Sanctification in Christ

Sanctification in Christ

Adapted from the book, Possessed by God, by David Peterson (from pp. 1-50)

I. The Biblical Starting Point

A. Sanctify (Greek, hagiasmos) – separation unto God (1 Cor 1:30). Sanctification is the course of life befitting those separated unto God (1 Thess 4:3, 4, 7). The relationship with God into which men enter by faith in Christ (Acts 26:18). The sole title to sanctification is the death of Christ (Eph 5:26, 27) (The Expanded Vine’s Theological Dictionary, p. 989).

“In the N.T. [sanctification] primarily refers to God’s way of taking possession of us in Christ, setting us apart to belong to Him and to fulfill His purpose for us. Sanctification certainly has present and ongoing effects, but when the verb ‘to sanctify’ and the noun ‘sanctification’ are used, the emphasis is regularly on the saving work of Christ applied to believers through the ministry of the Holy Spirit” (David Peterson, Possessed by God, p. 27).

B. Sanctification cannot be reduced to any one of the following: a process, a standard of righteousness, or, the attainment of holiness. In the N.T. sanctification is seen as BOTH a one-time event and a process. God calls us to live as those possessed by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:11, 19, 20). The believer’s confidence that he is possessed by God conditions all of his motives for obedience. See 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 and Romans 12:1-2.

The believer lives as God’s possession with the confidence that he is God’s child. He is no longer living in fear, but has a new desire to please his Heavenly Father (1 Jn 3:1; Rom 8:15; 2 Cor 5:9). The believer is controlled by Christ’s love and no longer lives for self (2 Cor 5:14).

C. Holiness is the foremost description of God’s character (Hab 1:12; 3:3; Ex 15:11). A wonderful “paradox” concerning our holy God is that He judges all that is not holy, yet He provides a way of sanctification and cleansing for sinners. Read Isaiah 6:1-7. Isaiah was devastated by the vision of God’s holiness; but God took the initiative in cleansing him. The sight of God’s holiness and the ruinous nature of Isaiah’s sin was important preparation for Isaiah to serve the Lord effectively.

In Evangelicalism today is there a tendency to avoid the trauma of facing God’s holiness and our personal sin. We ought to remember that the sight of God’s holy character produced a withering awareness of personal sin in Isaiah. This traumatic experience awakened Isaiah to his need of forgiving grace, and it produced a deep sense of gratitude for divine cleansing. Isaiah’s eager response to God’s invitation to serve was linked to Isaiah having seen the holiness of the Lord.

D. God is incomparable in holiness, majesty, splendor, and purity. He is the only source of holiness in His people. God calls upon men to acknowledge Him as the Holy One (Ps 99; 100; Is 43:10-15ff). He manifests His holiness in Israel for the blessing of the nations, and He “sanctifies” (sets apart) His own name when He manifests His holiness. Read Ezekiel 36:20-27ff. Notice what God says His motive is here for giving these people a new heart. It is His regard for His holy Name. This passage certainly corrects the most common misconceptions of God—that He exists primarily for the welfare of mankind.

God’s motive for giving people a new heart is inseparable from His regard for His holy Name. God changes men’s hearts for His own Name’s sake. God associates the sanctification of His Name (the setting apart of His Name) with the setting apart of a people unto Himself for His own possession. Those with a deficient concept of God tend to see Him as “helpful,” while discounting that He always acts in the interest of His own Name and glory—even in the redemption of sinners.

II. Sanctified in Christ

A. God’s holiness is not merely quantitatively greater than ours. His holiness is transcendent, unique, burning in purity; He is described as dwelling in unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:15, 16).

God is essentially holy (His essential nature is holy). We can only have a holiness that is derivative of His holiness. At the moment of salvation, God set us apart for an eternal relationship with Himself. This setting apart of the believer unto God (sanctification) was once for all by the work of Christ (Heb 10:10, 14).

The believer’s ongoing faith in Christ’s work of sanctifying us has an energizing dynamic effect upon our motives for obedience. The Christian trusts the sufficiency of Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice to keep him in a sanctified condition. (This provides strong motivation to obey as we will see in a moment.) Christ’s work exerts the power necessary to effectively consecrate those who believe. By faith the believer trusts that every redemptive blessing we enjoy has been earned for us by Christ. We have an unchanging standing before God because the Father regards us as in Christ (Eph 1:3-21).

B. Sanctification is both positional and progressive. Because of the work of Christ, the believer has a position or standing before God that may be described as a “holy status in Christ.” This is positional or definitive sanctification. Ephesians chapter one catalogs these matchless benefits of definitive sanctification, referring to them as, “spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.”

1. The believer is sustained in holiness by the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit—this is progressive sanctification. The Holy Spirit enables the believer to exercise ongoing faith and trust in the finished work of Christ (Gal 2:20, Rom 15:13).
2. Trust in the Person and work of Christ is necessary for us to continually enjoy the blessings of salvation. As we exercise ongoing faith in God’s Word and obedience we are abiding in Christ. See John 14:22-15:11 for our Lord’s description of why abiding in Him is stipulated upon His Word abiding in us.

