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Sanctification is another important aspect of God’s full salvation, and it becomes a facet of our experience in the enjoyment of God’s full salvation.
1) “...ye may put difference between holy and unholy” (Lev. 10:10).
The meaning of Sanctification, whether in the Hebrew of the Old Testament or in the Greek of the New Testament, is mainly separation. Thus, to be sanctified (to be made holy) in the Bible means to be separated from the ordinary and common things. Holiness is the state of God’s nature, which is not only sinless and without evil, but also different from all and distinct from the common. Hence, whenever the Bible mentions God and the things concerning God or belonging to God, it describes them as holy. Any person, thing, or matter that is not rendered unto God or does not belong to God is common. Once it is rendered unto God and belongs to God, it is sanctified, separated.
1) “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified” (1 Cor. 6:11).
It has already been mentioned in Lesson Thirty-seven that, according to the revelation in the Bible, Sanctification in God’s salvation is divided into three stages in us: the first is for our repentance, the second is for our justification, and the third is for our transformation. The verse quoted here refers to the second stage, after washing and before justification. Hence, this stage of sanctification follows the cleansing away of sins covered in Lesson Thirty-eight and ushers in justification, to be discussed in the next lesson. Before we can be sanctified, we must first be cleansed from our sins; likewise, before we can be justified, we must first be sanctified.
1) “Receive forgiveness of sins...among those who have been sanctified” (Acts 26:18).
In the second stage, the sanctification which we receive in God’s full salvation is both positional and dispositional. Positional sanctification is a fact, a sanctified position, which we receive in Christ when we believe. The sanctification spoken of in this verse is such a positional sanctification.
1) “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10).
This positional sanctification is accomplished through the offering of the body of Christ once for all, as a sin offering, to set us apart.
1) “...Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood” (Heb. 13:12).
This positional sanctification is obtained by us through Christ’s redeeming blood shed on the cross. Once we are bought back by the Lord’s blood, we are separated from the world, receiving a sanctified position and being made holy unto Him.
1) “Who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints” (1 Cor. 1:2).
This positional sanctification is obtained by us as a result of our being called by God. When we are saved and called by God, we are separated by God to be saints. This is a matter of position. Of course, we also received God’s holy life when we were saved and regenerated, but this holy life was not yet lived out to become our experience of sanctification.
Dispositional sanctification is the sanctification lived out from within us as a result of the growth of the life that we received by believing into Christ.
1) “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all out of one” (Heb. 2:11, lit.).
Christ is holy, and He is also the One who sanctifies us. Both He and we are out of God the Father. “Out of” indicates that this sanctification is out of the divine life of God the Father, which is both in His Son and in us. Christ and we have the same life (Col. 3:4) and the same nature. God in Christ dispenses His divine life and nature into us that we may be the partakers of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), thus living out a sanctified life by His divine life with His holy nature in us. Therefore, this sanctification is the sanctification of God’s life and the sanctification we experience; it is mainly dispositional, not positional.
1) “You were sanctified...in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 6:11).
The sanctification mentioned here is not the sanctification which we obtained objectively in our position through the Lord’s blood. Rather, it is experienced subjectively in our disposition in the Lord’s name. To be in the Lord’s name is to be in His person, that is, to be in the organic union with Him through faith. In reality, this is to be in Himself. When we were saved, calling on the Lord Jesus, we were immediately in His name, in His living person. We entered into an organic union with Him, partook of His divine life and nature, and were sanctified dispositionally.
1) “You were sanctified...in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
We are sanctified dispositionally by being in the Spirit of God. This verse says that we were sanctified not only in the name of the Lord Jesus but also in the Spirit of God. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is just His person, and His person is the Spirit. The Lord’s name and His Spirit are inseparable. When we call on the Lord’s name, the Lord reaches us with the Spirit. Since the Spirit is the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4), when we are joined to the Lord, we experience the sanctifying work of the Spirit and are sanctified subjectively and dispositionally.
1) By faith in Christ — “...among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me [Christ]” (Acts 26:18). To be sanctified and thus set apart unto God, we must first believe into Christ. Christ shed His blood for our redemption to purchase us (1 Cor. 6:20) that He may sanctify us (Heb. 13:12). If we desire to partake of this fact, we must believe into Him and be joined to Him. Once we believe into Him and are joined to Him, we are sanctified by His redemption, having the fact of sanctification and obtaining the position of sanctification.
2) By being in Christ — “...have been sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:2). Upon believing into Christ, we enter into Him to be joined to Him. Since He Himself is holy (Luke 1:35), once we are in Him and are joined to Him, we are set apart to be holy. Christ is the element and sphere in which we are separated, sanctified unto God.
The above two items are the ways for us to be sanctified.
1) Life — Christ — “Who [Christ] became...to us from God...sanctification” (1 Cor. 1:30). This verse points out that sanctification is simply Christ. Upon our believing into Him, Christ comes into us to be our life. This life is holy and can cause us to live out a holy life and be sanctified.
2) Light — the holy Word — “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). In order to make us holy, God gives us life within and the holy Word without. The holy Word is the truth which is able to sanctify us. The life of God within us, with its holy nature, requires us to be holy; the holy Word of God, as our sanctifying light and guidance without, teaches us to be holy. These two correspond from within and without to sanctify us.
3) Power — the Holy Spirit — “...having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16). In order to make us holy, God also gives us the Holy Spirit to be our sanctifying power. These three — the life of Christ, the light of the holy Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit — work together to sanctify us.
