How Does Sanctification Work? (Powlison)

Many popular views try to reduce the process of Christian growth to a single template: Remember past grace. Rehearse your identity in Christ. Avail yourself of the means of grace. Discipline yourself. But Scripture portrays the dynamics of sanctification in a rich variety of ways. No single factor, truth, or protocol can capture why and how a person is changed into the image of Christ. 

Weaving together personal stories, biblical exposition, and theological reflection, David Powlison shows the personal and particular ways that God meets you where you are to produce change. He highlights the variety of factors that work together, helping us to avoid sweeping generalizations and pat answers in the search for a key to sanctification. This book is a go-to resource for understanding the multifaceted, lifelong, personal journey of sanctification. 

Read Chapter 1

Author

David Powlison (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a teacher, a counselor, and the executive director of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation. He is also the senior editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling and the author of Seeing with New Eyes, Good and Angry, and Speaking Truth in Love.

Endorsements

“There’s nothing more invigorating in your walk with Jesus than getting up every morning and getting actively engaged in your own sanctification. To partner with the Spirit of Christ in your own change, growth, and maturity is a wonderful way of ‘making it your ambition to be pleasing to him.’ And I’m so excited that David Powlison shows the reader how to do just this in his remarkable new book How Does Sanctification Work? I give it a hearty thumbs-up!”
Joni Eareckson Tada, founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center; author, A Spectacle of Glory and Beside Bethesda 

“Every Christian leader or writer or pastor should have David Powlison whispering in his ear, ‘God’s Word is deep and rich . . . don’t just sit on one paradigm—teach the full counsel of God.’ This book will do that for you.”
Paul E. Miller, executive director, seeJesus; author, A Praying Life and A Loving Life

“To know David Powlison is to know a man who is growing in the sweet fruit of sanctifying grace. To witness his ministry is to see one whom the Lord is using to sanctify many. That is why I am so grateful for How Does Sanctification Work? One of the most crucial areas of debate among Christians today concerns the doctrine of sanctification. David’s is a voice of sound, biblical wisdom in the midst of much confusion. If you are looking for a book on sanctification that is profoundly personal, biblically balanced, and deeply relevant, then this is it.”
Heath Lambert, associate pastor, First Baptist Church of Jacksonville; executive director, Association of Certified Biblical Counselors; author, A Theology of Biblical Counseling and Finally Free