Take Up the Cross

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
— Ephesians 4:15

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
— 1 Peter 2:2

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
— 2 Peter 3:18

Spiritual Growth: Its Necessity, by A. W. Pink. The following contains an excerpt from Chapter Three of his work, “Spiritual Growth.

I – What Christian growth does not obtain

We commenced the last chapter by pointing out that none can possibly make any progress in the Christian life unless he first is a Christian, and then devoted the remainder to defining and describing what a “Christian” is. It is indeed striking to note that this title is used by the Holy Spirit in a two-fold way: primarily it signifies an “anointed one”; subordinately it denotes “a disciple of Christ.” Thereby they have brought together in a truly wonderful manner both the Divine and the human sides. Our “anointing” with the Spirit is God’s act, in which we are entirely passive; but our becoming “disciples of Christ” is a voluntary and conscious act of ours, by which we freely surrender to Christ’s lordship and submit to His scepter. It is by the latter that we obtain evidence of the former. None will yield to the flesh-repellent terms of Christian“discipleship” save those in whom a Divine work of grace has been wrought, but when that miracle has occurred, conversion is as certain to follow as a cause will produce its effects. One made a new creature by the Divine miracle of the new birth desires and gladly endeavors to meet the holy requirements of Christ.

Here, then, is the root of spiritual growth: the communication to the soul of spiritual life. Here is what makes possible Christian progress: a person’s becoming a Christian, first by the Spirit’s anointing and then by his own choice. This twofold signification of the term “Christian’ is the principal key which opens to us the subject of Christian progress or spiritual growth, for it ever needs to be contemplated from both the Divine and human sides. It requires to be viewed both from the angle of God’s operations and from that of the discharge of our responsibilities. The twofold meaning of the title “Christian” must also be borne in mind under the present aspect of our subject, for on the one hand progress is neither necessary nor possible, while in another very real sense it is both desirable and requisite. God’s “anointing” is not susceptible to improvement, being perfect; but our “discipleship” is to become more intelligent and productive of good works. Much confusion has resulted from ignoring this distinction, and we shall devote the remainder of this chapter to the negative side, pointing out those respects in which progress or growth does not obtain.

1. Christian progress does not signify advancing in God’s favor.

The believer’s growth in grace does not further him one iota in God’s esteem. How could it, since God is the Giver of his faith and the One who has “wrought all our works in us” (Isa. 26:12)! God’s favorable regard of His people did not originate in anything whatever in them, either actual or foreseen. God’s grace is absolutely free, being the spontaneous exercise of His own mere good pleasure. The cause of its exercise lies wholly within Himself. The purposing grace of God is that good will which He had unto His people from all eternity: “Who both saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9). And the dispensing grace of God is but the execution of His purpose, ministering to His people: thus we read “God gives more grace,” indeed, that “he gives more grace” (James 4:6). It is entirely gratuitous, sovereignly bestowed, without any inducement being found in its object.

Furthermore, everything God does for and bestows on His people is for Christ’s sake. It is in no way a question of their deserts, but of Christ’s deserts or what he merited for them. As Christ is the only Way by which we can approach the Father, so He is the sole channel through which God’s grace flows to us. Hence we read of the “grace of God, and the gift of grace (namely, justifying righteousness) by one man, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:15); and again, “the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ” (1Cor. 1:4). The love of God toward us is in “Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39). He forgives us “for Christ’s sake” (Eph. 4:32). He supplies all our need “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). He brings us to heaven in answer to Christ’s prayer (John 17:24). Yet though Christ merits everything for us, the original cause was the sovereign grace of God. “Although the merits of Christ are the (procuring) cause of our salvation, yet they are not the cause of our being ordained to salvation, They are the cause of purchasing all things decreed to us, but they are not the cause which first moved God to decree these things to us.” (Thos. Goodwin)

