You cannot take Christ for justification unless you take Him for sanctification. Think of the sinner coming to Christ and saying, “I do not want to be holy;” “I do not want to be saved from sin;” “I would like to be saved in my sins;” “Do not sanctify me now, but justify me now.” What would be the answer? Could he be accepted by God? You can no more separate justification from sanctification than you can separate the circulation of the blood from the inhalation of the air. Breathing and circulation are two different things, but you cannot have the one without the other; they go together, and they constitute one life. So you have justification and sanctification; they go together, and they constitute one life. If there was ever one who attempted to receive Christ with justification and not with sanctification, he missed it, thank God! He was no more justified than he was sanctified.

Topics: Grace & Redemption, Growth & Character, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit

A.A. Hodge

Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823–1886) war ein US-amerikanischer presbyterianischer Pastor und Theologieprofessor, der vor allem am Princeton Theological Seminary lehrte. Als Vertreter der reformierten „Old Princeton Theology“ prägte er durch seine Schriften maßgeblich das konservative Verständnis der Verbalinspiration und Irrtumslosigkeit der biblischen Urtexte. Für heutige Bibelleser bietet sein Werk eine didaktisch klare Darlegung klassischer reformierter Dogmatik, während theologische Kritiker seiner Schriftauffassung eine zu scholastisch-rationalistische Prägung vorhalten.

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A.A. Hodge

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