Justification & Sanctification From a Wesleyan Perspective

When you hear the word sanctification, what do you think of?

It’s a big churchy word?…

 I have heard of it but not exactly sure what it means?…

 These are all good questions so, let's see what we can discover. 

To put it in the simplest form, sanctification is growing closer to the likeness of God. We were all created in the image of God. In the book of Genesis, God gives an account of creating us as human beings. 

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1.27 

This created image of mankind is at its high point in the garden of Eden, where mankind is in a perfect relationship with God. Sin would soon enter the garden, and mankind would be cast out. From the day Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden, mankind has been striving to reclaim that perfect relationship with God. But it is not something that we have to do alone because of God’s empathy towards his creation. 

In the Old Testament, we see God revealing himself to his chosen people, the Israelites. This chance to reclaim the relationship is an up and down affair, often ending with the Israelites not choosing God.

In the New Testament, God does the most empathetic act known to mankind. He sent his only Son, Jesus, to be the pathway towards reconciliation. Jesus took on the body of flesh and bone to be amongst his creation. He is a walking, talking example of what God's authentic image looks like in his creation. 

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Colossians 1.15

Paul, the writer of Colossians, is trying to establish the supremacy of Jesus related to our image. Later in his letter, he would write, "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation." (Colossians 1.22)  We are to be presented without blemish, but it does not come from our own will or works; it is through the blood of Christ that we are reconciled. 

God did not leave us all abandoned after Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of the throne. He was sending us an advocate to intercede between the heavenly and the earthly.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

 John 14.26

Jesus is unmistakable in his words that God cares about us until the day of his return. And it is through the Spirit that God is molding us to this day. It is with this Spirit that we are trying to restore the image of God. With the Spirit, we go from believer to a closer representation of the image of God. 

As a Wesleyan, I am drawn to the teaching of John Wesley. If you do not know, Wesley was a preacher from the 18th century that led the movement of Methodism in England and would mark the church's American protestant movement. Wesley holds that we could reclaim the aforementioned image of God during our time here on earth. Here is where the slope begins to get slippery, because we address the difference between faith and works.

You are saved or justified by your faith in Christ, not by the works or deeds that you do. Wesley saw these two points of theology as separate yet connected. You could not have one without the other. For Wesley, it was the connection of grace that connected the two. 

Grace is given by God through his Son Jesus on the cross. It is our acceptance of this grace that we are reconciled. It is our choice to determine if we accept the grace of God or not. What do we do once we have received this grace? It is upon the reception of grace that Wesley believed a transition should happen. In his sermon, Salvation of Faith, Wesley thought that once we have been justified (saved), that was the moment that sanctification began.[1] In your response to the grace given, grace should then be shown to the others around you. It goes back to the great commandments that Jesus gave us. 

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

Matthew 22.37-39

Once you have had the radical change of heart from your justification, the only response is to share that grace with others. That is why Jesus gave us the commandment of loving others. He understood that it was the only response after experiencing the true love of God. Further growth was essential to Wesley as a mark of a true believer.

Randy Maddox, in his book, Responsible Grace: John Wesley's Practical Theology, says this; "However he soon became uncomfortable with this usage because it (conversion) implied that justification provided all the transformation that a person needed, obscuring the importance of further growth in holiness."[2]  

Someone who possessed the love of God in their heart would want to grow closer to the image of God through their daily actions. It was not that a person was cured of sin once they became justified or that a sanctified person never sinned. On the contrary, we are all plagued by the corruption within this world and inside our own hearts. In his sermon titled, On Perfection, Wesley spoke about sanctified people. He concludes that the highest perfection that a person could attain while they were inhabitants of our mortal bodies was the love of God and love of others.[3]

So, let us strive towards sanctification each and every day. It may not seem perfect, and at times it may not feel complete. But just remember that God desires a relationship with you because he created you in his image. If we are willing to love him and love others, we are one step closer to reclaiming that image of God. 

[1] John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley: Sermons vols. 1-2, vol. 5-6 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007). 45.

[2] Randy L. Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), Kindle 

[3] Wesley, The Works of John Wesley: Sermons vols. 1-2, 5-6. 412-413.