If we are saved by grace, why do we still pursue holiness: Justification and Sanctification
For many Christians who find it difficult to believe that grace is enough and that the Law is not a means of salvation, the issue is often that they confuse justification with sanctification. So, today’s post aims to explain both concepts and relate them to salvation by grace.
The concept of salvation by grace rather than by the keeping of the Law speaks to the fact that we have been made blameless and justified—that is, declared righteous before God—through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24; Rom. 5:1).
To understand this, we must look at the laws given in Leviticus. When a person brought a sin or guilt offering before God, they were instructed to lay a hand on the sacrifice (Lev. 1:4; Lev. 4:4). The animal used was often a lamb. Placing a hand on the sacrifice signified identification with it and symbolized the transfer of guilt and sin to the animal. Yet, we soon learn that these sacrifices were only temporary and served as shadows pointing to the true sacrifice to come. Animal sacrifices could never truly take away sins (Heb. 10:1–4).
However, in John 1:29, we are introduced to Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” He is the perfect sacrifice that washes away our sins and makes us blameless before God. Identifying with Him—that is, placing our faith in Him—makes us partakers of His sacrifice and beneficiaries of all that He accomplished.
So, justification was never about keeping laws, observing special days, or following a list of dos and don’ts. It has always been about faith. When we identify with what Jesus has done by believing in Him, we receive cleansing from sin and are declared righteous before God (Rom. 5:1).
However, it does not end there. And this is the part many people forget: sanctification.
Being justified before God through Christ does not mean that the work ends there. Jesus Himself said that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). Justification does not make us immune to temptation or incapable of sin. Therefore, we must also be sanctified.
Sanctification is the process of being conformed to Christ. It involves putting off the old nature and growing in the character and desires of the Spirit (Eph. 4:22–24). It is a continual dying to self and to fleshly desires while increasingly reflecting the life and nature of Christ.
Yet even sanctification is not something we accomplish by ourselves. We are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Philippians 2:13 tells us that it is God who works in us “both to will and to do for His good pleasure”. Accepting Jesus as Lord is not the end; we must live as people who are truly under His lordship. As Scripture says,
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked”
(1 Jhn. 2:6 NKJV).
Part of the reason some believers feel the need to return to the Law is because they have seen too many people become careless after professing faith in Christ. But grace does not give us permission to sin or live without restraint. Rather, it welcomes us into a life we could never attain on our own and then strengthens us to walk in it. (Tit. 2:11-12)
But the beauty of sanctification is that it flows from our union with Christ. It is not something we struggle to produce by our own strength. Because we have received a new nature in Christ and have died with Him, we are now able to live with Him and in Him (Rom. 6:4–11).
Sanctification itself is driven by grace because, left to ourselves, we could never achieve it. Paul confessed, “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (Rom. 7:15). We are also told that “by strength no man shall prevail” (1 Sam. 2:9). Therefore, it is the grace of God that grants us the Holy Spirit, who enables us to do what we ought to do (Gal. 5:16).
So, as we learnt last week, these good works and spiritual disciplines are not what lead to salvation; they are the fruits of salvation. We pray because we have been saved and granted access to God. We love, give, and show kindness because our transformed hearts now understand their importance in the life of God’s children. We do these things not to be accepted by Him, but because we are already accepted in Christ.
Justification happens once, at the point of salvation, but sanctification is a lifelong process for every believer.
It begins the moment we receive Christ. At that point, we are saved from the penalty of sin. From there, sanctification continues through the daily renewal of the mind (Rom. 12:2), walking in the Spirit so as not to fulfil the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16), and beholding Christ, because as we behold Him, we are transformed (2 Cor. 3:18). In this stage, we are progressively being saved from the power of sin.
Finally, sanctification reaches its completion in glorification, when our mortal bodies are transformed, and we are caught up to meet the Lord (1 Cor. 15:51–53; 1 Thess. 4:16–17). Then we shall be free not only from the penalty and power of sin, but even from its presence.
Therefore, grace saved us, and grace continues to sustain us in the new life we have received. The Law could not give us this newness of life, nor could it keep us in it. Neither could our own efforts.
We are better for it when we rest in the finished work of Christ, who not only justifies us but also sanctifies us and will one day glorify us completely.
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Phil. 1:6 NKJV
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