The preceding chapter outlines the entire consequences of the fall of
Adam, physical and spiritual. Since the primary object of this work is to set
forth the plan of redemption as it relates to the soul, we shall hereafter
dispense with divine healing and the resurrection as not being germane to our
present purpose. This focuses our attention upon the double need of the soul and
the supply of that double need through the redemption of Christ.
The first aspect of this twofold need appears in a sense
of guilt incurred on account of actual transgression of the known law of God.
This guilt—the effect of willful transgression of divine law—finds its
supply in that work of grace variously denominated justification, forgiveness,
conversion, regeneration.
The second phase of this double need is a need for heart
purity, a need for the restoration to the divine moral image in which man was
created. Accompanying this subjective need of a pure heart, a need for the full
and unhindered cooperation of the Holy Spirit is felt in the soul of mar. This
second need meets its supply, as we shall learn hereafter, in the second work of
grace, which removes native depravity and permits a full influx of the Holy
Spirit.
It will be noticed that there is a reversal in the order
in which sin appears in the human heart and in which it disappears through
redemption. In the appearance of evil in the individual, depravity precedes
transgression; whereas in redemption the forgiveness of actual transgression
precedes the removal of depravity. By nature we are first depraved, then guilty:
by grace we are first forgiven, then purified.
Following the order of redemption as it appears in the
individual experience, we will now study first justification and secondly
sanctification..
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