3. “[Christians] are sustained in holiness by the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit and the trust that He gives in the finished work of Christ. The essential work of the Spirit is to enable ongoing trust in the gospel so that the blessings of the gospel may be continually enjoyed by God’s people (Peterson, p. 24).
4. The spiritual realities of our riches in Christ are perceived by faith. The Spirit of God instills faith in the believer to habitually trust the finished work of Christ. The result is both continual enjoyment of the blessings of the Gospel as well as progress in practical sanctification. Joy and peace are experienced by believing (Rom 15:13). In the Gospel we see the heart of God. Our love and obedience are drawn out to Him as we contemplate His kind intentions toward us in Christ (1 Jn 4:10, 16).

C. Holiness is not simply acquired by human effort—it is the status or condition which God imparts to those He chooses to bring into a special relationship with Himself. However, it is a status that carries with it certain responsibilities. Knowing God in Christ produces the practical benefits of moral change and transformation. All moral change is related to God’s sanctifying initiative in Christ.

1. Consider how radically different the above is from bare moral exertion, or simply trying to be good. Faith in God’s initial work in sanctifying us (setting us apart to Himself as His possession) is vital to our progress in holiness. In essence, progressive sanctification is the result of maintaining your relationship with God. Sanctification means living as God’s possession.
2. We are sanctified in a relational sense by maintaining our walk with the Lord because our relationship with Him is expressed in a lifestyle that is “God-ward” (we live as those possessed by God, as those set apart by God). Our progressive sanctification is advanced as we maintain fellowship and communion with the Lord. This is described as “walking in the light” in 1 John chapter one).

Christ continues to sanctify us by His Word and His Spirit

I. Sanctification comes only by being conformed to God’s Word (John 17:17; Rom 12:1-2).

A. The sources of the believer’s sanctification in John 17 are:

o Christ’s intercession (“I ask on their behalf. . .”—17:9-17)

o Christ’s work on the cross (“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself. . .”—17:19)

o The truth of God’s Word (“Thy Word is truth. . .”—17:17).

When considering the sanctifying power of God’s Word, D. A. Carson notes, “No one can be ‘sanctified’ or set apart for the Lord’s use without learning to think God’s thoughts after Him, without learning to live in conformity to the Word He has graciously given” (D. A. Carson in Peterson, p. 31).

1. Sanctification involves thinking God’s thoughts after Him. We could refer to this reprogramming process by means of God’s truth as the “transformation mandate.” It is a mandate because God requires the believer to be constantly renewed in his thinking. Transformed thinking occurs as we take in the truth of God’s Word and believe and obey it.
2. As we move toward spiritual maturity, our decisions will increasingly be guided by the Word of God (Heb 5:13-4). The spiritual man is the person who sees and discerns all of life through the “biblical grid” of Scripture (1 Cor 2:15). The key to transformed thinking is as follows: Errant thoughts are to be taken captive and submitted to God’s Word and replaced by God’s truth (2 Cor 10:5).

B. The Holy Spirit works through the Word to consecrate us, to sanctify us, and to establish us in the Word. He brings us to the gospel and He brings about practical expressions of our relationship to God in our lives. Therefore there must be an echo of holiness in our lives. God is holy; those who know Him must share in His holiness.

1. Because we are made for God, it is only possible for us to be made eternally happy by being made holy (Heb 12:10). We are made to find our enjoyment in Him. There can be no enduring happiness without conformity to Christ who is the image of God. God is the source of all truth, light, life, love, and blessing—without holiness, the creature is alienated from God.
2. In the epistle to the Hebrews, the pursuit of holiness is explained as: 1.) Drawing near to God with full faith and a cleansed conscience, and, 2.) A genuine acceptance of Christ as Savior and sacrifice for sin, bringing the sinner into fellowship with God (MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1920).

3. “God is holy and those who belong to Him must share in His holiness. . . [In the new covenant, we] share in His holiness in a new way. With the gospel message about Jesus and His work, God imparts His Spirit to us and binds us to Himself in love. That same word [the gospel message] keeps us in holiness and love, enabling us to share in His mission to the world” (Peterson, pp. 32-33).

II. The cross of Christ makes true disciples (2 Cor 5:14-17).

A. By means of the cross, the sovereign, consecrating work of Christ has produced a change in the attitude and behavior of those who believe (2 Cor 5:14-17). The behavior flowing from those implications means that we are to live as “new creatures” (2 Cor 5:17). We have a new set of values and a new bias against sin. The old way of seeing things is gone.

The tyranny of the self life has been replaced by the constraining love of Christ. We now live for Him. The law of God is written on the heart of the believer, enabling him to know and serve God with selfless dedication (see Peterson, pp. 34-34, 39).

