Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of salvation. Salvation, in turn, is the deliverance from sin and its effects. It is common among Protestants to organize the process of salvation into three stages: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Although these terms can be used in different ways, their use for stages in salvation refers to the following. Justification occurs when a believer becomes a Christian, often identified as when someone puts their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Once justified, sanctification is the process of maturing in Christian faith so as to be more and more guided by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and less and less guided by sinful urges. Glorification occurs after the last judgement when a believer’s soul reunites with a transformed body and is no longer subject to sin. Stated succinctly, justification makes one free from the penalty of sin, sanctification makes one free from the power of sin, and glorification make one free from the presence of sin.
But theologians typically include many more soteriological stages than three and have strong disagreements about their order in occurrence. For example, Wayne Grudem lists the following ten soteriological steps in his proposed order of salvation: election, the gospel call, regeneration, conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, death, and glorification.[i] There are many proposed orders of salvation, including different ones for the major theological systems.
[i] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 2nd Ed., Zondervan Academic: 817.
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