By J. C.
Ryle
The Doctrine of Sanctification-Part 3
In What Are Justification and Sanctification Alike?
1 Both proceed originally from the free grace of God. It is of His gift
alone that believers are justified or sanctified at all.
2. Both are part of that great work of salvation which Christ, in the
eternal covenant, has undertaken on behalf of His people. Christ is the
fountain of life, from which pardon (justification) and holiness
(sanctification) both flow. The root of each is Christ.
3. Both are to be found in the same persons. Those who are justified are
always sanctified, and those who are sanctified are always justified. God
has joined them together, and they cannot be put asunder.
4. Both begin at the same time. The moment a person begins to be a
justified person, he also begins to be a sanctified person. He may not feel
it, but it is a fact.
5. Both are alike necessary to salvation. No one ever reached heaven
without a renewed heart as well as forgiveness, without the Spirit’s grace
as well as the blood of Christ, without a fitness for eternal glory as well
as a title. The one is just as necessary as the other is.
Now Let Us See Wherein They Differ:
1. Justification is the reckoning and counting a man to be righteous for
the sake of another, even Jesus Christ the Lord. Sanctification is the
actual making a man inwardly righteous, though it may be in a very feeble
degree.
2. The righteousness we have by our justification is not our own, but the
everlasting perfect righteousness of our great Mediator Christ, imputed to
us and made our own by faith. The righteousness we have by sanctification is
our own righteousness, imparted, inherent, and wrought in us by the Holy
Spirit, but mingled with much infirmity and imperfection.
3. In justification, our own works have no place at all; simple faith in
Christ is the one thing needful. In sanctification, our own works are of
vast importance, and God bids us fight and watch and pray and strive and
take pains and labor.
4. Justification is a finished and complete work, and a man is perfectly
justified the moment he believes. Sanctification is an imperfect
(unfinished) work, comparatively, and will never be perfected until we reach
heaven.
5. Justification admits of no growth or increase: a man is as much
justified the hour he first comes to Christ by faith, as he will be to all
eternity. Sanctification is eminently a progressive work, and admits of
continual growth and enlargement, so long as a man lives.
6. Justification has special reference to our persons, our standing in
God’s sight, and our deliverance from guilt. Sanctification has special
reference to our natures and the moral renewal of our hearts.
7. Justification gives us our title to heaven, and boldness to enter in.
Sanctification gives us our fitness for heaven and prepares us to enjoy it
when we dwell there.
8. Justification is the act of God about us, and is not easily discerned
by others. Sanctification is the work of God within us, and cannot be hid in
its outward manifestation from the eyes of men.
I commend these distinctions to the attention of all my readers, and I
ask them to ponder them well. I am persuaded that one great cause of the
darkness and uncomfortable feelings of many well-meaning people is their
habit of confounding justification and sanctification. It can never be too
strongly impressed on our minds that they are two separate things. Never
should the distinction between them be forgotten.
J. C. Ryle on Holiness and
Sanctification Index
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