Understanding Sanctification

By Author: Johnson Philip
Total Articles: 90
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An improper understanding of Justification produces spiritual bondage, and a wrong understanding of Sanctification produces spiritual subjectivity. Only a Biblical understanding of these doctrines will motivate us towards proper spiritual commitment.

The word sanctification is derived from two Latin words, and it means "to make holy". The predominant meaning of the Greek and the Hebrew words used in the Bible for sanctification is "to set apart". The same word-groups are translated holy, holiness, sanctify, saint, etc. This implies that we are sanctified or made holy by a process of setting us apart for God's use. This setting apart of our lives is predominantly the work of the Holy Spirit who, in God's grace, renews us every day so that we are enabled to die more and more unto sin and live unto righteousness. The ultimate aim of this daily process is to render us fully set apart for God. But this potential aim is never fully reached in this life due to the constant opposition of our threefold spiritual enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. God has made all provisions for our sanctification, but these ...
... enemies hinder us from appropriating these provisions fully so that in this life we will never fully reach our final target (Phil. 3:12-21).

One should also understand that our sanctification takes place in three phases: the positional, the experiential, and the ultimate. It is necessary to distinguish between these stages so as not to confuse about what actually happens to the believer in his sanctification. This is because, a verse referring to positional sanctification when mistakenly applied to experiential sanctification will lead one to erroneously conclude that a believer may reach sinless perfection in his earthly life. The same will be the result if a verse related to our ultimate sanctification is wrongly applied to the present life.

Positional Sanctification

Because of the sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus, every believer is positionally sanctified, or set apart for God forever. When Hebrews 10:10 says that, "we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all", it means that our positional sanctification is an instantaneous process which is done once for all. The Greek construction of the word "sanctified" (perfect participle) reinforces this statement by implying that positional sanctification of a believer takes once and its results go on for ever.

Positional sanctification is a Godward operation. When we were washed by the blood and joined to Christ, all that belongs to Him were positionally given to us also. So when God looks upon us through Christ, He views us as fully sanctified and set apart for His use. This means that no believer has to "prove" himself to God before God can accept the person. On the contrary, God first accepts the person in Christ and then excepts Him to exhibit a life worthy of this position. Thus our positional sanctification activates our experiential sanctification and not the other way round.

Experiential Sanctification

Once we are granted an everlasting position, we are then expected and commanded to live a life worthy of our position. We are expected to live a daily life of separation to God. This is a progressive work wrought by the operation of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in our lives.

There is every indication to show that experientially a person is not immediately and wholly set apart for God's use after his salvation. The Old Sin Nature residing inside him, and the World and the Devil attacking from the outside severely restrict a believer's availability to God. The Scripture acknowledges this when the epistle to Romans says that "but what I hate that I do", and "O wretched man that I am !" (Rom. 7:14-25). When the greatest apostle of the Lord Jesus says that about himself, we the ordinary believers, must be much more conscious of our infirmities and the inclination towards error.

We are told in Ephesians 5:26, "That He might sanctify and cleanse it (the Church) with the washing of water by the Word". Here, and in many other places, sanctification and cleansing are viewed in Greek as a continuous and progressive activity. Thus though we are already saints positionally, this saintliness is exhibited only gradually in our daily walk. In the verses connected with the experiential sanctification the Greek continuous tenses indicate that keeping our ultimate goal as potential before us, we have to strive to get our lives as much set apart as is possible.

The experiential sanctification is wrought by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The daily and consistent intake of the Word of God results in two things. First, the Word pierces through our soul and spirit, judging the thoughts and intents of our heart. (Heb. 4:12). This will immediately reveal our exact spiritual state to us so that we might take remedial action. Only the Word is powerful and sharp enough to cut across our inner man and so there is no daily sanctification apart from the Word of God. Second, such a consistent intake of the Word of God will gradually form the mind of Christ in us whereby we go on towards spiritual maturity, which further encourages daily sanctification (Heb. 6:1,7-12;5:14).

The Holy Spirit is the agent who sets everything in action by His power. His enabling ministry is necessary for us to understand and appreciate the Word of God. None can profit from the Word of God without help from the Holy Spirit. He indwells the believer so that He might always be available for outworking God's plan for a believer's life. This means further that recognizing one's own inability for self sanctification, and realizing the constant opposition of the world, the flesh and the devil, the Christian should constantly yield himself to the loving dictates of the Holy Spirit so that He might do whatever is necessary to set us apart for God. Only a full surrender to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our spirit, and mediation through the Word of God, will enable us to be sanctified every day. Anything short of such absolute surrender is an exercise in our human energy which is worthless for our sanctification.

Experiential sanctification is the manward side of our separation. When we claim to be a redeemed race and a chosen group, we should exhibit the qualities of our new life. Thus, in spite of the presence of our old sin nature, a Christian should be able to demonstrate to the world that he is someone special. (James 2:17-25). This uniqueness is not by virtue of his own sinless perfection, but rather by his conscious availability for God's use over against his own plans and ambitions.

The Ultimate Sanctification

Every child of God cherishes the hope of seeing the Lord Jesus and be like Him. This final conforming to the likeness of the Lord Jesus is our ultimate sanctification Apostle John said, "when He shall appear, we shall be like him". (John 3:2). This is clearly a reference to a future event when our setting apart will be complete. (I Thes. 5:23). It is neither positional, nor continual, but actual and immediate. The old sin nature will be eradicated for ever and the devil and his world shall never be allowed to come in contact with us. Sin shall never reign in us, and we shall be completely set apart for God's glory.

So, the whole picture is like this: at the moment we accept Christ, God sanctifies us positionally and expects us to yield our life to Him. In such a dedicated life He works day by day, step-by-step, separating us to Him from everything that is displeasing to God. This work reaches its consummation when at His second coming the Lord Jesus suddenly, perfectly, and for ever, changes the Christians into fully sanctified persons (Phil. 3:21)

It must be noted in conclusion that sanctification is not a second work of grace, not an eradication, nor sinless perfection which are to be attained by some process of self-denial or self-crucification. These are all subjective activities arising as a result of not understanding the threefold nature of our sanctification. The believer will obtain eradication of old sin nature and attain sinless perfection only in his new body when the world, the flesh, and the devil are separated forever from coming in contact with him.

Once we realize that our old sin nature is going to remain with us all along our earthly life, and once we understand its great affinity to the world and the devil, we should fearfully try to work out our daily sanctification. This is because the presence of our three enemies is sure to work against our being set apart for God: this is the reason why even very mature believers sometimes bring shame upon the name of their Lord. "We should therefore fear, lest we also should seem short of" our sanctification.
Dr. Philip is a well known writer of , Guide to Net Based Income. He is also the owner of Free Courses.