Some words have aged better than others. For many, the past two centuries have not been kind to the word “sanctification.” For many who love both the word and the process of authentic transformation it can represent, this is an unfortunate development.
We have asked Steve Porter, a senior fellow of the Martin Institute, to help us find, well, a “new key,” if you will, for appreciating why others, ranging from John Wesley to Dallas Willard, are so fond of this word.
His first essay is titled, Sanctification in a New Key: Relieving Evangelical Anxieties Over Spiritual Formation. It written as an apologetic for spiritual formation to those within the evangelical tradition who find themselves concerned about its emphases.
His second essay, The Gradual Nature of Sanctification: Σάρξ as Habituated, Relational Resistance to the Spirit, offers an explanatory framework for the gradual nature of sanctification. For related articles and essays please click here.
After reading these two articles by Steve Porter, you may want to listen to some reflections by Dallas Willard and friends. These reflections served as the raw material for what became Renovation of the Heart. This group went on to become the Theological and Cultural Thinkers (TACT) and continued to meet for ten years.