Please explain the difference between salvation and sanctification.
The term salvation is used in many ways throughout the Bible. However, I will limit my comments to what I believe to be the central core of the Christian hope and faith through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. In the New Testament, salvation refers to being saved from the judgment which we all deserve because we are sinners. Because of God’s love and grace, He has provided a way of salvation from this judgment for sinners; saving us from eternal destruction, and from the power of sin, death and Satan. The Bible teaches us that we are all sinners—sinners by nature, and sinners by choice. In Romans 3:23, the Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. Being a sinner is not a matter of degree. You are either a sinner or you are not. The issue isn’t the number of sins you may have committed, but that you sin at all. We read In James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” God’s law requires perfect obedience or judgment, but we are not perfectly obedient; so, we are deserving of judgment under God’s law. We read in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death….” Death is the consequence of sin, and death has been going on since Adam. But the problem doesn’t stop with physical death. There will be judgment for sinners after death. We read in Hebrews 9:27: “…it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” God’s Word describes this judgment for sinners who do not repent in life in Revelation 20: 12-13, “And I saw the dead small and great stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” We go on to read in verse 15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” We cannot by our good works save ourselves from this terrible judgment. So, we need to be saved—we need a remedy for sin, and God alone has provided the remedy, which we can neither purchase or earn. We read in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is salvation for the Christian. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24). We read in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” In Acts 4:12 we see that Christ Jesus is the only way to be saved: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”. We are saved from the wrath of God by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith in His finished work on the cross if we will but repent of our sins and believe on Him.
Sanctification is closely related to salvation, but again, this term is used many times and in different ways throughout the Bible. In essence, the word means “set apart” to God, or “consecrated.” In the New Testament, all believers on the Lord Jesus are said to be sanctified and are called “saints as we read in I Corinthians 1:2, “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord…”. We read in Hebrews 10:10, “…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”. Again, in verse 14 of Hebrews 10 we read, “For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified”. So, believers are sanctified forever by the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary–all true believers are addressed in Scripture as sanctified in Christ Jesus, and this occurs when one is saved.
Now, in the New Testament, there is an aspect of sanctification
which refers to practical holiness, which is progressive in life as the Holy
Spirit and the Word of God work in the heart of the believer to conform them to
the image of Christ. No born again
Christian in this world can say that they are sinless or perfectly Christ-like;
however, at salvation, the believer is sanctified, or set apart to
God; then by the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart as the believer reads the
Word of God, that believer is conformed day by day, washed from the filth of
this world, and brought closer and closer to the image of Christ. We read in I Thessalonians 5:23, “And the
very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and
soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (391.6)
(SF)