Hello Stucco, I hope you don’t mind me butting here. I just have to say that I have trouble with the term ‘Progressive sanctification.’ If you mean by the term growing in grace, growing in love, faith, knowledge and commitment to Christ, I can agree with that, but if you mean, as you said in your post, growing in holiness, or gradually attaining higher degrees of holiness, I say, how can that be? How can we contribute to our own holiness? And if, as we all agree, sanctification is essential to salvation, then works (our contribution) can have no part in it, can it? It has to be all of grace, doesn’t it? I believe that when God chose us to eternal life before the world began, we were sanctified. We were set apart and made holy for God. I do not think our good works, our devotion, our prayers or meditations and bible reading, anything, makes us MORE holy. I do believe we grow in faith, devotion, submission and even obedience to Christ, but I do not read anywhere in the bible of a believer claiming to grow in holiness or sanctification before God. We are perfectly holy in Christ right now. How can we improve on that? [b]And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. Colossians 1:21-22 There is therefore NOW no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Romans 8:1[/b] And now, knowing these things, I have a desire, out of love for Christ, to follow his commands. In him, Carol