Central Bible Institute Session 13: Issues in Justification and Sanctification

The sermon presents a comparative analysis of how different Christian traditions understand justification and sanctification, highlighting a spectrum from Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism—where justification is a progressive, sacramental process of deification or infused righteousness requiring ongoing participation in rituals and good works—to Protestantism, which affirms justification as an instantaneous, forensic declaration of righteousness imputed through faith alone, not by works. It contrasts this with various Protestant views of sanctification, including the Wesleyan and Holiness traditions, which emphasize a definitive 'entire sanctification' or 'baptism of the Holy Spirit' leading to sinless living, and the Pentecostal view, which sees the Spirit's baptism as a distinct experience enabling a transformed life, while the Reformed tradition upholds a lifelong, synergistic journey of growth in Christlikeness marked by ongoing struggle and dependence on grace. The sermon concludes by grounding sanctification in Romans 12, calling believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, renewed by the Spirit, to discern and obey God's will, framing this as the logical, reasonable response to divine mercy.