Posts by Jeffery Smith

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The Certain Progress of Sanctification

Jeffery Smith
Oct 27, 2022
Editor's Note: This post has been adapted from A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 , edited by Rob Ventura. Having been definitively sanctified , the Christian is being progressively sanctified , although not perfectly sanctified in this life. He or she will always...

"Imperfect in This Life"

Jeffery Smith
Sep 30, 2022
So far in our study of chapter 13 in the 1689 London Baptist Confession, we have seen how sanctification is properly both decisive at conversion and ongoing throughout life . Simply put, the Christian is holy, and is being made holy. In the second paragraph of the chapter, the Confession asserts...

How Are Saints “Farther Sanctified”?

Jeffery Smith
Sep 14, 2022
If you are already holy, can you be made more holy? So far in this series, we’ve seen that a biblical view of sanctification sees the doctrine under two distinct-yet-inseparable aspects. Sanctification is initial and definitive in the moment we are saved, and we see this especially in the way the...

Definitively Dead and Alive

Jeffery Smith
Aug 19, 2022
In one sense, we rightly think of sanctification as a progressive work. As the 1689 LBCF states , this is the Spirit’s work of destroying “the whole body of sin” and strengthening “all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness” (13.1). When we encounter hagios/hagiazo (ἁγίος / ἁγιάζω) in...

Defining Definitive Sanctification

Jeffery Smith
Aug 9, 2022
Is it possible to “get saved” without getting sanctified ? The 1689 Confession, in accordance with the Bible, answers with a resounding “No!” Sanctification is not an optional extra for Christians; it is an essential part of the salvation God gives to all who are in union with his Son. Every...

Whose Sanctification Is It, Anyway?

Jeffery Smith
Jul 25, 2022
In the New Testament, the word often translated as “sanctification” is sometimes translated, “holiness.” The Greek is hagiasmos (ἁγιασμὸς), the noun form of the verb “to sanctify,” “to make holy” ( hagiazo , ἁγιάζω). The basic meaning of the verb is to set apart from that which is common or unclean...