The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study is now studying the Christian doctrine of sanctification.
Sanctification is a continuing change worked by the Holy Spirit in us, freeing us from sinful habits and developing in us Christ-like desires, attitudes, and virtues.
Sanctification - the act or process of acquiring sanctity, of being made or becoming holy.
Three aspects to sanctification
1. Positional sanctification received at salvation
2. Progressive sanctification, the daily growth, becoming more and more set apart for God's use
3. Ultimate sanctification, attained only when we are fully and completely set apart to God as we become just like Christ.
There are five contrasts between justification and sanctification;
There are 5 contracts between justification and sanctification
Contrast 1
Whereas justification involves a change in people’s status before God, Christians’ sanctified lives involve a change in their hearts and lives in relation to God and their neighbor.
Contrast 2
Whereas justification excludes all human works, sanctification of the Christian life consists in the good works God enables the Christian to do.
Contrast 3
Whereas justification is complete and perfect in Christ, the Christian’s sanctified life in this world remains imperfect and incomplete.
Contrast 4
Whereas justification embraces all people, sanctification takes place only in believers.
Contrast 5
Whereas justification gives us complete certainty of salvation, the sanctified Christian life produces evidence of faith but can never give us complete certainty of salvation.
The relationship between justification and sanctification is that justification is based based on God’s work in Christ and sanctification is the new life a Christian lives through faith in Christ.
These are the notes to Session 3 of the study.
For our study we are using the book "Sanctification Alive in Christ" by Lyle. You can order a copy from by clicking this LINK or the Amazon image at the end of the notes.
Review
Definitions
sanc·ti·fy - verb - set apart as or declare holy; consecrate; set apart for sacred use: to make free from sin: purify
Sanctification - the act or process of acquiring sanctity, of being made or becoming holy.
Sanctification can be generally defined as being separate or set apart. In the case of the Christian, we are set apart for God and we are separate from the world.
Sanctification is the process of being set apart for God's work and being conformed to the image of Christ. Remember God’s purpose for us;
Romans 8:28 (NKJV)28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
This conformance to Christ’s image also includes us and the things we do. God is working those things because He justified, or declared us right with Him through the blood of Jesus, us when He saved us.
Three aspects to sanctification
1. Positional sanctification received at salvation
Acts 20:32 (NKJV) So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
1 Corinthians 1:2 (NKJV)2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
2. Progressive sanctification, the daily growth, becoming more and more set apart for God's use
John 17:16-19 (NKJV)16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
3. Ultimate sanctification, attained only when we are fully and completely set apart to God as we become just like Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Contrast between Justification and Sanctification
Romans 5:1-5 ESV Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
It is important to remember that justification through faith enables and empowers the sanctified life of faith (sanctification in the narrow sense). Without justification through faith, there will not be, nor can there be, a sanctified life of faith. The sanctified life of faith flows from and depends on justification through faith.
Apart from the empowerment and motivation of justification through faith, there will be no sanctified Christian life.
There are 5 contracts between justification and sanctification
Contrast 1
Whereas justification involves a change in people’s status before God, Christians’ sanctified lives involve a change in their hearts and lives in relation to God and their neighbor.
Contrast 2
Whereas justification excludes all human works, sanctification of the Christian life consists in the good works God enables the Christian to do.
Contrast 3
Whereas justification is complete and perfect in Christ, the Christian’s sanctified life in this world remains imperfect and incomplete.
Contrast 4
Whereas justification embraces all people, sanctification takes place only in believers.
Contrast 5
Whereas justification gives us complete certainty of salvation, the sanctified Christian life produces evidence of faith but can never give us complete certainty of salvation.
Contrast 1
Whereas justification involves a change in people’s status before God, Christians’ sanctified lives involve a change in their hearts and lives in relation to God and their neighbor.
Justification involves a change in people’s status before God. What is that status?
Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
We are born into this world without the righteousness God demands and with a lust for sin. By nature we are spiritually blind, dead, and enemies of God.
We cannot measure upto the demands of God’s commandments. We have rebelled against God and deserve nothing but his anger and condemnation.
However thank and praise God that through Christ he did what we could never have done!