B. The biblical doctrine of sanctification cannot be reduced to mean simply moral progress (Heb 9:9, 14; 10:10). The person sanctified must be cleansed at the level of the heart and conscience to be able to serve God effectively. This means that the message of the finished work of Christ is applied to the conscience in such a way that there is inner conviction of forgiveness, acceptance, and hope. A life dedicated to service results. According to Hebrews 9:14, if a person is not cleansed at the level of conscience, his attempts at serving God will be nothing more than dead works.

Attempts to offset guilt by religious service produce works that are dead. Genuine “gospel faith” not only glories in the work of Christ on Calvary, but also in the work God has done in the heart and conscience of the believer.

III. Our response to cleansing, acceptance, and hope is consecration (we respond to God’s work by presenting ourselves back to Him each day, Rom 6:11-13).

A. We are sanctified for a relationship with God in Christ. Our new status in Christ is expressed in a lifestyle of living separated unto God, as His possession. According to 1 Corinthians 1:2 and Romans 1:7, sainthood is a gift, not an achievement! ‘Sainthood’ is the status of right-standing in Christ which is graciously given (Rom 3:24). Biblically, a ‘saint’ is a person set apart to God by a work of sovereign grace in Christ.

In the moralistic perfectionistic view of sanctification, progress in sanctification is the result of legal working in which the focus is on the performance of self, rather than upon our holy status in Christ. “Sainthood” is consequently regarded as an achievement rather than a gift bestowed by God’s grace in Christ (Peterson, p. 41).

B. The saving activities of God given to us in Christ are described in 1 Corinthians 1:30 as: righteousness (right-standing with God); sanctification (set apart to God); and redemption (purchased by Christ).

1. In addition, in 1 Corinthians 6:11, Paul says that the Corinthian believers were washed, sanctified and justified. Paul is describing three strands of the same reality in this passage (Peterson, p. 42, 44-45).
2. The Pauline model for sanctification may be described as follows: our holy status in Christ is the basis for holy living (1 Cor 1:1; 1:30; 6:11; Eph 2:21, 22; 2 Cor 6:16-18).

C. Christ is the source of everything we obtain. The Holy Spirit communicates these blessings and benefits to us. The Holy Spirit produces the Christian life in us making believers aware that they have been liberated from guilt and its consequences and control. The Holy Spirit has set apart believers as a holy people, destined to love and please God forever. Therefore, sanctification is about being possessed by God and expressing that distinctive relationship by the way we live (1 Cor 12:1-11; Gal 5:16-26).

IV. Justification and sanctification must stay joined in the believer’s experience.

A. Once sanctification is separated from faith and justification, certain problems are sure to arise. Church history has shown that when the two are separated, errors tend to emerge. Some of the errors that arise are: perfectionism, pietism, moralism, and the “need” for a second work of grace. Once justification is shoved to the periphery (that is devalued) a two-tiered approach to the Christian life sometimes known as the “Higher Life” tends to manifest itself. When this error is present, the Body of Christ tends to become divided into those who are achieving a standard of spirituality, and those who are not.

The moment justification is viewed solely as the initial stage of salvation it moves the believer off of the doctrinal foundation of living unto God in Christ. All real progress in sanctification is securely anchored to justification; therefore progress in sanctification is faith-based and faith-driven, and gospel-centered.

B. In Christ, the believer is regarded as righteous, pure, and washed. But, in the believer’s experience, there is little to suggest that these blessings could be true in himself (the believer is painfully aware of his lack of Christ-like-ness). Ongoing faith in the justifying grace of God reminds us daily that these blessings (righteous, pure, and washed) are solely ours by our union with Christ.

1. All Christ’s work was vicarious in our nature—from His birth to His ascension to heaven, all that Christ did was as a substitute for His people. The benefits of Christ’s work become the believer’s possession when the Holy Spirit places the believer into union with Christ. When the believer looks at himself, he is quite aware of weakness and indwelling sin. When the believer looks to Christ by faith, he is able to perceive his completeness in Christ by virtue of his union with Him (Col 2:10).
2. According to Romans chapter 6, our union with Christ must be aggressively believed, for trusting in our co-crucifixion with Christ is the key to putting sin to death. The result of reckoning ourselves crucified and risen with Christ (as commanded in Romans 6:5-13) is that the rule of sin is resisted and overcome. The believer is able to live as one alive to God—that is to live as His possession. As a consequence of this daily reckoning, the presentation of oneself to God becomes a habit and lifestyle.

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your to body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Rom 6:11-13).

3. In summary we would affirm that Christ died to devote the Church to Himself in an exclusive and permanent relationship. By faith in the gospel we continue to live out our union with Christ. Living out our union with Christ is the very heart of sanctification.

Life by union with Christ is highly relational, in other words, maintaining our relationship with the Lord is maintaining the relationship given to us at the moment of definitive sanctification (when God initially set us apart to Himself at salvation). Ongoing faith in the gospel lets us live upon Christ and His grace as unfolded in the word of His grace. This faith walk described above keeps justification and sanctification joined as it drives our progressive sanctification.