The justification of a sinner is immediately followed by his sanctification, or renovation, Rom. 5, 1-5. That is to say, the justified sinner turns from sin and serves God in good works, Rom. 12, 1. 2; 1 Thess. 4, 3-7; 5, 23; 1 Pet. 1, 15; Rom. 13, 13. 14. As many other theological terms, so also that of sanctification (ἁγιασμός, ἁγιωσύνη) is used in a wider and a narrower sense.
In its wider sense, sanctification embraces all acts of divine grace by which the Holy Spirit turns a person from sin to holiness and from the service of Satan to the holy, happy service of God, Heb. 13, 12; Acts 26, 18. In other words, sanctification in its wider sense includes every work of God by which He separates a sinner from the lost and condemned world and makes him His. own, such as the bestowal of faith, justification, sanctification in its narrower sense, or the inward change in man by which he becomes holy, his preservation in faith to the end1, and his final glorification on the day of Judgment, 2 Thess. 2, 13; 1 Pet. 1, 2.
In the wider sense of the term Christians are designated in Scripture called saints (κλητοὶ ἅγιοι), Rom. 1, 7; 1 Cor. 1, 2, or persons whom God has graciously endowed with faith, justified, and transplanted into His kingdom, in which He purposes to preserve them through faith unto the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ, Phil. 1, 3-6. In its wider sense Luther uses the term sanctification in his Large Catechism Art. III, 40. 41, where he says: "I believe that the Holy Ghost makes me holy, as His name implies. But whereby does He accomplish this, or what are His method and means to this end? Answer: By the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." So also Quenstedt writes: "Sanctification is sometimes employed in a wider sense (late) and includes justification, as Eph. 5, 26; Heb. 10, 10; otherwise, however, it is used in a strict sense (stricte), and thus coincides with renovation in its strict sense, as in Rom. 6, 19. 22; 1 Thess. 4, 3. 4. 7."
In its narrower, or strict, sense, sanctification denotes the inward spiritual transformation of the believer, which follows upon, and is inseparably joined with, justification, Rom. 6, 22; 2 Cor. 7, 1. Of the order between justification and sanctification the Formula of Concord writes (Thor. Decl., III, 40. 41): "In the same manner the order also between faith and good works must abide and be maintained and likewise between justification and renewal, or sanctification. For good works do not precede faith, neither does sanctification precede justification. But first faith is kindled in us in conversion by the Holy Ghost from the hearing of the Gospel. This lays hold of God's grace in Christ, by which the person is justified. Then, when the person is justified, he is also renewed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, from which renewal and sanctification the fruits of good works then follow."
To reverse this order and make sanctification in its narrower sense the cause of justification (Papism) means to give up the central article of the Christian faith and to base salvation on workrighteousness, Gal. 5, 4. Justification and sanctification are indeed indissolubly (nexu indivulso) joined together; yet the two must not be mingled with each other. Justification is the source of sanctification. To teach the reverse means to teach the antichristian doctrine of work-righteousness and thus to thwart both justification and sanctification.
The righteousness of faith (iustitia imputata), by which a person becomes a Christian, is outside of man; for God declares the ungodly to be just for Jesus' sake, Rom. 4, 5. Sanctification, however, takes place within man, and by it he is transformed into a holy man (iustitia inhaerens), 2 Cor. 7, 1. Inherent righteousness, or the righteousness of life, is not at all a part of imputed righteousness, Phil. 3, 9, but follows justification, Rom. 6, 14; Titus 3, 7. 8.
In ecclesiastical language sanctification and renovation (renewal) are commonly used as synonyms. Sanctification is renewal inasmuch as the believer thereby enters upon a new life; renewal is sanctification inasmuch as the new life of the believer is a holy life. Our Confession at times also distinguishes between sanctification and good works as between cause and effect (antecedens et consequens). In that case sanctification is conceived as the principle of holiness from which all good works flow, Gal. 5, 25. 26. 22.
Properly speaking, however, the good works of the believer coincide with his sanctification, since the latter, viewed concretely (in concreto). occurs by way of performing individual good works, the believer either suppressing that which is evil or accomplishing that which is praiseworthy. Sanctification, viewed concretely, is never an idle state or quality (status otiosus; habitus otiosus), but a continued act, or a ceaseless activity, since the Holy Spirit is always operative in the believer, Titus 2, 11; Gal. 5, 22-25.
Of faith, which is the direct causative principle of sanctification, Luther rightly says: "Oh, it is a living, busy, active, powerful thing that we have in faith, so that it is impossible for it not to do good unceasingly! Nor does it ask whether good works are to be done; but before the question is asked, it has wrought them and is always engaged in doing them. . . . Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain that a man would die a thousand times for it. . . . And on account of this, man becomes ready and cheerful, without coercion, to do good to every one, to serve every one, and to suffer everything for love and praise to God, who has conferred this grace on him, so that it is impossible to separate works from faith, yea, just as impossible as it is for heat and light to be separated from fire." (Formula of Concord, Thor. Dec!., Art. IV, lO ff.)