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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.
Entire sanctification takes place subsequently to justification, and is the work of God wrought instantaneously upon the consecrated, believing soul. After a soul is cleansed from all sin, it is then fully prepared to grow in grace" ( Discipline , "Articles of Religion", ch. i, § 1, p. 23).
Additionally, Wesleyan-Arminian theology teaches that both justification and sanctification are synergistic. [66] The Arminian perspective on salvation is often described as "God-initiated synergism". [65] This perspective aligns closely with the main characteristic of the early Semi-Augustinian thought. [67] [24]
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]