Objection 28

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

1 Thessalonians 5:23, "the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.

Read the mood: it is a prayer, not a program, and it is addressed to God as the doer, not to the saints as achievers. Its fulfillment is dated in the same breath: "preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," and grounded in the next verse: "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" (5:24). The verse teaches that God will complete the entire sanctification of His people at Christ's coming, and that He is faithful to do it, which is preservation doctrine, not perfectionism. The attainment system reads an accomplishment of God at the resurrection as an assignment for man before it.