The Work resides in progressive sanctification which is why it doesn't speak of issues of salvation

[I settle an old problem in this email, and definitively so. All confusion cleared up regarding the relation of the Work to Christianity.]

They are interesting quotes. I guess in my case when I first went through all the main Work sources I didn't focus much on anything that touched on Christianity because I was getting the main language itself. If I went through it again now that is one thing I'd see more clearly.


I'm going to sound like hard-core Christian here now: the problem of all human beings is not that we aren't awake enough, it's that we are currently under the wrath and condemnation of God due to the Fall that occurred in the Garden by our Federal Head - King, if you will - the first Adam. That resulted in all human beings not only having the *guilt* of sin but also the *pollution* of sin.


As Tyndale put it, we are venomous snakes, and we can't get the poison out of us. Also, even if we don't strike out with our fangs (even if we are 'good') it is our *nature* to strike with our fangs, and we do.


A leopard can't change its spots, only God can do that. And only God can get the poison out of us and change our nature.


So, the *guilt* of sin requires justification. And the *pollution* of sin requires sanctification (and eventually glorification at death).


We can't justify ourselves (self-justification in everyday life events being a common activity of fallen man and pretty much always dishonest). So we are in a bad situation. But that is where Jesus, the God-man, comes into play. He is the *second Adam*. He came to fulfill what the first Adam failed to fulfill. And human beings can benefit by His sacrifice - His paying the price of Adam's failure - by simply believing in Him and His work on the cross. It is by *faith* because that is the one thing that we can't boast of. That is the *foolishness* of the Gospel, that it simply requires bare faith, rather than any works on our part. If it were by works (like how much we love, or how many good works we do) we could boast that it is our doing, so it is solely by faith, which itself is a grace given to us by God.


To review concisely, what I'm saying, again, is our problem is not that we aren't awake, it is that we are currently living under the curse of the law with no means of getting out from under that curse (other than by faith in the Savior who followed the law to a 't' for us).


So this is why I pointed out that the Work (the ideas, practices, and goals of the Work) is subsequent, it comes *after*, regeneration and faith and justification and definitive sanctification. Only then is there a practical use for awakening more by degree. Only if it's on a foundation of salvation itself.


Sanctification is interesting in this respect. There is *definitive* sanctification, which is something God does in us when we are justified by faith alone. That means we are sanctified to the point where we can enter the Kingdom of God. That *pollution* of sin is cleaned up in us. The venom is removed. That is *definitive* sanctification.


Then there is *progressive* sanctification. Because we don't immediately die once we are saved we continue in our sanctification until our physical death. This is progressive sanctification. *It* - unlike definitive sanctification - requires *our* effort. Though is is *God-reliant* effort, as J. I. Packer put it. It is in *this* type of sanctification - progressive sanctification - that the Work comes in. >>>This is why there is *no salvation* talked about in the Work sources.<<< It's because it assumes salvation (even though G. and O. themselves may not have been aware of this, or may have been *not mixing languages* so stringently that they refused to even talk of it).


I should point out again: *definitive* sanctification is *all we need* to be in Heaven, so to speak. *Progressive* sanctification is icing on the cake, so to speak. The apostle Paul speaks of different levels of being in the Kingdom of God. This is where progressive sanctification comes in.


The righteousness that gets us into the Kingdom of God is solely derived from the righteousness of Christ. We are clothed, or robed, in His righteousness solely. It's vicarious. That's all we need, and its what we need.


!!!!!!!>>>>>> Big point: See above where it is pointed out that the Work doesn't talk of salvation *because* it resides in *progressive* sanctification which happens on the already settled foundation of salvation. We're making efforts now because we're *able* to make efforts. The efforts have nothing to do with our salvation, that is done, accomplished by the Savior in His work in His life when He followed the law to a 't' (something only He could do because He wasn't born with original sin and because He's God so He was able to never actively sin) and when He voluntarily died on the cross thus paying the penalty Adam incurred by his fall which was death. Jesus' death made payment for all because only *He* was a 'spotless lamb', i.e. He was the only 100% innocent human being ever born. So His death was *able* to stand in for all (all being all who eventually have faith in Him). Plus, by covenant, Jesus is the *federal head* of all the elect (those who eventually have faith in Him). So just as we suffer due to Adam fall, we benefit due to Jesus' success.


These two aspects of what Jesus did are called his *active obedience* and His *passive obedience*, both of which are *imputed to us* when we simply have faith in Him. Believe and trust in Him and His work. That faith though is a grace given by God and comes with regeneration, i.e. getting a new heart, awakening, all that.


So, again, the Work resides in *progressive* sanctification which is why it doesn't speak of issues of salvation because salvation at that point is an already done deal.