Justification, Sanctification, Salvation

wendykvw said:

What is the difference and why it matters. Justification. Sanctification and Salvation. Each is distinctive,what is the difference? Explain.

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If we have to break it down using those terms, justification is obtained by the forgiveness of previous sins through baptism. To be justified is to be pardoned for all previous sins and pronounced innocent. Sanctification is a term normally used by protestants that can vary in meaning depending on who is using it. Christianity has always used either theosis or divinization, or their equivalents in other languages. That is the process of becoming "god-like" in this life and is the goal of Christian life. To attain theosis is to become like God. Different people attain different levels of theosis throughout their lives but no one ever fully attains it. Salvation is the end result of living the life of a Christian and is only finally attained after death at the final judgement.

I think salvation is in God's Spirit, in His wisdom and strength... coming from His love. He knows our sins and wants to buy us out of slavery, He has provided us with Jesus' powerful blood, salvation from sin and some of its' consequences. To a just and right position when we receive Christ and the seal of the Spirit. From then we can enter eternal life if we die being forgiven.

Salvation continues as we surrender to God, to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, as part of justification that becomes sanctification, when the fruit becomes our character. Also when all unclean spirits are driven away, bonds from sin and soul ties of fornication are broken. And the body history, the stealing hand and the fouled loins are atoned for in covering in Jesus' sacred blood. And more infilling of salvation by Jesus' blood and the living water... and powers to serve others are part of sanctification. The living sacrifice of the body to God is part of sanctification. It ends in sinlessness in this life or surely the next. Then glorification.

wendykvw said:

What is the difference and why it matters. Justification. Sanctification and Salvation. Each is distinctive,what is the difference? Explain.

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Justification
the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.
Justification - Google Search

Salvation
the saving of the soul from sin and its consequences.
salvation theology - Google Search


Sanctification is cleaning up the saints in light of the gospel being conformed into the image of Christ / the imago Dei. We Eastern Christians tend to see things going together (Salvation and Sanctification) and we often get accused of things like semi-Pelagianism because of that. Basically that Christians or people who believe themselves as Christians "can be in Denial" concerning the true nature of their spiritual condition. But I believe the Pelagian heresy / controversy had cast a long shadow over the west and skewed it's perspective of things. (e.g. I hear lots of earning salvation talk with works etc. that almost sound like some people don't understand concepts like Covenant, or relationship and how those things are two way streets)



I will say on the other hand, certain Protestant statements can sound problematic. Lutheranism was what I was raised in, left in my college years out of personal issues. But I have heard a number of very problematic statements by Luther related to the general topic in my years and decades after leaving the tradition. Most of those, I think those statements are dealing with Luther arguing with Latin / Catholic concepts of things like Mortal sin in their context, but they can really give really bad impressions. Luther says something like "if you have enough Faith you murder and commit adulatory a thousand times without imperiling your salvation". He also says other things according to my perspective that sound heretical on things like Justification, giving an analogy of our sins like being "snow covered dung" etc. which has led some to call his view as "Virtual Reality Justification" and mention the Gnostic (Docetic) aspects of that compared to the teaching of earlier Church Fathers.


I was considering covering Luther in one of my Blog or video projects and decided to try to pin point what Luther actually professed view on things like Sanctification. Because this often comes something that is advocated by Lutherans but much, much more minor thing compared to the other stuff that gets preached on. Anyway on the Virtual Reality Justification issue I tried to pin point issue I did want to pin point what exactly Luther taught, and I found two quotes where he basically said that sanctification is out and out necessary for salvation. One pretty much that pithy, "Without Sanctification there is no salvation", while the other one was substantially less quotable and meme-able.


Anyway, I see that at least by his teaching you would be arriving at a similar place as older Christian teaching. But the teaching emphasizes things taking place more on the back end of the process, than what other Christians might talk about or emphasize.


I also read in Table Talk him mentioning that upon baptism, "the wounds of original sin begin to close, but they are never completely healed" on this side of eternity. That sort of thing is similar to earlier Christianity on topics like Theosis. But other Traditions are more optimistic on theosis and being conformed to the Divine Image and what that actually means. e.g. they see our ability to live without sinning for long stretches of time as entirely possible if we are totally focused on God, and have renewed minds in Christ etc.

