Sanctification and Good Works
As taught in the Anglican / Episcopal tradition
The fruit of faith: how the Holy Spirit conforms the believer to the image of Christ through holy living.
The question of how a human being, once justified by grace through faith, is to live in the world is perhaps the most practical and profound inquiry in the Christian life. Within the Anglican tradition, this inquiry is answered through the delicate and robust framework of "Sanctification and Good Works." For the Anglican, the life of grace is not a static state of legal acquittal, but a dynamic, organic, and transformative journey that begins in the waters of Baptism and culminates in the beatific vision.
By the end of this lesson
- **Identify** the precise theological relationship between Faith and Good Works as articulated in Article XII of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.
- **Distinguish** between the Anglican concept of "Fruit of the Spirit" and the secular concept of "Moral Achievement," focusing on the source and motivation of the action.
- **Explain** the essential role of "Abiding in the Vine" (John 15) as the ontological foundation for all Christian sanctification and ethical life.
- **Articulate** the Anglican "Via Media" regarding works, specifically how it rejects both the "merit" system of medieval scholasticism and the "lawlessness" of radical antinomianism.
- **Trace** the historical development of the "Liturgy of the Ordinary" from Benedictine stability to contemporary Anglican practice (e.g., Tish Harrison Warren).
- **Defend** the necessity of Good Works as the "inseparable evidence" of a living faith, using the exegesis of James 2:14-26.
- **Apply** the principles of Evelyn Underhill’s "Life of the Spirit" to modern challenges of burnout, activism, and daily vocations.
- **Compare** the Anglican reading of Titus 2:11-14 with other Protestant traditions, highlighting the distinct focus on the "Training of Grace."
Scripture
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