Here is an excerpt from Barbara Duguid's book, Extravagant Grace, taken from pages 30-31:
What do you think of the above excerpt?
It is true that Christians are not going to live a life of sinless perfection. They are not going to obey God perfectly. It is also true that the Holy Spirit can make believers in Christ more humble and dependent upon Christ. What more does the Holy Spirit do in the life of a Christian? When God saves a person, doesn't God ensure that he will no longer be a slave of sin and that he will no longer be dominated by his sinful habits? I'm not saying that Duguid believes that believers will continue to partake of their sinful habits as they did before they were saved. I think she could not addressed whether believers will continue to be dominated by their sinful habits.
Even though Christians don't live lives of sinless perfection, they are changed in such a way that they are not dominated by sinful patterns of behavior. For example, Paul told the Corinthians that some of them used to be sexually immoral, idolaters, thieves, drunkards, and so on. Before they were saved, they had a sinful lifestyle.
God could have saved us and made us instantly perfect. Instead, he chose to save us and leave indwelling sin in our hearts and bodies to wage war against the new and blossoming desires to please God that accompany salvation. This is a raging battle that we often lose, and that often leaves us feeling defeated and joyless in our walk with God. Yet Newton also points out that since we know that God does all things for his glory and the good of his people, his decision to leave Christians with many struggles with sin must also somehow serve to glorify him and benefit his people. This is shocking news, isn’t it?
Think of what this means. God thinks that you will actually come to know and love him better as a desperate and weak sinner in continual need of grace than you would be as a triumphant Christian warrior who wins each and every battle with sin. This makes sense out of our experience as Christians. If the job of the Holy Spirit is to make you more humble and dependent on Christ, more grateful for his sacrifice and more adoring of him as a wonderful Savior, then he might be doing a very, very good job even though you still sin every day.
What difference does it make whether you believe that Christians should go from strength to strength and live victorious lives of obedience, or whether you believe that Christians will remain on earth in a state of great weakness and utter dependence on God for every single good thought?
Think of what this means. God thinks that you will actually come to know and love him better as a desperate and weak sinner in continual need of grace than you would be as a triumphant Christian warrior who wins each and every battle with sin. This makes sense out of our experience as Christians. If the job of the Holy Spirit is to make you more humble and dependent on Christ, more grateful for his sacrifice and more adoring of him as a wonderful Savior, then he might be doing a very, very good job even though you still sin every day.
What difference does it make whether you believe that Christians should go from strength to strength and live victorious lives of obedience, or whether you believe that Christians will remain on earth in a state of great weakness and utter dependence on God for every single good thought?
It is true that Christians are not going to live a life of sinless perfection. They are not going to obey God perfectly. It is also true that the Holy Spirit can make believers in Christ more humble and dependent upon Christ. What more does the Holy Spirit do in the life of a Christian? When God saves a person, doesn't God ensure that he will no longer be a slave of sin and that he will no longer be dominated by his sinful habits? I'm not saying that Duguid believes that believers will continue to partake of their sinful habits as they did before they were saved. I think she could not addressed whether believers will continue to be dominated by their sinful habits.
Even though Christians don't live lives of sinless perfection, they are changed in such a way that they are not dominated by sinful patterns of behavior. For example, Paul told the Corinthians that some of them used to be sexually immoral, idolaters, thieves, drunkards, and so on. Before they were saved, they had a sinful lifestyle.
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