As believers we use the word "salvation" very often but many don't understand what the word actually means. The Pauline term for "salvation" is broad. Infact, salvation has at least three phases:

1. Justification
2. Sanctification
3. Glorification

But, what do these terms entail? Are we already Glorified? Does one affect the other? That's what the articles below serve to answer by going over all three tenses.

 

Justification

 

Usually when we say someone is "saved" we are referring to justification. "Justification" refers to a believer becoming righteous, similar to how a jury announces someone is not guilty when accused. We are justified the moment we trust in Christ for salvation (Philippians 3:9).

 

"Being JUSTIFIED freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" Romans 3:24 KJV (emphasis mine)

 

God's justification of those who believe is provided "freely" (dorean, "as a free gift," i.e., without charge by grace. God justifies by the instrument of His grace, His unmerited favor. God would not declare a person righteous without an objective basis. That basis is the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

 

In summary, justification is to be declared righteous. Anyone who wants to gain the tree gift of justitication can be justitied by taith in jesus Christ.

 

Eternal Security: An Introduction

Call Upon The Name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-10)

Salvation and 1 Corinthians 5:5

Believing in Vain: 1 Corinthians 15

Did Salvation Come By The Law In The OT?

Acts 16:31: Critiquing Household Salvation Interpretations

 

Sanctification

 

The second tense of salvation is sanctification. Unlike justification which is instantaneous upon belief, sanctification is a process.

 

"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV

 

Sanctification frees one from the power of sin over them. Their guilt and shame are diminished. It is a believer being set apart by God. This is practical sanctification, It's the process we all go through every day in our experience however minimal it might be. No one is ever fully perfected until Glorification. Sanctification has no effect on justification. Once you are justified you are free of the penalty of sin no matter your position in sanctification.

 

The Purpose of 1 John

Sanctification: Can We Live Without Sin?

Analyzing Ephesians 2:10

 

Glorification

 

This is the final tense of salvation. It is in the future. Glorification is when one is finally liberated trom ones present body, which has the capacity to sin. At the moment of death or the rapture, we are freed from our potential to sin and ushered into the very presence of God (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:21-23). No one on earth presently has been glorified.

 

Here's a way of summarizing all three:

 

I am saved (Justification)

 

I'm being saved (Sanctification)

 

I will be saved (Glorification).