Justification and Sanctification

Volume One—Chapter Seventeen JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION

Justification and Sanctification are unique concepts. Actually, both are processes. In the secular world, the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but each has a distinct, separate meaning. The two words often appear together in scripture. This is so because the two processes inevitably occur concomitantly during the process of our spiritual growth. Both processes are vital to our spiritual progression.

Let us consider justification and sanctification separately. Then we will describe the circumstance that brings the two together.

#Justification

When any individual gives in to his natural self and commits a sin, a penalty is assessed against him by those who enforce the law of justice. He has committed sin. He is unclean. As long as this penalty remains in force, he no longer is worthy to enter the celestial kingdom, or, indeed, any kingdom of glory. He has broken the law (1 John 3:4). He is shut out from God’s kingdoms of glory (Romans 3:23). The scriptures are clear on this point: “There cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God” (1 Nephi 15:34; cf. 3 Nephi 27:19; Alma 11:37).

If the individual is forgiven of the sin, the penalty is removed, and he is said to be justified. In the individual who is justified, there exists no sin standing between him and God. All accounts are settled between him and the law of justice. A phrase meaning the same as justified is reconciled to God.

Three theoretical ways to become justified. It is vital for us to become justified. We cannot get back to our celestial home without being justified. Obviously then, we must find a way to become justified. The penalties assessed by the law of justice must be removed from us. If they are not, then we are doomed to spend a miserable eternity with Satan. When all penalties are removed from an individual, he is forgiven of his sin, free of sin, blameless, and innocent. He is justified.

In theory, there are only three ways in which an individual may become justified: 1. He may keep the law perfectly and never transgress the law. Such an individual would never be assessed a penalty. This is obviously futile since “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, italics mine). No man except Jesus Christ has ever lived without sin. Practically, then, it is impossible to become justified by living the law perfectly.

Though we recognize this method for justification to be unworkable, there are people who have espoused and who still espouse this general strategy for earning their justification. This is referred to as attempting to become “justified by the law.” While they recognize the futility of absolute perfection, they strive to be regarded as fully righteous through their strict obedience to law. The Jews, for example, have created a complex and demanding set of physical laws to which they attempt to adhere rigorously. By their exacting obedience to these complex laws, they hope to be designated by God as being totally obedient and therefore justified. Again, they seek and hope to be regarded by God as “justified by the law.”

2. So, every man will sin. Is there anything a sinner might do to help himself past his sin? Can a man overcome his sins by suffering for them? Is that doctrinal, or is it simply sectarian nonsense? In our doctrine, there is a relationship between sin and suffering. A man, through his own suffering, can begin to “earn” his own justification. A man, by his suffering, can make partial recompense for his sins. It should be noted that this suffering is not punitive suffering. There is no such thing as punitive suffering in God’s plan. Rather, it is the suffering of denying and overcoming one’s natural self. It is useful, constructive, beneficial, and edifying suffering. It results in spiritual growth. All sinners are expected to experience this suffering. It is a necessary precursor to spiritual growth.

It is our doctrine that those who reject Christ and his atonement, and therefore fail to take advantage of his atonement here on earth will be required to begin to pay for their own sins by suffering for them in the world of spirits. This suffering will be especially noxious, as it will occur without the mollifying influences of the Savior’s mercy and grace (D&C 19:15-19). No man, however, is capable of making complete recompense by his own suffering to the point of justification. The demands of the law of justice can never be satisfied by a man suffering for his own sins. Therefore, even after a man has done all he can do, he remains unjustified, guilty of sin, and penalized by the law of justice. The prophet Abinadi, in the Book of Mormon, taught that “salvation doth not come by the law alone” (Mosiah 13:28). Man, left to his own devices, is completely incapable of becoming justified.

3. The third theoretical way, and as it turns out, the only possible way is for the man to get help. Man is powerless to ever become justified on his own. He cannot accomplish it by himself. He must have help from someone or something. This someone is the Savior. Through the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, Jesus answered the ends of the law (Romans 10:4; 2 Nephi 2:6-7). He thereby has the right to plead the case of any sinner. Because the Lord successfully completed his atoning sacrifice and death, he claims, and is allowed, by the Father and by those who make the demands of justice “his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men” (Moroni 7:27). If he chooses to plead for an individual, his pleas will result in the removal of the sinner’s penalties.

