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Course 9 · Lesson 7.3

Sanctification in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant thought

10 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 9 outline

Module 1: The Person of Christ in Scripture

  1. Jesus fully human in the Gospels and letters
  2. Jesus fully divine: names, works and worship
  3. The incarnation in John, Philippians and Hebrews
  4. The questions Scripture leaves for later theology

Module 2: The Christological Controversies

  1. Early errors: docetism and ebionitism
  2. Arius and Apollinarius: is the Son a creature, is the mind missing?
  3. Two schools: Antioch and Alexandria
  4. Nestorius and Cyril of Alexandria
  5. Eutyches and the Tome of Leo

Module 3: Ephesus and Chalcedon

  1. The Council of Ephesus in 431 and the title Theotokos
  2. The Chalcedonian Definition of 451, phrase by phrase
  3. Hypostatic union explained: one person in two natures
  4. Those who did not accept Chalcedon: Oriental Orthodox and the Church of the East

Module 4: Christology After Chalcedon

  1. The later councils: two wills and one person
  2. The communication of properties and the suffering of God the Son
  3. Kenosis and the knowledge of Christ
  4. Modern challenges to Chalcedon and replies

Module 5: The Work of Christ: Atonement, Resurrection, Ascension

  1. Atonement in Scripture: images and metaphors
  2. Ransom and victory: Christus Victor
  3. Satisfaction and penal substitution
  4. Moral influence, recapitulation and healing
  5. The resurrection and the ascension of Christ

Module 6: The Holy Spirit in Scripture and the Early Church

  1. The Spirit in the Old and New Testaments
  2. Early Christian views of the Spirit
  3. The deity of the Spirit: Basil, Athanasius and Constantinople
  4. Procession of the Spirit and the filioque

Module 7: Gifts of the Spirit and Sanctification

  1. Gifts in the New Testament: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4
  2. Gifts across the traditions: cessationist, continuationist and Pentecostal views
  3. Sanctification in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant thought
  4. The fruit of the Spirit and the discernment of spirits

All courses

Program / Course 9: Christology and Pneumatology / Lesson 7.3

What you will learn

  • Define sanctification and explain its relation to justification.
  • Describe the Catholic understanding of grace, growth in holiness and the call to holiness.
  • Describe the Orthodox understanding of theosis and synergy.
  • Describe the Lutheran, Reformed and Wesleyan accounts and the main points where they differ.

The big idea

Sanctification means being made holy. All Christians agree that the Holy Spirit makes believers holy, and that holiness is a gift of God and not a human achievement. They differ in how they relate this to justification, the declaration that a person is right with God. Catholics teach that grace heals and transforms the person and that justification includes inner renewal. Orthodox Christians speak of theosis, a lifelong sharing in the life of God. Protestants usually distinguish justification from sanctification, though they differ on how far holiness can grow in this life.

Key terms

Sanctification
The process or state of being made holy by God. From the Latin sanctus, holy. The Greek word hagiasmos appears in 1 Thessalonians 4:3.
Justification
Being made or declared right with God. Traditions differ on whether it is a legal declaration, an inner transformation, or both.
Grace
God’s free favor and help. In Catholic teaching it includes a created gift in the soul. In Orthodox teaching it is the uncreated energy of God. In Protestant teaching it is mainly God’s favor and power.
Synergy
From Greek for working together. The Eastern teaching that salvation is God’s work with human cooperation, as in Philippians 2:12-13.
Simul iustus et peccator
Latin for at once righteous and a sinner. Luther’s phrase for the believer who is declared righteous while still struggling with sin.
Perseverance
The teaching, in Reformed churches, that God keeps those he has saved. Other traditions teach that believers can fall away.
Entire sanctification (Christian perfection)
John Wesley’s teaching that believers can be made perfect in love in this life. He did not mean sinless in every respect.

Background

The New Testament speaks of holiness in the past, present and future. Paul says believers “are sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and also that the will of God is their sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3), and that they are being transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). Hebrews speaks of “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Traditions differ on how these fit together.

The Reformation brought a major dispute about the relation of faith, works and holiness. The traditions diverged in the sixteenth century and have developed since. Many modern dialogues have found more agreement than earlier polemic suggested, though real differences remain.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: The Catholic account

Catholic teaching, set out at the Council of Trent, holds that justification is not only forgiveness but the renewal of the inner person by grace. God pours grace into the soul, which makes the person holy, and faith, hope and love are given. This grace can increase through the sacraments, prayer and good works done in grace, and it can be lost through mortal sin and restored through penance.

Catholics speak of merit, but understand it as God’s gift working through the believer. Holiness is for everyone: the Second Vatican Council taught a universal call to holiness (Lumen Gentium, chapter 5). Saints are models of the life of grace, and purification after death, called purgatory, completes the holiness of those who die in friendship with God.

Step 2: The Orthodox account

Orthodox theology speaks of salvation as theosis, deification: sharing in the life of God by grace, as 2 Peter 1:4 says. Sin is understood as sickness and the loss of life more than as guilt. The incarnation joins God and human nature, and the Spirit brings believers into this union through baptism, chrismation and the Eucharist.

Growth is by synergy: God gives, and the person cooperates through prayer, repentance, fasting and love. The Jesus Prayer, asceticism and the writings of monastic teachers are paths toward this. Orthodox writers distinguish God’s essence, which cannot be shared, from his uncreated energies, which can. There is no sharp separation between justification and sanctification.

Step 3: The Lutheran and Reformed accounts

Luther taught that a person is justified by faith alone, by God’s declaration of righteousness for Christ’s sake. Sanctification is the fruit of this: the believer is renewed by the Spirit and begins to love and serve others, though the struggle with sin continues. The phrase simul iustus et peccator expresses this.

