Great Doctrines of the Bible
Special English Version

Lesson 22
JUSTIFICATION and SANCTIFICATION

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson we would like to make doctrine come alive to you. It is impossible to fully enjoy the blessing of your salvation without a complete understanding of the most important doctrines of salvation. These doctrines include redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, and adoption. We will study these in later lessons.
We want you to understand that the study of doctrine does not have to be boring. You must fully understand and be able to apply these truths to your life, in order to make Christ and your Christian faith real in your life.
In this lesson we want to teach the meaning and importance of the doctrines of justification and sanctification. May the value of the truths in these doctrines fill your soul with joy.

IMPORTANCE OF THIS LESSON

• Bildad the Shuhite wondered how a man can stand before God and say that he is righteous (Job 25:4). This is a question that has troubled people through the ages. Can a person who breaks the law and denies that Christ is the Son of God be declared completely righteous before God? Can a person who does not consider God in his life and deserves the wrath of God be declared righteous before God? Can a God who is absolutely holy declare such people free from the guilt of sin? If it can be done, it is the most important news a person could ever hear. That is the news in this lesson.
• Justification describes our position in Christ. Sanctification describes the daily life of the believer.
• Justification is what God declares us to be. It is how God sees us in Christ.
• Sanctification also has to do with our position in Christ. It also talks about making progress in growing in a life of separation from sin and to the Lord.
• Because both doctrines have to do with righteousness, we are studying both of them in this one lesson.

