Many years ago, I visited a Sunday school class at a church where the conversation revolved around what the Christian life should look like. The consensus seemed to think that soldiering through life without acknowledging struggles or burdening other people was the right and noble way to follow Jesus. Stoically. Quietly. Solitarily. It was the first time I’d ever heard the word “bootstraps” used in a spiritual way, so it took me a moment to grasp what the man meant when he said, “It’s up to me to live a good, Christian life. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps to make a living and I’ll do the same to be a good Christian, too.” The Christian life, it seemed, was one of sheer determination and nothing else. Following Jesus was the stuff of gritted teeth and personal effort. No help or aid from anyone. Anyone? I wondered. Not even the Lord? If sanctification was accomplished by nothing more than my own strength, I feared the outcome. I knew what I was hearing wasn’t quite right, but I wasn’t sure why. I believed we were saved by grace through faith, but afterwards? I couldn’t say. I was young in the faith and didn’t know that my Bible, rather than American individualism, held the answer I was looking for.
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Recently, I was asked to share a Scripture that has changed my life. The Word of the Lord is so rich that it’s nearly impossible to choose. But the first one that came to mind was Galatians 3:3, which reads: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” I’m not sure anyone chooses this as a “life verse” and I’m fairly confident I’ll never see it on a coffee mug or t-shirt, but this verse did change my understanding of sanctification. And it showed me why bootstrapping will never have a place in the Christian life.
Paul wrote to the church in Galatia to warn them against false teaching. Following the lead of the Judaizers, the Galatian Christians were trying to fuse adherence to the Law with faith in Jesus in order to achieve a kind of elite status as believers, as if such a thing existed. But can you really fuse law with grace? No. As Paul pointed out earlier in his letter, to add to the gospel is to lose the gospel.[1] A gospel that requires you to perform in order to achieve God’s approval is no gospel at all. The whole point of the Law was to reveal our sin and point us to the One who would rescue us from slavery to it.[2] Jesus kept the Law perfectly, and though He deserved only life, He willingly laid down His life for us, the lawbreakers, so that we might live. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It is the Spirit who revives our heart and gives us the gift of faith.[3]
But what about sanctification? Our salvation is a work of the Spirit, but isn’t the Christian life up to us? I used to think so. Saved by grace through faith, sanctified by my own strength. I wouldn’t have used the term “bootstrapping” back in my young years of the faith, but that’s exactly what I was doing. I was trying to be really good, to read my Bible often, to pray, to be obedient—all in order to keep my right standing with God. If I missed some Bible reading or fell asleep praying, I figured the Lord must be disappointed in me. So, I tried harder. And harder still. And I began to hold other people to a standard I could never hope to meet. I may have been saved by grace, but I was determined to be sanctified by grit. It was a terrible way to live. And that’s why I needed (and still need) Paul’s strong appeal in Galatians 3:3. It’s folly to think you can continue in the flesh what was begun by the powerful work of the Spirit. Salvation is a miracle. So is sanctification.
Don’t get me wrong. Obedience is an important part of the Christian life. Jesus told us clearly that if we love Him, we will obey Him.[4] New life in Christ is lived in obedience to His commands—commands which are for our good and will make us more like Him as we observe them. But we don’t obey in order to keep our good standing before God. No, we obey God because we are loved by Him. We have all of His love and approval through Christ, and we’ll never lose it. But even our obedience is dependent upon Him. Jesus said we must abide in Him to bear fruit.[5] Our neediness for Him is ever present, and I’ve got the filthy rags to prove it. We cannot sanctify ourselves any more than we could save ourselves. We are as dependent upon the work of the Spirit to make us like Jesus as we were for Him to awaken our dead hearts to believe in Jesus. Saved by grace through faith. Sanctified by grace through faith.
God has invited us into the process of sanctification. He didn’t have to do it that way. He could have instantaneously made us perfect on the day we first came to faith in Christ. He did make us positionally holy; we stand completely righteous before God in Christ. But our progressive sanctification happens bit by bit as we walk with Christ and learn from Him in His Word, in prayer, and with His people. One day we’ll be completely sanctified—unable to sin ever again.[6] But until then, we take hold of the means of grace God has given us to grow into the likeness of His Son. That is His will for our lives.[7] He will accomplish it through our obedience, yes, but through obedience that is a work of the Spirit who lives in us.
We do nothing in this Christian life on our own. We need the Lord for every step of our walk with Him towards glory, and He will always supply what we need. That’s so freeing, isn’t it? It’s grace from top to bottom. If God has saved you, He will sanctify you. He’ll involve you in the process of obedience, but He will do it. We didn’t begin the good work of salvation in our hearts—He did. And He will faithfully bring it to completion.[8]
The Christian life isn’t one of bootstrapping. Quite the opposite, actually. We need all the help from the Spirit and God’s means of grace that we can grab hold of. There’s nothing to be gained by going it alone, but everything to be thankful for in knowing the Lord keeps all of His good promises to us.
I may have been saved by grace, but I was determined to be sanctified by grit. It was a terrible way to live. Share on X
[1] Galatians 1:6-9
[2] Romans 7:7
[3] John 3:8, Ephesians 2:1, 8-9, Galatians 4:6
[4] John 14:15
[5] John 15:4
[6] What a day of rejoicing that will be!
[7] 1 Thess. 4:3
[8] Phil. 1:6
Photo by Oziel Gómez on Unsplash
Glenna Marshall is married to her pastor, William, and lives in rural Southeast Missouri where she tries and fails to keep up with her two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise is His Presence (P&R) and Everyday Faithfulness (Crossway), and Memorizing Scripture (Moody). Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.