Sanctification and Justification

Here is part of an e-mail I wrote in response to a friend of mine–edited for this blog.

 

Concerning the opening paragraph from my post “Some Thoughts on Faith and Works“. I actually gave quite a bit of thought to that paragraph. I intentionally kept it very simple and logical. Of course it does not specifically address every aspect of Christianity, such as original sin, or the specific nature of justification and sanctification, etc . . . –all of which I know are very important. I am just trying to stick to what I am sure of.

I had always been taught that Justification and Sanctification were almost completely separate: that Justification happens once and for all upon belief, and that at that point Sanctification begins. However, I think that stands in direct contradiction to James 2:24, where good works are said to play a part in the justification of a believer. (My dad argued that this justification only refers to extra benefits or “crowns” we receive in heaven. It seems to me that it is obvious to him that this passage is saying that good works play a part in Justification. Only it doesn’t bother him because he says this justification isn’t referring to “being saved”. From what I have read, I think I would be correct in saying that most protestants would disagree with my dad’s use of the word “Justified”, admitting this Justification to be Saving Justification. They would simply argue that James is not denying “true faith alone”, but “false faith alone”–that true faith produces works and that false faith doesn’t. However true this may be, it does not negate the fact that James 2:24 is very direct about works playing a part in justification. [both good faith and good works are, despite our assent, a result of the grace of God,]).

Other passages speak of justification as a past event, but it only makes sense to me to say that this refers to a one time beginning through faith (for all christian converts begin by submitting to grace through faith) not a once and for all point in the past. 1 Corinthians 6:11 refers to Sanctification as if it had already happened—and it had—but that does not mean that it was not still happening. It makes more sense to me to say that Sanctification is part of Justification–that God doesn’t just declare, but that he actually makes us holy. That is something I don’t understand about the separation of Justification and Sanctification. If, upon belief, we are completely holy, and cannot lose that, then why is it necessary that we be Sanctified? (and what sins was Paul to be washed of in Acts 22:15 ?) If Justification is an imputed righteousness (as differentiated from infused righteousness), a mere legal declaration of righteousness, then what part does Sanctification play in entrance to heaven? I am pretty sure the Bible is clear that nothing imperfect will enter heaven–that means complete Sanctification. But I don’t suppose that everyone is Sanctified at the same rate or to the same amount; I suppose few people reach perfection before death. That would mean that there must be some means of being made really and completely holy after death–which is sounds similar to the state of purgatory.

I think that we agree on the basics of the journey of a Christian: That God acts first, giving us the grace to believe, and that upon acceptance, we are to live holy lives, also by the grace of God—none of it is initiated by us, though (because we have free will) it requires our assent (not our power). In this way, we share in Christ’s righteousness, since the righteousness we obtain does not originate in us, but Christ. I guess a big difference we have is that you would argue that after our initial acceptance/compliance of faith, we have an unconditional guarantee of salvation, and while I would agree that God’s love is unconditional, I hold that our divine son-ship to Him is conditional (even after adoption)—that guarantees are often conditional (for instance: a money back guarantee on a book you bought—provided that you do not rip the pages out). I think that Paul illustrates this well in Romans 8:17, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory”, where we are heirs and co-heirs if we share in his sufferings.

Follow-up to “Some Thoughts on Faith and Works”

I don’t think anyone has been reading this blog yet, but I posted a link to it onto my Facebook profile, so some people–I guess that’s you, the reader–may be reading it by now. I think I was clear of my intentions about my post on the Books of the Bible (which was originally a Facebook note), but my post “Some Thoughts on Faith and Works” may seem a little bit forward.  That is because I wrote it more to get my thoughts straight and on paper than any other reason.

A little background:

As noted in “Books of the Bible”, I was raised in a Non-Denominational Bible-Christian Church/home. I was taught early on about Jesus and his loving sacrifice for my sin. I made a decision to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior when I was five during nap-time at school. Although I knew what I did was good, I don’t think I underwent much of a change at that point in my life. I had faith like a child, but the understanding of one too. Our family went to church (nearly) every Sunday–my brother and I mostly went to Sunday-School, kids church, but sometimes we went with our parents (and sometimes our parents helped with Sunday-School). I liked church okay. It wasn’t until I was around 12 years old that I was baptized.

Looking back, it wasn’t very Biblical of me, as a Bible-only Christian, to wait 7 years after accepting Jesus to be baptized, but that’s what happened. My parents never really pushed that I should get baptized, and I never really knew exactly what baptism was; I did think that the baptismal font in my baptist school Church was one of the coolest things in the world, though. It was way up high, and had some sort of secret passage way! Anyway, after church one day, they were having the baptism and lunch/fellowship time thing, and my parents asked me if I had thought about being baptized. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t ready that time, plus I didn’t have a swimsuit, so I passed that opportunity. What I meant by not being ready, was I still wasn’t sure of what baptism was all about, and so I was scared. It seemed like a big commitment to me–though, according to what our church taught, it really wasn’t. My parents explained, though not in these words, that ‘believers baptism’ is essentially a believer publicly announcing to other believers that he also believes, all while getting dunked–a symbol of what had taken place when I was five. Sometime later the situation after church repeated itself, and although I still had not been prepared and brought appropriate clothes, I said yes. I remember our pastor Donald Tabb baptizing me in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and feeling good and new afterward–sort of empowered to do whatever God wanted me to do. After that I became a teenager. I was strongly convicted of my need for God through both my downfalls and the youth group events at church, and at the urging and example of my dad, I began to regularly read the Bible every day.

