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I. The meaning of sanctification — “separation.”
II. The life of sanctification — Christ.
III. The light of sanctification — the Bible.
IV. The power of sanctification — the Holy Spirit.
V. Positional sanctification — past.
VI. The experience of sanctification — present.
Sanctification is an important part in God’s salvation. The Scriptures speak quite clearly concerning the matter of sanctification. Regrettably, while many today pay attention to the teaching of sanctification, they misunderstand its meaning. We need to return to the Bible to see the truth concerning sanctification.
1. “Sanctify” (John 17:19; Exo. 28:3, 41; Lev. 22:2; Isa. 66:17 see also John 10:36).
Many consider that being sanctified means to cast off all sins and to be cleansed of all filthiness. But this is not the proper concept of sanctification according to God’s Word. God’s thought concerning sanctification greatly exceeds this concept. In fact, a person who has cast off all sins and is purged of all evil still might not be sanctified before God.
Both in the Old Testament Hebrew and in the New Testament Greek, the emphasis in the meaning of sanctification is “separation.” According to the Old and New Testaments, sanctification refers to separation. The meaning of sanctification in the Bible is “to be separated from common things.”
The Bible shows that holiness is God’s nature and essence. God’s nature and essence are distinct from everything. Whenever God or godly matters are spoken of in the Bible, they are referred to as being holy. An object that is not consecrated to God or that does not belong to God is not holy; once it is consecrated to God and belongs to God, however, it is holy and separated. For example, a bullock or a goat is not holy, but it becomes sanctified once it is laid on the altar because the altar separates it unto God (Matt. 23:19). Gold is not holy, but it becomes sanctified once it is put in the temple because the temple separates it unto God (v. 17). Food is not holy, yet it is sanctified by the prayer of the saints because the prayer separates it for the saints of God. Animals, gold, and food are in the world, belong to the world, and are for the world; hence, they are common rather than holy. The altar sets apart some bulls and goats, the temple sets apart some gold, and the prayers of the saints set apart some food. These things become sanctified and holy because they have been separated unto God to be directly or indirectly for God. Sanctifying these objects does not make them sinless; it separates them unto God. Do bulls and goats, gold, and food sin? Do they need to be delivered from sin? Their problem is not related to sin but to the world. Although they are not evil, they are common. They are of the world and for the world; they do not belong to God and are not for God. They are common and ordinary; they are not separated or consecrated to God to be holy. Therefore, they need to be sanctified; they need the experience of being separated unto God and being for God. Thus, to be sanctified is to be separated not only from sin but also from the world and all that is worldly, from all that is not of God and not for God, to be consecrated to God so that the sanctified one may match God’s holy nature and essence.
2. “Make a distinction between the holy and the common” (Lev. 10:10 see also Ezek. 22:26; 44:23).
These verses show that the opposite of “holy” is not sin but that which is “common.” Sanctification involves separation from what is common to be holy. To be common means to be ordinary, not necessarily sinful or wrong. A thing does not need to be sinful or wrong to be unholy. It is unholy because it is not separated from what is common. A person may behave very properly and uprightly and appear blameless and perfect before men, but he is still common rather than holy. Although he is proper and upright, he is common and ordinary because he has not been separated from what is common and ordinary to be consecrated to God. Although he may not be defiled, he goes along with the tide of the age and what is common. Thus, even though he may be proper and upright, he still needs to be sanctified. Sanctification separates people not only from evil defilement but also from what is common so that they may be holy.
3. “Consecrates...to be holy to Jehovah” (Lev. 27:14 see also 22:3; Exo. 13:2; 39:30).
Negatively, to be sanctified means to be separated from all that is apart from God; positively, it means to be consecrated to God. All that is outside of God is common; only God and what is of God are holy. All persons, things, and matters are outside of God and are worldly; therefore, they are common. Sanctification separates these common persons, things, and matters from all that is apart from God so that they may be consecrated to God and belong to God. Not only do they need to be separated from what is apart from God, but they also need to be consecrated to belong to God, for only God is holy, and only what is consecrated and belongs to God is sanctified.
1. “Christ Jesus, who became...to us from God...sanctification” (1 Cor. 1:30).
God has made Christ our sanctification. This shows that holiness is just Christ. Christ entered into us to be our life at the time of our salvation. This life, which is sanctification, causes us to have God’s holy nature so that we may be holy and live a life of holiness.