We say that Jesus has the right to forgive the sinner. Technically, the Savior appeals for the sinner before those who enforce the law of justice. Because the Savior has accomplished the atonement, they will inevitably approve his request. They will accede to his pleas. It is they who actually remove the penalty or “forgive the sinner.”

Since this process is virtually automatic (Christ’s appeal leading to forgiveness of sin), we may say that “Christ forgives a man of his sins.” This removal of the penalties, this forgiving of sin, is justification. A person whose penalties are removed, one whose sins are forgiven, is said to be justified. He is “reconciled to God,” meaning that all things are now “right” between him and God. He is clean, unspotted, and sinless.

For whom does Christ appeal? For those who accept Christ as their Savior, enter into a covenant relationship with him, become his “children” or “people,” and strive mightily to keep his commandments. If there had been no atonement of Christ, nothing could save the sinner from being cast into outer darkness forever (2 Nephi 9:8-9). Because of Christ’s atonement, we humbly and gratefully refer to him as our Rescuer, our Redeemer, our Savior.

#Yet Another Meaning of Justification

An individual who is “converted” to the gospel acknowledges his belief in and determination to obey Christ, “repents” of his sins (actually, agrees henceforth to obey the Lord’s commands), and is baptized (enters the covenant of baptism). He then is mercifully forgiven of his sins and allowed a fresh start. By this conversion process, he is thus justified. This gratuitous justification is a one-time event. Subsequent justification requires his overcoming his natural self and obeying the Lord’s commands. Thus, the individual’s “conversion” is the beginning of the road that leads to spiritual growth and eventual exaltation.

In the Protestant world the analogous experience is referred to as “coming to Christ,” or “confessing Christ.” This is the “Christian confession.” It may or may not include baptism, which ordinance is mostly felt by them to be non-essential. Protestants believe that if they bring to their confession faith or belief in Jesus Christ and a desire to repent of their sins, they receive the grace of Christ and are “saved.” They begin a period of inevitable spiritual growth they feel will most surely lead to heaven. They acknowledge justification as a one-time event and do not understand the ongoing role of repeated justification in their lives. They also consider repentance to be a one-time event that occurs at the time of their confession. They fail to understand the vital continuing role of repeated repentance in their lives.

#Sanctification

Sanct- is a Latin root meaning “holy.” The terms sanctify and sanctification can be confusing. They are usually considered to have general, nonspecific meanings. In a secular sense, the two terms are defined as “to make holy” and “to be made holy.” The word holy is usually defined as “sacred,” “worthy of reverence and awe,” or “saintly.” Thus, from a secular standpoint, we are left with sanctify, sanctification, and holy all having rather nonspecific meanings. They all generally mean something like “to make sacred” or “to be made sacred,” with sacred meaning “associated with God and his purposes,” “spiritually venerable,” or “worthy of worship.”

Scripturally, sanctification is not a nonspecific word. It should not be tossed about and used as if it had a nonspecific meaning. Rather, it has a most specific meaning. It is used to refer to a vital process consisting of two steps. When an individual sincerely strives to overcome his natural self and obey a commandment of the Lord, he may then be judged worthy by the Spirit. The Spirit then does two things (after justifying him): First, he grants to the individual, by personal revelation, an increment of the divine attribute specific to the individual’s obedience—he bestows a gift of the Spirit. Second, the Holy Ghost purges out of the man’s soul, as if by fire, the tendency to commit the sin that the man just overcame through his obedience. This purging of the man’s soul creates a fundamentally different person. The man thus becomes changed with new priorities, new perspectives and a new character. He becomes a “new creature,” a little more like God and less apt to sin. Sanctification, then, consists of the combination of receiving a gift of the Spirit and being purged of an increment of one’s natural self.

Sanctification is an ongoing process, not an event. It is a vital part of the process of growing spiritually, of becoming more like God. An individual involved in this process is said to be sanctified or holy. The word holy, in scripture, by the way, is best used as a synonym for sanctified. Sanctification is a process which repeats hundreds or even thousands of times during one’s life. During this process our “natural man” inclinations, our carnal proclivities, are preferentially and gradually purged from our souls. By sanctification, they are replaced with Christ-like qualities, received as gifts of the Spirit. Sanctification is required of all those who enter the celestial kingdom of God. No one will return to his presence who has not, in some measure at least, become like him through the process of sanctification.

