The Progressive and Corporate Aspects of Sanctification — John Murray

Let us pray. Lord, our God, do Thou grant unto us that we may ever grow out of the wholeness that is in Christ Jesus. Obed, O Lord, that the enemy should be able to entrap us or weaken us by the unbelief to which we are so liable.

May we ever know that it is out of His wholeness we all receive grace for grace. That His grace is sufficient for us, His strength made perfect in weakness. And thus may we constantly persevere in the assurance that He who has begun a good work will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Obed, O Lord, that we should ever be lethargic or indifferent. Grant that we may be constantly alert to the great calling of God in Christ Jesus, to the obligations that devolve upon us, to the privileges that accrue from our calling, and to the great hope that is set before us in the gospel.

Lord, for Jesus' sake, Amen. Now, lastly, I just have written a passage from Ephesians 4 to 16, and I have read it. It is a passage that is shot through with references with which we are dealing in the confessive sanctification.

The Progressiveness and Corporate Character of Sanctification

Because in this passage, particularly, the whole body of Calibus is represented as increasing unto its own edification in love. And as you would have noted, there is a variety of figures drawn particularly from the growth and unity of the human body.

The progression that through a variety of figures drawn particularly from the growth and unity of the human body, the progression of the people of God is represented. Now, without confining our thought to this particular passage, but nevertheless taking a point of departure from this passage, and also coming back again and again to elements which appear in this particular passage, there are two features of sanctification that are of paramount importance, namely, the first is the progressiveness of sanctification, the progressiveness of it, and then the second, the corporate character of it.

Sanctification as a Progressive Work

So first, a few observations respecting the progressiveness. In this passage, Ephesians 4, verses 16, the inception of the Christian life is compared to infancy. And consequently, the law of growth lies in the realm of the Christian life, as well as in the sphere of nature.

Progression is a principle that governs history, and it is so by divine ordination. And we must not fail to take account of that principle in the sanctification of God's people. I repeat, we must not fail to take account of that principle in the sanctification of God's people.

A good deal of the deviation from the biblical doctrine of sanctification arises from an impatience, an impatience with what is implicit in process, progression, and that impatience with process or progression, serious reflection on the wisdom provided, all the characteristic features of the believer, of the spirit.

I shall just illustrate by two particulars in respect of knowledge, second, in respect of love. Respect of knowledge and in respect of love. First, in respect of knowledge, the identity of a believer is really defined by what Paul says in Ephesians 4, 24 and Colossians 3, 10, that he is created anew after God in knowledge, righteousness and holiness.

Just as creation in the divine image defined the identity, the specific identity of man at the beginning, just as creation in the divine image defined the specific identity of man at the beginning, so we creation in knowledge, righteousness and holiness defines his identity, his specific identity as a believer.

Growth in Knowledge and the Image of God

And so knowledge, knowledge is an ingredient in this re-created identity. Epignosis, knowledge applies here. I remind you again of 2 Peter 3, 18, Peter enjoins that we grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And the prominence given to knowledge, the enlightenment of the understanding in such passages as Ephesians 1, 17 and 18, Ephesians 1, 17 and 18 and Philippians 1, 9, illustrates the principle that it is in proportion, increase of knowledge or understanding, I say in proportion to the increase of knowledge or understanding, that there can be the increase of the fruit of the Spirit in all the belief which that is described.

Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. And when we remember passage to Gospel passage, that the process consists in reflecting more and more the image of the Lord Himself, is to make that process nothing less than magic to think of it apart from the growing apprehension and adoration of the Lord's glory.

We have apprehension and adoration. Now here we have something that bears very practically on the growth of the believer in holiness. Sometimes we wonder why we ourselves are so laggard in our growth.

And we sometimes wonder why other people are so laggard in their growth. It's the reason we can apply this criterion to what extent increasing in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of Him who is the mystery of God, in the knowledge of the mystery of God.

To what extent are we and others absorbed in the necessity of acquiring more knowledge in that which we constitute the kingdom of God. So second, just for an example, love is the primary virtue because as John the Apostle affirms, God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.

Love as the Climax of Christian Growth

Could anything underline the primacy of love more than that? And as the Apostle Paul reminds us, of course, love is the fulfillment of the law. And so the whole law, as Jesus reminds us, is summed up in two commandments.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And it is well to be reminded of that catalogue of virtues with which Peter provides us in the first chapter of his second epistles, 2 Peter 1, 5, following faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.

