Justification and Union with Christ: Lutheranism, Part 4

Is sanctification to be viewed as an expression of gratitude?

In the DVD series What Did You Expect, as the teaching moves along, Tripp does a great job of encouraging the believer to practice going to Christ in order to die to self, and it’s here that grace and gratefulness become marks of discipleship and growth.

Gratefulness gets a lion share of Tripp’s concern. He develops the question and then answers: on what basis are we stirred to motivation to God’s service, for sanctification? It’s gratefulness. He who is forgiven much, loves much. We love because He first loved us. This has at least three sound aspects: 1) It uses Scriptural language: We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). 2) We’re reminded of God’s work, not ours. We serve Him not to obtain salvation, but to express thanksgiving for the gift He has bestowed on us. 3) We’re reminded of the cross—Remember Christian, this is what Christ did for you, doesn’t it only make sense and seem reasonable to offer to Him in return a life of holiness? This makes a ton of sense. This can be called the gratefulness position regarding the view of sanctification; it is Lutheranism.

A well-known Lutheran, C.W.F. Walther, quotes the Reformer Martin Luther when Luther is commenting on Romans 12:1: I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God.

“Paul does not say: I command you; for he is preaching to such as are already Christians and godly by faith, in newness of life. These must not be coerced by means of commandments, but admonished to do willingly what has to be done with the old sinful man in them…A preacher of the law comes down on men with threats and punishments; a preacher of divine grace coaxes and urges men by reminding them of the goodness and mercy which God has shown them. For he would have no unwilling workers nor cheerless service; he wants men to be glad and cheerful in the service of God. Any person who will not permit himself to be coaxed and urged with sweet and pleasant words, which remind him of the mercy of God abundantly bestowed upon him in Christ, to do good joyfully and lovingly to the honor of God and for the benefit of his fellow-men, is worthless, and all that is done for him is labor lost. If he is not melted and dissolved in the fire of heavenly love and grace, how can he be softened and made cheerful by laws and threats? It is not a man’s mercy, but the mercy of God that is bestowed on us; and this mercy Paul wants us to consider in order that we may be incited and moved by it to serve God.”

Is the apostle Paul stressing mercy as a motivating factor for obedience? Yes he is. He says, “mercies.” Which mercies? From Romans 1-11, a variety of mercies; certainly, it includes the believer’s union in Jesus’ death. Our sins have been nailed to the tree. Amen. But more, God’s mercies include Christ’s resurrection, like Romans 5:10 and Romans 6:10, and more.

This, then, helps us to see a deficiency in the Lutheran position on sanctification. What’s missing? What’s missing is the equally important reformed teaching of our union with Christ, Who is the Resurrected Lord. We stand in Him justified; we stand in Him sanctified. All of the gifts of His work for us and in us are bestowed on us! We belong to Jesus. We are in Him. He has sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts! When the apostle Paul teaches about our union with Jesus Christ, not only does he speak of union with Christ in His death, but also our union in His resurrection and ascension, and such gifts are sealed to us by His life-giving help by the Spirit.

This might be called the raised up position. An excellent text is Ephesians 2:1-10. It is likely that the apostle is linking vss. 4-6 with vss. 8-10. We’ve been raised up in Christ (verse 6), and then comes the language about obedience: for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

The illustration of the proverbial two sides of the one coin comes in here. Lutheranism stresses the law driving us to the cross, on one side; the Reformed and Calvinistic is the other—stressing the believer’s new position of resurrection and exaltation in Christ.

It seems the gratefulness position emphasizes the cross—our union with Jesus in His death.

It seems the raised up position emphasizes the resurrection—our union with the risen Son.

Consider Romans 4:25: “…who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”

Sanctification includes gratitude, but much, much more. Sanctification means being in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ! We want to keep our position in Christ equally focused on justification and sanctification. As said before, if justification and sanctification are pulled apart, then we pull apart the Christian life. We wrongly think God does His part in justification; we do our part with gratitude for His work. Pulling justification and sanctification apart often brings back into the picture self, The Kingdom of Me, in the Christian life—“How’s my gratitude going today?” Do we really want to emphasize that?

So as I listened to Paul Tripp, I started to jot notes on what the believer’s union with Christ in His resurrection, ascension and exaltation means for daily living—sanctification—in marriage and family, indeed in all relationships.

As married folk must overcome gossip, blame-shifting, and self-centered, my-kingdom ways, and a refusal to seek forgiveness with one another, as examples, and much, much more, consider these:

1) We live and move in our union with the risen Christ who is interceding at the Father’s right hand. What incentive to pray as well. What incentive to act on those prayers. Rom. 8:34.

2) We live and move in the exalted Christ who presents His saving work to the Father. We too can make the daily effort for obedience, for our efforts are not vain. 1 Cor. 15:58.

3) We live and move in the ascended Christ; and our love and cultivation of love in marriage serves as a tool for Christ’s on-going and present missional work. Eph. 1:20-22. Have you thought about your marriage being a part of the cosmic scope of Christ’s work of redemption? Do you realize in turning from sin and serving Jesus that aligns you with His mission? Union with Him in His ascension is incentive for service. Turn to your mate and say, “Today, sweetie-pie, we’re going to further the reign of Jesus.”

4) We live and move in the ascended Christ, and yet, we are not alone in our frustrations about our weaknesses, sins, temptations and hardships. His presence is near, and He’s aware and takes note of us and all circumstances. In Acts 9, Saul is struck down on the road—and it’s the ascended Christ who feels the persecution of His own people. He is near, we can press on.

5) We live and move in the ascended and exalted Christ, and as we remember that we’re united to Christ and others in His resurrection, we put into practice the important teaching tool of the local church. In the church, as believers, we’re given an incentive to practice the reality that we together are in Christ. Therefore, our first assumption in working on our corporate sins is to treat each other as being raised up and exalted in Christ. In times of interpersonal hardship, rather than starting from a point of suspicion about another, we have a starting point of, “That’s my brother raised up in Christ.” This perspective in the local church helps to model a union-with-the-risen Christ grace-foundation for marriage and family. Phil. 2:1-11.

The ministry of Paul Tripp on the DVDs is well-worth the learning and implementation for growth. There’s a ministry in his teaching of God’s transforming power, no question. I offer this critique about this Lutheran aspect of sanctification for a help in rounding out the gospel—we need the whole of Christ’s work for us and in us: His life, death and resurrection. It’s the glorious double-whammy of biblical hope—the umbrella importance of the believer’s union with His death and His resurrection—that gives day to day advances in godliness according to faith.

G. Mark Sumpter