Justification and Sanctification

In second 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we read this testimony of Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith, “And we know that justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true; And we know also, that sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true, to all those who love and serve God with all their mights, minds, and strength” (D&C 20:30-31).  Elder Christofferson suggested that justification means “being pardoned,” while sanctification means “being purified.”  He said, “To be sanctified through the blood of Christ is to become clean, pure, and holy.  If justification removes the punishment for past sin, then sanctification removes the stain or effects of sin.”  These are two companion steps in becoming perfected through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and the Lord described it this way to Adam, “For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified” (Moses 6:60).  So we keep the commandment and enter in the path through the waters of baptism, and as we receive the Holy Ghost it justifies us or removes the punishment from the past sin.  Sanctification comes as we continually apply the atoning blood of Christ and become a “new creature” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

               These companion principles of justification and sanctification are very similar to other gospel “pairs” that we read about.  For example, the scriptures teach us that we need to have “clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:4).  Elder Bednar suggested that the “dual requirements of (1) avoiding and overcoming bad and (2) doing good and becoming better” are what this commandment to have clean hands and a pure heart are.  In that context then having clean hands seems similar to being justified, where both mean that we are not guilty of sin.  And having a pure heart seems to be the same idea has being sanctified; we are not only without sin but we have changed our natures to become more like our Father in Heaven.  Elder Bednar described it this way: “It is the Atonement of Jesus Christ that provides both a cleansing and redeeming power that helps us to overcome sin [the clean hands] and a sanctifying and strengthening power that helps us to become better than we ever could [pure heart] by relying only upon our own strength.  Another pair of gospel words that seem to me to represent the same thing is that of “washing and anointing.”  In Old Testament times Aaron and his sons were brought to the tabernacle and washed with water before being anointed (Exodus 40:12-15).  We perform something similar in temples today; the Lord spoke to the Saints in the Nauvoo period in these terms: “your anointings, and your washings, and your baptisms for the dead, and your solemn assemblies” (D&C 124:39).  Washings are symbolic of becoming clean from sin, and the anointings represent being set apart to become who the Lord wants us to become.  This is very similar to the ideas behind becoming justified and sanctified.  We might also even say that the two Priesthoods themselves represent the same principles, with the Aaronic having the keys relating to the “remission of sins” (being justified) and the Melchizedek having the privilege “to enjoy the communion and presence of God” (being sanctified) (D&C 13:1, 107:19).

               What really matters of course is where we are personally at.  Have we been cleansed of our sins? Have we been purified and sanctified to become more like our Father in Heaven?  I don’t think we can answer these once and for all, but we must continually seek to be forgiven and improved, to be forgiven and to become better, until ultimately our names can be “recorded in the book of the names of the sanctified” (D&C 88:2).