The Theology of Thomas Watson Series: Part 4

Grace That Trains Us: Thomas Watson on Holiness and Sanctification

One of the most common confusions in modern Christianity is the relationship between grace and holiness. Grace is often spoken of warmly, passionately, even poetically. Holiness, on the other hand, is treated cautiously, sometimes suspiciously, as though it threatens joy, freedom, or assurance.

Puritan Thomas Watson would not recognize that separation.

For Watson, grace and holiness are inseparable. Grace does not merely pardon sin. Grace reshapes the soul. Grace does not excuse disobedience. Grace creates a hunger for obedience. Grace does not leave a man where it found him.

And that is why sanctification must follow repentance. Repentance clears the ground. Sanctification is the Spirit of God building something new in its place.

Grace Is Not Passive

Watson never treats grace as something dormant or inactive. Grace is not spiritual permission to remain unchanged. Grace moves. Grace works. Grace produces fruit.

In A Body of Divinity, Watson speaks plainly about the nature of saving grace:

Grace is a supernatural principle planted in the soul, whereby it is inclined to God and holiness.”
(Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity)

Notice the language. Grace is planted. It grows. It inclines the soul. Grace bends the will toward God. That alone dismantles the idea that grace leaves the heart neutral.

Watson believed that where grace is real, change is inevitable. Not immediate perfection, but real direction. Not sinless living, but growing holiness.

This is why Watson shows little patience for people who speak much of grace but show no progress. Grace, by its nature, produces motion.

Sanctification Is Evidence, Not Earning

Watson is careful here. He never confuses sanctification with justification. Holiness does not earn salvation. But it always follows it.

In The Godly Man’s Picture, Watson describes sanctification as the visible imprint of grace on a person’s life. He is not asking whether someone can explain doctrine. He is asking whether grace has actually changed anything.

Where there is the life of grace, there will be the fruits of grace.”
(Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture)

Watson does not ask for perfection. He looks for evidence. New desires. New affections. New battles. New priorities.

This is why sanctification brings assurance rather than fear. Holiness does not replace faith. It confirms it. Growth in holiness reassures the believer that grace is truly at work.

Watson understood something we often forget. A profession of faith that never produces obedience eventually hollows out assurance. But a growing love for holiness strengthens confidence in God’s work.

Holiness Begins in the Heart

Watson was deeply allergic to outward-only religion. He saw how easily moral behavior could exist without a transformed heart. That is why he presses sanctification inward.

In The Ten Commandments, Watson repeatedly shows that God’s law reaches beyond actions into thoughts, motives, and affections. Each commandment exposes heart-sins behind visible sins.

The law of God is spiritual, and reaches to the heart.”
(Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments)

This keeps sanctification from becoming legalism. Watson does not want cleaner hands with unchanged hearts. He wants reordered loves.

True holiness, for Watson, means the heart begins to align with God’s will. Sin is resisted not only because it is forbidden, but because it is hated. Obedience is pursued not only because it is commanded, but because God is loved.

That inward work is slow. It is often painful. But it is real.

Grace Trains the Will

Watson rejects the idea that grace bypasses effort. Grace empowers effort. Grace energizes discipline. Grace strengthens the will.

This is where Heaven Taken by Storm becomes especially helpful. Watson argues that the Christian life involves holy striving, not lazy drifting.

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
(Thomas Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm)

Watson does not mean physical aggression. He means spiritual seriousness. He means resistance to sin. He means disciplined obedience. He means a refusal to coast.

Grace does not turn believers into spectators. It turns them into fighters. Not fighters against people, but fighters against sin, temptation, and spiritual apathy.

Watson would say that effort without grace is legalism, but grace without effort is imagination. True grace creates a willingness to labor, to resist, to press forward.

Growth Is Gradual but Real

Watson is realistic about sanctification. He knew believers stumble. He knew progress is uneven. He knew growth can feel slow.

But he also believed stagnation is dangerous.

In The Godly Man’s Picture, Watson describes holiness as progressive. Grace deepens over time. The hatred of sin grows stronger. The love of righteousness becomes sweeter.

Grace does not lie dormant in the soul, but is a living, active principle.”
(Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture)

Watson does not expect instant maturity. He expects movement. He expects direction. He expects a growing sensitivity to sin and a growing appetite for righteousness.

This guards against despair on one side and complacency on the other. You may not be where you want to be. But are you moving? Are you resisting sin more seriously than before? Are you more grieved by sin than you once were? Are you more drawn to God?

Those questions matter.

Obedience Without Legalism

One of Watson’s greatest strengths is his ability to uphold obedience without falling into legalism.

In The Ten Commandments, he shows that God’s law is not opposed to grace. It reflects God’s character. It reveals what love looks like.

The law shows us what God requires, not that we may be justified by it, but that we may walk according to it.”
(Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments)

Obedience, then, is not self-salvation. It is gratitude expressed through action. It is love responding to grace.

Watson believed that a heart transformed by grace wants to please God. Obedience becomes an expression of affection, not a strategy for earning favor.

Holiness Leads to Assurance and Joy

Modern Christianity often assumes holiness drains joy. Watson believed the opposite.

Sin promises pleasure and delivers bondage. Holiness may require discipline, but it yields peace.

Watson ties sanctification to assurance. A growing hatred of sin, a growing love for righteousness, and a growing desire to obey God strengthen confidence in His saving work.

Holiness is the visible beauty of grace.”
(Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity)

That beauty is not performative. It is quiet. It is steady. It is lived out in obedience when no one is watching.

Watson knew joy rooted in holiness is deeper than emotional highs. It survives suffering. It endures trials. It steadies the soul.

Why This Teaching Is Needed Today

Watson would recognize much of modern Christianity immediately. He would hear grace celebrated and holiness avoided. He would see repentance affirmed and obedience minimized.

And he would warn us that grace divorced from sanctification eventually becomes permission, not power.

Holiness does not save. But it does reveal what has saved us.

Grace that does not train us has not truly reached us.

A Final Word

If this teaching feels weighty, that is because holiness matters. Not because God is harsh, but because God is good.

Sanctification is not about becoming impressive. It is about becoming faithful. It is about learning to hate what kills the soul and love what pleases God.

Grace trains us, disciplines us. and reshapes us. And that is good news!

Transition to the Next Article

Once holiness begins to grow, another reality emerges naturally: a deeper fear of God. Not terror, but reverence. Not dread, but awe.

That is where Thomas Watson takes us next.

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Read Part 1 of my Thomas Watson series,  Who Was Thomas Watson and Why Should Modern Christians Read Him?

Read Part 2 of my Thomas Watson series,  The God Who Is: Thomas Watson on the Attributes of God

Read Part 3 of my Thomas Watson series,  True Repentance in an Age of Excuses: Thomas Watson on the Repentance God Requires