Saved For Good Works; Not By Good Works
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10)
Over the years, I have frequently heard the claim that a dichotomy exists between salvation and sanctification. The argument typically asserts that salvation—receiving the gift of eternal life—occurs in a moment when, by faith alone, we receive Christ as Lord and Savior.
Sanctification, by contrast, is an ongoing process that involves growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Furthermore, a distinction is often made between positional sanctification and the ongoing process of sanctification, enabling believers to live out their faith. While I do not deny these points, I believe further clarification is needed, lest we misrepresent Scripture or the full meaning of salvation.
A careful study of Scripture reveals that drawing a sharp distinction between salvation and sanctification presents a shallow understanding of salvation. Salvation is more than just escaping hell or securing a ticket to heaven. I submit that we are saved for sanctification—to be set apart for God and made holy for His glory. As the Apostle Paul clarifies in Ephesians 2:8–10, we are not saved by faith and good works but for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
As it has been aptly stated, we do not get good to get saved; we get saved to get good. When we receive Christ by faith as Savior and Lord—who on the cross paid the price for our sin and three days later was raised from the dead—we are not only saved from something but to something. Jesus died for our sin and rose again so that we would no longer be separated from God, but separated unto God, reconciled to Him, and restored to a right relationship with Him, enabling us to live the life He created us to live for His glory and our good.
This is the essence of eternal life: to know God and His Son through His indwelling Spirit (John 17:3). The Apostle Peter expresses it this way: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:24–25).
Earlier in 1 Peter, he writes: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
In some evangelical circles, there is a tendency to separate salvation from sanctification when engaging in evangelism or seeking to lead someone to Christ. The approach often emphasizes getting a person saved first and addressing sanctification later. Does this mean we should simply tell people that trusting Christ is about securing a ticket to heaven and nothing more? Do we then introduce sanctification later, as if it were optional? Is this done because we fear that explaining the full scope of salvation might deter people from accepting it?
I propose that creating a strict division between salvation and sanctification is a false dichotomy that can lead people astray. A. W. Tozer observed:
Tozer does not suggest that we are saved by faith and good works. Rather, he echoes Paul and Peter, affirming that we are saved for good works and to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Therefore, let us rejoice in the free gift of salvation, by grace through faith, and never forget that it is a salvation unto good works. We are saved to know Him and to make Him known.
Over the years, I have frequently heard the claim that a dichotomy exists between salvation and sanctification. The argument typically asserts that salvation—receiving the gift of eternal life—occurs in a moment when, by faith alone, we receive Christ as Lord and Savior.
Sanctification, by contrast, is an ongoing process that involves growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Furthermore, a distinction is often made between positional sanctification and the ongoing process of sanctification, enabling believers to live out their faith. While I do not deny these points, I believe further clarification is needed, lest we misrepresent Scripture or the full meaning of salvation.
A careful study of Scripture reveals that drawing a sharp distinction between salvation and sanctification presents a shallow understanding of salvation. Salvation is more than just escaping hell or securing a ticket to heaven. I submit that we are saved for sanctification—to be set apart for God and made holy for His glory. As the Apostle Paul clarifies in Ephesians 2:8–10, we are not saved by faith and good works but for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
As it has been aptly stated, we do not get good to get saved; we get saved to get good. When we receive Christ by faith as Savior and Lord—who on the cross paid the price for our sin and three days later was raised from the dead—we are not only saved from something but to something. Jesus died for our sin and rose again so that we would no longer be separated from God, but separated unto God, reconciled to Him, and restored to a right relationship with Him, enabling us to live the life He created us to live for His glory and our good.
This is the essence of eternal life: to know God and His Son through His indwelling Spirit (John 17:3). The Apostle Peter expresses it this way: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:24–25).
Earlier in 1 Peter, he writes: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
In some evangelical circles, there is a tendency to separate salvation from sanctification when engaging in evangelism or seeking to lead someone to Christ. The approach often emphasizes getting a person saved first and addressing sanctification later. Does this mean we should simply tell people that trusting Christ is about securing a ticket to heaven and nothing more? Do we then introduce sanctification later, as if it were optional? Is this done because we fear that explaining the full scope of salvation might deter people from accepting it?
I propose that creating a strict division between salvation and sanctification is a false dichotomy that can lead people astray. A. W. Tozer observed:
“I must be frank in my feeling that a notable heresy has come into being throughout our evangelical Christian circles—the widely accepted notion that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need Him as Savior and we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we want to. I think the following is a fair statement of what I was taught in my early Christian experience, and it requires significant modification and qualification to avoid error: ‘We are saved by accepting Christ as our Savior; we are sanctified by accepting Christ as our Lord; we may do the first without doing the second!’ The truth is that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred Scriptures. Peter makes it plain that we are ‘elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience’ (1 Peter 1:2).”
Tozer does not suggest that we are saved by faith and good works. Rather, he echoes Paul and Peter, affirming that we are saved for good works and to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Therefore, let us rejoice in the free gift of salvation, by grace through faith, and never forget that it is a salvation unto good works. We are saved to know Him and to make Him known.