Are you sanctified or just sanctimonious?

What is sanctification? The Guthrie scholars class studied this theological term this week and learned that sanctification is the ultimate goal of justification. Where justification is God's forgiveness of sinful people through the grace of Christ Jesus, sanctification pertains to the kind of life a justified person should live. Dr. Shirley Guthrie referred to sanctification as the maturing process of Christianity in which we mature toward a state of holiness by living a Christian life made possible by God's Holy Spirit.

Some Christians boast about their justification and their "Christian" values. They make a show of a certain morality. Ostentatious morality is like the lives of the Pharisees. This boastful public demonstration is ostentatious by definition and Paul advised the Roman church that Christian morality is always self-sacrificing rather than condemning. We've got to be vulnerable to become holy.

We hear more about these things in this week's lectionary: Psalm 119:33-40; Ezekiel 33:7-11; Matthew 18:15-20; Romans 13:8-14.

Allen Cross