Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
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Justification and the Historia Salutis (History of Redemption)
by Robert P. TerryUpdated May 8, 2026
(This article is a work-in-progress and is subject to revision.)
Predestination is an immanent act (i.e., that which is decreed from eternity in the mind of God), but not a transient act (i.e., a decree executed in time). Justification, progressive sanctification, and glorification are both immanent acts in the mind of God and transient acts that are executed in time. As immanent acts, it is possible to say that justification, progressive sanctification, and glorification have already been accomplished in the mind of God. Yet, as transient acts, that which was accomplished in the mind of God still needs to be fulfilled in time. Justification is different from progressive sanctification and glorification. Justification is entirely forensic in nature, whereas progressive sanctification and glorification are ethical in nature. The forensic nature of justification allows it to be fulfilled as a transient act even before it is experienced. In contrast, progressive sanctification and glorification are only fulfilled as transient acts once they are experienced. (And as for other things, such as the creation on the world, although it did exist in the mind of God as an immanent act before time, yet, because it is not forensic in nature, cannot be said to be fulfilled in time until it actually comes into existence.)
As an immanent act in the mind of God, the elect were justified from eternity according to the purpose and grace of God given to them in Christ Jesus before the world began (literally before eternal times) (2 Tim. 1:9). Or, as another verse says, the elect were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). The elect "were in Christ" before the foundation of the world, not "destined to be in Christ.") Also, of Christ it is said that He was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). In this manner, justification was accomplished in the mind of God.
At the same time, the justification accomplished in the mind of God presupposed a transient act in time. If this were not so, Christ would not have needed to come into the world and actually die for the elect. So, what was accomplished in the mind of God still needed to be fulfilled in time. And so it was fulfilled at the cross and certified by His resurrection. It was this transient act in time at the cross that fulfilled the immanent act.
Just as Christ's work in time was necessary, the elect, according to the purpose of God, were predestined to experience in time the benefits of what Christ accomplished for them. These benefits include, among other things, justification by faith, progressive sanctification, and glorification. That these things are benefits is clear from how they are described. For example, when the Apostle Paul speaks of the justification accomplished by Christ at the cross, he simultaneously identifies the elect as being there "with Christ" (see Col. 2:12-14). Therefore, when the elect experience justification by faith, it is not to cause, effect, or apply justification, but simply to come into a recognition of it as the beneficiaries of what was already accomplished.