Dr Paul Allen

From Kevin DeYoung 's forthcoming book, The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness (Crossway; August 31, 2012), page 123: We must always remember that in seeking after holiness we are not so much seeking after a thing as we are seeking a person. The blessings of the gospel — election, justification, sanctification , glorification, and all the rest — have been deposited in no other treasury but Christ .  We don’t just want holiness. We want the Holy One in whom we have been counted holy and are now being made holy. To run hard after holiness is another way of running hard after God. Just as a once-for-all, objective justification leads to a slow-growth, subjective sanctification, so our unchanging union with Christ leads to an ever-increasing communion with Christ. Related articles An Interview with John Piper (challies.com) Twelve Propositions on Sanctification (challies.com) What Sanctification Is and Is Not (ch

Image via Wikipedia "According as he hath chosen us in him . . . that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." ( Ephesians 1:4 )   In the grand purpose of our "selection" into God 's family, two key words are used:   " Holy " ( Greek   hagios ) stresses dedication. A holy man or woman is distinctively God's, set apart for God's use, separated from the secular, and consecrated to God's service. All who are "chosen" are chosen to be holy.   The Colossian Christians were told to "mortify" the physical appetites, to "put off" their sinful mental attitudes and habits, and to "put on the new man . . . as the elect of God, holy and beloved" ( Colossians 3:5-12 ). The focus is character.   "Without blame" refers to our reputations. This character will only be fully realized in heaven ( 1 Corinthians 1:8 ), but there is a present responsibility to "present your bodies a living