Salvation is being saved from something.
That could be an Eternal Life salvation where as an unbeliever becomes a born again believer (by faith in The Messiah) and crosses over from death to life. So they are saved from the second death which unbelievers will experience at the lake of fire.

Or salvation could mean a physical salvation by God from physical harm or death and this could happen to believers and unbelievers.

Paul was saved from harm/death when he was bitten by the viper/snake.

Justification is being made right again in God's sight. That is only accomplished by faith in the Messiah, so a person receives God's free gift of Eternal Life (The Spirit of God). A person first has to be justified before they can be sanctified.


Sanctification is the on going process of a believer through actions they do to becomes more Christ like. But it is through God's grace that this is accomplished.

Not all believers may try to become more Christ like in their life. Some may fall back into a life of sin or may even fall away.

Sanctification can be a very involved and long explained topic, so as to not write a mile of type. Here is a link to a good article/articles on sanctification.

https://faithalone.org/journal-articles/we-believe-in-sanctification-part-1/
https://faithalone.org/journal-articles/we-believe-in-sanctification-part-2/
We Believe In: Sanctification – Part 3: Present Sanctification God’s Role in Present Sanctification – Grace Evangelical Society
Sanctification – Part 4: Man’s Role in Present Sanctification – Grace Evangelical Society
https://faithalone.org/journal-articles/we-believe-in-sanctification-part-5/

wendykvw said:

What is the difference and why it matters. Justification. Sanctification and Salvation. Each is distinctive,what is the difference? Explain.

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Salvation is: Justification + Sanctification = Glorification

God’s plan for our salvation has three parts in this order: Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification.


Justification:

Each one of us have broken God’s Law. This is sin. The wages of sin is (eternal) death (cease to exist forever). This price is more than we can ever repay–it is impossible. Because of God the father’s unconditional love for the us, he gave his only begotten Son Jesus to pay for our debt of eternal death on the cross. This one time event was done by Jesus. Only Jesus is worthy to pay the price for each one of us because he never sinned. He has not broken God’s Law. Jesus (in the form of a man) died a physical death, giving His life willingly and was raised back to life; thus conquering eternal death.

sanctification.

It’s the reciprocation of our love toward God. We are sanctified with the help of the Holy Spirit (Comforter) that Jesus gives us. Sanctification means to set a part or to make holy. His Holy Spirit helps us in this process to become more like Christ. This is not a one time event; it’s a life long process (we stumble here and there). The process of sanctifying and purifying us (the works that Jesus does in the believer, and is not of ourselves) ... it is HIM working in us and through us. We are separated from the world. We are in the physical world but not of the world spiritually. Our mind (thinking) changes over time and therefore our actions also change. Our faith increases more and more as He faithfully works in us. Hebrews 12:2

The third stage in the plan of salvation is our glorification.

We won’t be glorified until after Jesus returns. John writes of this in his first letter when he states that “when he shall appear we shall be like him (1 John 3:2). Paul refers to this stage frequently. For example: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53). He also refers to a time when “we shall all be changed in a moment in in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Paul speaks further of the doctrine of glorification when he says in Romans 8:18, “For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” We receive glorified spiritual bodies. Receiving eternal life and being with Him forevermore. Those saved (justification + sanctification) will be glorified when Christ returns at the first resurrection.

And because of His grace (favor) if we remain in Him He will accomplish His work in us.

Philippians 1:6

New Living Translation
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

wendykvw said:

What is the difference and why it matters. Justification. Sanctification and Salvation. Each is distinctive,what is the difference? Explain.

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Justification is the initial state of a person who has sincerely turned to God.; we're made just as we enter that union by faith. Justice or righteousness are intrinsic to fellowship with God. Sanctification is not separate from justification but simply a continuation of the same process that began there. The seeds of justice, of grace, of God's life are now implanted in us and we can continue to cultivate and grow that holiness -or not, we can always return to the pigsty. Salvation is the outworking of this union and these gifts of righteousness, sometimes defined as faith, hope, and, most importantly, love.

It's a process, a journey, and an incomparably good and worthy one which has been designed from the beginning to produce much good fruit, to produce something grand in us, much better than God began with as we turn to Him, the One who was cavalierly denied and dismissed in Eden, and rediscover the treasure that was foolishly lost there.

wendykvw said:

What is the difference and why it matters. Justification. Sanctification and Salvation. Each is distinctive,what is the difference? Explain.

