Christianese - Sanctification

Sanctification, like the others, is a biblical term. Just some references for ... reference:

Just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification (Rom 6:19).

Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life (Rom 6:22).

And because of [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30).

To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood (1 Peter 1:1-2)

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness (1 Thess 4:3-7).

In the entry on Justification I said that it was not a synergy. Justification was not a product of cooperation between God and Man, but a divine declaration. That's it. Done. Sanctification isn't the same thing. It is, in fact, quite a bit more complicated.

First, in English, it means "to set apart; to make holy". Paul addresses his first epistle to the church at Corinth this way: "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints ..." (1 Cor 1:2). That word translated "sanctified" is hagiazo in Greek and the word translated "saints" is hagios in Greek. In other words, they are the same concept. Hagios is the concept of "holy" and holy is not so much the concept of "separated from sin" as much as "set apart" (which would include sin, but so much more). Thus, "sanctification" is this process whereby we are set apart to God, declared holy, and move toward holy living.

As such, sanctification is both an event and a process. It is an event when we are justified. At the point of justification, we are declared perfectly righteous. That sets us apart. That makes us something new for God's use. That is an event. However, every practicing Christian knows that this event, while monumental, is just the start. Sanctification is the lifelong process of every believer. It is the process whereby we grow into the perfection that has already been declared. In Philippians 3 Paul says that he has not arrived at perfection (Phil 3:12). In the same chapter he also says, "Let those of us who are perfect think this way" (Phil 3:15). He puts these two thoughts together when he says, "Let us live up to that which we've already obtained" (Phil 3:16). That is, "We have been declared perfect; now let's live it."

So what is sanctification? Well, we can learn a lot from the references I referenced above. It is a process of cooperation whereby we present ourselves to righteousness and remove ourselves from sin (Rom 6:19). This produces sanctification. And sanctification ends with eternal life (Rom 6:22). This process is produced in us by the presence of Christ (1 Cor 1:30) and the Spirit (1 Peter 1:2). It is primarily visible in our obedience (although obedience is the product of a changed heart) (1 Peter 1:2). Sanctification is quite important to the Christian. It is, in fact, "the will of God" (1 Thess 4:3). It includes such trappings as avoiding sexual immorality, living holy and honorably, disengaging lust, treating others fairly, and arriving at holiness (1 Thess 4:4-7). It is, in fact, one of the main purposes for which God has called us.

Sanctification is, then, the process of becoming the genuinely holy person that you are declared to be when you are born again. It starts right at the beginning, goes on through your life in your work at becoming more and more conformed to the image of Christ, and culminates in eternal life and heaven's ultimate perfection. That, dear reader, is sanctification.