Sanctification Dialogues

By: Elihu Carranza

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This is a work of observations written in the form of dialogues between two voices of one mind. They are reflections on the Christian doctrine of progressive sanctification. According to Scripture, progressive sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in the thought and life of a regenerated sinner, a new creation, having been justified, adopted, and being sanctified in preparation for the eternal glorified state of non-posse peccare (not able to sin). This glorified state is the consummation of the born-again sinner's transformation to the image of Jesus Christ who is the way the truth and the life. While sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, it is no less the work of the Father and the Son for the Spirit issues from both God the Father and God the Son. The redemption of the elect of God in Christ is the joint work of the Triune God of Scripture. It is axiomatic that the Holy Spirit regenerates the image of God in elect fallen creatures to new life. Regeneration enables the unbeliever to believe (saving faith) the Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to receive by grace alone the imputed righteousness of Christ's atonement for new life in Him.
What lies beyond each of our epistemic horizons? Avoidance of ultimate questions as to significance, meaning, belief, truth, knowledge, and value is not a live option. Suppressing as bogus the quest for ultimate meaning inevitably proves problematic for it assumes meaning itself. Naturalism's hypotheses, theories, or models are unsatisfactory because its worldview arbitrarily limits knowledge to its methods and conclusions, all of which are probabilistic and subject to subsequent revision or rejection. Its closed space-time system of matter in motion plus chance, wherein all reference to the supernatural is suppressed or denied begets a reductionist frame of reference leading to nihilism. "Man is a useless expression" resigns one to meaningless existence, or Bertrand Russell's "unyielding despair." Held to the prison of naturalism's worldview, Russell's conclusion is inevitable. Beyond the boundaries of materialism, however, the supernatural beckons with a question: Who is the absolute and ultimate point of reference for thought and life: man or God?
Part One, Philosophy, contains reflections on Life, Resurrection, and Destiny. Part Two, Epistemology, records thoughts on Confusion, Meaning, and Truth. Part Three, Logos, offers reflections for the faith of "unyielding hope": Worldview, Misology, and Logic. A Glossary, Appendices, and Resources close the project.
If an unbeliever has some interest in the sanctification of believers, then these reflections may serve as a witness to its reality and truth.