Why I Love Perfect Participles...

ok, ok... I hope you get as excited about this as I am... but the Greek language is a wonderful thing. Now I'm not saying everyone needs to know Greek to understand the Bible, but I sure hope whatever preacher you are listening to is diligent in his study of it, or he may miss things like the perfect participle.

The perfect participle in the Greek language indicates a "completed action with results continuing into the present." Hmmm... sounds like salvation. The example that is given is Ephesians 2:8,9. Paul says "By Grace you have been saved through faith..." A glance of this verse would lead most to point to the act of justification, knowing that our justification, i.e. atonement for sin, is not something we received by works, but a "gift of God, so no one may boast" as Paul puts it.

But wait a minute... If Paul were just talking about justification, wouldn't he have said so? I think so, and further more, in light of my cherished perfect participle, the above bold verb would be better translated "are being saved." So it isn't something we "received," but in fact is something we are receiving. So in the interest of making a rather lengthy discussion short, let me sum up by saying this:

The completed action is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and the residual effects of that completed action is our justification (which is complete), sanctification (which is still in progress), and our eventual glorification when we enter into heaven.

But here is an important part I don't want you to miss, and I hope it encourages you...
All of these things are a gift from God! That's why Paul said to the Galatians in Galatians 3:3 "Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now perfected in the flesh?" It's why he also told the Philippians in Phil 2:13, "It is God who is at work in you."

I am speaking primarily about sanctification. In the good times, and in the difficult times, never lose site of the fact that along with your justification, and your eventual glorification, the process of your sanctification is just as much a gift that God has given you by grace, through faith.