Non SDA sources affirm: Justification and Sanctification by Faith are
part of Salvation
Evangelical scholar from Biola University,
J. P. Moreland, "What was the essence of the gospel?...Since the
Protestant Reformation, the gospel has been identified with justification by
faith... We are declared righteous through our trust in the accomplished work
of Jesus... For the first 20 years of my Christian life, this was the
gospel I shared with unbelievers... I found it difficult to connect
sanctification and spiritual maturity and growth to this gospel. About all I
could say was, 'If Jesus is now your Lord, you should obey Him.’" But in
the 1980’s he found a broader gospel. "The point of becoming justified? Justification
is the way one begins a life of sanctification. The gospel invites
us to an entirely new, rich life... I become justified so I can learn this new
life, a life that will be mine forever... One accepts the free grace of God in
justification in order to enter a life of progressively having Jesus as my Lord
in this life and the next." (Ministry, May, 2009)
David Pawson (born
1930) is a prominent Bible teacher based in Great Britain, “Justification
is only the beginning of salvation. It sets us free from the penalty of sin…righteousness
is imputed but it needs to imparted as well….the moment we believe God has
credited his righteousness but then God wants us to become righteous as well…having
been set free from the penalty of sin…now we are set free from the power of it…..we
are justified by faith we are sanctified by faith…we need to trust God every
moment..” (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye-5h5FapKg)
Brunstad Christian
Church is a worldwide evangelical non-denominational Christian church, “Christianity—more
than the forgiveness of sins: “The reason that Jesus came to earth was to save
us. He wants to set us free from sin and bring us back to God. It starts with
the possibility to have our sins forgiven, if we choose to accept Jesus as
Savior and Lord in our lives. Then we are reconciled to God through Jesus’
sacrifice for us—His death—even though we have sinned and actually deserve to
die. Salvation continues when we follow Jesus’ life—the life that He lived as a
human being on earth. “For to this you were called, because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps,” 1
Peter 2:21. Who is the example that we should follow? He “who committed no sin
...” (verse 22). That is being saved by Jesus’ life: it is the life that we are
to live after we have received forgiveness!"(Source: http://www.brunstad.org/en/about-us-(1)/what-is-christianity)
Leroy Forlines, Professor Emeritus of Theology at Free Will Baptist Bible College, “Many have proclaimed the idea that a person can be saved by faith without there being any moral or spiritual transformation that follows. Perhaps the most forthright declaration of this position was from those who advocated the position that a person could be saved by receiving Jesus as Savior without receiving Him as Lord….. … They seem to think that a person could live in any state of sin and they would still go to heaven when they die if they never deny their faith. I am sorry that I have not done a better job. It has never been my intention to convey such an idea. (Source: Are We Preaching the Gospel? Bible Conference, Free Will Baptist Bible College, March 10, 2010)
Leroy Forlines, Professor Emeritus of Theology at Free Will Baptist Bible College, “Many have proclaimed the idea that a person can be saved by faith without there being any moral or spiritual transformation that follows. Perhaps the most forthright declaration of this position was from those who advocated the position that a person could be saved by receiving Jesus as Savior without receiving Him as Lord….. … They seem to think that a person could live in any state of sin and they would still go to heaven when they die if they never deny their faith. I am sorry that I have not done a better job. It has never been my intention to convey such an idea. (Source: Are We Preaching the Gospel? Bible Conference, Free Will Baptist Bible College, March 10, 2010)
John Fullerton MacArthur, Jr.
(born June 19, 1939) is an American Evangelical Christian pastor and author
known for his internationally-syndicated radio program Grace to You. “Biblical
justification must be earnestly defended on two fronts. Many today misuse the
doctrine to support the view that obedience to God’s moral law is optional.
This teaching attempts to reduce the whole of God’s saving work to the
declarative act of justification. It downplays the spiritual rebirth of
regeneration (2 Cor. 5:17); it discounts the moral effects of the believer’s
new heart (Eze. 36:26-27); and it makes sanctification hinge on the believer’s
own efforts. It tends to treat the forensic element of justification—God’s act
of declaring the believing sinner righteous—as if this were the only essential
aspect of salvation. The inevitable effect of this approach is to turn the
grace of God into licentiousness (Jude 4). Such a view is called
antinomianism.”J. F. MacArthur Jr., “Long before Luther (Jesus and the Doctrine
of Justification),” in Justification by Faith Alone: Affirming the Doctrine by
Which the Church and the Individual Stands or Falls, ed. Don Kistler; rev. ed.
(Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2003), 2, 3 (emphasis added).
Douglas F. Bayless, a Methodist, Pastor of Lawton Church of God, "Wesley was Arminian and under that approach to theology, justification is still declared by God because of the atonement, and an actual moral change takes place in the heart of the believer. So, we can say that justification is both legal and experiential. Wesleyan theology emphasizes the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit through the new birth. Differing branches of Wesleyan thought have different thoughts on the experience and process of sanctification, but we agree that it is sanctification expressed under the term “entire sanctification” where the Christian makes the consecration but through surrender of the personal will to the will of God, the Christian is empowered to live a holy life. Evangelicals find it hard to believe that God can actually save a person from all sin and enable a person to live a holy live. Yes, we never escape the possibility of committing sin, but through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit we escape the NECESSITY of sin".
Cited