A Critique on Sanctification Based on Calvins Theology - Essay Example

A Critique on Sanctification Based on Calvin's Theology Introduction Morality is a very controversial issue dealt with in philosophy. Ethics is thebranch of philosophy which solely provides a systematic study of morality (Morality 2006). Issues surrounding the real definition of morality hinder philosophers in providing a concise definition of what is considered moral or immoral. In the same ground, the issue of "sanctification" and its effects on believers have long stirred controversy in various sects and religious organizations. This paper aims to give light on this issue by discussing the moral effect of sanctification based on the theology put forth by John Calvin. The first part will try to define morality while the succeeding section will tackle about the different meanings attributed to sanctification, giving emphasis on what is taught by Calvinism. In light of this, the issue that links sanctification with morality will be examined through a discussion on the definition of morality. This paper will conclude with its findings. Morality In the strictest sense, morality refers to "which is innately regarded as right or wrong (Morality 2006)." There isn't a concise meaning associated with morality as it often refers to set of judgments and principles shared by individuals in within the same culture, religion, and philosophical concepts which separates and identifies actions which are right or wrong, acceptable and unacceptable. The concept of morality is often used by groups to regulate the functioning of their circle by setting a specific standard by which their members are subjected. In other words, the concept of morality serves as a regulating factor in maintaining the harmony in a group. We can see a problem of morality given this definition. We can see that morality varies from culture to culture, religion to religion, and sometimes even from individual to individual. Some actions are considered acceptable by a culture, while others see the same action as immoral. Examples of these are abortion, white lie, and euthanasia. Some groups and individuals consider these as permissible while others question the morality of such actions. Calvin's Theology John Calvin is one of the most famous theologian and ecclesiastical statesman. Through his revolutionary beliefs and teachings, he became the major French Protestant Reformer and was dubbed as the "most important figure in the second generation of the Protestant Reformation." His ideas of Christianity are found in his famous work Institutio Christianae Religionis (Institutes of the Christian Religion). John Calvin laid out the foundation of Calvinism which is one of the major factors that influenced the formation of the modern world (John Calvin 2002). One of the most important doctrines contained in Calvin's theology is the doctrine of original sin which is adopted from the Augustinian teachings. This doctrine supports the idea that the whole mankind has fallen before God when Adam and Eve fell prey to the temptation in the Garden of Eden. The sin committed by the first man is denoted as the original sin. At that point, sin entered the heart of men and everyone born on this earth has the original sin. Sin is what separates man from his creator. Therefore, the fall of man in the Garden of Eden makes man a slave of sin and every human being has an inclination to commit sin (The Teachings of John Calvin 2000). Institutes of the Christian Religion states that: When the will is enchained as the slave of sin, it cannot make a movement towards goodness, far less steadily pursue it. (2.3.5) Man alone has no power to save himself from sin. Even though his freewill was not removed from him, he cannot resist the urge to commit sin. However, God's great love and compassion for mankind made a remedy for this situation. Through the Son of God Jesus Christ, man was freed from the burden of sin. Calvin refers to this process as justification. Through this justification, man's original sin is forgiven. John Calvin also put forward that another grace comes with man's justification. This grace is called sanctification. Sanctification John Calvin describes the process of justification and sanctification as follows: Since faith embraces Christ as he is offered by the Father, and he is offered not only for justification, for forgiveness of sins and peace, but also for sanctification, as the fountain of living waters, it is certain that no man will ever know him aright without at the same time receiving the sanctification of the Spirit; or, to express the matter more plainly, faith consists in the knowledge of Christ; Christ cannot be known without the sanctification of his Spirit: therefore faith cannot possibly be disjoined from pious affection (John Calvin 2001). Clarifying what is directly quoted above, Calvin denotes sanctification as a grace which is received by a believer together with justification. He argues that through faith, an individual can attain the peace and forgiveness of sin. As the sin of the individual is forgiven, he begins a new life. It is stated in the Bible that: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Cor. 5:17, KJV) Together with this forgiveness or justification, sanctification is also given to the believer in order for him to live a new life for it is through sanctification that a believer