Hard time understanding Justification and Sanctification

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anrmenchaca47

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Can someone put it in layman’s terms what Justification means and Sanctification. I mean I look up the definition and still have a difficult time understanding it.(I know it’s stupid but that’s me)
Thanks
 
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Thank you for those two links. Both are helpful, Howell’s in particular, because of the dialogue format. Even so, there are things that Howell hints at without (as far as I can see) giving a clear Yes or No answer. For instance, here are two questions that he seems to leave unanswered.

He distinguishes between “salvation” and “final salvation”, and also between “justification” and “final justification”. This suggests to me, though I can’t be certain, that it is possible for someone to be justified at a certain moment but to be no longer justified at another, later, moment. And similarly, it is possible for someone to be saved at one moment and to be not saved at another, later, moment. Is this correct?
 
Correct. We still have free will to choose to turn away from God at any point in of earthly lives. If we were to gain eternal certainty at some point in our life, “free will” would have a much different name.

Peace!!!
 
This is from a thread I started that went nowhere.

I’m interested in how these concepts are defined, explained, and understood in Catholic theology. They are often used interchangeably and there are different definitions and explanations given by different people.

Redemption. The setting free from slavery to sin. As slaves were set free or redeemed by a payment, Calvary was the payment which set free or redeemed all humanity, once and for all, from sin.

Atonement. At one ment. Christ’s death and sacrifice repaired the the broken relationship due to Adam’s sin and reconciled all humans, once and for all, with God.

Justification is the grace given to each individual at baptism where the individual is made right with God, cleansed from original sin, and gains eternal life. The gifts of righteousness and eternal life can be lost and regained throughout mortal life.

Salvation is the individual’s ultimate destiny. By free will individuals can accept or reject God’s gift of salvation. Each person will be judged upon death and those who God deems had sufficient faith and worthy works will gain eternal salvation.

So the redemption freed all humanity from sin, and the atonement reconciled all humanity with God. These were for once and for all. Justification is the initial grace given at baptism, and salvation is the gift of eternal life which can either be accepted or rejected by each individual.

This is the basic starting point at least as I see it. Any thoughts?
 
I’ll give you a biblical definition of the two. Justification is when God declares you “righteous” based upon the work of Christ alone when He died on the cross. It is a one-time for all time declarative act.
Sanctification is a process of drawing close to God. It is not as much a position in Christ, but one’s condition in Christ.
 
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tgGodsway said:
It is a one-time for all time declarative act.
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That is a different answer than the one given earlier by @adf417, based on the article by Kenneth Howell that he linked to in his post. Howell distinguishes between “justification” and “final justification”, and @adf417 confirms that, in accordance with Catholic doctrine, it is possible to be justified at one moment but no longer justified at another, later, moment.

You say you are giving a biblical definition. Is it something you found in Romans? That’s the book that seems be the main source for Paul’s teaching on justification.
 
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Yes I do suspect you will get much contention from non-Catholics on this subject.

Peace!!!
 
That’s a novel interpretation of the bible. The Christian teaching involves real righteouness given us at justification, not a one time declaration
 
anrmenchaca47 said:
Can someone put it in layman’s terms what Justification means and Sanctification. I mean I look up the definition and still have a difficult time understanding it.(I know it’s stupid but that’s me)
Thanks
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Justification and sanctification are inseparable. From the catechism:

1995 The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner man,"44 justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:

Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.45

Justification is to be forgiven, cleansed and made new creations, with actual righteousness given, namely faith, hope, and love, and God’s Spirit dwelling within. This takes place formally at Baptism in response to faith. We now have at our disposal the life of grace, which we can utilize as we work out our salvation with He who works in us (Phil 2). We’re expected to cooperate with God’s grace in growing in justice/righteousness by doing His will, even as we may well slip into sin at times. But forgiveness through repentance, a change of heart, is always available with our merciful God. Then we pick up and move on, forward again, hopefully pursuing more sanctification. This is the journey God has put us on, a ‘journey to perfection’ as its also referred to.
 
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BartholomewB, the book of Romans, and the N.T. writers know nothing about two justifications. When you express faith in Jesus, God’s gavel slams and God says, you are declared “innocent” based on the work of my Son who died a sinner’s death on the cross. This declarative act of God settles the sin-debt issue forever. This is why Paul called it a free gift in Romans 5:15.
 
fhansen, surely you understand that anything you get from God comes in “seed form.” Righteousness begins as a gift given to us in seed form. Christ is our righteousness imputed to us. Consider the Apostle Paul’s teaching on this in Ro. 4:5, “But to him who does not work (the law) but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” If, and when, that righteousness grows up and displayed in one’s behavior, we call that a sanctifying work.
 
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Oh I agree. But this means that righteousness isn’t merely imputed. Imputed righteousness may be used to understand forgiveness but not the real righteousness also given us. Jesus won both. And once forgiven, cleansed, and given righteousness, we’re expected to stay that way, and even grow in righteousness, with the help of grace.
 
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tgGodsway said:
This declarative act of God settles the sin-debt issue forever. This is why Paul called it a free gift in Romans 5:15.
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That calls for two further questions. First, I agree that the NT nowhere states explicitly that justification, once given, cannot be lost, but it is equally true that it nowhere explicitly denies that possibility. So your appeal to this verse in Romans carries no weight, one way or the other.

Second, look a few verses further down the page:

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men (Rom 5:18).

A literal reading of this verse means that everyone, without exception, is justified and always has been, ever since the Crucifixion. Is that what you understand the verse to mean?
 
The later end of my last post needs to be reiterated. … If and when that righteousness grows up and displayed in one’s behaviors… we call it a sanctifying work, not a justifying one. We are justified when we go through the waters of baptism. This one-time act of faith is not a process to continue over time. Sanctification is.
 
BartholomewB said:
but it is equally true that it nowhere explicitly denies that possibility. So your appeal to this verse in Romans carries no weight, one way or the other.
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I don’t know about you, but I do not interpret scripture by things NOT spoken in scripture. Arguing from silence is not a compelling argument.
 
We believe we’re freely justified at once, and then, again, expected to remain that way and grow in it even, closer to God’s own image with the help of grace as we work out our salvation with Him. At the end of the day we’ll be judged on how we did with whatever we’ve been given; justification and sanctification being two sides of the same coin IOW.
 
Everyone in the context of Paul’s thought? or everyone in the world?
 
tgGodsway said:
I don’t know about you, but I do not interpret scripture by things NOT spoken in scripture. Arguing from silence is not a compelling argument.
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I agree with that entirely. That is why I reject your conclusion based, as you said, on the fact that
tgGodsway said:
the book of Romans, and the N.T. writers know nothing about two justifications.
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The NT writers neither assert nor deny that a man can be justified at one moment and unjustified at another, later, moment.
 
fhansen said:
At the end of the day we’ll be judged on how we did with whatever we’ve been given; justification and sanctification being two sides of the same coin IOW
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Justification and sanctification have never been two sides of the same coin. If that is the case then we do not have a free gift of eternal life at all. We can now categorize ourselves with the Jehovah’s witnesses and Mormons who all believe salvation is a grace plus works concept. Secondly, the judgment you speak of, is that the judgment of one’s sins? (see Jn. 5:24) or the judgment of one’s works for the purpose of gaining an inheritance? (see 2nd. Cor. 5:10; Ro. 14:10)
 
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