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Salvation = remission of sin/condemnation, by faith in Jesus' atoning sacrifice for the payment of their penalty.

Justification = declared righteous by God, in right standing with God's justice; i.e., "not guilty," because of belief in and trust on Jesus' payment of your penalty for sin, which remits that sin/penalty.

Sanctification = obedience in the Holy Spirit which leads to righteousness leading to holiness (Romans 6:16-19), without which holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

The Christian life in a nutshell. . .

wendykvw said:

What is the difference and why it matters. Justification. Sanctification and Salvation. Each is distinctive,what is the difference? Explain.

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In Lutheranism:

Justification is declarative, God declares sinners just (aka righteous) on account of Christ. That is, Christ was righteous and His righteousness--His justice--is imputed to us as pure grace, received and apprehended through faith alone. So that the one who is justified by faith stands just before God covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and Him alone.

Sanctification is the working-out of our salvation through the life of faith in love, good works. The continued renewal and transformation by the power and work of the Spirit in our lives; not as though we become more righteous before God in order to earn His favor (this is impossible, and one is only righteous before God on Christ's account, as previously noted), but rather for the good and sake of our neighbor. Sanctification includes righteousness coram mundus, or righteousness before the world as opposed to righteousness coram Deo, righteousness before God. That is to say, we are called to lives of holy obedience not because God needs our good works but because our neighbor does.

Salvation is all of this and more. Our salvation is objectively won for us by the once and perfect work of Christ who made perfect satisfaction for all, so that Christ has truly died the death of all human beings and has rendered all just by this work (aka objective justification) and this work and justification is made ours through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament when the Holy Spirit creates faith in us and we are declared justified in Word and Sacrament, through faith we are justified. We are being sanctified and called to lives of faithfulness, holiness, and obedience to Christ through good works, we have been saved for good works in Christ, that we should take up our cross, drown ourselves daily in repentance, love our neighbor as ourselves--to forgive all who sin against us, to bless and not curse, to turn the other cheek, to render service by giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, caring for the weak, the orphan, and the widow, to welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, provide care to the sick, to visit those in prison, etc and all which Christ our Lord has commanded. And we look forward to the Last Day, when Christ returns in glory and judgment, when even this mortal body shall be raised up, glorified, and God sets to rights the whole of creation: the Age to Come and life everlasting.

So that the Christian life is to be comprehended in this way: Abiding in Christ through faith, and abiding in our neighbor through love.

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis said:

In Lutheranism:

Justification is declarative, God declares sinners just (aka righteous) on account of Christ. That is, Christ was righteous and His righteousness--His justice--is imputed to us as pure grace, received and apprehended through faith alone. So that the one who is justified by faith stands just before God covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and Him alone.

Sanctification is the working-out of our salvation through the life of faith in love, good works. The continued renewal and transformation by the power and work of the Spirit in our lives; not as though we become more righteous before God in order to earn His favor (this is impossible, and one is only righteous before God on Christ's account, as previously noted), but rather for the good and sake of our neighbor. Sanctification includes righteousness coram mundus, or righteousness before the world as opposed to righteousness coram Deo, righteousness before God. That is to say, we are called to lives of holy obedience not because God needs our good works but because our neighbor does.

Salvation is all of this and more. Our salvation is objectively won for us by the once and perfect work of Christ who made perfect satisfaction for all, so that Christ has truly died the death of all human beings and has rendered all just by this work (aka objective justification) and this work and justification is made ours through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament when the Holy Spirit creates faith in us and we are declared justified in Word and Sacrament, through faith we are justified. We are being sanctified and called to lives of faithfulness, holiness, and obedience to Christ through good works, we have been saved for good works in Christ, that we should take up our cross, drown ourselves daily in repentance, love our neighbor as ourselves--to forgive all who sin against us, to bless and not curse, to turn the other cheek, to render service by giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, caring for the weak, the orphan, and the widow, to welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, provide care to the sick, to visit those in prison, etc and all which Christ our Lord has commanded. And we look forward to the Last Day, when Christ returns in glory and judgment, when even this mortal body shall be raised up, glorified, and God sets to rights the whole of creation: the Age to Come and life everlasting.

So that the Christian life is to be comprehended in this way: Abiding in Christ through faith, and abiding in our neighbor through love.

