What Does It Mean to Be Saved and Sanctified?
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I wrote a book that describes a true scene between a future pastor (Marshall) and his wife (Katika). The conversation took place a few years before God called Marshall to Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ (John 6:44). At the time of this interaction, Katika had become a believer in Christ, and Marshall was still dead in his trespasses and sins.
Katika said, “I got saved.” Marshall stared at her as if she just dropped out of an alien planet and spoke gibberish. He had absolutely no idea what she meant. Praise God Marshall has now been saved for forty-nine years.
But the narrative begs a question: What does it mean to be saved?
What Does It Mean to Be Saved?
Saved is the active verb form of the word, salvation. Salvation is not a quick subject to cover. For example, a systematic theology (an organized, written presentation of what the Bible teaches) published in 2021 by Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, uses just about 1,000 pages to explain the salvific process. I can only scrape the surface of the vast subject of salvation (soteriology). I highly recommend digging into a systematic theology as a supplement to what your pastor shares from the pulpit each week.
I referenced Ephesians 2:1 above when I related the report about Marshall. It bears repeating,
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” Because of Adam’s transgression against God when he disobeyed God’s direct command (Genesis 3), his sin has been imputed (charged) to all of humanity. Therefore, we are all born as unrighteous and deserving of spiritual death (along with physical death).
We all, even before we are saved, have “eternity” in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We inherently know we were not created for a stunted life. (i.e., a life that ends). The Lord God created us for eternity in fellowship with Him. So, then, what must happen?
To be saved means to be rescued from God’s righteous judgment (wrath), which He enacts against those who fall short of His good, holy, and perfect Law (Romans 1:18-32). The salvation secured for us by the Lord Jesus Christ means we are no longer objects of God’s wrath. Ligonier Ministries adds, “Salvation is the term used to summarize God’s work in rescuing a sinner from the guilt and pollution of sin, restoring a sinner to a right relationship with Him, and making the sinner an adopted heir of the new heavens and the new earth.”
No human has or ever will obey God’s Law to His satisfaction. Not even for a millisecond has any person obeyed the two greatest commandments. Jesus stated them to answer a scribe’s question about which law is the most important. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
It would take a perfect man with perfect obedience to perfectly obey God’s Law and reverse the curse on man. And God Himself provided that Man — the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12-21).
In John 1:14, the Apostle writes, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (The Word is Jesus.) Jesus Christ came to earth — fully God and fully man — and He perfectly obeyed (fulfilled) God’s Law. He then went to the cross and died for all our sins—past, present, and future.
The Bible says, “So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone” (Romans 5:18, which begins a beautiful passage through verse 21 about how Jesus saved us).
But that’s not all! The finale comes on the third day after Jesus died and was buried (John 20). He resurrected from the grave (Acts 2:24). And His resurrection is essential to our faith in Him; “and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
Verses 21-22 put an exclamation mark on what Christ’s resurrection means for us, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a Man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” (See also 1 Corinthians 15:55.) His righteousness has been imputed to us, just as if we have lived a perfect, sinless life. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1). That’s the gist of salvation.
An extremely important truth to remember is we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8). We do nothing to merit our salvation. Jesus Christ lived the life we cannot live, and He died the death we deserve. The Bible tells us, “The Spirit is the One who gives life” (John 6:63a).
Therefore, a brief order of salvation is:
- The Spirit gives us life, causing us to be born again (John 3:3).
- For those to whom the Spirit gives life, we are immediately justified before God (The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us, “Q.33. What is justification? A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.)
- The process of sanctification begins immediately after we are justified. A visual representation might be viewed as two simultaneous blips or flashes of light.
- We continue being sanctified until the culmination of our sanctification, which is glory, whether the Lord calls us home at our physical death or when He returns in glory for His church (Titus 2:13).
What Is Sanctification?
According to the Bible, sanctification is an integral part of being saved. In the Lord’s Prayer (also known as the High Priestly Prayer) recorded in John 17, Jesus asks this of the Father, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I sanctify Myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:17-19).
“We all,” in the words of the Apostle Paul, “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
You can rightly say sanctification starts with us starting our journey to our glorified state by being able to understand the Gospel and to walk by the Spirit (and we have no choice but to walk by Him as those who are in Christ and therefore in the Spirit. That’s good news!)
It’s good to remember the epistles and Revelation were written to believers. Having a look at the opening verses in each will substantiate that (e.g., Romans 1:7 says, “To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Old Testament was written and is preserved for our instruction (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11.) Why would Paul or the other New Testament writers write to unbelievers who have not the mind of Christ, and who are unable to understand the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:14)?
Since sanctification is part and parcel to our sanctification, the New Testament writers, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, often speak of our sanctification in terms of “being saved” (that is, being made whole in Christ). The words are interchangeable in a number of passages. We will regard three:
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Saved here means sanctified. The word of the cross is the Gospel, and it is not only the power of God for initial salvation. When we hear the Word of God preached every Lord’s Day, we are gifted with an ordained (ordinary) means of grace from the Lord. As He pours out His grace upon us, we are equipped for His work in and through us, and we continue to grow in His grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18).
“You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:6-9).
Sanctification is the ongoing active work of Christ (as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in our lives as believers (saints). Sanctification can be hard, for the changes God brings in our life can boom like rumbling thunder. The transition from the glory of being born again and at once justified carries us toward our future glory of perfection (as it was in the beginning with Adam before he fell). As we live this life in the process of “being saved” (sanctified), we fly to Jesus. The salvation of your souls as said in this passage is the completion of our sanctification (Philippians 1:6).
And then sanctification sometimes comes as a gentle realization as we reflect on events and circumstances where we reacted (or are reacting) in a way that seems foreign to our character. Christianity is supernatural — remember that. His ways are not our ways, and that’s why a Christlike life is as yet foreign to us. But the foreign eventually becomes familiar to us. And we remain humble as Christ pours His matchless, free grace into us week after week after week as we remember the Gospel and our baptism.
“Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2).
The continuous work of the Gospel in us is the sanctification we enjoy every day. At times, we may not think we are being sanctified, but we indeed are, because it’s not our work, it’s Christ’s work in us that sanctifies us. Jesus said, “The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63 b).
What Does This Mean for Us?
A continuous diet of the Gospel proclaimed to us by an ordained minister of the Gospel is paramount to our growth in Christ. No, we cannot obey the Law perfectly, but we seek to obey it as best we can because we love our Lord, are thankful to the Lord for what He has done (saved us), is doing (sanctifying us, interceding for us, and building His church), and what He will do (return for His saints, and consummate His kingdom).
We walk by faith in Christ by the power of His Spirit in us. Because Christ lives, we live. It’s important for our growth and our sanctification to be part of a solid, Christ-centered church that preaches the Gospel week in and week out, and which regularly imparts the ordinary means of grace. Pastor David Strain declares, “All the ordinances of God, but especially the Word read and preached, the sacraments of baptism and the Supper, and the prayers of the people of God: these are the outward and ordinary means Christ uses to impart the blessings of the gospel to his people by the Holy Spirit.”
If you are a saved person, one who has been raised to life in Christ (born again by the Holy Spirit), you walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4). Hallelujah! May that joy fill you this day and every day. Jesus prayed, “May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe You sent Me. I have given them the glory You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are one” (John 17:21-22).
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/camaralenta
