Justification and Entire Sanctification

QUESTION

A careful examination of Biblical and theological foundations of the doctrine of entire sanctification and justification through lecture, discussion, research papers, and personal readings.

ANSWER

Introduction

As Christians, we are well aware that we need salvation. Every believer wants to end up on the good side of the Lord on judgment day. The Bible says, on the return of the son of man, every individual stands to be judged by God. On this day, Jesus will separate the righteous from the sinners. The righteous are promised eternal life and communion with their master. On the other hand, sinners are condemned to eternal suffering. As Christians, we are required to repent, be saved, and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the savior of our lives. Good thing, God has always had a plan of saving us, like when He sent His son to come and die for our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, He forgave all our sins. Before he ascended to heaven, he left us the holy spirit to guide us through the world of sin. He also promised to come back for His people, who kept the faith and punished the rest. However, Jesus does not want any of us to perish. He gives us time to change our ways. He is always mediating with His father, asking for forgiveness on our behalf.

Over the years, the words sanctification and justification have faded from use in the West and the larger Christian church. To understand these two terms, the general understanding of the Bible and the Biblical background are necessary. According to the Bible, everyone is considered a sinner. The same Bible makes it clear that the wages of sin are death. Before Adam and Eve were cast to the earth, they lived in harmony with God until temptation befell them. With this being the first sin of human beings, death came as one of the consequences and could be inevitable for all human beings. In that same way, there are laws set to govern society in the present day. Lawbreakers are also subjected to the justice system through court trials, and judgment is passed. The level of sentencing is usually based on the crime committed, and sometimes, the court can give a death sentence. Even in the modern-day, the commands of the Lord are enacted in the law system

Justification and sanctification go hand in hand in dealing with sin and the sinners. They are both necessary in our path to being in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. In simple godly terms, the word justification can be described as the act of forgiveness by God unto the sinners, declaring them new righteous beings that are worthy before Him. It has to be an act of God because no human is righteous enough to obtain justification themselves. Upon justification, God, as the judge, declares you free even if you are only punishable by death. There is comfort and hope in knowing you stand free of sin and blameless in the eyes of the Lord. We are all made pure of our impurities through the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus had to die for us because we could do nothing to clear our debt with God. He had to send his son to settle and cancel that debt through dying the death we deserved to die. Because of that sacrifice, God gifts those who trust in Jesus with righteousness. In Galatians 2:16, a person is only justified by his faith in Jesus Christ, not by the work of law. The Bible puts it like our imperfections and impurities are hidden from His eyes. That way, we can live in harmony with Him once again.

On the other hand, to be sanctified is “to be set apart.” However, in Godly terms, sanctification is the act of being set apart to become more like our creator. God is set apart from everything, especially sin, because of His level of holiness. According to Bible teachings, God is the most righteous and does not indulge in any form of sin. In the process of sanctification, the trinity must have a play in it:

• God, the father, must make peace with the ruined relationship with His people.
• Jesus Christ, God the Son, is responsible for mending our relationship with God the Father. His work has always been redemption since the cross.
• The Holy Spirit is responsible for guiding us through our sinful nature and helping us change our ways. Believers are all lucky because Jesus Christ has stepped in to redeem

Often the words sanctification and holiness are confused with being the same. However, sanctification is more like the gateway to holiness. From a Christian perspective, the progress to holiness starts in the Old Testament (Leviticus 11: 44) and spreads out to the New Testament (1 Peter 1: 15-16). In that same way, sanctification is still seen as an ongoing process that does not end. Unlike justification, sanctification can be viewed as an act of God, as well as an act of the believer. Justification is entirely an act of God, who chooses to pardon all believers of their sin. On the other hand, sanctification comes to all Christians through the blood of Jesus. However, although Jesus already died for the Christians, they are left to believe and trust in him to receive the entire sanctification.

Sanctification comes in three phases for the believer representing the past, present, and future salvation. The first form of sanctification is referred to as positional sanctification. Some scholars prefer to call this justification because here, believers are declared righteous. Everybody was freed of sin when Jesus Christ died for our sins. This is the past of our salvation where the bloodshed cleansed us all, and we were redeemed by it. Death on the cross ensured that every believer is positionally sanctified regardless of spirituality. This level of sanctification has every believer equally sanctified irrespective of the difference in levels of spirituality. From here, everyone has an equal chance to make the right choices about their faith. In our positional sanctified position, we stand as holy and perfect as Jesus in the eyes of God.