And undoubtedly he puts love last because love brings, as it were, to a climax the progression, brings to a climax the progression, which is indicated in that passage. And to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love.

Faith, as it has been put, leads to the end, and love brings up the rear. Paul reminds us, most significantly, that love must abound more and more. Philippians 1, 9. Love must abound. And again, 1 Thessalonians 3, 12.

And the law make you to increase and abound in love. Make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another, and toward all men, even as we toward you. And again, to the same church, 1 Thessalonians 4, 10.

He exhorts the believers to abound more and more in love. You say you have abundant witness. Progression is the effect of every virtue, every activity, symptomatic of the believer's identity and life.

Progression must cover the whole range of activities which are characteristic of the believer, and which evade his identity as one we created anew in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And so we come back, you see, to Ephesians 4.

That very same note appears in that passage so eloquently, that we be no longer babes carried about with every wind of doctrine by the craft of men, knowledge, understanding. That we be no longer babes tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the craft of man.

He translates the tweedlings of the sea. There you have knowledge, now love, but speaking the truth in love. There you have the combination of knowledge and love. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things.

The head, even the crown, interturning the antlers of knowledge and love to manhood. We come to another, the second dimension. The corporate characters fail to take account of our interrelationships. The unity and community of the body of Christ.

The Corporate Character of Sanctification

We ponder the individual believer. Without any way underestimating the significance of the individual and individual progression. We must bear in mind that particularly in the impassive subject of sanctification.

When I say corporate, I mean that it pertains, sanctification pertains not simply to the individual, but to the church in its unity and completeness. And in reality, the growth of an individual does not take place.

Society of similitude to express this interdependence. Which is compared to a house. Believers are living stones. That figure appears, you remember, in 1 Peter 2 .5. Also in Paul in Ephesians 2 .20 -22.

Ephesians 2 .20 -22. You might not expect it from Paul. Because Paul emphasizes to such an extent the organic character of this unity. That you would hardly expect him to institute the analogy of a house.

But he does. Ephesians 2 .20 -22. Then, of course, as you remember very well, the church is compared to a vine. To the branches in the vine. The vine, of course, is Christ himself. But the church is comprised of the branch.

I am the vine. You are the branch. That, of course, is on a higher level of life. On a higher sphere. Come now into the organic sphere of similitude. And, of course, similarly, in Romans 11 .24. Romans 11 .16 -24.

You remember you have the similitude of the olive tree. The similitude of the olive tree. Patriarchs are the roots. Jews and Gentiles are the branches. But, more frequently than by any other similitude, the church is called the body of Christ.

Believers as Members of Christ's Body

After the analogy of the human personality that we call the body. What we must bear in mind is this. That however tenuous in some cases between a believer and the organized body that we call the church.

That particular believer and the organized body that we call the church. If no such thing as a believer outside of that organism is called the body of Christ. Then as progression outside of that organism.

We must remember that believers never existed as independent units. They were chosen in Christ. Never existed as independent units. They were chosen in Christ. And that in is told out of a fountain. The accomplishment of the believers were in Christ.

It was because they were in him that he died for them and rose again and ascended up to heaven. In the application of redemption. In the application that is into the fellowship of Christ. That believers are actually accepted into the fellowship of Christ.

And of course if we think of the consolation. Think of the consolation. It is with Christ that we will be glorified. And he shall appear. They shall be manifested with him also in glory. The sanctification itself moves to a consummation.

It will not be realized for the individual. It will be realized for him as an individual. And the whole body of Christ is presented in its totality. And coming back to the practical sphere. The duties that revolve upon us and the practice, the praxis of sanctification.

Mutual Responsibility and Intercommunication in the Church

There is involved the necessity of cultivating and promoting the sanctification of the whole body. Body of believers, the whole body. And you can read the implications. Civility, privilege and opportunity.

Say for responsibility, privilege and opportunity. In order to illustrate, let us think of it negatively. The point of the calamity of individuals. Thinking of it negatively. If a believer is indifferent, indifferent to the sanctification of others.

He is indifferent to their growth in grace, in love, in faith, in knowledge. Of course interferes with his own sanctification. Interferes with his own sanctification. Because he is not of concern for others.

