Steve Stanley’s Reviews > Why Did Jesus Live a Perfect Life?: The Necessity of Christ's Obedience for Our Salvation > Status Update

Justification apart from our works does not negate the necessity of the believer's good works in sanctification. Salvation requires both. . . . Justification and sanctification are both necessary for final salvation.

Thus, in justification our righteousness is entirely that of another—it is perfect; in sanctification we grow more and more into the image of Christ, though always imperfectly in this age. Justification is accomplished by God apart from any work of the sinner, whereas growth in sanctification requires the activity of the believer.

Whereas justification is a unilateral, forensic act of God, sanctification is a work of God—a process of growth. Justification is a onetime declaration, which needs no improvement; sanctification is an ongoing process that is always imperfect in this life. Christ's righteousness is imputed in justification; Christ's righteousness is infused in sanctification.

Christ’s resurrection is the judicial verdict that his obedience was perfect. This means believers’ justification is as certain as Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

When Adam sinned, he brought death; when Christ as the last Adam obeyed, he overcame death through his resurrection.

What is required for salvation? Salvation requires not only forgiveness of sins (Luke 1:77) but also the right to eternal life. This means that Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna—along with all true believers—need an obedient representative to be fully righteous before God. They need a new Adam (3:38).

The representative (or vicarious) nature of Jesus's baptism shows the representative nature of Jesus's entire obedience. . . . Only on the basis of Jesus's perfect obedience could forgiveness of sins be granted. . . . Jesus's baptism helps us see that just as his baptism was for the benefit of others, so too his obedience was for the benefit of others.