The Duo: Justification and Sanctification

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Eph 2:8-10

Scripture graciously warns us about the danger of becoming too familiar with grace. (Revelation 3:15-16) Subtly, we may begin to take it for granted that we are saved. Our fruit and the evidence of Christ in us may grow cold.

This begs the question, can a true Christian continue to bear no fruit? No, a true Christian can not remain in a state of unfruitfulness. To find a perpetual “lukewarm Christian” would be an oxymoron. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” – John 15:8

The gift of righteousness and the call to holiness go together:

…as Christ cannot be divided into parts, so the two things, justification and sanctification, which we perceive to be united together in him, are inseparable. Whomsoever, therefore, God receives into his favor, he presents with the Spirit of adoption, whose agency forms them anew into his image. – John Calvin

J.C. Ryle says it well in his Sermon on Holiness:

I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and different things, beyond question, but one is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified, and all sanctified are justified. What God has joined together let no man dare to put asunder. Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ’s work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit’s work in you. Think not that Christ and the Spirit can ever be divided. I doubt not that many believers know these things, but I think it good for us to be put in remembrance of them. Let us prove that we know them by our lives. Let us try to keep in view this text more continually: “Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

Ryle points out that the only safe evidence that we are one with Christ is a holy life. Do you want to attain holiness? “Holiness comes from Christ.” Do you want to continue holy? “Then abide in Christ.” May we be encouraged to pursue holiness by God’s grace.

For further study, check out: 1 John 2:6, 1 Peter 2:21, Romans 6, Matthew 7:13-23, James 2:14-26, John 15:1-11.