The Christian is not accepted because of his graces, for the very graces (as their name connotes) are bestowed upon him by Divine bounty, and are not attained by any efforts of his. And so far from these graces being the reason why God accepts him, they are the fruits of his being “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world” and declaratively “blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ” (Eph. 1:3, 4). Settle it then in your own mind once for all, my reader, that growth in grace does not signify growing in the favor of God. This is essentially a Papish delusion, and though creature-flattering it is a horribly Christ-dishonoring one. Since God’s elect are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6), it is impossible that any subsequent change wrought in or attained by them could render them more excellent in His esteem or advance them in His love. When the Father announced concerning the incarnate Word “This is my beloved Son (not “with whom” but) in whom I am well pleased” He was expressing His delight in the whole election of grace, for He was speaking of Christ in His federal character, as the last Adam, as head of His mystical body.

The Christian can neither increase nor decrease in the favor of God, nor can anything he does or fails to do alter or affect to the slightest degree his perfect standing in Christ. Yet let it not be inferred from this that his conduct is of little importance or that God’s dealings with him have no relation to his daily walk. While avoiding the Romish conceit of human merits, we must be on our guard against Antinomian licentiousness. As the moral Governor of this world God takes note of our conduct, and in a variety of ways makes manifest His approbation or disapprobation: “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Ps. 84:11), yet to His own people God says “your sins have withheld good things from you” (Jer. 5:25). So, too, as the Father He maintains discipline in His family, and when His children are refractory He uses the rod (Ps. 89:3-33). Special manifestations of Divine love are granted to the obedient (John 14:21, 23), but are withheld from the disobedient and the careless.

2. Christian progress does not denote that the work of regeneration was incomplete.

Great care needs to be taken in stating this truth of spiritual growth lest we repudiate the perfection of the new birth. We must repeat here in substance what was pointed out in the first article. When a normal child is born into this world naturally the babe is an entire entity, complete in all its parts, possessing a full set of bodily members and mental faculties. As the child grows there is a strengthening of its body and mind, a development of its members and an expansion of its faculties, with a fuller use of the one and a clearer manifestation of the other; yet no new member or additional faculty is or can be added to him. It is precisely so spiritually. The spiritual life or nature received at the new birth contains within itself all the “senses” (Heb. 5:14) and graces, and though these may be nourished and strengthened, and increased by exercise yet not by addition, no, not in heaven itself. “I know that whatsoever God does it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it” (Eccl. 3:14). The “babe” in Christ is just as truly and completely a child of God as the most matured “father” in Christ.

Regeneration is a more radical and revolutionizing change than glorification. The one is a passing from death unto life, the other an entrance into the fulness of life. The one is bringing into existence “the new man which is created after God in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph.4:22), the other is a reaching the full stature of the new man. The one is a translation into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Col. 1:13), the other an induction into the higher privileges of that kingdom. The one is begetting us unto a living hope (1 Peter 1:3); the other is a realization of that hope. At regeneration the soul is made a “new creature” in Christ, so that “old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). The regenerate soul is a partaker of every grace of the Spirit so that he is “complete in Christ” (Col. 2:10), and no growth on earth or glorification in heaven can make him more than complete.

3. Christian progress does not procure a title for heaven.

The perfect and indefeasible title of every believer is in the merits of Christ. His vicarious fulfilling of the law, by which He magnified and made it honorable, secured for all in whose stead He acted, the full reward of the law. It is on the all-sufficient ground of Christ’s perfect obedience being reckoned to his account that the believer is justified by God and assured that he shall “reign in life” (Rom. 5:17). If he had lived on earth another hundred years and served God perfectly it would add nothing to his title. Heaven is the “purchased possession” (Eph. 1:14), purchased for His people by the whole redemptive work of Christ. His precious blood gives every believing sinner the legal right to “enter the holiest” (Heb. 10:19). Our title to glory is found in Christ alone. Of the redeemed now in heaven it is said, they have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb: therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple” (Rev. 7:14, 15).

