Posted on 07/12/2021 2:22:26 PM PDT by Old Yeller
The words justification and sanctification have largely fallen out of use in Western culture. Sadly, they are also fading from sight in the Christian church. One reason this decline is distressing is that the Bible uses the words justification and sanctification to express the saving work of Christ for sinners. That is to say, both terms lie at the heart of the biblical gospel. So, what does the Bible teach about justification and sanctification? How do they differ from one another? How do they help us understand better the believer’s relationship with Jesus Christ?
Justification is as simple as A-B-C-D. Justification is an act of God. It does not describe the way that God inwardly renews and changes a person. It is, rather, a legal declaration in which God pardons the sinner of all his sins and accepts and accounts the sinner as righteous in His sight. God declares the sinner righteous at the very moment that the sinner puts his trust in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-26, 5:16; 2 Cor. 5:21).
What is the basis of this legal verdict? God justifies the sinner solely on the basis of the obedience and death of His Son, our representative, Jesus Christ. Christ’s perfect obedience and full satisfaction for sin are the only ground upon which God declares the sinner righteous (Rom. 5:18-19; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 2:8). We are not justified by our own works; we are justified solely on the basis of Christ’s work on our behalf. This righteousness is imputed to the sinner. In other words, in justification, God puts the righteousness of His Son onto the sinner’s account. Just as my sins were transferred to, or laid upon, Christ at the cross, so also His righteousness is reckoned to me (2 Cor. 5:21).
By what means is the sinner justified? Sinners are justified through faith alone when they confess their trust in Christ. We are not justified because of any good that we have done, are doing, or will do. Faith is the only instrument of justification. Faith adds nothing to what Christ has done for us in justification. Faith merely receives the righteousness of Jesus Christ offered in the gospel (Rom. 4:4-5).
Finally, saving faith must demonstrate itself to be the genuine article by producing good works. It is possible to profess saving faith but not possess saving faith (James 2:14-25). What distinguishes true faith from a mere claim to faith is the presence of good works (Gal. 5:6). We are in no way justified by our good works. But no one may consider himself to be a justified person unless he sees in his life the fruit and evidence of justifying faith; that is, good works.
Both justification and sanctification are graces of the gospel; they always accompany one another; and they deal with the sinner’s sin. But they differ in some important ways. First, whereas justification addresses the guilt of our sin, sanctification addresses the dominion and corruption of sin in our lives. Justification is God’s declaring the sinner righteous; sanctification is God’s renewing and transforming our whole persons—our minds, wills, affections, and behaviors. United to Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection and indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, we are dead to the reign of sin and alive to righteousness (Rom. 6:1-23; 8:1-11). We therefore are obligated to put sin to death and to present our “members to God as instruments for righteousness” (6:13; see 8:13).
Second, our justification is a complete and finished act. Justification means that every believer is completely and finally freed from condemnation and the wrath of God (Rom. 8:1, 33-34; Col. 2:13b-14). Sanctification, however, is an ongoing and progressive work in our lives. Although every believer is brought out once and for all from bondage to sin, we are not immediately made perfect. We will not be completely freed from sin until we receive our resurrection bodies at the last day.
Christ has won both justification and sanctification for His people. Both graces are the concern of faith in Jesus Christ, but in different ways. In justification, our faith results in our being forgiven, accepted, and accounted righteous in God’s sight. In sanctification, that same faith actively and eagerly takes up all the commands that Christ has given the believer. We dare not separate or conflate justification and sanctification. We do distinguish them. And, in both graces, we enter into the richness and joy of communion with Christ through faith in Him.
How many times have the passages from John chapter six been posted - the actual words from Jesus saying believe and be saved - for the truth to get through your Catholic wall? I would post the passages once again if it could break through the wall of lies at the Heart of your religion. But you show with your ignoring the first fifty times the passages have been posted that you refuse truth in favor of the dogma taught to you.
I am sorry your are so dead to the truth,. but the choice has been yours to ignore truth.
John 6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
The spirit in you will not allow the Truth just posted for you to come into your mind unobstructed. Right as you read the verses, a spirit of division and confusion is echoing a 'yes but' to divert your mind away to a different issue, and that is the reality of what is happening in your soul. Is your spirit alive in Christ?
John 6:40 harkens back to what Jesus showed Nicodemus in John 3, regarding the snake on a poole which a Hebrew had only to look upon the brass snake and be cured of snake bite! This explanation had never been offered before! Jesus made the comparison to all/any who look upon and believe will have eternal life.
Now is the time, today is the hour that eternal life begins for any who will believe in whom God has sent for our deliverance from the poison of sin. There are more passages but I believe if you reject the words of Jesus himself you are unable to hear the truth found all over the New Testament messages.
It appears that Scripture contradicts you:
John 6:25-40
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
All with the HOPE that someday the Light will shine from them and bring a realization that...
Amen brother
There are two more azpects to salvation that are not Justification. The second phase of Salvation by His abiding Spirit is called sanctification. This Saving from the power of sin in your life. It is not justification because ONLY GOD can jsutify and He has chosen to do that entirely based upon believing in Whom He sent for Justifying a sinner.
