I would like to first start with an answer from the Westminster Larger Catechism. The Shorter Catechism’s answers are good, but I like the Larger’s better. These are gotten from here.
Q. 70. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.
Q. 75. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is a work of God’s grace, whereby they whom God hath, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life.
Q. 77. Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?
A. Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification of his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued: the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.
If anyone has an objection to any of these, please let us know. The Larger Catechism is not Scripture, even for its very high scholarship.
But, moving on from there, the Bible mentions justification and sanctification a lot. One could study these topics for a long time and never leave the Bible. Sanctification has especially been on my mind lately because of this passage in Scripture:
“And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.” -I Cor 7:13-17
Ultimately, we all know that no one saves another since it is only Christ that can save us, but it seems interesting in light of my post on Covenant Children. I realize that this doctrine is unpopular in the church today and many of you may not hold to it, but as I understand it, by faith alone are we saved through justification and we grow in righteousness “towards perfection” through God’s sanctification, again by faith. This truly gives me hope and is a great encouragement to seek having and raising a Godly family. Let us know your thoughts, disagreements, encouragements, etc.
In the next few posts, I would like to talk a little bit about love, marriage, and romantic relationships, so stay tuned.
