A Final Response: The Spirit's Sanctification Causes Continual Repentance

Disclaimer: Personally I believe neither sides are going to change their minds. There are many before me who have tried to present the truth to the extreme or free grace camp but have failed. Therefore, I think an extended debate is unnecessary; they have been addressed before but rejected and it always leads to the same result. Nevertheless, I shall as a final response lay down what historical, biblical Christianity teaches.


1. The paradoxical truth about our salvation.

One would by now observe that the majority of arguments from the extreme grace camp are centred upon justification (bible verses quoted are often about justification even when it is clear that the issue is about our sanctification, the issue at stake). However, the Bible's description of salvation is not so narrow; it speaks of the salvation past (justification), salvation present (sanctification) and the future salvation (glorification).

In simpler words, there is a sense that we are already saved, there is a sense that we are continually being saved, and there is a sense that we are going to be saved; and there is no contradiction among these three, all are equally true. I have no time to explain all this in a small blog, but any respectable systematic theology book will explain these.

Therefore, teaching justification as the whole truth of salvation and leading Christians to believe only in the "salvation past" - i.e. my sins are forgiven and there is no need for repentance, is an error that denies our sinful present life, hinders our responsibility to grow toward holiness and even denying the work of the Holy Spirit. It is that dangerous.

The paradoxical truth of salvation is that we are both justified and sinners simultaneously. We, by Christ's work on the cross is instantly and eternally justified and made righteous at the moment of our faith; but with respect to our sanctification, at the moment of faith, we are mere babes in Christ, fleshly, unwise, unpurified, unchanged, unrenewed. What is required now is the continual work of the Spirit in our life; this is sanctification. We have perfect imputed righteousness, but we do not have perfect practical, actual righteousness, and that is why we struggle in our sins and need the Spirit's work in us. Can you differentiate between the two?


2. Sanctification is not merely about knowing we are righteous.

Bro Stanley has explained sanctification as

"the sanctifying work of the Spirit is to continue to convict believers of righteousness; the Holy Spirit reassures the believer that, despite failing now and then by committing sins, he is declared righteous because all his sins, past, present and future are forgiven, once and for all."

To summarize, to him, sanctification is the reassurance of our justified state. Here I will argue that it is not so simplistic. The work of the Holy Spirit is immensely more than that. The Holy Spirit does not simply stand aside and convince you that you are now safe; He is also coming in to do a total reconstruction, a complete transformation inside you, purifying you from your sins from now to the day you die, or when Christ come again. In justification we rest from all our works; in sanctification we strive by the power of God. There are many who worked when they should have rested in Christ; now, there are many who rested and slumbered when they should have worked by the power of God.

Have you perfect love for God? No. He will change you.
Have you perfect fear for Him? No. He will change you.
Have you perfect love for your brothers? No. He will change you.
Have you perfect control over your temptations? No. He will change you.
Have you total mastery over sin? No. He will change you.

In all these changes the believer does not stand idle. What is required of him is the devoted study of God's Word, prayers, confession of your sins and repentance, a geunine turning towards God again and again, each time you fall. Romans 7 describe this Paul, already a believer, already justified, already safe, already under no condemnation, already standing righteous before God but nonetheless struggling with his sins like the rest of us do (except the extreme grace camp!). I have yet to see a reasonable response to Romans 7 - it is the perfect case of the paradoxical truth that we are both justified and sinners simultaneously.


3. The Spirit's sanctification causes continual repentance.

It has been said by a wise man that the only time we do not need to repent, is when we have already arrived in heaven, totally perfect in our own righteousness. Are you at this state? Definitely not! Therefore, the Spirit must continue to cleanse us of our sins in His work of sanctifying us to be more holy and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. One who has believed does not immediately attain this state, nor will he in this life!

Repentance is commanded by the whole counsel of the bible. The extreme grace camp's distinction of repentance only by the unbeliever is totally unfounded. Christians are still sinful creatures, justified but nonetheless still sinners. Again this is no place for extended
discussion; I will simply lay down these principles of repentance.


“Repentance is a grace of God's Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed” - Thomas Watson.

i. Repentance is for everyone.

From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. Acts 13:23-24.

ii. Repentance cannot be separated from geunine faith.

Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." Acts 19:4.

iii. God's hatred of evil and our current sinful self demands repentance.

There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. Prov 6:16-19.

iv. Sanctification demands repentance

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. Rom 6:11-13.

v. Repentance is the evidence of God's sanctifying work in us.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Phil 2:12-13.

vi. Repentance is the evidence of our genuine faith.

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1 Jn 3:6.


4. Final Clarifications

Firstly, I anticipate that some will have the knee-jerk reaction of accusing me of using repentance as "works to gain acceptance from God", which is something I never claim. Repentance if understood clearly, is not a dreadful thing to perform, but rather a joyous returning to God by His power, a powerful evidence that I am a genuine son of God! Sanctification is not a mere matter of acknowledgement or assurance; it produces visible evidences of a holy life.

Secondly, I already know how the extreme grace camp navigate around these verses to prove repentance is unnecessary. I disagree with their foundational interpretation which go against centuries of biblical wisdom but lament that without any common interpretation there is no way to agree, so all dialogue must stop.

Thirdly, I am no pluralist, so by logic and absolute truth one of us must be wrong and one of us must be living a life that is absolutely wrong to God. A wrong understanding of sanctification leads to a wrong life before God. May we repent.

Lastly, we can win arguments but lose our souls. So I pray for the Spirit's conviction of the truth to us, where at last men's words must fail.