9th
FUNDAMENTAL
TRUTH
SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is an act of separation from that which is evil, and of dedication unto God (Rom. 12:1–2; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 13:12). Scriptures teach a life of “holiness without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14 [KJV]). By the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to obey the command: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15–16).
Sanctification is realized in the believer by recognizing his identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, and by faith reckoning daily upon the fact of that union, and by offering every faculty continually to the dominion of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 6:1–11,13; 8:1–2,13; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 2:12–13; 1 Pet. 1:5).
When we are converted, born again, we are delivered from the tyranny of sin. But what about the Christian life after this crisis event? Can a Christian sin? What are the possibilities of genuine victorious living? These intensely practical questions come under the doctrinal topic of sanctification (Gk. hagiasmos). Let us look at this strategic topic with some care, for indeed God is concerned that His people be holy (Gk. hagios):
Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:13–16; cf. Lev. 20:7).
The Bible shows that sanctification is in one aspect positional and instantaneous; in another aspect, practical and progressive.1 The chief aspect, however, is the progressive work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. As regeneration is the impartation of new life to the new convert, so sanctification is the development of that new spiritual life.
Before we undertake our analysis of the threefold aspect of the doctrine of sanctification (positional, actual, and final holiness), several terms should be carefully noted.
The Greek and Hebrew words for “sanctification,” “saint,” “dedication,” “consecration,” and “holiness” are all related to the idea of separation. In fact, the core concept of the term “sanctification” is separation.2 To be sanctified is to be set apart—set apart from sin in order to be set apart to God and to the reverent and joyful worship and service of God. Rich in typological imagery is the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament and the ceremonies associated with the tabernacle and, later, the temple. That which was offered to God was to be set apart in a special way, emphasizing the holiness of the One receiving such worship. That positive dedication to God is always the chief emphasis. For example, the holy vessels used in the tabernacle and the temple were separated from ordinary use. One could not take them into an Israelite home and use them. But that is not what made them holy. They were not holy until they were taken into the tabernacle or the temple and actually used in the worship of the Lord.
Throughout the ages God has separated unto himself those He wishes to be His own. He wants to use them all in His service. He intends that those He has redeemed shall be fashioned into Godlike people:
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good (Titus 2:11–14).
Therefore, involved in this concept of separation is a strong positive emphasis on dedication, which is separation to God and to His worship and service.
Righteousness is conformity to divine law, usually seen within the covenant relationship. Holiness is conformity to the divine nature. The terms “purification” and “consecration” relate to the latter. God is concerned not only with outward obedience to the divine will, He is concerned with an inward wellspring of motivation that is cleansed and pure (cf. Mark 7:6; Luke 6:45). As the believer submits to the gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the heart is washed and renewed progressively (see 1 Pet. 1:22 to 2:5). As the light of God’s Spirit and Word floods the heart and mind, the believer is expected to respond, cooperating with God by removing himself from defilement (2 Cor. 7:1; Heb. 12:13–15). In this sense, then, as we respond to the challenges of God, we can participate in the process of purification and can engage in acts of consecration. Always, however, let it be borne in mind that the practical steps we may take in separating ourselves from evil and turning toward God are always a response to the wooing and whispering of a gracious God. Let us remember also that to neglect sanctification is to court disaster. Hebrews 12:14 reminds us to “make every effort … to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” “Sanctification is not optional for believers in Christ.”3
THREE FACETS OF SANCTIFICATION
Since sanctification is not optional, we examine it closely, noting three of its facets. We begin with positional holiness. In other words, to get holiness, we start with holiness: We must be declared to be holy at the outset of our Christian lives. This declaration by God is called positional holiness. It is another way of expressing the great doctrine of justification, or is at least simultaneous with it.4 Through the crowning work of the atonement, Christ has made it possible for a holy God to see us—not as we are in and of ourselves, but wrapped about with the robes of Christ’s righteousness (Phil. 3:9). This aspect of our sanctification occurs by faith in Christ instantaneously, at the moment of our conversion.5 In a very real sense, then, we are sanctified at the moment we are saved. For this reason Paul could address the Christians of the various churches to whom he wrote, some of whom sorely needed correction, as “saints” (Gk. hagioi, meaning “holy ones”).6 We all begin in Christ, then, as saints.7 “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). “We are thus made partakers of the fruits of His obedience. We are set free to do God’s will.”8 We have turned our backs on sin and evil and have committed ourselves to follow Christ. We are saints not because we are superior, not because we have reached final perfection, but because we are headed in the right direction.
However, what is declared instantaneously and legally about the believer is not realized in actual holiness, the second facet of sanctification, for some time, a lifetime anyway. A great biblical truth is that God begins with us where we are. How wonderful it would be if older, mature Christians were as patient with new converts as God himself is. That which marks the true perfection of a child of God is not his arrival at absolute sinless perfection, but his upward aspiration. The apostle Paul did not consider himself to have “attained,” or “arrived,” but he did acknowledge that he was yearning with an intense longing to be more pleasing to God day by day (Phil. 3:13–14). What was good enough for yesterday is not adequate for today in the life of the believer, for growth enlarges one’s capacity for the things of God. Although we may begin with “milk,” we are expected to grow up to the point where we can digest “solid food” (see Heb. 5:12–14; 1 Pet. 2:1–3). This is accomplished through a daily renewal of our consecration and dedication to God. We must seek to become “more and more conformed to the image of Christ.”9 By prayer and through the Word and the Holy Spirit we draw near to Jesus and experience His love. “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness, with ever-increasing glory [from one degree of glory to another], which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Important to this growing stage of holiness is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.10 Romans 7 pictures the “divided mind” of the one who is caught in the internal struggle between good and evil.11 He knows to do good but finds himself unable in his own strength to do what is right. What is the source of Christian victory? Romans 8 and Galatians 5 supply the answer. Romans 8:13 shows us that we, by the Holy Spirit, can “put to death the misdeeds of the body,” and 8:37 says that “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Galatians 5:16–18 points out that if we “live by the Spirit,” we won’t “gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other.” Consequently, we are in a struggle against temptation, always soliciting us to sin. But the struggle for believers is not a contest between the “higher nature” and the “lower nature.” Rather, it is a mighty contest between the indwelling Spirit of God and the old sinful nature, which still survives and wishes to express itself. The old nature is not “rooted out” as the Wesleyan doctrine of “eradication” would say. That doctrine is predicated on an understanding of sin as a “something” rather than as a relationship. A relationship is not a “thing,” subject to being “rooted out,” or, as some say, “cut out root and branch.” But in the proportion that we as believers are yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit, which is an act of faith, we can be assured of continuing victory over the invasions of sinful temptations (1 Cor. 10:13).
