If growth in grace does not cleanse the heart, what does it accomplish?
1. It secures a progressive Christian life. Growth is an essential condition of life, and all development of life is by growth. The life of righteousness, embracing all the features of Christian character, gathers strength, symmetry, and stature by development.
2. Growth in grace is so related to the soul's activities and voluntary powers and the formation of its habitudes, as to secure increasing spiritual strength and moral vigor; hence, it will secure easier and more complete victories over inbred sin. It will secure increasing light and knowledge. It strengthens the habits of virtue. It fortifies the graces of the spirit, and renders them more and more mature. All this affords increasing power to weaken, and hold in subjection, and prevent the operations of carnal nature.
3. Growth in grace is an increase in the volume and power of patience, meekness, gentleness, and love to God. An increase of patience will afford easier victory over impatience. An increase of love will secure a more easy and perfect victory over all its opposites in the heart. An increase of faith will give more perfect triumph over unbelief. While this growth and strengthening these graces may weaken and lessen the power of indwelling sin, it does not cleanse the heart or remove the cause of these inward antagonisms. Growth may abate its force, but can neither change its nature nor remove it from the soul.
4. Growth in grace is a gradual approach to the conditions of entire sanctification; and after entire sanctification, growth is inseparable from the conditions of retaining that state. This growth, however, is not gradual sanctification, but gradual preparation.
Rev. Dr. Steele says: "Growth in grace, while accompanied by increasing power to abstain from actual sin, has no power to annihilate the spirit of sin, commonly called original sin.
Growth is addition; sanctification is subtraction or removal of inbred sin, followed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Growth in grace can never entirely sanctify the believer.
1. It secures a progressive Christian life. Growth is an essential condition of life, and all development of life is by growth. The life of righteousness, embracing all the features of Christian character, gathers strength, symmetry, and stature by development.
2. Growth in grace is so related to the soul's activities and voluntary powers and the formation of its habitudes, as to secure increasing spiritual strength and moral vigor; hence, it will secure easier and more complete victories over inbred sin. It will secure increasing light and knowledge. It strengthens the habits of virtue. It fortifies the graces of the spirit, and renders them more and more mature. All this affords increasing power to weaken, and hold in subjection, and prevent the operations of carnal nature.
3. Growth in grace is an increase in the volume and power of patience, meekness, gentleness, and love to God. An increase of patience will afford easier victory over impatience. An increase of love will secure a more easy and perfect victory over all its opposites in the heart. An increase of faith will give more perfect triumph over unbelief. While this growth and strengthening these graces may weaken and lessen the power of indwelling sin, it does not cleanse the heart or remove the cause of these inward antagonisms. Growth may abate its force, but can neither change its nature nor remove it from the soul.
4. Growth in grace is a gradual approach to the conditions of entire sanctification; and after entire sanctification, growth is inseparable from the conditions of retaining that state. This growth, however, is not gradual sanctification, but gradual preparation.
Rev. Dr. Steele says: "Growth in grace, while accompanied by increasing power to abstain from actual sin, has no power to annihilate the spirit of sin, commonly called original sin.
Growth is addition; sanctification is subtraction or removal of inbred sin, followed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Growth in grace can never entirely sanctify the believer.
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