Understanding Justification and Sanctification

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

Justification and Sanctification are two abstract terms that are crucial to what happens when we are saved. Most of us grew up with parents and/or a society who expected us to perform a certain way before they'd be pleased with us. Performance-based acceptance is ingrained into us from an early age. This makes it hard to accept that there's nothing we can do to please God apart from His Son. Even after we are saved in Christ, we aren't required to perform. Instead, our works flow out of our love and grateful hearts, not out of duty in following rules, regulations, and laws.

Because it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16).

Justification is what happens when we accept Christ into our lives as our Savior. We trade all our sins for his complete righteousness. His death on the cross made this possible. At that point, we become saints who are holy and righteous, not in and of ourselves, but from Him. This is the great gift of God's grace stemming from His love and mercy. We can be justified, made pure in Christ. Being holy is the only way we can approach and have a relationship with holy God. He, in His perfection, cannot be in the presence of sin.

... to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel... (Colossians 1:22b-23a).

Sanctification is an ongoing process of being made Christlike. Whereas justification is completed at the point we accept Christ as our Savior, sanctification will never be complete as long as we live on this earth. This is how we grow in our faith. While justification relies solely on Christ, sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. He continuously moves us along our journey of faith to become more like Christ, the only perfect One who has ever lived on earth. Both justification and sanctification take place in the lives of every Christian. Thanks be to God!

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