Doctrine of Sanctification

Doctrine of Sanctification

Sanctification is the act of making or declaring someone or something holy. For a believer, it is being relieved from the glitches of sin or being purified and following what is morally and ethically right. All genuine believers strive to be sanctified to grow in the likeness of Christ. Sanctification is a continuous process for a believer and not an event, and it doesn’t just set right something that is physical but also our thoughts and attitude. Salvation and Sanctification is God’s eternal plan for mankind.

Paul writes to Ephesians that blessed be the God and Father of their Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed them in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose them in Him before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1: 3, 4).

Christ is the reason for Sanctification:

Christ provided the right path for mankind through his sacrificial death on the cross. He had become a ransom for the redemption of all and became a reason for their sanctification.

Jesus prayed that for the disciples’ sake, He consecrate Himself, that they also may be sanctified in truth (John 17: 19).

Paul writes to Corinthians that because of God, they are in Christ Jesus, who become to them wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written that the one who boasts shall boast in the Lord (1 Cor 1: 30-31).  

Paul mentions the church of God that is in Corinth that they are sanctified in Christ Jesus, who are called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of their Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord (1 Cor 1:2).

The author of Hebrews writes that He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying that he will tell of His name to his brothers, and in the midst of the congregation He will sing His praise (Heb 2: 11, 12).

The author of Hebrews writes that the believers were sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb 10:11). For by a single offering Christ had perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Heb 10:14).

Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood (Heb 13: 12).

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood that may grace and peace be multiplied to them (1 Pet 1: 1-2).

Being Sanctified:

A believer who has become a slave to the righteousness of God and free from sin is continuously sanctified. Following the regulations and fulfilling the responsibilities given by God is important to be sanctified.

Paul writes to Romans that he is speaking to them in human terms, because of his natural limitations. For just as they once presented their members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so then present their members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification (Rom 6: 19).  

Paul writes to Romans that but then that they have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit they get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life (Rom 6: 22).

The Lord told Moses that they are to speak to the people of Israel and say that above all they shall keep His Sabbaths, for that is a sign between Him and them throughout their generations, that they may know that He, the Lord, sanctify them (Exo 31: 12, 13).

The Lord told Moses that he shall sanctify Aaron, for he offers the bread of their God. He shall be holy to him, for He, the Lord who sanctifies him, is holy (Lev 21: 8).

Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob that Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of his hands, in his midst, they will sanctify his name, and they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel (Isa 29: 22, 23).

Paul writes to Ephesians that Husbands shall love their wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up to her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5: 25-27).

Paul writes that since they have those promises, beloved, they shall cleanse themselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1).

Peter writes that as obedient children, they shall not be conformed to the passions of their former ignorance, but as he who called them is holy, they also be holy in all their conduct, since it is written that they shall be holy, for He is holy (1 Pet 1: 14-16).

Sanctification through the Word of God:

Following what is truth that is the Word of God helps in the sanctification of a person. The people who keep up the commandments of God will be honoured high above shall be holy.

Jesus prayed for the disciples that they shall sanctify them in the truth, and His word is truth (John 17: 17).

And the Lord had declared that Israel is a people for His treasured possession, as He had promised them, and that they are to keep all His commandments, and that He will set them in praise and in fame and in honour high above all nations that He had made, and that they shall be a people holy to the Lord their God, as He promised (Deu 26:19).

Sanctification through Purity:

True sanctification starts from being cleansed from our sins and purifying from the dead works by accepting and believing in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for being freed from the glitches of sins. The will of God which is the sanctification of the believers is that they ought to restrain from sexual immorality and transgression towards one another.

Paul writes that the Corinthians were washed, they were sanctified, they were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of their God (1 Cor 6: 11).

Paul writes to Thessalonians that for that is the will of God, their sanctification, that is to abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of them knows how to control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgresses and wrong his brother in that matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all those things, as they told them beforehand and solemnly warned them. For God has not called them for impurity but to holiness (1 Thes 4: 3-6).

The author of Hebrews writes that if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Heb 9: 13, 14).  

Salvation through Sanctification by the Spirit of God:

Salvation is not just a point but a process in which the believers allow the Spirit of God to work in their lives for their sanctification through obedience to the truth that is the Word of God.

Paul writes to Thessalonians that they ought always to give thanks to God for them, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose them as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To that he called them through their gospel, so that they may obtain the glory of their Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thes 2: 13, 14).

Paul writes to Ephesians that they have learnt to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24).