Parley P. Pratt aptly summarized the end result of the many attributes the Spirit may, over time, introduce into the character of a man:

His influence quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands, and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them by the gift of wisdom to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates, and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form, and feature. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, invigorates, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being (Key to the Science of Theology, 102).

Spiritual growth is a keystone, basic doctrine in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

#Justification and Sanctification

Justification and sanctification are equally vital for our spiritual growth. Let us examine how they work together as we grow spiritually.

The Savior’s agent in the process of our spiritual growth is the Holy Ghost. He is endowed with the divine capacity to engage our souls in the transforming processes of justification and sanctification. By them we are fundamentally changed. By them we become more like God.

Prior to the actual processes of justification and sanctification, the Spirit plays important roles in the spiritual growth of each of us: (1) He helps us in seeking the areas in which we need to repent; and (2) he encourages our repentance and obedience to eternal law by testifying to us of Christ and of other vital eternal truths.

Then he becomes the justifier and the sanctifier (3 Nephi 27:20). In his role as the Holy Spirit of Promise, he is empowered to seal (render valid) on earth and have that sealing be recognized or binding in heaven. He is the judge who watches those who are striving to obey the Lord’s commands. These are striving to deny their natural self and obey the commandments. The Holy Ghost’s role is to judge if these strivings have been sufficient. When he judges them so, he then does two things:

1. He justifies. He conveys the Lord’s forgiveness for specific sins of the newly obedient. It is important to acknowledge the Spirit as the agent. Those who actually forgive are those who enforce justice in response to the Savior’s appeal. Since this forgiveness invariably follows each of the Savior’s appeals, we say that the Savior forgives sin. The individual who succeeds for the first time in obeying a commandment virtually always has a record of disobedience to that very same commandment. Thus, the Holy Ghost justifies or conveys forgiveness for those specific sins. He may also extend forgiveness for sins in other areas, though he may also await specific strivings for obedience in those other areas.

2. He sanctifies. He grants, by personal revelation, a specific increment of an attribute of Christ. Again, the blessing is largely specific. If the individual is striving to become more patient, he will be granted an increment of divine patience. This comes as a result of his deliberate striving to obey that command. The gifts of other divine attributes must await specific strivings to obey in those specific areas. An exception (actually an addition) to this specific growth is the phenomenon of perquisite gifts of the Spirit.2

The Spirit then completes the sanctification process by purging out of the man’s soul part of the prior tendency to be impatient. The man becomes, in a limited sense, a “new creature,” a little more like God. Indeed, he becomes sanctified.

Thus, justification and sanctification always occur in tight sequence. They occur in tandem because one cannot be sanctified until he is justified. Also, they don’t occur once or twice or on just a few occasions in a person’s life. Rather, they occur hundreds or even thousands of times—every day, every week as we strive to be obedient. This is an ongoing process, and indeed the Lord desires us to be continually engaged in the process. No individual can enter our Father’s celestial presence without being both justified and sanctified. While we will never acquire any attribute of God to perfection in this life, the individual who is actively involved in the process of justification and sanctification is described in scripture as being considered by the Lord to be “perfect” (Moroni 10:32-33).

It is easy to confuse the concepts of justification and sanctification. Both involve the cleansing of a man’s soul. To prevent this confusion, one only need remember that justification is the removal of the penalty of sin, or the forgiveness of sin. Sanctification is intimately associated with spiritual growth. It consists of the granting of spiritual gifts and the purging of natural-man tendencies. Both occur in response to an individual’s overcoming his natural self and obeying a commandment.

#The Process and the Final Judgment

The two processes, justification and sanctification, are ongoing. They continue minute by minute, day by day, month by month, and year by year. They are initially sin specific. For example, the promiscuous man repents and strives mightily to overcome his tendency for sexual sin. Consequently, the man is forgiven of his prior sexual sins (he is justified), he is given an increment of the gift of divine self-control, and a part of the tendency to be driven by lust is purged from his soul (he is sanctified). We may appropriately say that he is justified and sanctified relative to that particular temptation.

Let us say that same man later struggles to overcome a personal animosity for another individual. He succeeds in repenting and asking the man for forgiveness. In response, the Spirit forgives him of his previous sins against the man (justifies him), grants him an increment of divine charity, and purges part of that hatred out of his soul (sanctifies him). Again, he is justified and sanctified for a specific sin. This “piecemeal” justification and sanctification continues over time on several different fronts.

