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Martyred for the Gospel

Martyred for the Gospel
The burning of Tharchbishop of Cant. D. Tho. Cranmer in the town dich at Oxford, with his hand first thrust into the fyre, wherwith he subscribed before. [Click on the picture to see Cranmer's last words.]

Daily Bible Verse

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

John Piper Confuses Sanctification with Justification

"We pursue sanctification because without it we will not see the Lord. We will not be acceptable. We will not have the infinite, eternal joy of seeing God's beauty in heaven, nor will we have the highest pleasures of this life, namely, seeing the grace of God conquer our rebellion and conform us to the likeness of Christ."  --John Piper
Is it any wonder that the Piperites think salvation is up to them and their obedience.  Piper's Arminianism shines through here since Piper not once mentions the doctrine of justification which IS the Gospel.  All the Protestant Reformers, including Luther and Calvin, say that the ONLY basis for our standing before God in the last judgment is our righteousness in Christ, not our sanctification.  Sanctification is our testimony before men, not the basis of our salvation as Piper here says. [You can read Piper's sermon on sanctification here].

You will also note that not once does Piper mention justification by faith alone in this sermon.  He simply says that the basis of our acceptance before God is our "imperfect sanctification":

Summing up: 1) Sanctification is obedience to our Commander-in-Chief. Not perfection but a growing consistency and fervor of obedience. 2) The way we attain it is by the grace of God. We open ourselves to the power of the Spirit in prayer and we seek to fill ourselves with his word in study. We pray, we pursue, we study, we work, for it is God who is at work in us to will and to do his good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). 3) We pursue sanctification because without it we will not see the Lord. We will not be acceptable. We will not have the infinite, eternal joy of seeing God's beauty in heaven, nor will we have the highest pleasures of this life, namely, seeing the grace of God conquer our rebellion and conform us to the likeness of Christ. --John Piper
If that is not Arminianism, I do not know what is.  In fact, it might even go as far as outright Pelagianism.  Any Arminian can say that "sanctification is all of grace".  But do they believe that sanctification is 100% what God does (monergism)?  If not, then I can only conclude that Piper is here preaching a synergistic view of sanctification AND a conditional view of election and perseverance.
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Reasonable Christian Blog Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. 1662 Book of Common Prayer

2 comments:

Charlie J. Ray said...

Notice he says, "The way we attain it is by the grace of God. We open ourselves to the power of the Spirit in prayer and we seek to fill ourselves with his word in study."

We "attain" sanctification. God does not do it in us by His sovereign will and grace.

Piper's Arminianism is obvious.

Charlie J. Ray said...

39 Articles: IX-XVIII

Article XI
Of the Justification of Man

We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort; as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

Article XII
Of Good Works

Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of God's judgement, yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.

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