Sanctification, justification, holiness
A brief explanation of these important Gospel concepts:
SANCTIFICATION: Sanctification is the process of becoming a saint, holy and spiritually clean and pure, by purging all sin from the soul. Latter-day Saint scriptures mention several factors that make sanctification possible. First is the Atonement of Jesus Christ (Doctrine and Covenants 76:41-42; Doctrine and Covenants 88:18; Moroni 10:33; Alma 13:11). Christ’s blood sanctifies God’s repentant children by washing them clean in a way that extends beyond the remission of sins at baptism. This cleansing is given through grace to all who “love and serve God” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:31). “For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified” (Moses 6:60; 1 John 5:8). Second is the power of the Holy Ghost, the agent that purifies the heart and gives an abhorrence of sin (Alma 13:12; 3 Nephi 27:20). Third is progression through personal righteousness. Faithful men and women fast; pray; repent of their sins; grow in humility, faith, joy, and consolation; and yield their hearts to God (Helaman 3:35). They also receive essential ordinances such as baptism (Doctrine and Covenants 19:31) and, if necessary, endure chastening (Doctrine and Covenants 101:5). Thus, Latter-day Saints are exhorted to “sanctify yourselves” (Doctrine and Covenants 43:11) by purging all their iniquity (MD, pp. 675-76). King Benjamin’s people in the Book of Mormon illustrate the sanctification process. They humbled themselves and prayed mightily that God would apply the atoning blood of Christ and purify their hearts. The Spirit came upon them and filled them with joy; a mighty change came into their hearts and they had “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2). Latter-day Saint scripture often states that no unclean thing can dwell in God’s presence (e.g., 3 Nephi 27:19; Moses 6:57). Thus, the sanctification that Latter-day Saints seek is more than a physical or moral state; it is a perpetual spiritual life-an ongoing effort to be worthy and pure to live with God-to overcome the evils of one’s life and lose “every desire for sin” (TPJS, p. 51). The forgoing was written by C. Eric Ott.
JUSTIFICATION: Although the word “justify” has several meanings, its main meaning in the latter-day scriptures is inseparably intertwined with the concepts of grace (Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16; 2 Nephi 2:5; Mosiah 14:11; Doctrine and Covenants 20:30; Moses 6:60), faith, repentance, righteousness, and sanctification. Justification is a scriptural metaphor drawn from the courts of law: a judge justifies an accused person by declaring or pronouncing that person innocent. Likewise, God may treat a person as being “not guilty” of sin. All mortals individually need to be justified because they fall short of perfect obedience to God, becoming “carnal, sensual, and devilish” through transgression (Moses 5:13; Mosiah 16:3), are “cut off” from God, and are in jeopardy of becoming “miserable forever” (2 Nephi 2:5). In this plight, they of themselves cannot be justified through subsequent obedience to the law and cannot change their own nature to become obedient. Furthermore, they are severed from the source of the divine power that can change, or sanctify, them (2 Nephi 9:5-9). However, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, when men, women, or children have faith in Jesus, are truly penitent, call upon his name, and are baptized, they become eligible for the redeeming grace extended through Jesus Christ. In this sense they become justified. This is given as a gift by grace, since fallen man must rely “alone upon the merits of Christ” (1 Nephi 10:6; Moroni 6:4). The faith by which one receives this grace manifests itself in an active determination to follow Christ in all things. It is demonstrated by obedience to the commandments to repent and be baptized, followed by a life of submission, obedience, and service to God and others (2 Nephi 31:16-20; Moroni 8:25-26) .Justification directly opens the way to sanctification by establishing a “right” relationship of mortals with God. Thus, God, without denying justice, can bless them with the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost (Mosiah 5:1-2; 3 Nephi 27:20). Justification starts the believer on the path toward righteousness. Because justified, and even sanctified, persons can fall from that state of grace, believers are admonished to “take heed and pray always” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:30-33) and to meet together often to fast and partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, thereby renewing and personally reviewing their covenants with God, including baptism and its cleansing effect (Moroni 6:5-6), and to endure to the end (Doctrine and Covenants 53:7).
HOLINESS: In LDS thought, as in most religions, it is God who invests a person, place, or object with holiness: “For I am able to make you holy, and your sins are forgiven you” (Doctrine and Covenants 60:7). Thus the temples of the Church are said to be holy because they are dedicated to Deity who has manifested himself within them. Latter-day Saints speak of the sabbath as holy because God has put his spirit into that day. The wooded area where Joseph Smith received his first vision is spoken of as the sacred grove because the Father and the Son appeared there. Marriage and other priesthood ordinances are considered holy because God is directly and personally a party to such covenants. The scriptures are holy because they contain the word of God. Although they infrequently use the term “holy” (an exception is in a beloved hymn which beseeches God, “More holiness give me”), Latter-day Saints strive for a measure of holiness and perfection in mortality: “Man may be perfect in his sphere; …individual perfection is relative…. The law of the Gospel is a perfect law and the sure effect of full obedience thereto is perfection” (Talmage, p. 169). The process of becoming holy is based on three doctrines: justification, which satisfies the demands of justice for the sins of the individual through the Atonement of Jesus Christ; purification, made possible by that same Atonement and symbolized in the Sacrament of the bread and water, requiring the constant cleansing of oneself from earthly stains and imperfections; and sanctification, the process of being made holy. Having purified oneself of imperfections to the greatest degree possible, one is invested, over a lifetime, with holiness from God. Alma 2 is an example of one recognized by God as holy (Alma 10:7-9). These principles are summarized in the next to the last verse of the Book of Mormon: “And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot” (Moroni 10:33). The person whom God justifies has not yet necessarily received the promise of eternal life. To obtain that promise, the justified must continue in the path of faith, wherein nothing can separate the faithful from the love of God. The above section was written by Eloise M. Bell
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