Consistent Practical Outworking

"Count" ("reckon," KJV) does not mean to bring this situation into being by a special act of faith. It means to recognize that such a situation exists and to act accordingly. Sanctification is therefore the consistent practical outworking of what it means to belong to the new creation in Christ. That is why so much of the New Testament's response to pastoral and personal prob­lems in the early church was: "Do you not know what is true of you in Christ?," (Rom 6:3, 16; 7:1; 1 Cor 3:16; 5:6; 6·2 3, 9, 14, 19; 9:13, 24). "Live by the Spirit's power in a manner that is consistent with that! If you have died with Christ to sin and been raised into new life, quit sinning and live in a new way. If, when Christ appears, you will appear with him and be like him, live now in a manner that conforms to your final destiny!"

 

Sinclair Ferguson, "The Reformed View", in Donald Alexander, ed., Christian Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1988), 60