Salvation
Salvation Explained
Paul’s Explanation From the Book of Romans
What is Sanctification?
Romans 5:1 tells us we are justified or separated from the penalty of sin as a result of what Jesus did once and for all for us. Romans 5:2 (KJV) goes on to shed more light on the subject of salvation in saying, “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” We now have access by this faith into the grace of God! Praise God for that! That means that God gives us grace when we choose to believe in Him. Notice it says, “wherein we stand”. This tells us it is a present and continuing thing. It is not one and done, but ongoing. We now have standing before God and “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Rejoicing is also a continuing, ongoing things, as is hope of a future state in which we will know the glory of God. Hold that thought, as the “glory” is covered later in this lesson.
Spiritual Maturity
Romans 5:3-5 (KJV) explain the following, “3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” What we find in these three verses is the process of spiritual maturity that follows justification.
Once a person believes the good news, the gospel, we are given the Holy Spirit who indwells in our hearts. We will then face various “tribulations”. This does not mean everyone will go through the “great tribulation” of the end times. “Tribulations” simply means difficult times, or times of challenges. These teach us patience, which in turn give us the experience we need to know we can tolerate and even glorify God through such challenges. That experience gives us hope. Hope is the pinnacle of spiritual maturity in this earthly form.
Until we go through the tribulation, we often do not have the patience we need to deal with struggles and challenges. It is only once we are tested and forced to deal that we realize we can. Many people often pray for patience. They should be careful what they ask for, because God will give you patience by making you deal with tribulations!
These steps cause a believer to grow in faith. The more tribulation we have been through, the more patience and confidence we have that God will be there to get us through tough times. The key thing to remember in this process is the Holy Spirit is the one acting through us to walk us through this process and is causing the growth in us. To God be the glory! It is not of our own doing. This is the process of “sanctification”, in which we grow into mature believers.
In addition to the development of patience, experience and hope, sanctification also includes the maturation of our knowledge and wisdom of God the Holy Spirit develops in us through the reading of God’s Word and prayer. “Knowledge” is in biblical terms is understanding God’s will and “wisdom” is applying that knowledge to act out God’s will in our lives. The Holy Spirit develops both of these in our lives through the process of “sanctification”. This coupled with the process of spiritual maturity leads us away from sin as we learn to act out God’s will instead of our own. That is the purpose of sanctification, to separate us from the power of sin. Before we accept Christ into our hearts, we are under the power of sin, a slave to it. Once we accept Jesus, we are no longer a slave to sin but have the power through the Holy Spirit to say no and to turn away from our old selves and our sinful nature. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to do this. We have to learn, with the Holy Spirit’s help to do that on a moment by moment, decision by decision basis. This is a lifelong process of growth and maturity. As long as we are alive in this body, we are facing the choices of turning away from sin and toward God or not. Choosing God in every moment and decision is the process of “SANCTIFICATION”.