It has not been sufficiently realized that God’s pronouncement of justification is very much more than a mere sense of acquittal or non-condemnation. It includes as well the positive imputation of righteousness. As James Hervey so beautifully illustrated it: “When yonder orb makes his first appearance in the east, what effects are produced? Not only are the shades of night dispersed, but the light of day is diffused. Thus it is when the Author of salvation is manifested to the soul: he brings at once pardon and acceptance.” Not only are our “filthy rags” removed, but the “best robe” is put upon us (Luke 15:22) and no efforts or attainments of ours can add anything to such a Divine adornment. Christ not only delivers us from death, but purchased life for us; He not only put away our sins but merited an inheritance for us. The most mature and advanced Christian has nothing to plead before God for his acceptance other than the righteousness of Christ: that, nothing but that, and nothing added to that, is his perfect title to Glory.

4. Christian progress does not make us fit for heaven.

Many of those who are more or less clear on the three points considered above are far from being clear upon this one, and therefore we must enter into it at greater length. Thousands have been taught to believe that when a person has been justified by God and tasted the blessedness of “the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” that much still remains to be done for the soul before it is ready for the celestial courts. A widespread impression prevails that after his justification the believer must undergo the refining process of sanctification, and that for this he must be left for a time amid the trials and conflicts of a hostile world; indeed, so strongly is this view held that some are likely to take exception to what follows. Nevertheless, such a theory repudiates the fact that it is the new creative work of the Spirit which not only capacitates the soul to take in and enjoy spiritual things now (John 3:3, 5), but also fits it experimentally for the eternal fruition of God.

One had thought that those laboring under the mistake mentioned above would be corrected by their own experience and by what they observed in their fellow Christians. They frankly acknowledge that their own progress is most unsatisfactory to them, and they have no means of knowing when the process is to be successfully completed. They see their fellow Christians cut off apparently in very varied stages of this process. If it be said that this process is completed only at death, then we would point out that even on their death-beds the most eminent and mature saints have testified to being most humiliated over their attainments and thoroughly dissatisfied with themselves. Their final triumph was not what grace had made them to be in themselves, but what Christ was made to be to them. If such a view as the above were true, how could any believer cherish a desire to depart and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23) while the very fact that he was still in the body would be proof (according to this idea) that the process was not yet complete to fit him for His presence!

But, it may be asked, is there not such a thing as “progressive sanctification”? We answer, it all depends on what is signified by that expression. In our judgment it is one which needs to be carefully and precisely defined, otherwise God is likely to be grossly dishonored and His people seriously injured by being brought into bondage by a most inadequate and defective view of Sanctification as a whole. There are several essential and fundamental respects in which sanctification is not “progressive,” in which it admits of no degrees and is incapable of augmentation, and those aspects of sanctification need to be plainly stated and clearly apprehended before the subordinate aspect is considered.

First, every believer was declaratively sanctified by God the Father before the foundation of the world (Jude 1).

Second, he was meritoriously sanctified by God the Son in the redemptive work which He performed in the stead of and on the behalf of His people, so that it is written “by one offering he bath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).

Third, he was vitally sanctified by God the Spirit when He quickened him into newness of life, united him to Christ, and made his body His temple.

If by “progressive sanctification” is meant a clearer understanding and fuller apprehension of what God has made Christ to be unto the believer and of his perfect standing and state in Him; if by it is meant the believer living more and more in the enjoyment and power of that, with the corresponding influence and effect it will have upon his character and conduct; if by it is meant a growth of faith and an increase of its fruits, manifested in a holy walk, then we have no objection to the term. But if by “progressive sanctification” is intended rendering the believer more acceptable to God, or making of him more fit for the heavenly Jerusalem, then we have no hesitation in rejecting it as a serious error. Not only can there be no increase in the purity and acceptableness of the believer’s sanctity before God, but there can be no addition to that holiness of which he became the possessor at the new birth, for the new nature he then received is essentially and impeccably holy. “The babe in Christ, dying as such, is as capable of as high communion with God as Paul in the state of glory.” (S. E. Pierce)

Instead of striving after and praying that God would make us more fit for heaven, how much better to join with the apostle in “giving thanks unto the Father who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12), and then seek to walk suitably to such a privilege and dignity! That is for the saints to “possess their possessions” (Obad. 17); the other is to be robbed of them by a thinly-disguised Romanism. Before pointing out in what the Christian’s fitness for heaven consists, let us note that heaven is here termed all inheritance.” Now an inheritance is not something that we acquire by self-denial and mortification, nor purchased by our own labors or good works; rather it is that to which we lawfully succeed in virtue of our relationship to another. Primarily, it is that to which a child succeeds in virtue to his relationship to his father, or as the son of a king inherits the crown. In this case, the inheritance is ours in virtue of our being sons of God.

