Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Let me introduce to you two words from Christian theology. If you’ve gone to church for any length of time, I’d hope you have heard these before, but as a lot of churches shy away from theological terms, you may not have a firm grasp on the meaning and implication involved.

Justification means a change in your legal status before God. Once was lost, now you’re found; once was blind, now you see; once a sinner, now you’re saved; eternity separated from God (Hell), eternity with God (Heaven). Get the picture? For 2000 years, Christians have used the word justification to refer to our change in status before God.

Sanctification means a change in your life, being transformed from a sinner into a saint. It means not conforming to the pattern of the world, not living like the lost, but patterning your life after Jesus Christ and following God’s will for you. It is a continuous, life-long process.

What am I getting at? Well, how can Paul tell us in Philippians 2 to “work out” our salvation? Aren’t we saved by grace? We can’t earn the right to be saved by anything we do, so what is Paul trying to say?

I think understanding this scripture depends on understanding salvation. In our culture, the Church, for some reason, has separated justification from sanctification. We’ve reduced salvation so that it is just another word for justification, and made sanctification a strongly suggested, but optional, path for the newly justified Christian to follow. As a result, we have generations of Christians who are convinced, but not converted.

Throughout the history of the Church, salvation has been a word that included both justification and sanctification. In fact, James goes so far as to say that without sanctification there is no justification (James 2). We have separated them, making salvation and justification little more than an emotionally driven one-time “decision” someone makes, or the infamous “sinner’s prayer.” And we tell people that by making that decision, they are now “saved” or justified.

Shame on us. Simply being convinced is not enough. It will not do to know something is true, we must believe. Believing is different from knowing. Believing involves doing, acting, changing. Believing means being converted.

Becoming a Christian means your life is changed; you’re not who you used to be, you are a new person. The Apostle John said, in the book of 1 John, that if there is no life change, a person isn’t really a follower of Christ, but a poser. Has your faith in Christ changed your life? (Has my faith changed mine?) Has God asked you to give something or someone up for Him? Or are you the same person you were before you prayed the sinner’s prayer? Are you convinced, but not converted?