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Whence ariseth the imperfection of sanctification in believers?
A. The imperfection of sanctification in believers ariseth from the remnants of sin abiding in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit; whereby they are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many sins, are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God.
Exodus 28:38
38 It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.
Isaiah 64:6
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Mark 14:66–72
66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
Romans 7:18–23
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Galatians 2:11–12
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
Galatians 5:16–18
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Hebrews 12:1
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Welcome to the Reformed Standard. I'm Tony. Let's get started. Question 78 of the Westminster Larger Catechism reads: Whence ariseth the imperfection of sanctification in believers? The answer is: The imperfection of sanctification in believers ariseth from the remnants of sin abiding in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit; whereby they are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many sins, are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God.
This is another continuing question to further clarify the statements made in question 75 about sanctification. And so here it's talking about, even though we affirmed in question 75 that sanctification is the renewal in the whole man after the image of God, that there still is this remnant of sin, which needs to be more defined throughout the remainder of our life. And so this question is getting at the idea, and is probably your response to a question of whether or not the imperfection of sanctification is somehow a defect in God or whether it's something in the center that that is remaining? And it unequivocably answers that the the imperfection of sanctification is because sin is not entirely removed from us. And so it's not as though God somehow failed to fully sanctify us like he really tried hard and just couldn't pull it off. But because of of the nature of sanctification because it is a work of God because He has chosen to do this over time rather than to do it instantaneously. He certainly could have, that this imperfection of sanctification is because he has chosen to allow certain remote remnants of sin to remain in us. And so, the remnants of sin no longer were no no, the remnants of seminar not only remaining in us, but they're in every part of us. So even though sanctification is in the whole man, it is an incomplete sanctification in the whole man. And so just as every element of us is beginning to be sanctified in our new life, there's still this remaining corruption within us throughout the remainder of our life. And here it also includes the perpetual blessings of the flesh against the Spirit. And it's important to note that this this word spirit here in this question is lowercase. So the the divides are not talking about the lusting of it. flesh against the Holy Spirit. But they're talking about the lust, things of our sinful nature, against our spiritual nature. And so it's not saying that the body is the origin of temptation and that the Spirit is free from temptation. That's, that's a sort of semi gnostic perspective that some Christians take. But since we know that we're the remnants of sin abide in every part of us, we can't say that our spirit which is a part of us, is free from the remnants of sin. Otherwise, we'd have to say that the divine who poured over this language were being inconsistent with themselves over the course of just a few sentences or a few words. But instead, what we see is that the lust things of our flesh which the divides are using this in the same way that Paul does to represent the sinful, fallen, worldly part of us, the remaining part of us that has not yet been sanctified against the spirit, which is that which it lives in according with the Holy Spirit. So our spirit when we use this contrast between flesh and spirit is Not talking just about the the immaterial part of us. But it's talking about the the part of us that's already been sanctified and seeks to serve God. And so the flesh perpetually or always and continually less against the spirit. So there's this abiding war within us, between the the part which God has already sanctified is already made holy has already given a desire to walk in new obedience and repentance, and the power which God has not yet brought to sanctification. And so, it says here that this imperfection, this this lusting of the flesh against the spirit is often foiled with temptation and falls into sin. And so the the divine here are speaking against certain elements of Roman Catholicism, certain elements of the Armenian ism a day that says, once a person has been regenerated once they've been given this new life that it is possible for them to walk in perfect holiness. They're saying here know that Because of this imperfection because of the remaining sin in us, that we often fall into temptation and sin. And so because of this, we are hindered in our service. And even the best works we have to offer our are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God. And so sometimes the question comes up as to whether or not a Christian can in a single moment or for a single day or for a defined period of time, can abstain from all sin. And there are reformed believers who I think incorrectly would say yes, that it's possible for us in any moment to be sinless. But the logical conclusion of that is that if it's possible in any given moment, then it would be possible to chain all of those any given moments together for a life of sinless perfection. And the reality is, since there's a there's a remnant of sin that abides within us, that because of that, even our best works are still subpar in reference to what we owe and are obligated to give God And even further than that, since we are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength with the totality of our being, we never fully accomplished that because the totality of our being is not capable of that sin, sin still abides abides in every part to various degrees. So this question is really a gut check for us to to have us look at our life and recognize that as far as we've come as far as God has brought us, as hard as we strive as hard as we work, and we do strive and we do work, those things are still only impartial. And that should drive us to a life of repentance that should drive us to question 76 says here where we propose and endeavor to constantly walk in ways of new obedience even though we will fail. We should still strive to do that because we are not yet there because we have not yet achieve perfection. We have not finished the race, as Paul talks about and Libyans, we still have to strive, we still have to walk. And so even though we affirm that we are justified and adopted in a moment in time, that we are renewed, and being renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and we still have to strive and work, we still have to walk on the road of good works which God has given to us, and it's prepared beforehand for us to walk in. We still have to make that effort. Because even our best works even when we feel like we have a great day. We still are offering imperfect and defiled works in the sight of God.