Study 5. Knowing the church ’lingo’

One of the things you might come across if you go to church is that sometimes there can be confusing terms used. I remember hearing things like ‘have you been washed in the blood of the lamb, brother?’ and ‘are you a premillennialist, postmillennialist or amillennialist, brother?’

Of course, this isn’t always going to be the case, and the church lingo isn’t another language that needs to be studied. There can be terms and phrases that baffle us when we start going to a church community, so the idea in this study is to help decode some of this.

Justification?

In the Bible the term and use of the word ‘justification’ is something that is exerted over humanity, it is something done over us and for us but not by us. What this is saying is that when we hear this word used in church it’s like we are saying in response ‘wow God, thank you for taking a man like me and declaring that, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection I have been justified in your sight and you welcome me home as your son.’ That’s about it, the process of justification is God’s willingness to forgive us because of what Jesus has done, amazing and the best news ever!

Sanctification?

The idea of ‘sanctification’ in the Bible is something that you can find in the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the NT (New Testament) this is about a work of God again, much like justification, where we are forgiven but in particular set apart.

So essentially this is about anybody who decides to follow Jesus and trust him will be set apart for something, the Bible implies this as a special use and purpose. That special use and purpose is a bit confusing because it seems to have a past action, a current process and a final effect.

The best term connected to this and linked to the word sanctification is holy. The work, process and destination then of sanctification is to make us more like Jesus, to transform our lives, and for us to live well i.e. more holy. This is great news because most of the time I don’t feel very holy at all! Work in progress!