The second phase of sanctification is progressive sanctification or spiritual maturity. It begins from the moment one is justified to their final day on earth. The Holy Spirit is in the task of showing believers the path free of sin. Throughout our Christian lives, we are expected to try and be more and more like God. Because of this, progressive sanctification stays ongoing throughout the life of a Christian on earth. The extent of progressive sanctification varies from person to person but is expected to be increasing along the way. Man plays a role in progressive sanctification as much as the holy spirit (Porter & Rickabaugh, 2018). Believers are expected to pray for progressive Sanctification from God.

The final phase of sanctification only comes at death. The other term for this phase is glorification. According to 1 Thess 4: 15. Believers are reunited with Jesus Christ in heaven upon glorification when they leave this earth either by death or rapture. Entire sanctification, also known as sinless perfection, is the holiness that a Christian reaches where he stops sinning completely. However, there is no stop in the process of entire sanctification. Although Christians may already be sanctified, they may need to receive further sanctification. Even though they are already made holy, the holiness is never enough; they should continually increase their holiness and continue living like saints. As much as sanctification is the process of being made more and more like the Lord, the scripture is still clear that there will be nobody like Him. This further explains the fact that the sanctification process is the continuous process of making believers more and more like Him.

Is it possible for a human being to be so in fellowship with his creator to the extent he does not sin anymore? This is a very contradictory question in the Christian world. However, based on some Biblical teachers, it is possible not to sin. They claim that believers are capable of going through their daily lives without sinning. The same sin that is prevalent and almost inevitable? They must be the false prophets talked about in the Bible. They back their claims with some verses in the Bible with vague explanations. In Mathew 5: 48, God commands us to be perfect like our Lord. That alone is proof that God himself sees it as a possibility for a believer to go without sinning, according to these false teachers. Otherwise, there is no way God could task His people into accomplishing something impossible. Further, in 1 John 3: 6, the Bible directs that people who engage in sin have not seen Him and do not know Him. It further says that those who dwell in Him do not sin. Based on these teachings, one can believe that it is possible to go without sinning. Although it’s the thought that counts, the commandments given to us are so tight to the extent that even having evil thought alone is considered sin. It is impossible to go without sinning.

he popular opinion remains that the state of the entire sanctification is not attainable, at least not here on earth. However, most of them believe that being holy is what every believer desires and targets. Most of them believe that sin is too prevalent to be avoided at all times. The goal is to avoid being dominated by sin at all costs regardless of its prevalence. Because of the temptations present, and that is why the Lord orders to pray without ceasing in 1 Thess 1: 17. He is well aware of the prevalence of sin and the temptations that believers may be subjected to. The Bible explains that sanctification comes in two phases (Griffin, 2018). The first phase of sanctification is for our souls, which is completed at death. The other stage of sanctification will happen on judgment day during the return of our Lord. On the final day, every individual will receive a new body to fit their next life. At this point, the sanctification is for our bodies as we shall be receiving resurrection bodies. In general terms, no sanctification is to be completed on earth or while we are alive. Although we may live our lives as followers of the Lord, our hearts are still convicted to sin. So when we die, our hearts are freed of the prevalent sin and have a chance to be made perfect.

It is correct to argue that sanctification begins with justification. It is through justification that a sinner is made righteous through forgiveness and having faith in Him. In this way, justification acts as a gateway to sanctification for believers. Only through faith alone and by confessing our trust in Christ do we receive justification. However, regardless of justification, sin is still left present on earth. It is possible for an individual to be free of sin but still dwell in sin. Sanctification comes in here, where an individual has to choose whether to walk out of sin or remain in sin. Regardless of justification, this choice is left unto human beings to choose not to commit sin. Sanctification is, therefore, both the role of God and man. God’s first role was accomplished by his son on the cross, who freed us all of sin. God, the Holy Spirit, is tasked to work within us, trying to change us and give us the right direction. Man is only expected to trust and leave it to God to sanctify us while following God’s commandments and following the guidelines of the Holy Spirit that lead us further to sanctification. Rom 8: 13 tells the believer that they shall live only if the spirit can stop the wrong deeds of the body.

In other terms, justification can be seen as being freed of the guilt of sin and being restored to God’s favor. Although God chooses to rid us of the responsibility of sin, it is not because he forgets who we are. We are weak vessels that are highly likely to fall into temptations, and He is well aware. It is because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for our sake. However, all this still comes down to the believer. Justification only comes unto the human being if they believe and have faith. God only pronounces a sinner righteous in His sight immediately they trust in Christ (Rom. 3: 21, 5: 16). We do not receive justification solely because of our deeds but also because of the work Jesus puts in on our behalf. 2 Cor 5: 21 reassures us that just like our sins were transferred to Jesus on the cross, so will His righteousness be reckoned to us.