But knows that the root of spiritual growth. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. We do not have the sanctification of others. It is because we do not burn with zeal for the honor of Christ.

Body. Body is the honor of Christ. See it betrays a coldness. Coldness of our zeal for the honor of Christ. If we can shrug our shoulders. Conserve of others. This indifference of coldness. This indifference to the interest of others.

Means the urgent that ministry should have afforded these others. Means the absence of the ministry. Means the impoverishment of these others. To the extent of his failure. And then that in turn reacts upon himself.

Because that impoverishment of others. I say that impoverishment of others reacts upon himself. Because then they are not. For him that encouragement and edification. The endless respects. In which there is interaction and intercommunication.

Within the fellowship. Endless respects in which there is interaction and intercommunication. Within the fellowship. It is called the body of Christ. You see that. I did that again in the past. And he gave some apostles.

And some evangelists. And some pastors and teachers. And he gave some apostles and some evangelists. And some pastors for the work of the ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ. The edifying of the body of Christ.

The Body of Christ Growing Toward Fullness

We have to pursue this. This one step further. Interaction, interrelationship, intercommunication. We have to pursue it one step further at least. Otherwise we should completely fail of appreciating what is the body of Christ.

And that is pointed out. Another version in that same passage. Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 .13. It is the measure of the stature of the holiness of knowledge. Perfect measure. Now you can see at once how much of a hiatus there would be in our discussion.

If we did not try to understand something at least of Paul's meaning in that passage. And particularly in that context. Which is so much concerned with this corporate entity which is called the body of Christ.

Now is really and particularly the fullness. The degree of fullness we would have to take up all those passages in the New Testament. In which fullness is predicated on Christ. But I am not going to do that.

I am just going to draw your attention. To Colossians 1 .19 .20. Without entering into any extended exegesis. Colossians 1 .19 .20. Please the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell. Please the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell.

I have just to be dogmatic and say that that fullness. Which is stated in that instance. Is the fullness that belongs to Christ. Economic capacity. Economic relations. Please the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell.

Christ's Messianic Fullness and the Communication of Life

The prototype of that all in the teaching of Jesus Himself. John 5 .26. Father of life. Authority to execute judgment also. Because He is the Son of Man. That is not ontological. He has given an authority to the Son of Man.

The Son of Man being a distinctly legendary title. And therefore what Jesus is referring to in the preceding verse. Is the communication of life to Christ. His messianic identity and capacity. Ontological communication.

But an economical. Economic communication. And therefore this fullness. On very good ground. To the fullness that has taken up its abode in Christ. His messianic office and identity. Have to be construed as the plenitude.

Plenitude of life. Grace. Kindness. Civic identity. Interpretation of certain passages. Which at first glance are very difficult. Have occasioned a great deal of controversy. In the history of exegesis.

In particular 3 in Ephesians. Ephesians 1 .23. And 3 in this one epistle. At the present time. In view of this particular expression in 4 .13. The measure of the stature of the fullness. So just take Ephesians 1 .23 first.

Ephesians 1 .23. Turn to your Greek testaments. If you haven't yet learned Greek. Turn to your English testaments. And hath put. Referring to the Father. And hath put all things under his feet. And gave him a head.

Over all things to the church. This passage. Is the pleroma there. Beginning in Ephesians. 23. Pleroma. Pleroma. Fullness. In which we are particularly interested. And it is the curse. Of the debate. In the interpretation.

And application. How you would expect it. Is in opposition to. Toss over to his body. And that of course. Going back to the church. Then. Natural interpretation. Pleroma. Stands in opposition. That would be the.

The natural construction. According to. Immediate sequence like that. That there is relative. Or anything else. To stand in opposition. To what we immediately proceed. That's the way finally. That I believe it should be taken.

But. We have to discuss. Alternative. Interpretations. In order to see. The. The evidence. Stands in opposition. To his body. And therefore in opposition to the church. So that it is the church. That is the fullness of Christ.

The Church as the Fullness of Christ

And I don't think. If that is the correct exegesis. I must close now. If that is the correct exegesis. I think we are ready. You can see at a glance. How pertinent. Anything. To the whole question. Which we are dealing.

Progressive sanctification. And progressive sanctification. As it applies. To the corporate relationship. That contains. Within the body of Christ. But that will do for today.