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We don't "abide" in our neighbor. . .

Clare73 said:

We don't "abide"in our neighbor. . .

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Yes, we do.

The Christian is called to a life of inhabiting life with other people.

-CryptoLutheran

wendykvw said:

Do Lutherans have assurance of their salvation?

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Of course we do. In fact we have a phrase that captures the promise and assurance of our salvation in Christ, baptizatus sum. Latin for "I am baptized".

When the devil comes throwing his lies and our sins in our face we remember our baptism, we remember God's grace and God's promises which are ours freely and abundantly in Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and rose again by whom and in whom alone we have peace and life with God. We belong to Jesus Christ. God has written His very name upon us, claiming us, and there is no power that can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus.

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis said:

Yes, we do.

The Christian is called to a life of inhabiting life with other people.

-CryptoLutheran

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Inhabiting life is not inhabiting our neighbor.

Clare73 said:

Inhabiting life is not inhabiting our neighbor.

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"We give this rule: the good things which we have from God ought to flow from one to another, and become common to all, so that every one of us may, as it were, put on his neighbor, and so behave towards him its if he were himself in his place. They flowed and do flow from Christ to us; he put us on, and acted for us as if he himself were what we are. From us they flow to those who have need of them; so that my faith and righteousness ought to be laid down before God as a covering and intercession for the sins of my neighbor, which I am to take on myself, and so labour and endure servitude in them, as if they were my own; for thus has Christ done for us. This is true love and the genuine truth of Christian life. But only there is it true and genuine, where there is true and genuine faith. Hence the Apostle attributes to Charity this quality, that she seeketh not her own.

We conclude therefore that a Christian man does not live in himself, but in Christ, and in his neighbor, or else is no Christian; in Christ by faith, in his neighbor by love. By faith he is carried upwards above himself to God, and by love he sinks back below himself to his neighbor, still always abiding in God and His love," - Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian

I stand by what I said.

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis said:

"We give this rule: the good things which we have from God ought to flow from one to another, and become common to all, so that every one of us may, as it were, put on his neighbor, and so behave towards him its if he were himself in his place. They flowed and do flow from Christ to us; he put us on, and acted for us as if he himself were what we are. From us they flow to those who have need of them; so that my faith and righteousness ought to be laid down before God as a covering and intercession for the sins of my neighbor, which I am to take on myself, and so labour and endure servitude in them, as if they were my own; for thus has Christ done for us. This is true love and the genuine truth of Christian life. But only there is it true and genuine, where there is true and genuine faith. Hence the Apostle attributes to Charity this quality, that she seeketh not her own.

We conclude therefore that a Christian man does not live in himself, but in Christ, and in his neighbor, or else is no Christian; in Christ by faith, in his neighbor by love. By faith he is carried upwards above himself to God, and by love he sinks back below himself to his neighbor, still always abiding in God and His love," - Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian

I stand by what I said.

-CryptoLutheran

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Scripture?

Clare73 said:

Scripture?

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"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Matthew 22:39
Mark 12:31
Luke 10:27
Galatians 5:14
James 2:8

Love your neighbor as yourself.

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' To the contrary, 'if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." - Romans 12:9-21

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep"
"Associate with the lowly"

In other words, abiding in our neighbor through love.

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis said:

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8
Love your neighbor as yourself.

In other words, abiding in our neighbor through love.

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None of which is abiding in your neighbor. . .misuse of language.

Rather, love is being committed to your neighbors welfare (doing for him what he cannot do for himself, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan) as you are committed to your own welfare.

And it includes your enemies. . .do you abide in your enemies?

That is not Biblical. . .that is a flawed and over-heated mythology.

Clare73 said:

None of which is abiding in your neighbor. . .misuse of language.

Rather, love is being committed to your neighbors welfare (doing for him what he cannot do for himself, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan) as you are committed to your own welfare.

And it includes your enemies. . .do you abide in your enemies?

That is not Biblical. . .that is a flawed and over-heated mythology.

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Why is the use of the word abide causing you so much unnecessary stress here?

-CryptoLutheran

Clare73 said:

None of which is abiding in your neighbor. . .misuse of language.

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ViaCrucis said:

Why is the use of the word abide causing you so much unnecessary stress here?

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Ephesians 2:
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved,
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Believers abide in Christ together.
Would Abide With One another IN Christ be more acceptable?