word also repeatedly refers to us as…”sons of God”…let me show you what this means…this is great!!!

John 1:12 and 13: But as many as received him (Jesus), to them gave he (the receiver) power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God

Allow me to make a couple quick points here. Number one, this verse applies to them that have “received Jesus”. In other words, those that have been justified by God, because they accepted Christ and the redemptive work of the cross. Once we have received Jesus and been declared Justified by God, we receive “power to become the sons of God”. Let me point out the obvious here, before the “power to become sons” was granted to us….we were not sons. Also, notice that this process of receiving the power and becoming sons of God has nothing to do with us…not of blood, nor flesh, nor man…but of God. Keep these points in mind as you read this passage from Galatians…

Galatians 4: 4-7: But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.  

This is simply amazing…fantastic…undeserved and unbelievable. Follow me here; I don’t want you to miss a thing.

Number one

The Word tells us that we were once a servant to the law. The law was our master and our slave driver. However, God’s love could not abide this slavery for His creation, those created in His image. So, He sent his only begotten Son (notice the capital “S”) into the same situation that we (the slaves of the law) were drowning in.  The only begotten Son “redeemed them that were under the law”. Redeemed is a Greek word that means: to purchase back; to ransom: to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage; to repurchase that which has been sold. Jesus volunteered to pay the extravagant cost to free us from slavery; to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law of God says that the wages (the fixed payment) of sin is death. When Jesus paid the price of sin with His own life, we were redeemed from the curse of our sin…and in essence we were set free from being a slave to the law.

Number two

The passage states that the redeemed “might receive the adoption of sons (notice the lower case “s”). Where we were once slaves, now the Word calls us sons. What’s more, we are called “adopted sons”. This point should not be overlooked, nor looked down upon. Let me show you why. Paul was writing this as both a Jew and a Roman. He was fluent in Jewish law by the religious training he had received, and he was fluent in Roman law by the residential familiarity with his citizenship. Paul is drawing a parallel with both Jewish and Roman law that is absolutely priceless. In those days, an adopted son had more legal protection than a naturally born son. Where as a naturally born son could be legally renounced by a father, an adopted son could never be. A father in those days, whether Roman or Jewish, knew this full well before the binding legal act of adoption took place. If he went through with the adoption, the legal work was not reversible…the adopted son could never be disowned. This point is especially precious to me and my oldest son, Kollin. When he was 9, I went through the legal process to make him my adopted son. As such, he has the same legal right to everything I am, to everything I have, as the other kids in my house. In fact, if you visit our home, you will never suspect any separation between the adopted and the naturally born. They are all my kids. I live, work, love, and die for them all the same…with no favoritism. In fact, over the years, several people who knew nothing about the adoption have commented on how much Kollin and I look alike. My wife and I just smile and agree, after all, sons have family resemblance don’t they? You see the beauty here? Paul is saying that this act of granting sonship by our adopted Father is not reversible. Once He accepts you…you will never again be disowned…or a slave again. He sees you forever as His son. PRAISE GOD!! HIS LOVE IS AMAZING!!!

Number three

Okay, recall in the earlier passage in John, we are told that those that receive Jesus have been given “power to become sons of God”. Let’s discuss this power as we conclude. The power mentioned is further explained in our Galatians passage when Paul wrote…

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

God sends the Spirit in your heart. The Holy Spirit is “the power to become sons of God”. Jesus said  “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…Acts 1:8”. So the Spirit is the power, now look at what happens. God sends the Spirit of his Son (capital “S”) into your heart, crying, Abba, Father.

Let me tie all this together…

“Abba” is an Aramaic word for a term of endearment that a son would use for his father. We might say “daddy” in English. However, this would still be an understatement. The beautiful point to be made is this. Only the begotten son can appropriately cry out “Abba” to his father. Jesus is God’s only begotten son. When Jesus was dying on the Cross we hear him cry out…”Abba, Abba, why has thou forsaken me” No other, but Jesus, the begotten, has the right to address Holy God as Abba. But when we come to God and claim the name of Jesus, an amazing thing takes place. The Holy Spirit (the Spirit of his Son) takes up residence within our hearts. In essence, the capital “S” comes to dwell within the lower case “s”, and when he moves in, he brings everything he is with him; including his right to call out to God as Abba. Now, when my life is crumbling, when my heart is breaking, when I don’t have the strength to formulate words that express my hurt….my Jesus cries from within me, the words I can’t speak myself, he calls out to his “ABBA”…and God hears from heaven and acts on the behalf of his adopted son.

What is Sanctification? It is the process of turning a “created” child of God into a “begotten” child of God.  C.S. Lewis said it like this, “there’s a rumor going around the workshop...the statues are coming alive.”

Check out the next installment of “Sanctification: the Process of Perfection” as we unpack Positional verses Progressive Sanctification.