Understanding God's Word takes serious study and thinking…
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and you know how much I love the Word of God – and I love those passages that seem to contradict each other. Obviously they don’t, but searching out exactly why, and what the verses really mean, well… for me that’s half the fun of Bible study. Take this verse from Romans chapter 5, verse 28 which says that, “…a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” But flip over to James chapter 2, and it says: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? …faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
So which is it? Well, I asked more than a few pastor theologians that question, and they’ve told me that the verse in Romans is all about justification… and the passage in James is all about sanctification. It’s like this, when we first believe, and become justified before God through our faith in Christ, it's finished; it’s a complete work; nothing can be added to it; in fact, good deeds can only detract from it; a man is perfectly justified the moment he believes. That’s what Romans 5 is talking about.
But when the book of James talks about faith and works, it’s not talking about justification; it’s explaining what sanctification is. And unlike being justified in Christ, the process of being sanctified is just that: it’s a process; it’s an incomplete work and will never be perfected until we reach heaven. Justification admits to no growth (a person is as much justified the hour he first comes to Christ by faith as he will be for all eternity); but sanctification is a progressive work as we keep changing and growing and enlarging our hearts for the Lord.
Here’s another way of putting it: Justification has special reference to our person, our standing in God’s sight. But sanctification has special reference to our character, and the moral renewal of our hearts. Justification is the act of God about us, and is not easily discerned by others; sanctification though is the work of God within us, and cannot be hidden from others. Justification gives us our title to heaven; sanctification prepares us for heaven.
It’s not often I do this on Joni and Friends, it’s not often I give a Bible study, but I thought this one was pretty important to talk about. And, hey, if you’d like to learn more, may I encourage you to sign up for my e-devotional at joniandfriends.org? I love sharing what I learn from God's Word – and I love passing what I’ve learned onto others just as much. But let me take a minute here before we close, and get back to this thing about justification and sanctification… because bottom-line is…
In heaven, it will be useless to plead that we believed in Christ unless our life supports it. When our graves are opened (as well as God's books), when we stand before God, evidence will be crucial. The question will not be how we talked and what we professed, but how we lived and what we did. So friend, if you’re a Christian, rejoice and celebrate in the fact that Jesus Christ justified you when you first believed – that’s behind you. But today is your chance... your privilege, your wonderful opportunity to “sanctify yourself,” as the Bible tells us to do. That’s why this day is so precious and so important. Don’t waste it: invest in your own eternity today and obey in that hard thing… trust God and put aside your doubts… be patient, be long-suffering, be bold for Christ… because your justification needs to be backed up with your sanctification.
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