Sanctification
a term applied in Scripture, as well as in theology, to denote the process by which the effaced image of God in man is restored, and the sinner becomes a saint. It is based on the holiness of God, who communicates His purity to His people by means of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is distinguished from justification in this, that while justification changes the state of the sinner in law before God as a judge, sanctification changes the heart before Him as a father. Justification precedes sanctification; the one removing the guilt, the other the power of sin. The former is an act done at once, the latter is a gradual process.