The reason sanctification is not justification is a concept a works based religion like Catholicism cannot comprehend: by Justifying me because of faith alone in Christ alone assigns ALL the glory to The Lord Jesus and none to you. Since you are not Christ, your salvation from the power of sin is a process GOD expects you to be intimately involved with, because His abiding presence in your separated from your soul SPIRIT must learn to exhibit the character of God's family. There is no thing you can do or fail to do in the sanctification process which will chnge the status GOD by His Grace gave you -membership in His family via The belief in Christ alone for saving you from the penalty of sin which draped your spirit BEFORE GOD justified you in the way that brings glory ONLY to Christ.
There is a third salvation coming which will remove me from the 4D realm where the man of sin is going to reign for seven years. I am a member of the Family of God with His Hooly Spirit abiding in my born again spirit, so He is going to remove me from this realm before the beginning of the reign of the man of sin. This is salvation from the presence of the man of sin. God will do this by in the twinkling of an eye transforming me into a being like Jesus is now, because as John wrote in 1 John 3:2 I will be able to see Him as He is because in that moment I will be like Him, in a glorified body.
So let's review: Only God can justify me before His Righteous eyes, and God has chosen to do this in such a way that ONLY Jesus is glorified in my being justified. A second phase of my salvation is what is known as the sanctification phase, where God expects me to leran how to live inthe character of His family members. A third phase of my salvation is when He transforms me int he twinkling of an eye, to be in a glorified, higher dimensional coordiante system where Jesus is now and return tot he Father's House with Jesus (John 14).
I know it is shocking for you, but there is ONLY one function which activates God Justifying you as if you have never sinned, BELIEF, Faithe, trust in Christ alone by faith alone. After that moment of justification, God expects me to accept the guidance of His abiding presence and get saved from the power of sin that directed my livng before He birthed me from above.
Try it ... you'll like! Justified = saved from the penalty of sin; sanctification = saved from the power of sin ; glorified = saved from the presence of the man of sin in this 4D realm.
One last clue: when God justifies you, He will separate your sou and s[irit so that as He abides in your born again spirit His Spirit is not in contact with sin, sin which is sourced int he soul you inherited from Adam.(Heb 4:12 & Rev 1:16)
Good job, and in simple, unambiguous plain-literal language. May the Spirit convince the reader/hearer of these facts of sin as a master, righteousness as the inherent inviolable attribute of The Persons of the God-head, and judgment that will bring the oppositionally defiant denier of God’s existence to great chagrin in the place reserved for the devil and his subjects.
Have you ever been hungry?
How about thirsty??
Sigh...
Too bad that JESUS did not indicate this...
John 6:28-40
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe . 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
The natural, unregenerate man cannot hear the truth you post over and over and over again for them. They refuse to accept Grace by stubbornly injecting their striving, as if the Catholic God is not able to justify them without their works. They are unable to comprehend that the muythical purgatory suffering is works to obtain. There is no way to distinguish Justification from sanctification in their Catholic deceived minds. And as you know, Brother, it is easier to fool someone than it is to get them to realize they have been deceived.
Faith alone in Christ alone, not trusting in my efforts, is the issue. The Greek word used and translated at various verses as 'faith' 'belief' 'trust' is derived from the verb meaning to faithe. Tursting in Christ as Savior is an active sense. That active sense cannot occur unless FIRST one is born again into the family of God, by obeying what Jesus said we must do to do the work God requires, namely BELIEVE. NOt believe and do works. James wrote His epistle to Jews, Peter wrote his letters to Jews, John worte his letters to Jews. Paul wrote to gentiles, mainkly born again gentiles, some of whom were still stuck in their learned sinful behavior. They remained Christians, saved gentiles, but they had not yet learned how to apply their justified state in order to change their behavior into the character reflection of the fqamily of God. They possessed the righteousness of Christ but had not yet learned how to rely upon the still small voice of the abiding Holy Spirit in order to change their behavior patterns.
Justification is soomthing ONLY God can do for you or me. We cannot earn it and we are unable to retain that Justified state. It is The GRace of God in Christ that counts us as righteous because that method focuses the glory upon Whom and Whose righteousness has been counted to us.
If yopu ever realize that the notion of maintaining via works the Justified state which Only God can do is the same as working to get eternal life, you might stop trusting in your behavior patterns as a emans to strive for eternal life. In that moment you will be born again by the Grace of God. That moment of realization is the 'exchange' moment when God counts to you the righteousness of Christ. THAT is a transaction you cannot make to happen via obedience to sacraments and rituals. That exchange moment is God glorifying Jesus as His righteousness accounts you suddenly IN the family as a member of the Body of Christ.
I sincerely hope to see you in the clouds one day soon. Trust in Christ alone by faithing (yup, the verb form) alone and it will be.
What ever happened to MAry after that?
She seems to have dropped out of sight after this verse:
Acts 1:14They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
I think we have to assume St. John took care of her in her old age.... as he went out on his mission...into Asia minor i’ve read....
Thank GOD that she was ASSUMED into Heaven.
Seems she REALLY has her work cut out now!
Nary-idolatry placemarker
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