I'll give the text, so's we's all on the same page:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Pastor Mike asked a question that many ask in response to this verse: What about our sins?
We can see in the following verse (v. 29) that the main "good" that Paul is referring to here is sanctification: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." So, that being the case, how can (no, does!) God work our own sin (a part of all things) for our sanctification?
The answer that Mike gave has had me thinking for the past 24 hours. He said that the primary good that God works through our own sin, which is evil, is humility. God providentially uses our sin to give us knowledge of that sin, so that we may be kept aware of our daily, continual reliance upon His effectively-working grace.
I know, and have known, that God uses our sin to sanctify us, but I wonder exactly how God uses something that is evil to slowly conform us into the image of Someone who is perfectly holy. I guess I always assumed that sin was just a part of the process: you have to first give into sin before God can give you the power to resist sin. Otherwise, what are we being conformed from? But is this really the only way in which a providential and sovereign God can use our evil for our good?
I think that there may be a danger here: in limiting the role of sin in our lives to those acts that we perform (or fail to perform) which are not evidence of our sanctification, we may be losing out on a great blessing... one which may even be one of the primary ways in which God sanctifies us by using that sin.
Okay, this may be getting confusing, so I'll try to simplify the randomness here:
1. What is sanctification?
-Sanctification is the act of God (slowly) conforming us "to the image of His Son".
2. In what ways do we not currently bear - and will not fully bear until the Beatific Vision - this image of the Son?
-Jesus never sinned because He was not a sinner. We choose to sin because we are sinners. God is working in all Christians to give them not only the desire, but the ability, to choose holiness over sin.
3. Is this the only way in which we sin? Is a sin merely an act that we choose to perform?
-When we sin, we are choosing to follow the lie that we are creatures who are not in need of their Creator. Even Jesus, God Himself, realized that He was fully reliant upon His Father (John 5:19), and obedient to His commands (Matt. 26:39, 42).
So, my question is this: what is the primary role of sanctification? Does God work in us primarily to conform us to His Son's ability to turn away from sinful acts? Or does He work in us primarily to reveal to us our complete dependence upon Him?
If we concentrate on this first definition of sanctification, we may ignore the second definition. However it seems that the second definition, which also implies the first, gives us a more complete picture of our creatureliness and of God's holiness. In essence, it moves us away from legalism (but not towards licentiousness!), whereas the first may move us toward it.
Okay, I'm getting into the realm of philosophy and logic, and away from Scripture, so I'm going to shut up now.
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