Salvation – 2 of 3

Current Process – Sanctification

Last time we considered salvation from the viewpoint of God’s gracious act of justification which grants us a new position before God. Now we consider the much misunderstood topic of the practical aspect of our salvation through the sanctification of our daily lives on earth.

Salvation begins with the simultaneous events of “justification” and “sanctification.” Both are instantaneous! Justification is sometimes referred to as “Positional Sanctification”—I was set apart to God (past tense at the point of salvation). Sanctification literally means set apart for a higher use.

At the time of our salvation we are fully justified and fully sanctified—set apart to God by God (1 Corinthians 1:30). There is no partial salvation and there is no partial sanctification. If you are a child of God, you are set apart for God at the moment of salvation—it is not that you will be set apart but that you have been set apart!

Teaching on sanctification often focuses on the process of “Practical Sanctification” as the Christian grows spiritually. It is extremely important to note a key distinction here. Many erroneously believe that over time with the help of the Spirit of God and the Word of God their nature improves until it begins to resemble Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth! Nowhere in Scripture will you find any indication of repairing our fallen nature! God is not slowly repairing our old “sinful” nature (see 1 Corinthians 2:14, Galatians 5:17-18).

The Word certainly does teach that we are to grow in the knowledge of God and to apply the truth which we have learned. God at the time of our justification gave us a new “spiritual” nature through a new birth (i.e., “born again”) and as newborns, literally “born from above” with a new spiritual nature, we first desire milk (1 Peter 2:2) and continue to grow until we require strong foods (Hebrews 5:14). As we mature we become more Christ-like (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is our new spiritual nature, our new nature in which we were born from above, which grows Christ-like.

The important distinction is that the natural man cannot understand spiritual realities because he has not been born spiritually. This is as true as saying an unborn embryo cannot understand the things of life on earth because he has not been born physically.

In the future we will be with Christ and possess perfect salvation and “Perfect Sanctification” in eternity future as we dwell with our Lord. In our next blog we will look at the third key aspect of salvation.