Calvin spoke of a double grace received through union with Christ: justification and sanctification, inseparable but distinct. The Westminster Confession describes sanctification as a work of grace by which believers are renewed and grow in holiness, with imperfection remaining in this life. Reformed churches teach perseverance of the saints. They stress that good works are fruit and evidence of faith, not its cause.

Step 4: The Wesleyan and holiness traditions

John Wesley, an Anglican priest and founder of Methodism, taught justification by faith and then a continuing growth in holiness, aiming at perfect love of God and neighbor. He called this Christian perfection and said it could be received in this life, often as a second work of grace, though he insisted it did not mean freedom from error or temptation.

Holiness movements in the nineteenth century developed his ideas, and Pentecostalism grew from them. Some groups teach that believers can be freed from willful sin. Reformed and Lutheran critics worry this underestimates the persistence of sin, while Wesleyans say they take seriously the promises of Scripture.

Step 5: Points of contact and disagreement

All three traditions agree that holiness is the work of the Spirit, that it involves growth, that it is inseparable from love of God and neighbor, and that no one boasts of it. They agree that faith without works is dead (James 2:26), and that works do not earn salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).

They differ on whether justification is a legal declaration or a transformation, whether holiness can be lost, whether a person can reach perfection here, and what role the church and sacraments have. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999), signed by Lutheran and Catholic representatives, stated a common understanding of basic truths, though some Lutheran and Catholic voices still dispute it.

  1. How do you read the three tenses of sanctification in the New Testament?
  2. What is the difference between justification as declaration and as transformation?
  3. How does synergy differ from earning salvation?
  4. What did Wesley mean, and not mean, by perfection?
  5. Which tradition’s account of holiness best fits your own experience?
  6. How might the agreement of 1999 help and where does it fall short?

Examples

Luther at the table

A picture often used in Lutheran and Reformed teaching, drawn from Luther, likens a Christian to a patient whom the physician declares well and who is gradually getting well. It holds together the declaration and the process in one image.

The Jesus Prayer

Orthodox Christians repeat Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, sometimes with the breath, as a means of continual prayer. It is practiced as a cooperation with the Spirit in the long work of healing.

A constructed conversation

A Catholic, an Orthodox and a Reformed student discuss whether a person can grow in holiness. All three say yes. They discover that they disagree about whether the growth adds to justification, completes it or flows from it. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholics teach that grace sanctifies the person inwardly and that cooperation with grace leads to growth in holiness, helped by the sacraments. Justification includes renewal. All are called to holiness according to their state of life.

Orthodox

The Orthodox teach theosis as the goal of life, achieved by grace and cooperation within the life of the church. They hold that juridical models of salvation are partial. Sin is an illness to be healed.

Lutheran

Lutherans teach that justification is by faith alone and that sanctification follows as the Spirit renews the believer. They stress that the Christian remains both saint and sinner in this life and relies on Christ’s righteousness.

Reformed

Reformed Christians teach union with Christ as the source of justification and sanctification, with progressive growth and the perseverance of the saints. They emphasize obedience to God’s law as the pattern of holiness.

Wesleyan, Pentecostal and holiness

These traditions teach that holiness can grow to perfect love in this life and often expect a decisive work of the Spirit. Their critics ask about the reality of continuing sin, and their defenders appeal to promises such as 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Why it matters

Sanctification touches the daily life of every believer, and the traditions’ different accounts shape preaching, prayer and the understanding of the sacraments. Knowing them gives a student a way to read the others charitably, and to see how much they share.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Catholics think they can earn salvation by good works.

Correction: Catholic teaching says that salvation begins with God’s grace, and that good works done in grace are God’s gift. The Council of Trent condemned the idea that human works alone justify.

Misunderstanding: Protestants think good works do not matter.

Correction: Lutheran, Reformed and Wesleyan teaching all hold that faith produces good works and that holiness is the aim of the Christian life. They deny that works earn salvation.

Misunderstanding: Theosis means becoming God.

Correction: Orthodox teaching holds that human beings share in God’s life by grace without becoming God in essence.

Knowledge check

What is sanctification and how is it related to justification?

Sanctification is being made holy by God. Justification is being made or declared right with God. Catholic teaching includes renewal in justification, Orthodox teaching treats both within theosis, and Protestants usually distinguish them while holding them inseparable. All agree that holiness is the Spirit’s work.

What is theosis?

Theosis, or deification, is the Orthodox teaching that human beings are called to share in the life of God through Christ and the Spirit, by grace and with cooperation. It rests on texts like 2 Peter 1:4 and on the saying of Athanasius that the Son became man so that humans might become divine. It does not mean becoming God by nature.

What did Wesley mean by Christian perfection?

He meant perfect love of God and neighbor, which he said could be received in this life, often through a decisive work of grace. He did not mean freedom from mistakes, infirmity or temptation. Critics from other traditions questioned whether it underrates the persistence of sin.

Where do the three traditions agree?

They agree that the Spirit sanctifies, that holiness grows and is shown in love, that faith without works is dead, and that works do not earn salvation. They differ on the nature of justification, the possibility of perfection, the possibility of falling away and the role of sacraments.

Think it through

  1. What difference does it make whether holiness is thought of as health or as status?
  2. How should a church encourage holiness without encouraging pride?
  3. Which texts seem to you to favor each tradition’s account?
  4. What would be lost if one tradition’s account were dropped?

Independent assignment

Three accounts of the Christian life

In your own notebook, write 500 to 700 words. Write a paragraph for each of the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant accounts of sanctification, using their own terms, and citing one text for each. Then write a paragraph on where you see agreement and one on a real difference. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study