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Glory · The Gospel
Justification and sanctification are two distinct works of God's grace that belong inseparably together. Justification is God declaring us righteous through Christ, a finished verdict received once by faith. Sanctification is God making us holy, a lifelong work of the Spirit. Both come from union with Christ and both are gifts of grace, and they are to be distinguished without being separated: we are justified in order to be sanctified, and sanctification is the fruit of justification.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/how-are-justification-and-sanctification-related · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Romans 5:1-2
As you read: Through the one act of Christ's obedience, many are made righteous; through Him we have peace with God.
1Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
2through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 6:1-19
As you read: Because we are united to Christ, we are not to continue in sin but are to present ourselves as servants of righteousness.
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
3Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
7For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;
9knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him!
10For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
11Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13Neither present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!
16Don’t you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
17But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.
18Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
As you read: Paul names what God did for believers: they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus Christ.
9Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit the Kingdom of God.
11Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
As you read: Christ 'was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption': both flow from Him.
26For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
27but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
28and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:
29that no flesh should boast before God.
30But of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
31that, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
Hebrews 10:10-14
As you read: By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified: the finished work and the ongoing work held together.
10by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,
12but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.
14For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Justification is God's declaration: through Christ's one act of righteousness, many are made righteous, and being justified by faith, we have peace with God. It is a verdict pronounced over us, once received by faith and complete in Christ. Sanctification is different in kind: it is the Spirit's gradual work within us, transforming us from glory to glory, a growth that is begun and carried on, not a single finished moment.
“So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.”Romans 5:18
“For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.”Romans 5:19
“Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;”Romans 5:1
“But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.”2 Corinthians 3:18
“being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”Philippians 1:6
Neither is a separate achievement; both are ours by being in Christ. Paul says Christ 'was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.' And for the Corinthians who had been forgiven of much, he says, 'you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.' Justification and sanctification spring from the same fountain: our union with Jesus.
“But of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:”1 Corinthians 1:30
“Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.”1 Corinthians 6:11
“Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”Romans 6:3
“We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.”Romans 6:4
The two belong to different kinds of grace, and confusing them damages both. Justification is the once-for-all gift that gives us a standing before God; sanctification is the lifelong growth by which we become like Him. Paul connects them without blurring them: 'by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.' Those who are perfected in Christ are being sanctified in Him, and those who are being sanctified rest on the perfection Christ has already secured.
“For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”Hebrews 10:14
“Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;”Romans 5:1
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”Romans 8:1
A right grasp of justification makes us holy, not careless. Paul asks the question everyone fears: 'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?' and answers flatly, by no means, because we who died to sin are united to Christ and no longer servants of sin. He urges us, freed from the law's condemnation, to present our members as servants of righteousness for sanctification. Grace received properly always bears the fruit of growing holiness.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”Romans 6:1
“May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?”Romans 6:2
“For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.”Romans 6:14
“I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.”Romans 6:19
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;”Titus 2:11-12
The distinction gives both security and growth. We do not earn our standing by our progress; we are justified by faith, at peace with God through Christ, with no condemnation for those in Him. And because that standing is secure, we are free to pursue holiness without fear: to grow in grace, to become like Him, knowing He who began a good work will complete it. Justification is the ground beneath our feet; sanctification is the path we walk, and both have been given to us by the same gracious Lord.
“Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;”Romans 5:1
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”Romans 8:1
“being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”Philippians 1:6
“For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”2 Corinthians 5:21
“Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.”Romans 8:30