From what we have gathered, we can conclude that justification and entire sanctification are redemption gifts that cannot be separated from one another. They are both gifts of God’s mercy where justification is considered the root and sanctification of the fruit. God, Himself gives us these gifts as a solution to our pride and suffering. Both of them come as a chance for forgiveness and transformation. Although sanctification requires the work of God and those of the sanctified believer, it still comes to believers by the grace of God. The benefits of the redemption that we are promised are incomparable. It is already clear that believers only need to have faith to receive justification. However, the system shall still judge them based on their actions on earth. The main reason for the second coming of Jesus is because He gives us time to make amends with God. God is annoyed at how the world is rotten and wants to strike judgment upon humanity, but Jesus keeps reassuring Him that the human race will change their ways. However still, we don’t know the day nor the hour. We should be ready for the son f man anytime. Being prepared, in this case, is repenting and getting ourselves closer to God.

Although justification and sanctification go hand in hand, they also differ in various significant ways. The most notable difference is that justification tends to deal with the guilt that comes with sin, while sanctification goes deeper to look at the power sin has over our lives and how it corrupts us. In justification, God simply tries to free us of the guilt and declare us righteous. Justification takes place outside of the believer and is almost out of our control. However, in Sanctification, God strives to transform us completely, making us more and more like him, which involves changing our minds, will, emotions and behaviors. In so doing, He tries to make us more and more like Him, which we already said is impossible. From this, sanctification takes place from within the believer.

Another difference is that justification is a one-time act that ends while sanctification is a continuous process. Although we may be pulled out of sin through justification, that does not make us perfect immediately. Justification only means that we are freed from the wrath of God and his condemnation. However, complete freedom is only achieved on the final Day of Judgment, where we receive new bodies. Until then, the sanctification is ongoing, trying to bring out the perfect form of the human being. It is therefore correct to say that justification comes first, followed by sanctification.

Unlike justification, sanctification is based upon righteousness. Justification does not take into account the actions or spirituality of a person. It comes to believers through the work of Jesus Christ. However, for sanctification, good deeds portray a believer as one that has faith in Jesus Christ and follows the guidelines of the holy spirit. It involves being ready to change every aspect of the believer, including their mind, affection, and behaviors. As much as justification may give you the privilege of entering heaven, a believer will need sanctification to belong. Sanctification allows the believer to take joy in staying in paradise.

Conclusion Believers are all lucky because Jesus Christ has stepped in to redeem them both

Believers are all lucky because Jesus Christ has stepped in to redeem them both through justification and sanctification. He asks only for the believers to have faith in Him and trust that He shall save them from His father’s wrath once again in both scenarios. However, for the two graces, the results of having faith are different. In justification, when we believe, our sins are forgiven, and we are accepted and considered righteous in the eyes of the Lord. Sinners are stripped of their guilt and declared free of their sins. On the other hand, in sanctification, just believing is not enough. Our faith is supposed to drive us towards actively following the commands given unto us. In this grace, God makes the believers who have faith in Him righteous on resurrection day (Christ, 2017). Whereas believers are all justified to the same extent, sanctification is based on factors like growth and maturity. One thing remains common, though, in both graces, the final achievement is reuniting with Jesus Christ and fellowship with Him because we had faith in him.

References

Christ, T. M. (2017). The Relationship between Justification and Sanctification in the Structure of Calvin’s Soteriology: Toward a More Nuanced Approach. Evangelical Quarterly: An International Review of Bible and Theology, 88(3), 209-221https://www.academia.edu/27843309/IMPUTATION_AND_THE_CHRISTOLOGY_OF_UNION_WITH_CHRIST_CALVIN_OSIANDER_AND_THE_CONTEMPORARY_QUEST_FOR_A_REFORMED_MODEL.

Porter, S. L., & Rickabaugh, B. (2018). The Sanctifying Work of the Holy Spirit: Revisiting Alston’s Interpersonal Model. Journal of Analytic Theology, 6.https://jat-ojs-baylor.tdl.org/jat/index.php/jat/article/view/183

Giffin, R. K. (2018). The good work of justification, sanctification, and glorification: John Wesley’s soteriological explanation of Philippians 1: 6. The Asbury Journal, 73(1), 7.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2418&context=asburyjournal