Salvation Part 7: Regeneration & Sanctification

So what about the question of getting saved for heaven and living like hell? Salvation is not equal to justification. It is not equal to election. It is not equal to sanctification. It is all of these things and more.

Eternal life is not just about living forever, it is also about a different kind of life. It is a God kind of life. It is a life in Christ. This life somehow comes to us by the work of the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit of God brings life to dead sinners who believe and are saved.

Some might respond by saying that means you get saved before you get saved. Regeneration does not equal salvation. Regeneration is this. God removes the heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh. Regeneration is also described as a new birth or a new creation. Men do not create or give birth to themselves.

Therefore a man who has this new life, lives the new life. As Paul says, "How can we who are dead to sin live any longer in it?" Luther once said, "God does not justify whom He does not sanctify and God does not sanctify whom He does not justify." A sanctified life is a life set apart for God. It is also a life that comes from God and wrought out in us in order that we might be holy and blameless.

May we be found ready and awake and sober in that Great Day.