We also have the responsibility of taking an active part in the battle against sin and in experiencing the positive side of sanctification. However, the whole responsibility for progressive sanctification is not on us, for God has His part, and the Holy Spirit enables us by purifying our souls in obedience to the truth (1 Pet. 1:2,22). Our part is to actively and in faith “put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to … [the] earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed” (Col. 3:5). Addressing the believers at Colosse, Paul observed (and we attend):
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Col. 3:7–14).
There is victory in the Christian life. One need not be continually defeated. Even though we never come to the place in this life where we are not able to sin, we can have help so that we are able not to sin.12 The solution lies in giving place to the indwelling Holy Spirit. And, as we live in the Spirit day by day, our capacities for spiritual things develop. We grow in grace. There are failures along the way, but when we stumble and commit sin, we are not cast out. We have an advocate with the Father, a Friend in court, even Jesus Christ (1 John 1:9, 2:1). There is cleansing along the way, for “if we walk in the light, as he [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). But we must confess our sins. Utterly urgent is our immediate response when we are checked or convicted by the Holy Spirit. If there is immediate repentance, we can arise with a cleansed conscience and the sure knowledge of forgiveness from God; we do not need to agonize over our failures.
There are, however, solemn warnings, which lace the Book of Hebrews, pointing out that persistent, determined rejection of the conviction of the Holy Spirit is a backsliding that can eventually lead to a hardened, settled rebellion against God, resulting in the final loss of one’s salvation (cf. Gal. 5:21; Heb. 6 and 10). This is apostasy. But Paul in Romans 6:1–2 shouts aloud, “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” He wonders how any who have tasted of the joy of sins forgiven could possibly want to return to the quagmire of sin—although the possibility is clear and unmistakable.
We are initially, at conversion, sanctified in Christ Jesus. During the course of our lives we are given the means to “grow in grace,” to become in actuality what we are declared to be positionally and to reach a maturity of holiness (Eph. 4:7–13). There is yet a third dimension to sanctification. In Philippians 3:11, Paul expresses the wistful desire of the soldier of the Cross, looking ahead to the time when this period of probation will end and there will be a final state of holiness. This anticipation of perfection is called the doctrine of glorification. Upon life’s end, believers who have kept true to Christ will be in a permanent relationship with God that will not be subject to failure. We will have a settled character of holiness. Then at Christ’s second coming, “We will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51–52). What a wonderful hope for the believer! “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
In view of this hope, may we all maintain “unbroken communion with Christ through the resources of prayer and the Word, seeking divine guidance from the Holy Spirit and striving to ‘reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13).”13
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What is the basic meaning of sanctification?
2. In what sense does sanctification take place at the time of our conversion?
3. What is the relationship between sanctification and justification?
4. What is involved in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification?
5. How can we become “more and more conformed to the image of Christ”?
6. How can we have daily victory over the old sinful nature?
7. What positive steps are necessary in addition to putting to death whatever belongs to one’s earthly nature?
8. What should we do when we fail?
9. What are the causes and results of apostasy?
10. What is included in our future glorification?
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1 Stanley M. Horton, “The Pentecostal Perspective,” in Melvin E. Dieter, Five Views On Sanctification (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), 113.
2 See “Spiritual Separation for Believers” in The Full Life Study Bible, Donald Stamps, ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1990), 371.
3 Ibid., 526.
4 Myer Pearlman, Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1945), 220.
5 Ralph W. Harris, Our Faith and Fellowship (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1963; revision by G. Raymond Carlson, 1977), 74 (page reference is to revised edition).
6 Horton, “Pentecostal Perspective,” 115.
7 The word “saint” has been spoiled by some churches that reserve the word for people they put on a pedestal, people whom they suppose have extra merit that others can draw from. Actually, Christ is the only one whose merits are available to us. No one else has any extra merit.
8 Horton, “Pentecostal Perspective,” 116.
9 Ibid., 114.
10 See Zenas Bicket, “The Holy Spirit—Our Sanctifier,” Paraclete 2 (Summer 1968), 4–5.
11 J. Dalton Utsey, “Romans 7 and Sanctification,” Paraclete 18 (Spring 1984), 4.
12 Not only do we need the continual cleansing of the blood (1 John 1:7), we never come to the place in this life where we no longer need it. This is the point of 1 John 1:10: “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him [God] out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” The phrase “have not sinned” is in the Gk. perfect tense. This normally defines an action in the past that has continuing present results. Therefore, it might better be translated, “If we say we have come to a place, or have had an experience, where we cannot or do not sin any more”—we make God a liar, for He has provided the continuous cleansing of the blood (with the clear implication that we need it), and we are saying we do not need it.
13 Albert L. Hoy, “Sanctification,” Paraclete 15 (Fall 1981), 7.