Peter declares that the Father has “begotten us unto a living hope . . . to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away” (1 Peter 1:4). Paul also speaks of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God, and then points out: “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16, 17). If we inquire more distinctly, “What is this ‘inheritance’ of the children of God?” the next verse (Col. 1:13) tells us: “it is the kingdom of God’s dear Son.” Those who are joint-heirs with Christ must share His kingdom. Already He has made us “kings and priests unto God” (Rev. 1:5), and the inheritance of kings is a crown, a throne, a kingdom. The blessedness which lies before the redeemed is not merely to be subjects of the King of kings, but to sit with Him on His throne, to reign with Him forever (Rom. 5:17; Rev. 22:4). Such is the wondrous dignity of our inheritance: as to its extent, we are “joint-heirs with” Him whom God “has appointed heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2). Our destiny is bound up with His. O that the faith of Christians would rise above their “feelings,” “conflicts,” and “experiences,” and possess their possessions.

The Christian’s title to the inheritance is the righteousness of Christ imputed to him; in what, then, does his “fitness” consist? First, since it is fitness for the inheritance, they must be children of God, and this they are made at the moment of regeneration. Second, since it is the inheritance of saints,” they must be saints, and this too they are the moment they believe in Christ, for they are then sanctified by that very blood in which they have forgiveness of sins (Heb. 13:12). Third, since it is an inheritance “in light,” they must be made children of light, and this also they become when God called them “out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Nor is that characteristic only of certain specially favored saints; “you are all the children of light.” (1 Thess. 5:5) Fourth, since the inheritance consists of an everlasting kingdom, ill order to enjoy it we must have eternal life; and that too every Christian possesses: “he that believes on the Son of God has everlasting life” (John 3:36).

“For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3: 28). Are they children in name but not in nature? What a question! It might as well be supposed they have a title to an inheritance and yet be without fitness for it, which would be saying that our sonship was a fiction and not a reality. Very different is the teaching of God’s Word: it declares that we become His children by being born again (John 1:13). And regeneration does not consist in the gradual improvement or purification of the old nature, but the creation of a new one. Nor is becoming children of God a lengthy process at all, but an instantaneous thing. The all-mighty agent of it is the Holy Spirit, and obviously that which is born of Him needs no improving or perfecting. The “new man” is itself “created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22) and certainly it cannot stand in need of a “progressive” work to be wrought in him! True, the old nature opposes all the aspirations and activities of this new nature, and therefore as long as the believer remains in the flesh he is called upon “through the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body,” yet in spite of the painful and weary conflict, the new nature remains uncontaminated by the vileness in the midst of which he dwells.

That which qualifies the Christian or makes him fit for heaven is the spiritual life which he received at regeneration, for that is the life or nature of God (John 3:5; 2 Peter 1:4). That new life or nature fits the Christian for communion with God, for the presence of God — the same day the dying thief received it, he was with Christ in Paradise! It is true that while we are left here its manifestation is obscured, like the sunbeam shining through opaque glass. Yet the sunbeam itself is not dim, though it appears so because of the unsuitable medium through which it passes; but let that opaque glass be removed and it will at once appear in its beauty. So it is with the spiritual life of the Christian: there is no defeat whatever in the life itself but its manifestation is sadly obscured by a mortal body; all that is necessary for the appearing of its perfections is deliverance from the corrupt medium through which it now acts. The life of God in the soul renders a person fit for glory: no attainment of ours, no growth in grace we experience, can fit us for heaven any more than it can entitle us to it.

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