Justification, Sanctification, and Union with Christ

Fresh Insights from Calvin, Westminster, and Walter Marshall

Sherif A. Fahim

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781666734072, 9781666729542
• eBook ISBN: 9781666729559
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The opposition against legalism and Antinomianism is one fight that Calvin, the Westminster Divines, and Walter Marshall were involved in. Both errors are strongly connected, and we are prone to swing between these two errors. Each of them leads to the other. When we think that being forgiven in Christ means that we are not bound to the law, we fall into Antinomianism. As a reaction against Antinomianism, we can go to the other extreme, which is legalism. In legalism, we try to secure obedience by making it the condition for our salvation, and hence it becomes a heavy burden. The final result of this swinging is despair, which leads to hatred of the law and subsequently of God. The swinging between these two errors can only be broken by the gospel.

Chapter 1

Calvin on the Relation between Justification and Sanctification

Walter Marshall did not write his theology without any prior influence. As a reformed pastor, he must have been exposed to previous writings from other theologians. Calvin’s ideas and writings were of great importance in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. This importance is emphasized by the number of English translations of Calvin’s works in the sixteenth century, prior to and probably known by Marshall—the Institutes of Christian Religion,1 and many of his commentaries and sermons, for example. In particular, the Institutes,2 sermons on Galatians and on Ephesians, and commentaries on Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians are indispensable for a study on justification, sanctification, and union with Christ.

Joel Beeke rightly argues that “one of the famous charges against Calvinism is that it is an ivory tower school of thought, dealing in high and lofty doctrines that have no practical benefits for ordinary people in the church or society at large.”3 This charge is totally against what the Reformed theology really teaches. In fact, Calvin’s writings show that what we believe and how we live are inseparable. Sinclair Ferguson argues that “when Calvin first published the Institutes of the Christian Religion, it bore the significant subtitle: Containing the whole sum of piety which shows that Calvin’s purpose was not only intellectual but also spiritual.”4 Calvin was not just a theologian, but primarily he was a pastor so he was so keen to show how the doctrines that he was teaching and writing relate to our Christian life.

“Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” This quotation is the answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism for question 35, “What is Sanctification?” About 100 years earlier, Calvin believed that “sanctification is the result of God’s grace irresistibly effected by the work of the Holy Spirit.”5 Considering Calvin’s doctrine of sanctification may include what sanctification is; how sanctification relates to the twin grace that accompanies it, which is justification; and moreover, the foundation from which sanctification springs, that is union with Christ. The aim of this chapter is to investigate Calvin’s view of sanctification and how it relates to justification. Discussing the relation between sanctification and justification will touch upon the meaning of sanctification and how it flows from union with Christ.

Sanctification and Union with Christ

William Edgar argues that “the structure of Calvin’s institutes can be understood generally as moving from themes that relate to the first, the second, and the third persons of the Godhead.”6 So in book 1, Calvin begins with the Father: “The Knowledge of God the Creator.” Then as Randall Gleason argues, “in book three of the Institutes, Calvin explains how the believer receives by the work of the Holy Spirit the gracious benefits of the mediatorial work of Christ (the Son) described in book two.”7 This idea is ex...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Calvin on the Relation between Justification and Sanctification
• Chapter 2: The Westminster Standards
• Chapter 3: Marshall on Justification
• Chapter 4: Marshall on Sanctification
• Chapter 5: Walter Marshall: Power of the Gospel and Spiritual Growth
• Conclusion and Prospect
• Bibliography