God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27
Those he foreknew, he also marked out in advance
to be shaped according to the model of the image of his son,
so that he might be the firstborn of a large family.
And those he marked out in advance, he also called;
he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Romans 8:29-30
Justification is the singular act of Father whereby “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun. (1 Corinthians 5:17)
Sanctification is the process of the Holy Spirit, whereby baby Christians become mature. “We are meant … to grow up in every way into Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14-16)
We’ve entertained two $5 theological words: justification and sanctification. I add one more: glorification (glorified). Glorification is the perfect state of maturity for which God has been involved in your life all along.“In heaven, you will be in a state of perfect wholeness – in spirit, mind and body…” (Faith and Health) I found an extending quote that does a much better job of delineating this truth than I could ever hope to do!
The Bible tells us that ‘he Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being’ (Genesis 2:7) God created a physical body from the earth and then breathed spirit into it. The spirit gave life to the body and man became a living soul. From that point forward, humans have a spiritual nature with a soul within a physical body. God made us as complete or ‘whole’ beings.
When Adam and Eve sinned, the perfect design of man was destroyed. Originally created in the image of God, this image became marred, and has been marred ever since as this image has been passed down to us all. The spirit of a person who has not been saved is dead. (Romans 5:15-17) What was once a perfectly knitted and intact spirit, soul body became imperfect. Each of us were born into this world as flawed and imperfect beings.
When a person accepts Jesus into their heart, he’s rescued from sin and eternal separation from God. We call this salvation. The Greek word is sozo, meaning “wholeness.” God puts his Spirit into our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22) and our spirits then become fully alive. Throughout our life on earth, our spirits bear the image of God – we are completely well in spirit. Acts 26:18, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 6:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:13