In the order of nature, regeneration precedes justification, al- though as to time they are always necessarily cotemporaneous. The instant God regenerates a sinner he acts faith in Christ. The instant he acts faith in Christ he is justified, and sanetifica- tion, which is the work of carrying on and perfecting that which is begun in regeneration, is accomplished under the conditions of those new relations into which he is introduced by justification. In justification we are delivered from all the penal consequences of sin, and brought into such a state of reconciliation with God, and communion of the Holy Ghost, that we are emancipated from the bondage of legal fear, and endued with that spirit of filial con- fidence and love which is the essential principle of all acceptable obedience. Our justification, moreover, proceeds on the ground of our federal union with Christ by faith, which is the basis of that vital and spiritual union of the soul with him from whom our sanetification flows. See above, Chap. XXXI., question 2.
7. How can it be shown that this work extends to the whole man, the understanding, will, and affections ?
The soul is a unit, the same single agent alike, thinking, feeling, and willing. A man can not love that loveliness which
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he does not perceive, nor can he perceive that beauty, whether moral or natural, which is uncongenial to his own heart. His whole nature is morally depraved, 1st, blind or insensible to spir- itual beauty ; 2d, averse, in the reigning dispositions of the will, to moral right, and therefore disobedient. The order in which the faculties act is as follows : The intellect perceives the quali- ties of the object concerning which the mind is engaged ; the heart loves those qualities which are congenial to it ; the will chooses that which is loved.
This is proved, 1st, by experience. As the heart becomes more depraved the mind becomes more insensible to spiritual light. On the other hand, as the eyes behold more and more clearly the beauty of the truth, the more lively become the affec- tions, and the more obedient the will. 2d. From the testimony of Scripture. By nature the whole man is depraved. The un- derstanding darkened, as well as the affections and will perverted, Eph. iv., 18.
If this be so, it is evident that sanctiflcation must also be effected throughout the entire nature. 1st. From the necessity of the case. 2d. From the testimony of Scripture, Eom. vi., 13 ; 2 Cor. iv., 6 ; Eph. i., 18 ; Col. iii., 10 ; 1 Thess. v., 23 ; 1 John iv., 7.
8. In what sense is the body sanctified ?
1st. As consecrated, (1.) as being the temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi., 19 ; (2.) hence as being a member of Christ, 1 Cor. vi., 15. 2d. As sanctified, since they are integral parts of our persons, their instincts and appetites act. immediately upon the passions of our souls, and consequently these must be brought subject to the control of the sanctified soul, and all its members, as organs of the soul, made instruments of righteousness unto God, Kom., vi., 13 ; 1 Thess. iv., 4. 3d. It will be made like Christ's glorified body, 1 Cor. xv., 44 ; Phil, iii., 21.
9. To ivhom is the work of sanctiflcation referred in Scrip- ture ?
1st. To the Father, 1 Thess. vi., 23 ; Heb. xiii., 21. 2d. To the Son, Eph. v., 25, 26 ; Titus ii., 14. 3d. To the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi., 11 ; 2 Thess. ii., 13.
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In all external actions the three Persons of the trinity are al- ways represented as concurring, the Father working through the Son and Spirit, and the Son through the Spirit. Hence the work of sanctification is with special prominence attributed to the Holy Spirit, since he is the immediate agent therein, and since this is his special office work in the plan of redemption.
10. What do the Scriptures teach as to the agency of the truth in the work of sanctification ?
The whole process of sanctification consists in the develop- ment and confirmation of the new principle of spiritual life im- planted in the soul in regeneration, conducted by the Holy Grhost in perfect conformity to, and through the operation of the laws and habits of action natural to the soul as an intelligent, moral and free agent. Like the natural faculties both of body and mind, and the natural habits which modify the actions of those facul- ties, so Christian graces, or spiritual habits, are developed by ex- ercise ; the truths of the gospel being the objects upon which these graces act, and by which they are both excited and directed. Thus the divine loveliness of G-od presented in the truth, which is his image, is the object of our complacent love ; his goodness of our gratitude ; his promises of our trust ; his judgments of our wholesome awe, and his commandments variously exercise us in the thousand forms of filial obedience, John xvii., 19 ; 1 Pet. i., 22 ; ii., 2 ; 2 Pet. i., 4 ; James i., 18.