After we are saved, Christ indwells us, and His holy life in us, which is Himself, causes us to be different from worldly people and to be separated from the world. After we pray and spend time with the Lord, His life causes us to be different from our colleagues and schoolmates. While they spend their time in amusements and recreation, something mysterious within tells us to leave and not be with them. If we follow them, we will feel unhappy even if they are having fun. This mysterious thing is the Lord’s life. This life is holiness, and being holy is according to its taste. This life loves all that agrees with God’s holy nature and abhors all that is contrary to God’s holy nature. Hence, if we touch what God loves and what is in accord with His holy nature, He gives us a comfortable and marvelous inward sensation; but if we contact what God hates and what opposes His holy nature, He causes us to feel grief and pain inwardly. In this way God causes us to put off all that does not agree with His holy nature so that we may live in this nature to be holy.
Brothers and sisters, in God’s way of salvation there are no laws and regulations charging us how to conduct ourselves and how to dress. In God’s salvation there is only a precious life, which is Christ, whose nature matches God’s holiness and whose very taste is God’s holiness. This life moves in us to do the work of separation according to its taste, which is one with God’s holy nature. This causes us to be different from the world in conduct and appearance until we are full of God’s holy nature and completely live out God’s holy life to become perfectly holy.
Therefore, Christ is our life of sanctification within, causing us to live out God’s holiness.
1. “Sanctify them in the truth” (John 17:17, see also v. 19).
In order that we may be sanctified, God not only gives us life within but also the Bible without. The Bible is the word of God, and the word of God is truth. The life of Christ causes us to possess a holy nature and taste. The truth of the Bible acts as our holy enlightenment and guidance. The life within requires us to be holy, whereas the truth without teaches us to be holy. The holy nature within corresponds with the holy light without, and the holy guidance without activates the holy taste within. These two complement each other. The more we follow the sensation of holiness within, the more we will see the revelation of holiness without. The more we read the Bible without, the more the life is strengthened within. The truth in the Bible, like the inner taste of life, separates us from worldly people. If we read the Bible often, the truth in it will enlighten and show us what agrees with God’s holy nature and what is contrary to it. This will separate us and our manner of living from the world so that we may be holy and be in agreement with the holy nature in us. Thus, others will sense God, or holiness, in us and in our manner of life. If we truly read the Bible, we will see that only God is holy and that whatever is not of God, whatever is not out of God, and whatever does not cause people to sense God are common and unholy.
1. “Having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16 see also 1 Pet. 1:2; 1 Cor. 6:11).
In addition to giving Christ to us as our sanctifying life within and the Bible as our sanctifying light without, God gives us the Holy Spirit as our sanctifying power for our sanctification. The Holy Spirit strengthens the requirement of the holy life within us and makes the light of the holy truth outside of us to shine brighter. He also enables us to answer the demand of the holy life within and to obey the shining of the holy truth without. These three — the life of Christ, the light of the Bible, and the power of the Spirit — are like a threefold cord, sanctifying us completely.
2. “Sanctification of the Spirit” (2 Thes. 2:13).
The Holy Spirit always inspires us according to the sense of life and the light of the Word, making us one with God’s holy nature. Through His life, He causes us to sense, and through the Bible, He causes us to see what does and does not agree with God. This enables us to live according to God’s nature, which is to live in God’s nature and become holy.
The sanctification that we obtain in God’s salvation may be divided into two aspects — positional and experiential. Positional sanctification is the fact of sanctification that we obtained in Christ when we believed. Although we may not have the experience of sanctification, we obtained the fact of sanctification in Christ when we believed; that is, we gained the position of sanctification.
1. “By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:14, see also v. 10).
When Christ gave His body on the cross as a sin offering to redeem us and to sanctify us, He sanctified us forever. Since we now share in Christ, we also share in His eternal redemption. According to this eternal redemption, we are separated and sanctified forever.
2. “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood” (Heb. 13:12).
The Lord purchased us by His own blood so that we might be sanctified, distinct from worldly people. When we go to shop for a piece of clothing, the moment we pay for a certain item, it becomes separated from all the others. When we were redeemed by the Lord’s blood, we immediately obtained the fact of sanctification, the position of sanctification. In God’s eyes we were separated to be sanctified unto Him.
3. “Sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18).
The Lord offered Himself for our sins and shed His blood for our redemption; these are facts that the Lord accomplished for our sanctification. To partake of these facts, we must believe in Him and be joined to Him by faith. Once we believe in Him and become one with Him by faith, we become holy through His redemption and shed blood, thereby possessing both the fact and the position of sanctification.
4. “You were sanctified...in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
Once we believe in the Lord, His name enables us to share in His accomplishments, that is, His sanctifying redemption. The Spirit of God then sanctifies us based on this redemption.
5. “Sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:2).
Once we are joined to the Lord by faith, we are in Christ. Once we are in Christ, we are sanctified. We obtain the fact of sanctification — the position of sanctification — in Christ. It is in Christ that God acknowledges us as being sanctified.
