Justification and Sanctification

An important part in standing firm in the gospel and avoiding legalism is understanding the difference between the work Christ accomplished to save us and the work of becoming holy that He enables us to participate in after we`ve been saved.

Justification and sanctification are two closely related yet different concepts.

Justification refers to your status before God. When you placed your faith in Jesus, God the judge handed down the verdict that you are righteous. He transferred the perfect sinless record of Jesus to you. God completely and totally forgave you. He not only wiped away the record of your sin, He credited the righteousness of His Son to you.

Sanctification is a process - the process of becoming more like Christ, of growing in holyness. This process began the instant you were converted and will not end untill meet Jesus face to face. Through the work of the Spirit, through the power of His Word and through fellowship with other believers, God peels away our desire to sin, renews our minds and changes our lives. This ongoing work is what we call sanctification.

If you`ve truely been justified, you`re going to want to be sanctified too. You`re going to want to grow in holiness too. The person who has experienced God`s grace and has been genuinly converted can still choose to sin, but he can`t love sin like he used to. He can`t continue in sin indefinitely!

Have I been justified and sanctified? Have you?