All Christians who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ (Romans 3-5), are being sanctified (Romans 6-7), and will be glorified (Romans 8) in Heaven with the Lord one day.

The key word in Romans 6 is “sanctification” (vs. 19, 22). The key words in Romans 7 are “law,” “flesh,” and “Spirit.” Sanctification is freedom from the law, a struggle with the flesh, wrought by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.  

Sanctification is the second stage of salvation. Christians are justified as a gift from God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. One day, when we die or when Christ comes again, we will be glorified in His presence.

We are all sinners. Some of us profess to be saints. But how many sinners who profess to be saints are really sanctified? Perhaps some definitions will be helpful. We will use the book of Romans as our dictionary. Let’s look up “sinner,” “saint,” and “sanctified.”

On January 27, AD 417, a heretofore church leader name Pelagius was excommunicated and branded a heretic. His sin was denying sin, or at least original sin, total depravity, in the human race. Pelagius taught people are born good, could hypothetically choose to never sin, and were capable by their own free will and energy to earn or at least initiate their own salvation.

“Justified,” or justification, is the theme of this section (3:21-5:21). Justification is your passport to salvation, which will also bring you through sanctification and take you on to glorification. It is your declaration of righteousness and a right standing with God.

The Apostle Paul is the primary preacher of New Testament Christianity. This is due to fact, among others, that He wrote roughly half of the New Testament, including this jewel that is the epistle to the Romans.

The New Testament begins with four Gospels. Then comes the chronicle of Acts, detailing how the gospel spread from Jew to Gentile, from Jerusalem to Judea to the uttermost parts of the known world. Then comes the greatest explanation of the gospel ever written, Paul’s epistle to the Romans.

Love is the last theme of our four Sundays of Advent. It is the last candle lit before the Christ candle is crowned. Love is the theme of the first coming of Christ, of course, as the Bible’s most familiar verse, John 3:16, attests.