Eventually, these two processes begin to transform the man in a more general and not sin-specific way. He comes to abhor sin (Alma 13:12; 2 Nephi 9:49; Jacob 2:5), shake at its appearance (2 Nephi 4:31), and even to have no more disposition to do evil (see Mosiah 5:1-2). Again, we encounter the phenomenon of perquisite gifts of the Spirit. Please review the concept of perquisite gifts of the Spirit in chapter 8, The Blessings of Spiritual Gifts. The man begins to be transformed into an individual more like God. As he grows spiritually, he progressively yields his heart to God (cf. Helaman 3:35). We should not, however, suppose he will ever completely overcome the tendency to sin while in this life.

Also, we should not suppose that the man’s progress was invariably upward without some pauses and valleys. It is characteristic of spiritual growth that he will progress more at some times than at others. He may even deteriorate spiritually at times. Over time, however, he should make measurable upward progress.

Eventually, when a person’s mortal trial is over, the Lord will survey his life. He will assess his history of the processes of justification and sanctification. He will discern just who and what the man has become. He will know all about the hills and valleys, stops and starts. He will then decide whether the man is worthy of exaltation. If the man is judged worthy, the Savior will appeal on his behalf before the law of justice, and the man will be granted his exaltation. For the man, his exaltation will never come as a surprise. Inevitably, as a man progresses, he will receive divine reassurance that he is spiritually “okay.” The scripture teaches that no man will be saved in ignorance of the fact that he will be exalted (see D&C 131:5-6).3

#The Role of the Savior’s Atonement

When we receive any blessing by virtue of the Lord’s atonement, we say that we have received or been blessed by God’s mercy, grace, or by his blood. When an individual has received mercy, it simply means he has received a blessing he has not fully earned. He does not fully merit that blessing. The grace of God is a specific term. It refers to the love God has for his children. It actually refers particularly to that aspect of his love that inclines him to extend his love and its benefits to those who do not fully deserve it or who do not fully merit it. When the “blood” of Christ is mentioned it always refers to his atoning sacrifice.

Intuitively, it is easy to see why the Lord’s atoning blood is necessary for justification or forgiveness of sins. Any individual who strives to overcome his natural self and obey a commandment makes an offering of suffering. The very process of denying oneself is painful and causes suffering. However, we know that no one can suffer sufficiently on his own, without the Lord’s mercy, to merit forgiveness of sin. Only one has achieved that, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. No one else would be capable of enduring that type of suffering. Justification by virtue of the atonement is the “redemptive quality” of the atonement.

But what about sanctification? Does sanctification really require the intervention of the Lord’s mercy? Is the Lord’s atonement necessary in the process of sanctification? After all, are we not judged worthy of receiving gifts of the Spirit (and receiving the associated purging of our souls) by the Holy Ghost because we have earned them through our obedience? Could not the Spirit simply grant us the gifts we “earn” separate from the atonement?

Some years ago, I became concerned over this issue. I came across a few scriptures indicating it is only by virtue of Christ’s atonement that we may become sanctified. These scriptural passages suggested it is only because of Christ’s mercy that we are granted the gifts of the Spirit. For example, in Alma 13:11, the prophet Alma was preaching to the people of Ammonihah. Referring to those who had previously been ordained and authorized to minister in the Lord’s earthly kingdom, he said: “Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.” In giving final counsel to our dispensation, the recipients of the Book of Mormon, Moroni said: “Ye [are] sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ” (Moroni 10:33).

These passages indicate that the Savior’s atonement does more than make possible the overcoming of the penalty of your sins. It more than secures your justification. It is also the mechanism by which we progress to become like God. It is the mechanism by which we are sanctified.

These passages were confusing and upsetting to me. I thought I understood the process of our earning gifts of the Spirit. According to D&C 130:20-21, when we desire a blessing from God (a gift of the Spirit), all we have to do is obey the law upon which that blessing is predicated. In other words, if we want the gift of a testimony of the Book of Mormon, then we read, study, pray, and ponder. When we have done so, we are granted that gift by personal revelation because we have earned it. There is nothing of mercy here. This is justice. If I want the gift of the Spirit, I obey the law, and I am given the gift. I earned it! It’s only fair that I receive it. Why does the atonement enter in here?

