Justification and Sanctification
Define terms and delineate applications
Lady Justice is portrayed as being blind. Fairness is seen as balancing the facts. Being blind while seeing may seem to be completely opposite! (She was not always portrayed as blind and impartial.) Although the image may have originated in ancient times, the reality is that God is just before time began.
Some terms that are used by Christians may be difficult to understand because they are not in the Bible, but the concept and application are there throughout Scriptures. Justification and sanctification are two of those terms not in the Bible, yet justified and sanctified are in the Bible. The -ation ending simply means “act of” to change a noun from a verb.
Define terms
In the dictionary, justification is defined as “an acceptable reason for doing something.” Some colloquialisms within Christian circles define justification as “just-as-if-I-never-sinned.” But we have sinned. What does that mean then?
Aligned, but not in contract to justification, is sanctification. A dictionary definition of sanctification is “the state of growing in divine grace as a result of Christian commitment after baptism or conversion.” The viewpoint of God is related to being purified.
To examine more details, Dr. David Jeremiah in The Jeremiah Study Bible clarifies how these terms apply to those who are followers of Jesus Christ.
Justification is our eternal position before God through Christ;
sanctification is becoming in practice what we already are in position — the holiness of the saint.
Justification is an act of the Spirit in us;
sanctification is a work of the Spirit through us.
Justification is for us;
sanctifcation is in us.
Justification is a transaction;
santification is a transformation.
Justification is the trigger;
sanctifcation is the process; glorification is the end.
Justification declares us righteous;
sanctification moves us toward righteousness.
Justification removes the guilt and penalty of sin;
sanctification removes the unrestrained growth and power of sin.
Take a closer look
In Romans 6:1–23, there are specific responsibilities. God does His part. I do my part. I can choose to be a slave to God, surrendered to the leading of His Spirit within me, or be a slave to myself. There really are only two masters.
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. (Romans 6:1–23, NIV)
Impact of Scripture and reality of meaning
As a 15-year-old, I went forward in a Billy Graham Crusade. The organization mailed a guide to follow. My first responsibility was to read a chapter of Romans each night. I did. I clearly recall opening my Bible each night and reading Romans. By Chapter 6, I felt hopeless. By Chapter 8, I felt relieved and hopeful. Throughout my life, Romans 8:28 has sustained me, knowing that “all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose” because He has a purpose for my life.
Studying more deeply into what justification and sanctification mean, in general and specific terms, helps me to see more clearly. Though I am blinded to the future only God knows, I understand more of who I am positionally in God’s eyes and who I am in practice on earth. I do not lean on my own understanding. Learning terminology and defining clearly how to apply knowledge keeps me from distortions and misapplication of truth.
