Justification vs Sanctification

12/06/2021 7 min
Justification vs Sanctification

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Episode Synopsis

Righteousness is a gift from God received by grace only, through faith only, in Christ only. Righteousness becomes ours through two means โ€“ ๐—ท๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป and ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป โ€“ the former an ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜, the latter a ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€.In our Protestant faith, justification is a ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—น or ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. It is the instantaneous legal act of God, in which He forgives our sins and declares us to be righteous in His sight, on account of Jesusโ€™ atoning death and resurrection. This is the event of conversion when a sinner puts his faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Justification is a legal declaration, not a moral transformation.Sanctification is Godโ€™s ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป of a believerโ€™s whole being, through the work of the Holy Spirit. Every part of the person is changed โ€“ his thoughts, values, attitudes, affections, words, behaviour, and actions. The ultimate goal of the Holy Spirit (who dwells in us), is to transform the legally righteous convert into a morally virtuous person.Sanctification is a lifelong process through which we die daily to sin and learn to live more and more for righteousness. This is how we grow in Christlikeness or holiness. To be holy is to be Christlike, and the Protestants call this โ€œgrowing in graceโ€ (2 Pet 3:18).