Q 3: How are redeemed people able to make progress in holiness through God’s Law?

A 3: God makes His redeemed people holy as His Spirit, dwelling in their hearts, teaches, convicts, and makes them willing and able to obey the Law of God. (Jn. 14.15-17; Jn. 16.13; Jn. 16.8-11; Ezek. 36.26, 27; Phil. 2.12, 13)

The people to whom the Law was originally given did not have the heart to obey it (Deut. 5.29). The same is true with all people, prior to redemption in Jesus Christ. The Law is still holy and righteous and good, but sinful human beings have no power to obey the Law according to the heart, soul, mind, and strength demands of God.

Rather than abandon the Law, however, God promised to come to His people and repair their heart problem, so that they could enter into true fellowship with Him and participate in His holiness (Deut. 30.1-10). The Lord accomplishes this through the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. He comes with the gift of faith to all whom God has chosen in Christ from before the foundations of the world. As the power of God at work within those who believe, the Spirit makes us willing and able to do whatever pleases God, and to do it exceeding abundantly beyond anything we could ever ask or think (Phil. 2.13; Eph. 3.20). The Law of God is the Spirit’s primary curriculum as He works to bring us into the presence of God’s glory and transform us there increasingly into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

Thus, the followers of Christ make progress in holiness not through their own efforts – although it is incumbent upon them to work out their salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2.12) – but through the indwelling work of the Spirit, as they yield to and are filled with Him.

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