JUSTIFICATION vs SANCTIFICATION

Knowing the Difference Between JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION.

It's good to review what is the difference between Justification and Sanctification. And to know what they are and their differences. If we get them backwards, it is to our peril as so many religions have done. Justification comes first, then Sanctification. It makes all the difference in eternity. We cannot be right with God by trying to be holy. We are first declared righteous, then we are made holy by the process of God the Holy Spirit. Though both Justification and Sanctification happen contemporaneously, Justification HAPPENED to the Christian and Sanctification HAPPENS to the Christian. Sanctification was inaugurated when we were Justified. Let's explore!

                                                                            JUSTIFICATION

CHRISTIAN’S POSITION / STANDING BEFORE GOD OUR JUDGE

 

“Justification” is a biblical term for an act of God’s grace whereby He declares that all the demands of the law are fulfilled on behalf of the believing sinner through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled the demands of the Law on our behalf. Justification is the reversal of God’s attitude toward the sinner. Whereas He formerly condemned, He now vindicates-not because of any good thing found in the sinner himself, but because of the Imputed (credited) righteousness of Christ. 

                                                                                                                                            

AND, because of justification, believers not only are perfectly free from any charge of guilt but also have the full merit of Christ reckoned to their personal account. Justification is an essential element of salvation – no Justification, no salvation.

 

In its theological sense, justification is a forensic, or purely legal term. It describes what God declares about the believer, not what He does to change the believer. In fact, justification effects no actual change whatsoever in the sinner’s nature or character. Justification is a divine judicial edict. It changes our status or state only, but it does carry ramifications that guarantee other changes will follow. Forensic decrees like this are fairly common in everyday life. (Marriage Ceremony, Jury Foreman, etc.)

 

In biblical terms, justification is a divine verdict of “not guilty-fully righteous”; from 

wrath to blessing. It is not just a pardon; pardon alone would still leave the sinner without merit before God. So, when God justifies, He imputes (credits) divine righteousness to the sinner (Rom 4.22-25).

 

Christ’s own infinite merit thus becomes the ground on which the believer stands before God - 

Rom. 5:19 “For as through the one man's disobedience (Adam) the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One (Christ) the many will be made righteous.”

1 Cor. 1:30 “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption...”

2 Cor 5.21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Phil. 3:9 “and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith...”

So, justification elevates the believer to a realm of full acceptance to God the Father and divine privilege in Jesus Christ, God the Son.

 

Christ’s death paid the price so “PAID” can be written on the believer’s spiritual invoice…

(Col. 2:14 “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”)

…As our sin was imputed (charged) to Christ - 

1 Pet. 2:24 “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 

 

So, His righteousness is imputed to the believer. No other payment or reimbursement is required.  

 

Ps. 32:1-2 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! 

How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!”

 

Therefore because of Justification, the forensic realities and “Positional” truths, which flow out of justification, are as follows:

 

1.  Believers are perfectly free from any charge of guilt.

Rom. 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies...

 

2.  Have the full merit of Christ reckoned to their personal account.

Rom. 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

 

3.  Adopted as sons and daughters.

Rom. 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

 

4.  Become fellow heirs with Christ.

Rom. 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

5.  United with Christ / One with Him.

1 Cor. 6:17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

 

6.  A new creation.

2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

 

7.  POSITIONAL TRUTHS:  

Henceforth we are “in Christ”

Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Rom. 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Rom. 16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

1 Cor. 1:2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:”

Our life is hid with Christ in God

Col. 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

We are buried with Him by baptism into death

Rom. 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Col. 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

We are one body in Him

Rom. 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Christ is our life

Col. 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Our hope of Glory, Christ in us

Col. 1:27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We are seated with Him 

Eph. 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus...

 

 

SANCTIFICATION

THE CHRISTIAN’S CONDITION / STATE BEFORE GOD OUR FATHER

 

“Sanctification” is a biblical term, meaning in part, the daily and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit in believers, making us holy by conforming our character, affections, and behavior to the image of Christ. We are “set apart” for God to build in us a holiness like Himself.