experiences "the presence of Christ" and "the imputation of Christ's righteousness." These two experiences are very significant in understanding the real essence of having sanctification in a Christian's life as asserted by Calvin. McGrath (2001) writes: For Calvin the sanctification process following the imputation of righteousness is also a direct result of being 'in Christ'. By giving the previously independent elements of justification and sanctification a common ground, i.e. union with Christ, Calvin was able to reconcile the free gift of justification with the subsequent demand for sanctification. From here, we can see that during sanctification, a believer really experiences the "presence of Christ" and the "imputation of Christ's righteousness." This paper will discuss these two experiences and their implications in a Christian's life. Presence of Christ The presence of Christ in a Christian's life and the imputation of Christ's righteousness almost have a single implication in the life of believer. For according to the Bible: And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10, KJV) In the previous section, this paper discussed the separation of man from God when sin entered the human race. Through justification and sanctification, this separation is ended and a new relationship will exist. According to the verse cited, "the body is dead because of sin." In the Christian faith, the body or the flesh is almost often used to signify human nature which is apart from God. Flesh and spirit are two opposing forces in the Christian faith. Human by nature is sinful as a result of the fall of man. During the process of justification and sanctification, the body becomes "dead" which implies that human nature has been overcome showing God's power over sin. The second part, "but the Spirit is life because of righteousness," emphasizes the takeover of God's spirit in the believer. God's spirit symbolizes the "righteousness" that God gave man when He created them in His "image" and "likeness." Image and likeness do not only denote physical stature but more importantly, the "image of God" refers to the "human potentiality for life in God," and "God's likeness" signifies the "the realization of our human potentiality for life in God." Through sanctification, the spirit of God is restored in the believer. In summary, the presence of God in a believer's life is characterized by the death of sin and the restoration of God's spirit. Imputation of Christ's Righteousness The "imputation of Christ's righteousness" is also part of the process of justification and sanctification. In order to really comprehend what it means to be imputed of Christ's righteousness, this section will give a thorough definition of the word "imputation." It is also important that we understand the concept of "righteousness." Looking the word's etymology, we can see that the word imputation traces its origin from the French word imputer and from the Latin word imputare. Impute, the root word for imputation has two meanings. Defined by Word.net (2006), impute has essentially two meanings. First, impute means attribute or credit to. Using this first definition, impute is a synonym to repute, assign, ascribe, and attribute. Going further, we can see that to repute is to "ascribe a particular fact or characteristic to." Assign means "to regard as belonging to or resulting from another." To ascribe is "to attribute to a specified cause, source, or origin," while to attribute is "to regard as the work of a specified agent, place, or time." From these given meanings, we can see the recurrence of a singular meaning for the word impute. We can deduce that in the process of imputation, something like an idea is being "associated" or "linked" with another. In a more specific explanation, imputation is simply the process of "attributing" and "crediting to." However, when we look at the Greek translation for imputed the meaning essentially changes. The Greek word for imputed is logizomia which means "reckoned, accounted, imputed (Impute 2006)." Referring to the explanation offered by the Bibleweb.org, all these words are used in Accounting which specifically denotes an accountant "writing in" an asset or liability in the company's financial records. Imputed then, means the act of "accounting" or "writing in." Now, this paper will take a look at the righteousness of Christ which is imputed to the believers during the process of sanctification. The word righteousness was coined by William Tyndale. Righteousness is one of the main attributes of God identified in the Hebrew Bible. It essentially denotes "ethical conduct" as described in the Biblical passages from Leviticus 19:36, Deuteronomy 25:1, Psalm 1:6, and Proverbs 8:20. The word righteousness is also utilized in legal sense where the guiltless are referred to as righteous. The Hebrews also attributes God's faithfulness to His covenant to his righteousness as stated in Nehemiah 9:7-8 (Righteousness 2006). The proper denotation of righteousness as used by the modern society is "the quality or state of being morally sound," or "the moral quality of a course of action." Righteousness is also related to the words good, goodness, morality, probity, rectitude, rightness, uprightness, virtue, virtuousness, ethicality, ethicalness, morality, propriety, rightfulness, and rightness. Righteousness then, if it denotes a "state of being morally