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THE LESSON

I. JUSTIFICATION

1. Its Meaning
   1. In daily language we often say things like, “There was no justification for what he did,” or “He tried to justify his actions before the jury.” In both cases, the word means “to make right.” His actions could not be “made right,” or “He tried to make right” his actions before the jury.
      • It is interesting that the use of this word in the New Testament is much the same. “To justify” and “justification” are directly related to the words, “righteous” and “righteousness”. Both words come from very similar Greek words.
      Verb (action word) = dikaioo = “to declare righteous” or “to justify”
      Noun (name of something) = dikaiosune = “righteousness” or “justification”
      Adjective (a word that says something about another word) = dikaios = “righteous” or “justified”
   2. Justification is made up of two parts:
      1. The forgiveness of all sin. The guilt is taken away (Romans 8:1,33; Acts 13:38-39).
      2. The believer is credited with God’s righteousness (imputation). God gives all of the benefits of Christ’s death to the believer (Romans 3:22, 4:5).
   3. Justification does not make us righteous in a way that we can live without sin. It is a legal act of God, as a judge. By this act God declares a sinner to be righteous when he believes. In other
      words, it shows us how God looks upon the believer the moment he places his trust for salvation in Christ.
      Justification is about our connection to God. Adam and sin ruined our connection to God. When God justifies us, we are again accepted into the family of God and all of its blessings. When God justifies us, we receive all the benefit of the death of Christ. Justification has to do with our standing (position) in Christ as believers, not our state (condition). Our state is our spiritual condition and has to do with sanctification or the way we live the Christian life.
   4. Justification is the result of a deal in which the believing sinner and the Lord Jesus Christ change places (2 Corinthians 5:21).
      1. Christ becomes sin! The believer becomes the righteousness of God in Christ.
      2. Christ is connected to the sinner who believes in such a way that God considers the sins of the believer to be those of Christ. The believing sinner is linked to Christ in such a way that God considers His righteousness to be ours!!!
   5. Justification is not only a pardon by the judge. God gives us all of the full rights of a child in the family of God. God looks at us as and sees us as no longer guilty.
   6. Justification is standing in God’s courtroom. After a person has believed on Christ and received the righteousness of Christ, he hears the judge of all the earth say, “Not guilty” (Romans 8:1).
2. The power of this declaration. Whose word can declare us righteous? By what power can we say we are righteous and without guilt in God’s sight? The answer is that God Himself has said it. He has given us the power to say it (Romans 3:26, 30; 8:33)!
3. What is the source of our justification? The answer is “the grace of God” (Titus 3:7; Galatians 5:4; Romans 3:24). If it is by grace then it must be free. If it is by grace then we cannot earn it. It is by God’s good will in Christ alone.
4. How did God justify us?
   1. By the shed blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:22; Romans 5:9).
   2. By the work of Christ when he bought us back by His death for our sins (Romans 3:24). Justification is not cheap. Christ paid a heavy price!
   3. By Christ’s work of propitiation. This word has to do with the mercy seat over the ark in the tabernacle in the wilderness. When God saw the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat He was satisfied that sin had been confessed and paid for. The blood of the animal did not save from sin. It was a picture of the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ would be shed for sin many years later, on the cross. Because Christ died for our sins, God considers our sins as paid for. His holiness is satisfied. Now God can be the Righteous One and at the same time He can be the one who justifies a person on the basis of faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).
5. Our justification is complete – we are justified from:
   1. All things (Acts 13:38-39; Romans 8:1).
   2. All iniquity (Titus 2:14).
   3. God laid all of our sins Christ (Isaiah 53:6).
   4. God laid all of His righteousness on us (Romans 3:22).
6. The method God used to justify us.
   1. We are justified by FAITH alone (Galatians 2:16; 3:8,11; Habbakuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38; Romans 3:25-28; 4:2-5).
   2. Suppose a man is thoughtful and kind. He takes care of his family. He loves his wife. He does many good things for the people in his neighborhood. He pays his debts. He is a man of good character.
      He is not justified:
      1. Because God sees no man as righteous (Romans 3:23; Isaiah 53:6; 64:6).
      2. Because salvation is by grace and therefore cannot be by character or works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5).
      3. Because works, or Law, are not able to make a man righteous, or make him able to live a righteous life.
         1. Romans 3:20 – This verse gives the idea that a trial took place and a verdict was announced. (Read Romans 3:9-12 for the verdict!)
         2. The law brings sin to light but provides no cure for sin. The law does not set a person free from the power of sin. The law can only stop our mouths and tell us that we are guilty (Romans 3:19).
      4. Because the law requires perfect obedience (Galatians 3:10; 5:3).
      5. Because a man who worked for his justification can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Note the word about Abraham in Romans 4:2. If his works made him right with God, he could boast, “but not before God.”
      6. Therefore we are justified by grace through faith.
7. What assurance do we have?
   The resurrection of Christ is our assurance (Romans 4:25). All of our hope and assurance is in the resurrection of Christ (1 Peter 1:3). The resurrection proves that God was satisfied with the work of Christ on our behalf.
8. The results of justification:
   1. Peace with God is the result of justification (Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20-21).
      God used the blood of Jesus to sign a peace agreement with the believer! He is no longer an enemy of Christ. The hindrance to fellowship and communion is broken down. The war is over. The believer is at peace with God!
   2. Because of justification, God is no longer angry with the believer! Not now and not ever!
      1. John 3:36 – “The wrath of God abideth on him (the unbeliever)”. But no longer on the believer!
      2. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 – Sinners go through the Day of God’s Anger, but not the believer. (Read Romans 5:9.)
   3. Justification will cause that the believer will do good works. The justified believer has been “created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Works never make a person right with God, but the believer who is right with God will do good works (James 2:17, 22).
      • In James 2:14-20, James is speaking of the fruit when a person is made right with God. Paul talks about how a person is made right with God. Paul and James do not disagree with each other. James simply says, faith without works is dead. That is, faith that fails to work is no faith at all. That kind of faith cannot make a person right with God. Paul agrees.
   4. Through justification the believer inherits the glory of Christ!
      1. Titus 3:7 – Since we are made right with God, we are made inheritors (Romans 8:17-18).
      2. Romans 8:30 – Here God says that He gave His glory to the ones He justified. In God’s eyes we have already received the glory we shall share with Christ.
      3. 1 John 3:2 – We shall be like Him.
         At the rapture and the resurrection of the believers we shall actually be like Jesus Christ. That is the way God looks at us right now!
9. Once more, this is how God justifies us.
   1. Romans 3:20 – Not by the keeping the law.
   2. Romans 3:26-28 –Completely by faith in the person and work of Jesus.

