Sanctification: How We Are Made Holy

This week’s biblical and theological term to ponder on is “sanctification.” Some people assert that we need to change these words; they sound too old fashioned and churchy. They say we need to change the Bible to sound more modern to a contemporary culture. But that is extremely dangerous thinking! If you change God’s Word you change the meaning God intended. There is a sharp warning in the Bible about adding to or taking from God’s Word (Revelation 22:18-19). Rather, we should familiarize ourselves with these theological words in the Bible because their meanings are so important for us to learn and live by.

What does the term sanctification mean? Sanctification originates from the Hebrew word “qadash” and the Greek word “hagiazo.” These words have the meaning, to be “consecrated” or to be “set apart.” While in the Bible, sanctification can be related to a person, place, or thing we want to hone in on how the New Testament relates it to a believer. Sanctification is the act whereby God in His sovereign grace sets apart a person to be holy in conjunction with salvation. Sanctification comes upon a believer in three realms: positional, progressive, and ultimate, reflecting the past, present, and future aspects of salvation. We are sanctified at the very moment we are saved in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:9), we then begin a process of being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) and finally we become totally sanctified like Christ when we reach heaven (John 3:3). Christ does this for us, 1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us, But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God–and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Christ’s perfect life is the grounds on which God gives to us the seed of holiness. That means that our sanctification is progressive; that seed grows so that we become holier over time. In fact this is God’s will, as 1 Thessalonians 4:3 states, For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

How do we grow in sanctification? One of the key ways is to believe, absorb and live the Word of God. Jesus said in John 17:17, Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. Here Jesus is saying that the Word of God has a sanctifying effect on believers. It makes them holy and assists in their spiritual growth in grace. When the Word is absorbed into our minds and hearts it does a purifying work in our lives. It convicts our hearts and forces us to face the blazing holiness of God which fosters Christ-likeness (Hebrews 4:12; Romans 12:2). The transformation process may be painful at times, but it is always motivated by God’s love and care for us. God will do His part in sanctification, but we must also do ours (Philippians 2:12-13). Progressive sanctification is different than justification in that justification is all a work of God. He justifies us freely by His grace apart from anything we do, whereas the progressive aspect of sanctification is a co-working between God and believers to bring about the goal of holiness.