In my confusion, I began to contemplate and pray about this question. Why should our spiritual progress have anything to do with the atonement? Why should the gifts of the Spirit have to be extended to us through the “mercy” and “grace” of the Lord?

As I prayerfully contemplated this question, one day the answer washed over me. It was so obvious. While we do exert some effort in earning the gifts of the Spirit, we are given much more than we earn. The gifts are far grander than our paltry efforts. They are indeed gifts. It is through the receiving of these gifts that we are sanctified and qualify to enter the Lord’s celestial presence. It would be unjust for us to be given these gifts, which qualify us for the celestial presence, if they were based solely on our own exertions, our own merits. The demands of justice would cry foul and claim we are being provided unfair advantages. Hence, it is only by his mercy and grace that we are sanctified. It is only because he pleads our case. We are allowed to receive the gifts of the Spirit only because he asks. The demands of justice allow us to progress toward godhood only because he requests it. And he can request it only because he has qualified himself to be our Savior.

Elder Bruce Hafen wrote an insightful book, The Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life’s Experiences. In his introduction titled “The Atonement Is Not Just for Sinners,” he shared the following enlightening conversation he had with Elder Bruce R. McConkie, who had come to Ricks College to deliver a devotional talk:

As we drove together toward the campus from the airport, I asked Elder McConkie if he thought the concepts of grace and the Lord’s atonement had anything to do with the affirmative process of perfecting our nature [sanctification]—apart from the connection of those concepts with forgiveness of sin [justification]. He said that is what the scriptures teach. Turning to the Doctrine and Covenants, he read aloud from Joseph Smith’s description of those in the celestial kingdom: “These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood (D&C 76:69) (17).

Elder McConkie obviously felt when “just men” are made “perfect” by virtue of Christ’s atonement, it implies more than forgiveness of sin (justification). It implies also that spiritual growth occurs by virtue of the Lord’s atonement (sanctification).

King Benjamin pled with his people to put off the natural man and become “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord” (Mosiah 3:19). Elder Hafen elaborated on this thought:

As King Benjamin here suggests, the atonement does more than pay for our sins. It is also the agent through which we develop a saintly nature. That is exactly what Moroni taught: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, . . . that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; . . . then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ (Moroni 10:32-33) (Ibid., 8).

We cannot become sanctified by virtue of the law of justice alone. The man who has served his five-year jail term has satisfied the laws of the land. He has paid the debt of justice, but by doing so, he is not transformed from a criminal into a saint. One “becometh a saint” only “through the atonement of Christ the Lord” (Mosiah 3:19). Justice is important and necessary, but all the justice in the universe will not produce a single saint. Sainthood, which leads to godhood, requires repentance, the atonement, mercy, and grace.

#Perfection

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called for a higher righteousness: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This verse sets out the Father as the standard for absolute perfection. Following the Savior’s resurrection, Jesus included himself in that standard when he said to the Nephites in the New World, “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (3 Nephi 12:48, italics added). Given these standards of performance, it is not possible for us ever to achieve absolute perfection.

There are, however, two levels of perfection that are more within the reach of each of us, finite and infinite perfection:

Finite perfection. Finite perfection is a label afforded to those saints striving consistently to overcome their natural selves and obey the commandments. They are fully engaged in the processes of justification and sanctification. They are regularly granted forgiveness of sin, given gifts of the Spirit, and purged of their evil tendencies.

Surely the prophet Moroni referred to this type of perfection when he wrote:

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ (Moroni 10:32).

Other examples of this perfection in the scriptures include: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; for Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation; and he walked with God, as did also his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Moses 8:27). The phrase “in his generation” apparently means, “according to the knowledge which was available to him.” Further, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1).

Stephen Robinson referred to this type of perfection when he wrote:

In the new covenant of faith, perfect innocence is still required, but it is required of the team or partnership of Christ-and-me, rather than of me alone. Because Christ and I are one in the gospel covenant, God accepts our combined total worthiness, and together Christ and I are perfectly worthy (Believing Christ, 43).

