Cleansed Yet Cleansing: The Double Work of Grace

"Now are ye clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3). Christ presents a paradox: the disciples are clean, yet they require continual cleansing. Archbishop Trench illuminates this mystery of the believer's dual relationship with God. By faith, the faithful stand justified before the Almighty—their position is secure, their standing ground established. Yet their actual condition perpetually approximates but never fully matches this ideal state. They must continuously appropriate sanctifying grace, those purifying influences that stream from Christ to all who are His.

The custom at Munich illustrates this tension. Street children brought to charitable establishments are first painted in their ragged condition—before cleansing, before new garments. Upon completing their education, each receives this portrait as a permanent reminder of their former degradation and the establishment's redemptive work. The oath binds them to memory: never forget your rescuer.

Let believers similarly compare their former state as unsaved sinners with their present condition as renewed disciples. The contrast kindles affection for Him who wrought the transformation. This remembrance—this deliberate gazing upon the portrait of what we were—fans the flames of love and gratitude toward Adonai. The Word cleanses us positionally through justification; grace continually cleanses us experientially through sanctification. Both movements flow from His inexhaustible mercy toward those who abide in Him.