Friday, February 10, 2012

Words Matter: Justification and Sanctification

Yogi Berra: famous malapropisms
Words matter. Especially if you get important ones mixed up.

Years ago I was looking for a substitute preacher when I went on vacation. Our denominational headquarters recommended a retired pastor whose first name was “Denver.” But somehow I got it into my head that his name was “Dallas.” My excuse: they’re both cities, and I am perhaps oversensitive that Dallas humiliated Denver in the Super Bowl. (Lame, I admit, especially considering that was 34 years ago.)

So I called the poor man “Dallas” for years, and though he tried valiantly to correct me, I couldn’t get it right. He ended up just answering to “Dallas” when he was around me. Bless him.

Or another famous (to my wife and me) mix-up happened when one of the guys in our church sang a solo during the worship service. He was kind of a crooner, had a nice baritone, and he was singing about how Christ came to earth to save us. I can’t remember the song, but I do remember him belting out this lyric.
 Oh, what condensation, oh, what love divine!
Go ahead, read it again. He sang condensation, like when your dog fogs up the inside of the car window. I’m pretty sure what he meant was condescension, like when the King of the Universe steps off His throne and comes to earth as a man.

The other thing I remember about that song was how I tried to avoid eye contact with my wife so I wouldn’t crack up.

So it’s understandable that we sometimes mix up justification and sanctification. But for anyone who loves, admires, and follows Jesus, it’s really important to understand the difference.

Justification is God’s legal declaration that you are righteous in His sight because you have faith in Christ’s death on the cross. Justification is God’s action alone—we don’t and can’t cooperate with Him. It is immediate, complete, and permanent.

Sanctification is the process you undergo to become more like Jesus once you’re justified. It is growth in grace and knowledge of the truth. We do cooperate with God as we obey Him and respond to His grace. It is ongoing, and will be completed only when we get to heaven.

More than a declaration of “not guilty,” justification is God's pronouncement that we are righteous—with Christ’s righteousness counted as ours.  It is “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Rom. 3:22, ESV). Then we enter the lifelong process of growing to be more like the One we love the most.

What a Savior! Words help, but they really don’t do Him justice.