The individual constantly involved in the processes of justification and sanctification is a member of this team or partnership. It would seem that the essence of this mortal state of perfection is to be in a constant state of repentance. 1 John 3:9 states: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” This verse is a problem since we all know that those who have been born again are not free from sin. But they “speedily repent” (see D&C 109:21). They move rapidly from the darkness back into the light. President Brigham Young discussed living in a constant state of repentance and worthiness:

I do not recollect that I have seen five minutes since I was baptized that I have not been ready to preach a funeral sermon, lay hands on the sick, or to pray in private or in public. I will tell you the secret of this. In all your business transactions, words, and communications, if you commit an overt act [of sin], repent of that immediately, and call upon God to deliver you from evil and give you the light of his Spirit. . . . If I commit an overt act [of sin], the Lord knows the integrity of my heart, and through sincere repentance, he forgives me (JD, 12:102-103).

JST 1 John 3:9 reads: “Whosoever is born of God doth not continue in sin; for the Spirit of God remaineth in him; and he cannot continue in sin, because he is born of God, having received that Holy Spirit of promise.”

Infinite perfection. Infinite perfection is a title reserved for those who are exalted. Elder McConkie wrote: “Infinite perfection is reserved for those who overcome all things and inherit the fulness of the Father in the mansions hereafter. It consists in gaining eternal life, the kind of life which God has in the highest heaven within the celestial world” (Mormon Doctrine, 567, emphasis in original).

#The Rest of the Lord

In the Book of Mormon, we encounter the concept of the “rest of the Lord” (Alma 12:35, 36; 13:12, 13, 16, 29; 16:17; 37:36; 60:13; Moroni 7:3). The idea of entering the rest of the Lord is a central theme in Alma 12-13. The “rest of the Lord” implies comfort, reassurance, and peace. There are three situations in which we can experience (“enter”) the rest of the Lord. Each is referred to in the scriptures.

Rest in mortality. When we are progressing spiritually here on earth, we may expect to be blessed with a state of rest, divine reassurance, the gift of hope.3 This is the confirmation we are on track with the Lord. We are made aware we are progressing satisfactorily toward our exaltation. Jesus promised this rest to his disciples when he said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). In Alma 13, Alma points out it is through the atoning blood of Christ and by the power of the holy priesthood that individuals and congregations are prepared and made ready to enter the rest of God. How is the Lord’s atonement involved? We

cannot progress spiritually outside the influence of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice. We will later learn the role of the priesthood and priesthood ordinances in our entering into covenants that facilitate our spiritual growth.5

Rest in paradise. Spirits enter the “rest of God” when they enter paradise at the time of their death. Paradise is the state of the righteous in the postmortal spirit world (Alma 40:11-14; 60:13). Those judged worthy of paradise in the “partial judgment” are sealed up to eternal life. Their trial is over.

Rest in the celestial kingdom. The “rest of the Lord” follows our judgment and resurrection if we are judged worthy to enter the celestial kingdom and receive our exaltation. In Moroni 7:3, the prophet Mormon uses the term “rest” in two ways: “Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord [here in mortality], from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in [the celestial] heaven.”

#Conclusion

In the processes of justification and sanctification, what do we become? As our sins are remitted, we may come to see ourselves clearly in our proper eternal relationship with God and with the Savior. We are instilled with gratitude, contrition, meekness, and lowliness of heart. We may be blessed with the bestowal of many gifts of the Spirit or “fruits of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). These fruits may include an increase in our faith or testimony of Jesus, joy, hope, charity or love of our fellow man (Moroni 8:26), peace, and spiritual power.

The final product is a soul who has become like God. This soul is cleansed of all impurities and endowed with spiritual knowledge and power. We then are said to be “perfect in Christ,” “holy, without spot” (Moroni 10:33), “new creatures,” “totally converted,” “justified,” “reconciled to God,” “born again,” “born of the Spirit,” “born of God,” and “quickened in the inner man.” We also might be said to have “experienced a mighty change” or to have “received his image in [our] countenances” or to have “entered into the rest of God.”

1 For a discussion of spiritual growth, see chapter 7, Spiritual Growth—Gifts of the Spirit, and chapter 8, The Blessings of Spiritual Gifts.

2 See chapter 8, The Blessings of Spiritual Gifts.

For a discussion of the gift of hope, see “Two Little-Appreciated Gifts of the Spirit” in chapter 10, Deliberate Faith and Revealed Faith. See also “The Fruits of Faith” in chapter 11, Other Notes on Faith.

See “The Role of the Savior’s Atonement,” above in this chapter.

5 See chapter 18, Baptism, the Ordinance that Brings Spiritual Growth.