Sanctification to be blameless:

Sanctification and being blameless in holiness before God is possible for believers by allowing the Lord to increase them because of their fellowship with one another and by increasing their 1love for one another and the people around them. It is also important for the believers to subject themselves to the disciplines of God for their good, so they would be able to partake in His holiness.     

Paul writes to Thessalonians that then may their God and Father himself and their Lord Jesus, direct their way to them, and may the Lord make them increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as they do for them, so that he may establish their hearts blameless in holiness before their God and Father, at the coming of their Lord Jesus with all His saints (1 Thes 3: 13).

Paul writes to Thessalonians that then may the God of peace of himself sanctify them completely, and may their whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of their Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thes 5: 23).

The author of Hebrews writes that besides that, they have had earthly fathers who disciplined them and they respected them. And asked whether they shall not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live. For they disciplined them for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines them for their good, that they may share His holiness (Heb 12:10).

Sanctification of gods, holy places, and things:

There were different regulations regarding the different things for sanctification. Even the people of other faiths have their regulations for sanctification.

In the tent of meeting of the Lord, He will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by His glory (Exo 29: 43).

Jehu ordered to sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal (2 Kings 10:20).

Paul had written to the Romans very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given to him by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom 15: 15, 16).

Sanctification of the Lord:

The Lord sanctifies His people who obey His commandments and follow the regulations given by Him. Also, the Lord’s presence and His attributes claim that He is the supreme authority and sanctifies everyone who does what is right according to His will.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying that they shall keep His statutes and do them, and He is the Lord who sanctifies them (Lev 20: 8).

Moses told Aaron what the Lord had said. He told that among those who are near him He will be sanctified, and before all the people He will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace (Lev 10:3).

The Lord told Moses that the priests shall not marry a widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, those. But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his people, that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for He is the Lord who sanctifies him (Lev 21: 14, 15).

Moses told that the priest may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane His sanctuaries, for He is the Lord who sanctifies them (Lev 21: 22, 23).

Aaron and his sons shall therefore keep the Lord’s charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it that He is the Lord who sanctifies them (Lev 22: 9).

Aaron and his sons shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, and so cause them to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things, for He is the Lord who sanctifies them (Lev 22: 15, 16).

The Lord spoke to Moses saying that they shall not profane His holy name, that He may be sanctified among the people of Israel. He is the Lord who sanctifies them, who brought them out of the land of Egypt to be their God, He is the Lord (Lev 22: 32, 33).

Lord prophesies through Ezekiel that moreover, He gave them His Sabbaths, as a sign between Him and them, that they might know that He is the Lord who sanctifies them (Eze 20:12).

Lord prophesies through Ezekiel that then the nations will know that He is the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when His sanctuary is in their midst forevermore (Eze 37: 28).

Significance of Sanctification:

All the believers who are sanctified by receiving grace and being built up shall receive the inheritance of God. There is a special place reserved for those who are sanctified and the believers who turn others from darkness to light and from the power the Satan to God to receive the forgiveness of sins shall receive that place. There is a greater possibility for a person to be sanctified when they associate themselves with a person who is already sanctified. Those who strive to be holy will grow in the likeness of Christ.

Paul commends the Ephesian Elders to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build them up and to give them the inheritance among all those who are sanctified (Act 20: 32).

Jesus appeared to Paul and told that He was Jesus whom they were persecuting. But he shall rise and stand upon their feet, for He had appeared to them for that purpose, to appoint them as a servant and witness to the things in which they had seen Him and to those in which He appeared to them, delivering them from their people and from the Gentiles- to whom He is sending them to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Him (Act 26: 15-18).

Paul writes to Corinthians that the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise their children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy (1 Corin 7: 14).

Believers become a living stone and a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2 Ch).

Profaning the Sanctification:

A believer who follows what is not right should put an end to it for being sanctified. Also, a believer should be at peace with everyone and continue to grow in the holiness of God, without which he will not see the Lord. And there is no greater punishment for a person than the one who had profaned the grace of God through the sacrificial death of Jesus by outraging the Spirit, though he was sanctified.

Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating in pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord (Isa 66: 17).

The author of Hebrews asked that how much worse punishment, do they think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace (Heb 10: 29).

The author of Hebrews writes that they shall strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14).

Conclusion:

Sanctification is an essentiality for the believer and it acknowledges that he is saved through the grace of God because of Christ Jesus and by having faith in Him. When we sanctify ourselves, God will use us for His glory and purpose and help us to walk in His will, and sanctifying ourselves is also the will of God. Sanctification makes a believer to be useful to others by involving in every good work.  

Paul writes to Timothy that therefore if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for a honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work (2 Tim 2:21).