Romans 3:21-26 ESV But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
God justified us! The Greek verb for to justify (dikaioun, dick-eye-OON) means “to acquit of wrongdoing someone who has been guilty of it, to treat as righteous someone who has been unrighteous.” God declared us righteous.
Our nature as sinners did not change before God. What changed is that God counted righteous in his sight.
Romans 4:1-6 ESV What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
God redeemed us. He was the one offended by our sins. We are the ones who owed him a debt we could never pay. But God paid the debt for us. He satisfied his justice, which demanded sinners be judged for their sins. He did this by offering his only Son, Jesus Christ, as the payment for our sins.
Why did God do this? Was there anything in us that moved him to acquit us? No. Nothing In us or in our lives moved God to declare us righteous. Rather, he justified us “freely by his grace”. There was no contribution from us. God did everything. He was moved by his grace, his undeserved love and mercy. Grace excludes anything we do.
Romans 11:5-6 ESV So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Justification, then, is forensic, or judicial, in nature. It is a court decision. Though convicted and condemned, the guilty are acquitted and set free. They are declared not guilty in God’s sight because God’s Son paid their debt for them. Sinners remain sinners. Justification does not change their nature. God’s verdict of acquittal, based on Christ’s payment for sin, changed their status. Christ, as our substitute, led a perfect life for us and paid the full price for our sins. The sin and the guilt that were ours, God gave to Christ. Godcredited Christ’s perfect life and full payment for sin to our account. We therefore speak of the righteousness that God gives to us through faith as a foreign righteousness. It is Christ’s and is given to us to cover our sins.
Justification involves a change in our status. Sanctification involves a change in our lives.
Contrast 2
Whereas justification excludes all human works, sanctification of the Christian life consists in the good works God enables the Christian to do.
Since justification is a change in our status and not in our nature and since justification is based solely on the merit of Jesus Christ, the Bible makes it clear that good works do not in any way contribute toward our salvation.
Romans 3:28 ESV For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Sanctification (in the narrow sense) is the new lives Christians live in response to God’s grace. It consists in the good works Christians do as they are empowered by God.
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Contrast 3
Whereas justification is complete and perfect in Christ, the Christian’s sanctified life in this world remains imperfect and incomplete.
God has declared all people righteous on the basis of Christ’s perfect life and death. It has already been done. God’s acquittal of everyone is an objective reality. Even if people do not believe God forgave them and therefore lose the blessings of salvation, this does not change the fact that God did justify the world on the basis of Christ’s work.
Romans 3:3-4 ESV What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”
God remains faithful even if people do not believe his words and promises. The justificationof the world is a fact, even if sinners do not believe it. Justification, then, isobjective in nature. It is complete and perfect in Christ.
We cannot add to what Jesus did, nor can we subtract from what he did. God justified the world on the basis of Christ’s obedience.
On the other hand, it is clear from the Bible that Christians’ sanctified lives remain imperfect and incomplete until they die.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Romans he was a mature apostle of the Lord and a veteran of three missionary journeys. Still he wrote;
Romans 7:18-19 ESV For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
He was admitting that he was incomplete, imperfect, always capable of growth and improvement. Those words describe every Christian’s sanctified life.
Justification is complete and perfect—in Christ. Sanctification is incomplete and imperfect—in the Christian.
Contrast 4
Whereas justification embraces all people, remember what I said earlier
God has declared all people righteous on the basis of Christ’s perfect life and death. It has already been done. God’s acquittal of everyone is an objective reality. Even if people do not believe God forgave them and therefore lose the blessings of salvation, this does not change the fact that God did justify the world on the basis of Christ’s work.
Sanctification, on the other hand, takes place only in believers. Sanctification, is not universal. The Bible clearly teaches that unbelievers do not live sanctified lives. Only those whom God has brought to faith lead sanctified lives.
Hebrews 11:6 ESV And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
God works in the lives of believers santifying them for good works.
1 Peter 2:5 ESV you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The works believers do are acceptable to God, for he views them through the righteousness of his Son.
Ephesians 2:10 ESV For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Contrast 5
Whereas justification gives us complete certainty of salvation, the sanctified Christian life produces evidence of faith but can never give us complete certainty of salvation.