sound" can mean being "spotless" or even "perfect." This understanding of "righteousness" is what is actually denoted by Christians as Christ's righteousness where Christ is seen as "perfect," "sinless," and "blameless." Implications of Sanctification After looking at the process of sanctification, we will now examine the implications of sanctification in the life of a believer in Christ. We have discussed that during sanctification, a believer experiences "the presence of God" and the "imputation of Christ's righteousness." The presence of God, as discussed above refers to the death of sin and the restoration of God's spirit in man. On the other hand, when God's righteousness is imputed into an individual, he gains possession of Christ-likeness where Christ's righteousness is "accounted" or "attributed" to him. In a life of a man where Christ is present, sin has no place as it is already overcome by the spirit of God. Sin is a violation of God's given law. In the Old Testament, an individual commits sin when he violates any of the ten commandments of God. However, in the New Testament it is clearly stipulated that sin can be committed not just by doing the "actual" violation. Sin enters the heart of man at the same time that sinful thoughts cross his mind. In Matthew 5:27,28: You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. This very rigid definition of sin requires a lot. Since sin is not only manifested on actually doing what is prohibited but also by purifying the mind, having God's presence in a Christian's life will mean being pure in mind, word, and deed. The second part which is the imputation of Christ's righteousness will almost have the same effect as the first. Being Christlike will mean having the perfection, purity, and blamelessness of Christ. This will mean living a life full of compassion, devoid of any sin or wrongdoing. Sanctification and Morality The question then whether on whether sanctification leads to a moral life is almost apparent from the discussion above. Morality as defined above is highly variable as what is considered moral and immoral differs from culture to culture, religion to religion, and person to person. In contrast, the Bible clearly stipulates what is right or wrong. The whole of it states how to live like Christ which is the core of Christianity. Every Christian ought to live in this world the way Christ did. This paper emphasizes what has been discussed above that Christ is "perfect," "sinless," and "blameless." It is from this perfection, sinlessness, and blamelessness that a believer ought to follow. This paper therefore concludes that sanctification in fact, leads to a moral life. Morality though not universal is surpassed by perfection. It is true that a certain action is justified as moral or immoral by the perception of human beings. However, perfection conveys something greater than what is generally considered as right or wrong. If someone becomes perfect, it follows that he cannot commit any wrongdoing, or in a religious sense, sin. In the discussion above, we have provided a very rigid description of sin. This paper has come up with the conclusion that sin is not just committed through action or word but even in thoughts. In the absence of sin, we can say that an individual is living a moral life as his deeds, words, and thoughts are "purified." The death of flesh in the presence of Christ as discussed above enables a believer to overcome sin and fully commit his life to be as perfect, sinless, and blameless as Christ. There is however, a limitation for this as the righteousness of Christ is often put in question. In the Bible, we read that there are some people, especially those in the religious circles who saw Jesus Christ as a violator of God's commandment. Nevertheless, this perception of Christ is misguided. He introduced innovations and reformed the church. Conclusion According to Calvin's theology, sanctification brings in the presence of God and imputed righteousness in a believers' life. The presence of God is characterized by the death of sin and the restoration of God's spirit. Imputed righteousness, on the other hand gives the believer the perfection, sinlessness, and blamelessness which are the characteristics of Christ. This paper supports that this type of sanctification leads to a moral life as perfection and the absence of sin always signifies moral uprightness. References Calvin, J. 2001, On Sanctification and Knowing Christ, Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://www.fortifyingthefamily.com/sanctification.html Impute 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://www.answers.com/topic/impute John Calvin 2002. Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://www.hfac.uh.edu/gbrown/philosophers/leibniz/BritannicaPages/Calvin/Calvin.html Morality 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality Righteousness 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteousness St John in the Wilderness 2001. Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://www.stjohnadulted.org/The_06.htm#Calvin:%20the%20Double%20Grace%20of% 20"Mystical%20Union" The King James Bible The Teachings of John Calvin 2001. Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://www.passionforgrace.org.uk/calvin.html The Truth About Imputed Righteousness 2000. Retrieved 22 January 2006 from http://www.bibleweb.org/TruthAbout/TA46.htm Read More