By the time I reached high school I had probably read through the new testament at least once (except maybe all of Revelation, though it was cool to skim), and a few of the books more than once; I had also read into the Old Testament, but the ‘boring’ parts often halted my reading for so long that I had to start over. After I began to become familiar with some parts of the Bible, I naturally began to notice things that I had not noticed before: Things like what Jesus meant in a given parable; some differences in accounts between the four gospels; verses that I could not understand; and, eventually, the seeming contradiction of James and Paul. It was my first serious doctrinal dilemma as a christian. I wrestled for a while with all of the possible ways to reconcile those verses with each other, and what I believed. I must have hoped that James didn’t really mean what it seemed to be saying, because I new that no one could get his self to heaven–no one could be good enough on their own to go to heaven!

I eventually decided that while Paul was talking to people who thought they could go to heaven by their own goodness, James was addressing people who thought that they could have faith with no outward change whatsoever–a fake faith, and that true faith has to produce good works–though the works themselves don’t affect the “yes or no” of your salvation, but do affect the blessedness of your eternal state once you’re in heaven. I was glad that I had reconciled those verses, but changed me and led me to question things such as the closely related ‘assurance of salvation’, or ‘once saved, always saved’. I never denied it, but never completely trusted it because I knew the Bible talked about a sin that could not be forgiven, and how we had to forgive others for God to forgive us.

To say the least, a lot has happened since then–too much for me to explain all at once–so that now I know that James 2 isn’t the only place in the bible that talks about works being involved in salvation, but is the only place where ‘faith alone’ is mentioned, and that it’s the same faith that Paul refers to. So as I was trying to show someone how I thought that in John 15:1-6 Jesus was saying it is possible to lose your salvation (by the way, learn from my mistake. I don’t recommend starting with this because it deals with works too) it escalated into multiple attacks on me, aimed to hurt me personally. That is why I wrote my thoughts on faith and works for you to read. I know it is not comprehensive–it deals only with the things that I thought were necessary to prove my point. However, I’m sure that many people, if they ever read it, will have something to say, so I just want you to know that I happily welcome any comments or objections. My main problems I have when talking to people about these controversies is that they either aren’t willing to discuss it, or they just get mad at me. So please, let me know what you think.

Some Thoughts on Faith and Works

If we were saved by works alone, the only requirement for us to go to heaven would be to obey God’s commandments. If we were saved by faith alone, the only requirement for salvation would be to have faith.

Salvation by works alone would mean we would not have to have any faith, belief, or even understanding of the commandments (though, hard as it is to completely obey God, there is little hope of doing so without first understanding his commandments). There is nowhere in scripture where the words ‘works’ and ‘alone’ appear together; however, it is probably implied by many times by Paul, such as here in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.” Paul is here clearly contrasting Grace with Works (‘works alone’ is probably the meaning of ‘works’, hence he says ‘so no one may boast’) and he says that faith is a means through which this saving grace may be obtained. Again in Romans 9:32 he says “because they did it [pursue righteousness] not by faith, but as if it could be done by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes stumbling” and in 11:6: “But if by grace, it is no longer because of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”  Again, the bible leaves no room for salvation by works alone; it is insistent on salvation by grace alone, and that faith is a necessary means to obtain saving grace.

Similarly, salvation by faith alone would mean just that: the only thing required to go to heaven is faith. Since works are not faith, they are not required to go to heaven—even ‘works of faith’ because even though such works come from faith, they are still works and not faith. There arises a problem, however, when this view is compared to the biblical relationship between faith and works. In Galatians 5:6, Paul says “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” If the only thing that counts is faith, then why does the holy spirit testify that faith only counts when it works through love? Also, Jesus says in Matthew 6:14-15 “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” Yet forgiving your brother is not faith, but a work of faith, isn’t it? James speaks very clearly on the relationship between faith and works: “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:17) and “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works” (2:22). A ‘dead’ or ‘incomplete’ faith surely will not save us. If—as the Bible says—works are necessary to complete our faith, then we cannot have saving faith without works. Throughout the New Testament, God thoroughly illustrates the necessity of works to be saved; here are just a few verses to demonstrate this: ”For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be justified” (Romans 2:13); “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21); “if you wish you enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17); “Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14); “So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work” (Philippians 2:12-13); “Then he said to all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’ ” (Luke 9:23). One last passage, the only place in all of scripture where the words ‘faith’ and ‘alone’ appear together, should suffice: “See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).

It seems clear that we are neither saved by works alone, nor faith alone, but by grace alone—for it is only by grace we may believe (Acts 18:27) and it is only by grace we may do works (1 Corinthians 15:10).