What is sanctification?

Sanctification as Holiness Set Apart for God

What is sanctification? We're going to answer that question. Sanctification is God's will for us. The word sanctification is related to the word saint. Both words have to do with holiness. To sanctify something is to set it apart for special use.

To sanctify a person is to make him or her holy. Jesus had a lot to say about sanctification. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. And this is before his request. Sanctify them by the truth.

Your word is truth. In Christian theology, sanctification is a state of separation unto God. All believers enter this state when they are born of God. You are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

The sanctification mentioned in this verse is a once-forever separation of believers unto God. It is a work God performs, an intricate part of our salvation and our connection with Christ. This is the first sense of sanctification, which theologians sometimes refer to as positional sanctification.

Positional Sanctification and Justification

This state of holiness before God is the same as justification. While we are positionally holy, set free from every sin by the blood of Christ, we know that we still sin. That's why the Bible also refers to sanctification as a practical experience of our separation unto God.

The second sense, progressive or experiential sanctification, is the effect of obedience to the word of God in our life. It is the same as growing in the Lord or spiritual maturity, an ongoing work of God in our lives.

This type of sanctification is to be pursued by the believer earnestly and is affected by the application of the word. Progressive sanctification focuses on the separation of believers for the purpose for which they are sent into the world.

Progressive Sanctification and Being Sent into the World

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. Jesus set himself apart for God's purpose. That is both the basis and the condition of our being set apart.

We are sanctified and sent because Jesus was. Our Lord's sanctification is the pattern of and power for our own. The sending and the sanctifying are inseparable. On this account, we are called saints or sanctified ones.

Prior to salvation, we behaved like the world, an example of our separation from God. However, our behavior now should be an example of our standing before God in separation from the world. Little by little, every day, those who are being sanctified are becoming more like Christ.

Glorification as the Final Stage of Sanctification

There is a third sense in which the word sanctification is used in Scripture, a complete or ultimate sanctification. This is the same as glorification.

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Paul speaks of Christ as the hope of glory and links the glorious appearing of Christ to our personal glorification. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This glorified state will be our ultimate separation from sin, a total sanctification in every regard. To summarize, sanctification is a translation of a Greek word meaning holiness or a separation. In the past, God granted us justification, a once-for-all positional holiness in Christ.

Now, God guides us to maturity, a practical, progressive holiness. In the future, God will give us glorification, a permanent, ultimate holiness. These three phases of sanctification separate the believer from the penalty of sin, justification, the power of sin, maturity, and the presence of sin, glorification.

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