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Sanctification is the Holy Spirit's work of making us holy. When the Holy Spirit creates faith in us, he renews in us the image of God so that through his power we produce good works. These good works are not meritorious but show the faith in our hearts (Ephesians 2:8-10, James 2:18). Sanctification flows from justification.
Protestants believe justification is applied through faith alone and that rather than being made personally righteous and obedient, which Protestants generally delegate to sanctification as a distinct reality, justification is a forensic declaration of the believer to possess the righteousness and obedience of Christ.
The mediaeval scala naturae as a staircase, implying the possibility of progress: [1] Ramon Llull's Ladder of Ascent and Descent of the Mind, 1305. Within many denominations of Christianity, Christian perfection is the theological concept of the process or the event of achieving spiritual maturity or perfection.
Many Holiness preachers emphasized the reception of entire sanctification as an instantaneous experience. In Wesleyan- Arminian theology, the second work of grace is considered to be a cleansing from the tendency to commit sin , an experience called entire sanctification which leads to Christian perfection.
The term "sanctification" was used to refer to the lifelong process of transformation. Thus the Roman Catholic term "justification" effectively includes both what Protestants refer to as "justification" and "sanctification." This difference in definitions can result in confusion, effectively exaggerating the disagreement.
Catholic theologians often explain salvation by dividing it into justification—which relates to infused faith and how justice is satisfied—and sanctification—which relates to infused charity and our capacity for happiness at the beatific vision, [135] some emphasizing their intertwinedness more than others.
There are numerous definitions of spiritual formation and no definitive depiction due to the breadth of the concept and the numerous perspectives from which religious persons may approach it. From a Christian standpoint, most would argue that it is identical with sanctification as understood as a progressive and gradual process of maturation. [5]
The Methodist Churches affirm the doctrine of justification by faith, but in Wesleyan–Arminian theology, justification refers to "pardon, the forgiveness of sins", rather than "being made actually just and righteous", which Methodists believe is accomplished through sanctification.