 

In short, He changes our “want to’s”. He imparts in us a desire for righteousness.

Matthew 5.6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

 

Sanctification is an essential element of salvation – no Sanctification, no salvation.

 

Sanctification is God making you on the inside what He declared you to be on the outside. He declares you clean by justification – He makes you clean by Sanctification.

 

Contrasting Justification and Sanctification: 

 

Justification is distinct from Sanctification because in Justification God does not make the sinner righteous; He declares that person righteous

 

Rom. 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. and 

Gal. 2:16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.   

 

 

Justification IMPUTES Christ’s righteousness to the sinner’s account

 

 

Rom. 4:11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be reckoned to them; 

                                                                                                                                               

Sanctification IMPARTS righteousness to the sinner personally and practically 

(Rom 6.1-7; 8.11-14)

 

Justification takes place outside the sinner and changes the believer’s standing or position before God our Judge.

I was once under His wrath, now I am under His pleasure.

Rom. 5:1-2 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.  

 

Sanctification is internal and changes the believer’s state or condition before God our Father.

Rom. 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

 

Justification is a one-time event; sanctification is a life-long process. 

Justification frees us from the guilt of sin, sanctification from the pollution of sin.

 

At Justification, we surrender the principle of sin and self-rule…we establish Who is in charge. 

In sanctification we relinquish the practice of specific sins as we mature in Christ.  

 

When we trust Christ for salvation, we settle the issue of who is in charge. At salvation we surrender to Christ in principle, but as Christians we will surrender in practice again and again. This practical outworking of His Lordship is the process of sanctification.

 

The two must be distinguished but can never be separated. God does not justify whom He does not sanctify, and He does not sanctify whom He has not justified. Both are essential elements of salvation. 

 

1.  Holiness is to be the TOUCHSTONE of the Christian Life.

Although justification is not sanctification, justification is intended to produce sanctification.  Christ came in order to save His people from their sins; they were not to be saved in the midst of their sins and then lie down in them again.

Matt. 1:21 "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins."

 

Though men seek to pervert the gospel, the Christian must not be drawn aside to any position other than that which demands holiness, and which leads to holiness.

Heb. 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 

Holiness starts where justification finishes, and if holiness does not start, it may be valid to suspect that justification never took place.        

            

2.  Christians cannot serve God and sin...living in two opposing spiritual domains simultaneously.  

Matt. 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

 

We are either slaves of sin by natural birth, or slaves of righteousness by regeneration. No true believer will continue indefinitely in disobedience, because sin is diametrically opposed to our new and holy nature. Real Christians cannot endure perpetual sinful living. Sanctification is not perfection, rather, it is direction.

 

Col. 1:21-22 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--

and (Rom 8.5-9)

 

3.  Sanctification is not some second work of grace or second level experience that occurs sometime after conversion. 

 

There ARE NOT two stages in the Christian Life...like…

 

Stage One, conversion - receiving Christ as Savior...

Stage Two, consecration - surrendering to Him as Lord. 

 

There should be only ONE stage where conversion and consecration take place, and the consecration continues in a life-long journey.

2 Pet. 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

1 Cor. 1:2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

1 Cor. 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

2 Thess. 2:13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

 

If the positional aspects of God’s truth are applicable to a life, His practical sanctifying work will also be operative in that same life.

 

4.  There is an immediate aspect of sanctification that is simultaneous with justification.  

1 Cor. 6:11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. 

This once-for-all aspect of sanctification is undoubtedly what the apostle had in view when he addressed the Corinthians as “those who have been sanctified.

 

1 Cor. 1:2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours …

 

(This initial, immediate aspect is sometimes referred to as “Positional Sanctification”)      

                                                                   

Sanctification, unlike justification, is not a one-time, legal declaration. It is an experiential separation from sin that begins at salvation and continues in increasing degrees of practical holiness in one’s life and behavior. Sanctification may be observable in greater or lesser degrees from believer to believer. But it is not optional, nor is it separable from the other aspects of our salvation.

