Justification vs. Sanctification

                                  
1 Thes. 4:3- It is God's will that you should be sanctified...


You cannot take Christ for justification unless you take Him for sanctification. Think of the sinner coming to Christ and saying, “I do not want to be holy;” “I do not want to be saved from sin;” “I would like to be saved in my sins;” “Do not sanctify me now, but justify me now.” What would be the answer? Could he be accepted by God? You can no more separate justification from sanctification than you can separate the circulation of the blood from the inhalation of the air. Breathing and circulation are two different things, but you cannot have the one without the other; they go together, and they constitute one life. So you have justification and sanctification; they go together, and they constitute one life. If there was ever one who attempted to receive Christ with justification and not with sanctification, he missed it, thank God! He was no more justified than he was sanctified.
A.A. Hodge
Evangelical Theology






Justification is free (Jn. 4:1)
Sanctification is costly (Lk. 14:25-33)


Justification is instantaneous (Jn. 3:8)
Sanctification is a life-long process (Jn. 8:31)


Justification is by faith (Eph. 2:8)
Sanctification is by faithfulness (1 Cor. 4:2)



Justification is not of works (Eph. 2:9)
Sanctification is of works (Eph. 2:10)



Justification involves Christ’s love for me (Jn. 3:16)
Sanctification involves my love for Christ (1 Jn. 4:19)



Justification concerns Christ’s righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21)
Sanctification concerns my righteousness (Lk. 14:25-33)



Justification involves my position in Christ (Col. 2:11-14)
Sanctification involves my practice (Col. 3:1-11)



Justification considers what God has done (1 Cor. 15:3-4)
Sanctification considers what I am doing (Lk. 14:25-33)



Justification is God’s commitment to me (1 Jn. 5:9-13)
Sanctification is my commitment to God (Jn. 14:15)



Justification requires obedience to one command: to believe the Gospel (Ac. 6:7)
Sanctification requires obedience to all of Christ’s commands (Matt. 28:19-20)


Justification focuses on the cross which Jesus took up once and for all (1 Cor. 1:18)
Sanctification focuses on the cross which I am to take up daily (Lk. 9:53)


Justification is finished at the moment of faith (Jn. 5:24)
Sanctification is not finished until I go to be with the Lord (1 Cor. 9:24-27)

Author Unknown


Those who have been justified are now being sanctified; those who have no experience of present sanctification have no reason to suppose they have been justified.

F.F. Bruce
Romans – Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1998, p. 135.



Romans 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.