The Path of Sanctification

Here we stepped out of verses 1-11 and began to consider verses 12-23, considering particularly verse 12-14, which reads: ¹² “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Here Paul begins to talk about the actual journey of sanctification. Before in vs 1-11 Paul was really talking about the PLACE of sanctification, that place being “in Christ,” but now Paul begins to tell us about the PATH of sanctification, and in verses 12-14 he gives us three things that mark our path as we walk the Christian life and grow in Christian holiness and sanctification. It’s worth considering this path and how to walk it because Paul is later going to tell us that this path of sanctification has as its end nothing less than eternal life (vs 22).

Paul tells us firstly, that this path is marked by a stubborn rebellion against sin. We must not let sin reign over us. We must not present ourselves to sin as if we still served it as master. The Christian life is not just defined by sinning less, or acting more righteously, so much as the Christian life is defined by a new allegiance. As before we had peace with sin and war with God, now as Christians we are to make war with sin as we enjoy peace with God.

The second thing that marks the Christian life is active submission to God. We are to present ourselves daily to God for instruction (through the scriptures), and for supplies (through the throne of grace to help in our time of need). We must not only pluck up the weeds of sin from our lives. This would leave us with only a patch of dirt. We must fill our lives with virtue and love, and other beautiful things that come through active submission to God.

The third thing that marks the Christian life is that we abide under a new administration. Paul says: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

What does it mean to no longer be under the law? Certainly, it cannot mean that we are no longer under the authority or instruction of the law. Rather it means we are no longer under the administration of the law! Once we were under the administration of the law in that the only way of approaching God was by keeping the law, a task that we have failed to do, even before we were born. Adam’s failure made this administration no longer profitable unto life. But now we are no longer under the administration of the law, but under the administration of grace. We now approach God in Christ and under grace, not on the basis of our works. Amen!