INTRO: If one were to put the practical sections of Paul's books under a theological title, it would be the doctrine of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of becoming holy. In the original language, the words saint, holy, and sanctification all come from the root word having to do with holiness. Holiness has to do with separation from sin.
Now why does Paul have to tell Christians not to lie, and not sin when they get angry, and to not steal? Don't Christians know that. Jones points out that the world gets this idea that because you claim to be a Christian that means you will not do wrong any more. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says it anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.
Well, the world does not receive spiritual things. They do not understand that there is a difference between the Christians standing and his state. They do not understand the process of sanctification. When a person is born again, he or she is a babe in Christ. The process of becoming holy has just begun.
It is amazing to observe new Christians. Sometimes when a person who is a cigarette smoker or an alcoholic becomes a Christian, just like that they are over that addiction and they have no interest in those things any more. Others struggle for years with those old desires. LEM tells of a lady who said, "I never had a temper until I became a Christian." Some may of a sudden battle battles they didn't have before.
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