II. SANCTIFICATION

1. The meaning of Sanctification
   1. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the English words “sanctify” and “holy”, mean “to set apart for God”.
   2. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is “Qdsh” or Qodesh” which means “to set apart” or “to make holy”.
   3. In the New Testament, the Greek word is “hagios”. It is translated as “holy,” “holiness,” “sanctify,” “sanctified” and “sanctification”.
   4. In both Testaments, the words are used for people and also for things.
      1. Illustrations in the Old Testament:
         1. Genesis 2:3 – God has set apart the seventh day.
         2. Exodus 19:23 – God has set apart Mt. Sinai.
         3. Leviticus 27:14 – A man sets apart his house and his fields for God.
         4. Joshua 7:13 – Joshua is told to set apart the people for God.
         5. Exodus 29:36 – God set apart the altar as holy.
         6. Exodus 29:44 – God set apart Aaron and his sons for God.
            • In every case, the meaning is “to set apart as holy for God”. Also, remember that the same word “Qodash” is also translated as “dedication,” “consecration,” and “holiness”
      2. Illustrations in the New Testament:
         1. Matthew 23:17, 19 – The gold on the altar and the gift that is put there.
         2. 1 Timothy 4:5 – Food is set apart for God.
         3. 1 Corinthians 7:14 – The unbelieving wife of a believer is set apart.
         4. John 10:36 – Christ was set apart by the Father.
         5. 1 Peter 13:15 – The believer sets Christ apart in his heart.
            • Again, in all of these verses, the meaning is “to set apart for God.”
   5. When the word “sanctify” is used of things, it does not mean that the thing is good in itself. When the word “sanctify” is used about people there is a three-fold meaning.
      1. Sanctification talks about the believer’s position.
         1. God says that the believer is “in Christ.” The phrase is found 28 times in Ephesians alone.
         2. The Bible says that the believer’s position is “in Christ,” therefore God sets believers apart for Himself (1 Corinthians 1:2). Believers are also called saints, which means “holy ones” (Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2). Also in 1 Corinthians 1:30, Christ is said to be the believer’s sanctification which means that Christ is the reason why the believer is holy.
         3. Note in Hebrews 10:10, we see that the sacrifice of Christ made us holy. Christ made that sacrifice one time, which is enough for all time.
      2. Sanctification talks about the believer’s life. It talks about how the believer grows in Christ. It is also called Practical and/or Progressive Sanctification. By living as a Christian, believers grow in grace and knowledge about Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
         1. When the believer learns and obeys the Word of God he grows in the Christian life and becomes more set apart for God (John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26).
         2. When the believer allows the Holy Spirit to work in and through him, he grows in the Christian life and is more set apart for God (2 Corinthians 3:18).
         3. When the believer allows God to work in his life, he grows in the Christian life and is more set apart for God. (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
      3. Sanctification means to become sinless. This is also called Perfect and/or Prophetic Sanctification.
         The believer will be sinless when the Lord comes back in the Rapture of the CHURCH.
         1. Our bodies will be changed and never die again (1 Corinthians 15:51-56).
         2. We will be like the Lord Jesus (1 John 3:2) and our sanctification will be complete. We will be completely set apart for God at that time.
2. When is a believer set apart for God?
   1. The moment a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ his position changes. He is put “in Christ”. It is by “faith” (Acts 26:18).
      1. At the moment a person believes, the Holy Spirit baptizes him into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).
      2. At the moment a person believes the Holy Spirit sets him apart in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2).
      3. At the moment a person believes Christ becomes his sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30).
   2. However, in our daily living for Christ, he becomes more and more set apart for God, more and more sanctified and holy.
      1. The believer should try to become more holy in the way he lives, because he respects God (2 Corinthians 7:1).
      2. God calls the believer to be holy (1 Thessalonians 4:7).
      3. God wants every believer to surrender every part of his body to holiness. God wants the believer to be a servant of righteousness (Romans 6:19-20).
      4. Teachers and pastors must prepare the believers in order that they will do works of service for God, to build up the body of Christ, until we all come to be mature men, up to the full measure of the completeness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13).
3. How is a believer set apart for God?
   1. The believer is set apart for God by the sacrifice and blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:10, 29).
   2. The believer is set apart for God by following the example of Christ (Ephesians 4:20-32; Philippians 2:5).
   3. The believer is set apart for God by allowing the Word of God to make him clean (John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26).
   4. The believer is set apart for God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
      1. The Holy Spirit is the one who produces sanctification in the life of the believer (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 15:16).
      2. The Spirit works together with God when he chooses the believer.
      3. The Holy Spirit is also the power who develops sanctification in the believer.
      4. He is the power that helps the believer to become more and more set apart for God (Romans 8:13; Ephesians 3:16; Galatians 5:16).

Examination

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