Survey of Sanctification

SANCTIFICATION

What is sanctification? The Hebrew word (qodesh) and the Greek word (hagiazo) both carry the meaning of being set apart, to separate, or separation. It is translated by many different English words: sanctify, set apart, sanctuary, sacred, saint, and holiness. The noun is never found in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament it is found a number of times (Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3-4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:2). The verb is found in the New Testament 28 times and has three meanings.

·         First, to hallow, or acknowledge or render to be venerable (Matt. 6:9).

·         Second, it means to separate or dedicate to God, to consecrate (Matt. 23:17;  2 Tim. 2:21; John 17:19).

·         Third it means to purify (Eph. 5:26; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 2:11)

The term is used in both Testaments referring to places (Num. 7:1; 2 Chron. 7:16), things (Ex. 40:10-11; 1 Tim. 4:4-5), and people (Ex. 13:2; Gal. 1:15; 1 Peter 1:1-2), all of which are set apart for some purpose.

One point of confusion about sanctification that is widespread today is the idea that it means primarily to improve practical holiness. That is not the case. I direct you to John 17:18-19 where Jesus says, “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” If the word sanctify means primarily to improve practical holiness, then we have a big problem. Jesus Christ, who is God, cannot improve His holiness either in character or in practice. To improve His holiness would mean that He had to be less than holy in the first place. God cannot improve His holiness: He is Holy (Lev. 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:16). No, the primary meaning of sanctification is to set apart. Christ sanctified Himself, setting Himself apart for the special work and will of God the Father that was His purpose in coming to earth. He set Himself apart to come into the world, to be obedient to the point of death, to die, to be separated from the Father to accomplish our salvation. Thus, to be sanctified, holy, or a saint, means primarily to be set apart for God use,s and purpose.

How does sanctification affect the believer? That is a very important question. Sanctification is revealed in Scripture to have a threefold affect on the believer. It affects our salvation, state, and glorification.

Sanctification & Salvation

This is what many theologians call “positional” sanctification. We are “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:2). Every believer is sanctified at the moment of salvation. That is we are set apart for God’s use. “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). This is a one time event with continuing results. At salvation, “He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14). The NASB reads “He has perfected for all time….” Perfected is the Greek word teleioo, meaning to bring to a state of completion. We are complete in Christ. This is an act of God Himself to all that have salvation, for He who “sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one (Heb. 2:11 cf. 1 Cor. 1:2). Christ has been made unto us who are saved “sanctification” (1 Cor. 1:30).

Sir Robert Anderson observes:

“Sanctification in this sense, therefore, is not a gradual change or a progressive work, nor yet a moral attribute; it is an act, like justification, accomplished once for all. Just as the guilty sinner passes, immediately when he believes, into a new condition relative to sin and a righteous God, and becomes thereby and thenceforth righteous; so the defiled sinner gains, as immediately and in the same way, a new standing relative to sin and a holy God, and becomes thereby and thenceforth holy.”[1]

Sanctification & State

Positional sanctification is our standing before God as holy. Practical sanctification is the process whereby the believer conforms to his position in Christ in everyday living. This is the area where we are to grow in Christ, from glory into glory (2 Cor. 3:18). This type of sanctification is not imputed (as is Positional sanctification), but imparted. Sanctification is imparted by three means:

·         THE WORD OF GOD.
Christ prayed for believers to be sanctified “through thy truth: thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). A channel of sanctification is the Word. As we walk in the light of the Word, we are set apart from evil. This is the practical outworking of God’s Word in us. It reveals to us the plan, purpose and will of God. Arthur Pink means a vital connection in the prayer of Christ for His own. The connection is between two petitions in the prayer: “keep them from the evil” (17:15) and “sanctify them by thy truth (17:17). He points out that “the former is secured by the latter.”[2] Practical sanctification comes in obedience to the Word. These things were written that we might “sin not” (1 John 2:1).

·         THE HOLY SPIRIT
It is the Holy spirit who empowers us in our daily life. The Holy Spirit indwells us (1 Cor. 3:16). It is “by the Spirit” that we mortify the deeds of the body (Rom. 8:12-13). A.J. Gordon reminds us that, “Biblically, mortification is not asceticism. It is not self-inflicted penitence, but a Christ-inflicted crucifixion”[3] (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6). The Holy Spirit delivers us from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). When we “walk in the Spirit” we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16-18). Thus, set apart from sin unto a closer relationship with Christ. The believer needs the Holy Spirit to “put to death the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13). This is only possible by our submission to the Spirit who abides in us.

·         FAITH
In Acts 26:18 we read that the means of sanctification is faith. Faith not only “sets us apart” positionally, but also practically. Throughout the ages God had declared that the “just shall live by faith” (Gal. 3:11 cf. Hab. 2:4). Faith empowers us as believers to accomplish extraordinary things for God (Hebrews 11). It sets us apart as servant of God. It enables us to believe, act, and endure in this life.

Sanctification & the Final Stage

The final stage of sanctification awaits our glorification. “No matter how much progress we may have made in the life of holiness, entire conformity to Christ will only be realized when ‘that which is in part shall be done away’ (1 Cor. 13:10),” notes Thiessen.[4] Bible students refer to this as “ultimate sanctification.” It is then that we shall completely be what we should be. He will “present to Himself the church in all its glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy [sanctified] and blameless” (Eph. 5:27). This is the final stage of sanctification for which we await. Then our signification will be complete.

The Bible teaching on sanctification is clear. Sanctification begins in salvation, grows in Christian living, and is completed in the presence of our Lord.

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[1]  Sir Robert Anderson, THE GOSPEL AND ITS MINSTRY, (Kregel, Grand Rapids, 1965), 121-122.

[2]  Arthur W. Pink, EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1971), 3:135.

[3]  A.J. Gordon, THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT, (Bethany House, Minneapolis, 1985), 81.

[4]  Henry Clarence Thiessen, LECTURES IN SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1963), 383.