 

5.  The “In Christ” aspect of Sanctification (Refer to #7 above under Justification)

To be “In Christ” is not only to believe some truths about Him, but rather to be united to Him inseparably as the source of our eternal life, as both the “author and perfecter of faith” 

(Heb 12.2). To be “In Him” is to be “in the process of sanctification.”

 

Paul’s stress is not on the immorality of continuing to live the way we did before we were saved, but on the impossibility of it (Rom 6.3-10). The whole purpose of our union in Christ’s death and resurrection with Christ is so that “we might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6.4). How could we continue in the realm of sin?

Certainly, we can commit sins, but we do not live anymore in the dimension of sin and under sin’s rule (Rom 8.2-4). Sin is contrary to our new disposition. “No one who is born of God practices sin,” according to John, “because His seed (that which is born of God) abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). It is not merely that we should not continue to live in unbroken sin but that we cannot.

 

6.  There are not two kinds of righteousness – there are two aspects of divine righteousness. Righteousness is a single package; God does not declare someone righteous whom He does not also make righteous. Having begun the process, He will continue it to ultimate glorification

 

Rom. 8:29-30 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Phil. 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

 

7.  Sanctification is so much an essential part of salvation that the term is commonly used in Scripture as a synonym for salvation. We cannot have one without the other.

Acts 20:32 "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. '              

1 Cor. 1:2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

1 Cor. 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

1 Cor. 6:11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

2 Thess. 2:13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

Heb. 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Heb. 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

1 Pet. 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.

 

8.  Paul attacks the conception that justification is the sum of God’s work in salvation.  

Rom. 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Including Rom 6.11-14)

9.  Our union with Christ guarantees a changed life. 

Rom. 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, (We will share in His holy walk.)

Gal. 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.  Our new life as Christians is not an amended old life but a divinely bestowed new life that is of the same nature as Christ’s very own. It is what our Lord spoke of when He promised abundant life 

John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.

 

10.  If the old self is not dead, then conversion has not occurred.  

Gal. 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  

Eph. 4:22-24  that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Col. 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

 

11.  No genuine Christian lives in bondage to sin.

1 Pet. 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

Rom. 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.

 

12.  Even our sanctification is by faith.

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith.

As HOLINESS is to be the TOUCHSTONE of the Christian Life (#1 above), 

The HALLMARK of Grace is an OBEDIENT HEART.

Rom. 6:17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

A person whose heart has not been changed is likely not saved.

 

13.  Obedience does not produce or maintain salvation, but it is the inevitable characteristic of those who are saved. The desire to know and obey God’s truth is one of the surest marks of genuine salvation. Jesus made it clear that those who obey His word are the true believers.  

John 8:31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him."

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.

John 14:24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.

John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

 

14.  Slaves of sin, unbelievers, are free from righteousness...

Rom. 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

Christians, on the other hand, are free from sin and enslaved to God through faith in Jesus Christ... 

Rom. 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

The inevitable benefit of salvation is sanctification, and the ultimate outcome is eternal life. 

God not only frees us from sin’s penalty (Justification), 

but He frees us from sin’s tyranny as well (Sanctification) and AT THE SAME TIME.

 

He delivers us from the PENALTY of sin – Imputation of the righteousness of Christ…JUSTIFICATION. 

We are acquitted.

 

He delivers us from the POWER of sin – the abiding presence and work of the Holy Spirit…SANCTIFICATION. We begin the process of holiness as we thirst for righteousness.

 

He will ultimately deliver us from the PRESENCE of sin when we are absent from the body, present with the Lord. GLORIFICATION. Ultimately in our resurrected bodies.

Another way:

Sin makes deep impressions as a heavy pen on a legal pad. In Justification, the incriminating print is removed as the impression on the underlay remains. As each page is turned, the impression becomes lighter and lighter. This is Sanctification. Glorification is the removal of the underlay.