Living By Faith

Question 32 - What do justification and sanctification mean?

June 22, 2022 Speaker: Josh DeGroote Series: New City

Topic: Salvation Passage: 1 Peter 1:1–1:2

Question 32 - What do justification and sanctification mean? 

Answer 32 - Justification means our declared righteousness before God, made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Sanctification means our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in us.

This is such an important question. We have to know and be able to distinguish between justification and sanctification. And it’s not just a matter of semantics. And it is certainly not just a matter of academics… just being able to dot our theological i’s and cross our theological t’s. 

It is for our life. It is for our health and spiritual vigor! Both are gifts. Both are necessary for salvation. But they are not the same thing. And if we don’t know how to distinguish them, we will run into confusion as we study the bible. 

Justification: God declares us righteous: by faith alone (simply believe), once for all (never better or worse), based on the perfect obedience, death, and resurrection of Christ. This is the truth that sparked the Reformation (Luther reading Romans 1:17… the dam broke and he saw the glorious truth that through simple faith in Jesus Christ, God counts sinners righteous. And we live by this faith alone. 

Sanctification: Gradual, growing in righteousness: through faith and obedience, incremental (we experience growth, sometimes slower than other times), through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Sanctification gets less airtime in our day. Yet it occupies our day to day walk with Jesus Christ. Think about it this way. The moment you first believe, you are justified, and that righteousness never increases or decreases. How could it? It’s the perfect righteousness of Christ. But from that moment on, for the rest of your life, you are in the process of sanctification, the gradual growth of practical righteousness. Justification happens in a moment, sanctification takes a lifetime. 

I heard it once said that justification is the gospel for the unbeliever and sanctification is the gospel for the believer. I don’t agree with that. Christians need to be reminded of their justification. For at least two reasons - 1) to curb our pride (you are not accepted by your righteousness, but Christ’s - yours is like filthy rags)), and 2) to lift us when we are tempted to despair (when we stumble, “upward we look and see him there…”). 

I’ll end with some wise words by JC Ryle: “In justification the word to address to man is believe–only believe; in sanctification the word must be ‘watch, pray, and fight.’ What God has divided let us not mingle and confuse”


1 Peter 1:1-2 - To those who are elect exiles . . . according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

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