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Holiness and Sanctification

Rejoice in the Lord!

I have been feasting on Philippians in recent months, meditating on Paul’s command to, ‘rejoice in the Lord’, found in 3:1—and then intensified in 4:4: ‘rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice!’ Here are six reflections. God wants us, to actually engage in the physical activity of rejoicing. We may tend to think that it is the internal attitude which counts: but there is no Biblical reason for doing so. The command to ‘rejoice’ does not only refer to a merely internal mental attitude, sense of obligation, or feeling. I think Paul wants the Philippians, and...

Peter Adam

Toilet Training and the Holiness of God

Matthew Payne

Ask the parents of small children about the joys of toilet training and they will probably have some amusing stories to share. Not that those events are funny at the time—sometimes they seem very tiresome. Parenting literally involves getting your hands dirty. It means dealing with the bodily wastes of other people. This fact is not adequately highlighted on the “have a baby” brochure. You discover it after you’ve already got one. Parenting literally involves getting your hands dirty. It means dealing with the bodily wastes of other people. This fact is not adequately highlighted on the “have a baby” brochure....

Hard Lessons About Sanctification from John Newton

Brianna McClean

Sanctification and Sin John Newton was famously familiar with grace. As a slave-trader turned clergyman, he was a living depiction of his much-beloved hymn, Amazing Grace. However, Newton’s experience of grace did not climax at conversion. In a less remembered hymn, I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow, Newton captures the tension which lies at the heart of every Christian life: sanctification and sin. Accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour demands a whole-hearted and life changing pursuit of righteousness. The Bible commands us to flee from sin and God promises to mould us into the image of Christ. How...

MA is a Warning that Mature Adults Will Take Seriously

Matthew Payne

When I was growing up I thought that TV ratings (G, PG, M, MA15+, R18+) indicated age suitability. I thought that the MA rating meant ‘this is good and healthy for people who are 15 or older’. It was only natural that I should look forward to being of the age when ‘MA’ and ‘R’ rated movies would be good and healthy things for me to watch. But that’s not what those ratings mean. At least, that’s not how Christians can possibly view them. Growing up means recognising that a lot of things are not good or healthy for anyone...

Romans 7. The Death that’s Giving Way to Life

Andrew Moody

This post is published together with Matthew Payne’s on the same question The puzzle of Romans 7 is generally posed as a simple choice between the Christian and non-Christian: how can Paul be speaking as a Christian when he speaks of being “unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (7:14)? Yet, how can he be a non-Christian if he “delights in God’s law”? (7:22) Notice the Dynamics But what if Romans 7 isn’t just about two states of existence but also about different dynamics at work the lives of humans? Romans 7 and 8 are clearly, in part, about different...

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