6. “Called saints” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2).
Our being saved is our being called by God. God’s calling calls us out from the world to Himself. Thus, once we are called and saved, we are sanctified and become saints. In the Bible saints are those who have been separated unto God. A called and saved person is a separated and sanctified person in the eyes of God. Not only were Paul and Peter saints, but all of us who have been saved are saints because we have been called to be holy unto God.
7. “God’s chosen ones, holy” (Col. 3:12).
In God’s eyes, God’s chosen ones are holy because He has separated His elect to be sanctified to Himself.
8. “The new man, which was created according to God in...holiness of the reality” (Eph. 4:24).
At the time we were saved, we obtained a new life within. This new life makes us a new man, which was created in holiness of the reality according to God, that is, according to God’s holy nature. The new man possesses God’s holy nature and can understand God’s holy truth. We obtained all this upon our salvation. When we were saved, we acquired the fact of sanctification in Christ. On the one hand, this fact gives us the position and ground of sanctification before God. On the other hand, it supplies us with a holy life and holy nature that we may have a holy essence — holiness itself — and ability. Thus, it enables us to desire holiness, to understand holy matters, that is, the reality of holiness, and to live in the reality of holiness. The position of sanctification and the life of sanctification — the seed of sanctification — were obtained by us once we gained our place in Christ.
The experience of sanctification concerns the holy life we live after our salvation. Although we obtained the fact and position of sanctification upon believing, the experience of sanctification occurs only after our salvation.
1. “Pursue...sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
To pursue sanctification means to pursue the holy life within or, we may say, to pursue the sense of holiness according to the life within. The life within us is holy. Inwardly, the Lord requires us to be holy, leads us to be holy, and gives us a sensation of holiness and an inclination toward holiness. We should follow His holy guidance, His holy sense, to live a holy life and walk in the way of holiness. Without this, we will not see the Lord or have fellowship with Him.
2. “According to the Holy One who called you, you yourselves also be holy in all your manner of life” (1 Pet. 1:15).
Since God who called us is holy and different from everything else, we, who have been called, must be sanctified in all things after being saved in order to match His holy nature.
3. “What kind of persons ought you to be in holy manner of life and godliness” (2 Pet. 3:11).
In the future what is contrary to God’s holy nature will be burned by fire. This shows the need for everything pertaining to us to be separated and sanctified unto God after we are saved.
4. “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1 see also 1 Thes. 4:3-4, 7).
God, being absolutely holy, cannot tolerate anything that is contrary to His holy nature. Therefore, we need to fear Him, remove all filthiness of flesh and spirit both within and without, and put off all unholiness, that is, all that does not agree with God’s holy nature.
5. “Having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification” (Rom. 6:22).
Sanctification stresses the need to be separated to God from all that is apart from God in order to be holy unto God. Although it does not exclusively deal with deliverance from sin, deliverance from sin is included. Therefore, being freed from sin is an experience of sanctification, involving fruit that is unto sanctification.
What is spoken of in Romans 6:22 is not sanctification itself but the fruit unto sanctification; thus, it is not a question of salvation but of deliverance from sin after salvation. To be delivered from sin after we are saved is to be separated from what is outside of God; hence, it is also an experience of God’s holiness, which bears fruit unto sanctification.
6. “Disciplined...that we might partake of His holiness” (Heb. 12:10).
After we are saved, the life of Christ demands that we be holy, the truth of the Bible teaches us to be holy, and the Holy Spirit inspires us to be holy. However, we often refuse to follow the sense of holiness from the life of Christ, to obey the teaching of the truth from the Bible, or to submit to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in order to sanctify ourselves. God’s chastisement delivers us from the unholy matters that we are reluctant to forsake so that we can partake bountifully of His holy nature.
7. “If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master” (2 Tim. 2:21).
Anything that is apart from God is dishonorable, and only what is of God is honorable. We should put off all that is outside of God and be sanctified to be a vessel unto honor, useful to the Master.
8. “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thes. 5:23).
After we are saved and before we are raptured to meet the Lord, God will sanctify us wholly. To be sanctified wholly is to have our spirit, soul, and body separated from all that is apart from God to be holy unto Him. At the time of our salvation, our spirit obtained God’s holy life and nature; however, the various parts of our being have not shed all that is outside of God to fully possess God’s holiness. Thus, after our salvation and in our experience, God causes all that is outside of Him to be put away from the conscience, intuition, and fellowship, which are the parts of our spirit; from the mind, emotion, and will, which are the parts of our soul; and from the parts of our body so that we may become holy. The holiness we experience after we are saved is God’s sanctification of every part of our being, which enables us to live in His holiness and be full of His holiness.