“If you had to base yourhope of going to heaven on your life, then you could never be sure you would get there. In fact, no one can get to heaven by his or her own works. But all who trust in Jesus can be sure of eternal life.”
John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Our salvation rests securely on the work of our Savior. We may echo the words of the hymn writer:
My hope is built on nothing lessThan Jesus’ blood and righteousness;I dare to make no other claimBut wholly lean on Jesus’s name….
When he shall come with trumpet sound,Oh, may I then in him be found,Clothed in his righteousness alone,Faultless to stand before his throne. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;All other ground is sinking sand.
A sanctified Christian life does offer some assurance that we are God’s children. The works Christians do offer evidence that God has been at work in their lives. Jesus will point to believers’ works as evidence that they had faith.
Matthew 25:34-36 ESV Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
These works only serve to remind us that God has been at work in us. These works could never save us. Only the work of Christ can save.
The Relationship between Justification and Sanctification
Remember what justification is. It is being declared right by God because of the sacrifice of Jesus. We had nothing to do with it other than to believe God and his promises. That is the basic definition of faith, trust. Faith is the instrument through which we receive the benefit of all that Jesus did for us.
Romans 3:21-22 ESV But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
In fact even faith is a gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
A gift is not earned by some good deed or kind word, and it is not given because the giver expects a gift in return—under any of those conditions, a gift would not be a gift. The Bible emphasizes that faith is a gift because God deserves all the glory for our salvation.
Romans 3:27 ESV Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
It’s only because of what Christ did on the cross that God gives anyone saving faith.
The Bible specifies the way, or the means, that God gives saving faith to people.
Romans 10:17 ESV So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
It is the Word of God that produces faith.
Faith is not the product of a preacher’s compelling presentation, his eloquence, or even his theological soundness—the faith that saves is given through the message about Jesus. This is the means God has chosen.
Faith is essentially a God-given trust and confidence in Jesus Christ as the Savior from sin. Faith is given by God to enable people to receive salvation that doesn’t mean that everybody will use the faith that God gives them. People will either believe or not believe.
John 3:16-18 ESV “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Faith is a work of God by which he enables us to benefit from all that Christ did for us.
Faith does not justify because it is so good a work and so God-pleasing a virtue, but because it counts on accepting the worthiness of Christ as our Redeemer and Savior. Christ’s worthiness has to be applied to us and to be made our own through faith.
Through faith God empowers new lives
Faith, which results in justification, is the power through which God produces sanctified lives. In fact justification is the cause of sanctification.
A cause-and-effect relationship is found between justification through faith and the sanctified Christian life.
Good works do not precede faith, nor does sanctification come before justification. First the Holy Spirit kindles faith in us in conversion through the hearing of the Gospel. Then faith kicks in and accepts the grace of God in Christ the result is justification. After the person is justified, the Holy Spirit next renews and sanctifies him, and from this renewal and sanctification the fruits of good works will follow.
Faith does not exist apart from sanctification
Though a cause-and-effect relationship is between justification through faith and sanctification, this does not mean that faith can exist without a sanctified life.
James 2:26 ESV As soon as faith is kindled, good works flow from faith. Faith does not exist if good works are not present.
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Faith is living and active. It cannot but produce good works. Justification through faith is the cause of sanctification. Sanctification is the result of justification through faith. Yet justification through faith does not exist without a sanctified life. Nor can there be a sanctified Christian life apart from justification.
Sanctification flows from justification by grace through faith
We need to remember that sanctification flows from justification by grace through faith.
Without the heart of justification sanctification will not take place. What will take place is legalism, an attempt to empower sanctification through works. Works done apart from faith in Christ are mere civic righteousness (helpful deeds that benefit society)
Hebrews 11:6 ESV And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Justification by grace through faith supplies the power and the motivation for sanctified living. It is God’s love for us that enables us to love God. and others.
1 John 4:7-11 ESV Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:19 ESV We love because he first loved us.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
In order to live a sanctified life you must first be saved, justified which God does because of His love for us. For us to grow in love for God and works of love for our neighbor. we need to focus constantly on God’s love for us in Christ. When that focus is clear, the Christian has an unchanging and inexhaustible source of power for living a sanctified life.
Justification is based on God’s work in Christ. Sanctification is the new life a Christian lives through faith in Christ.
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