What is sanctification, and how does it happen?
Sanctification is the lifelong work of the Holy Spirit by which God makes us progressively holy, conforming us to the likeness of Christ. It is rooted in our union with Christ, who became to us sanctification; it is worked in us by the Spirit through the Word; and it calls for our active participation. By grace, God sets us apart and is at work changing us from one degree of glory to another, so that our lives increasingly reflect our holy calling.
This question arose from studying Does James contradict Paul? Is it faith or works? and What does it mean to be justified?.
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Go into the Word
Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
Sanctification is God's will and His setting-apart
Paul does not present holiness as an optional extra: 'this is the will of God: your sanctification.' And he prays that 'the God of peace himself sanctify you completely,' that your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless. Sanctification begins as God's own purpose and action: He sets His people apart as His own and intends to make them holy, a work He does rather than a project we volunteer for.
For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,
May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It flows from our union with Christ
Our holiness is not something we import into our relationship with Christ; it grows out of it. Paul says Christ 'was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,' and Hebrews adds that both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one. Because we belong to the holy Christ, we are being made holy; sanctification is the working out of our union with Him.
But of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
It is the Spirit's work of transformation
Sanctification is the Spirit's labor in us. Paul writes that 'we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.' God's purpose is that we be 'conformed to the image of his Son.' Little by little, degree by degree, the Spirit is reshaping us into the likeness of Christ.
But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
It happens through the Word and prayer
Jesus names the instrument: 'Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.' Paul pictures Christ cleansing His own by 'the washing of water with the word.' And the calling is urgent and concrete: 'as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.' The Word is how the Spirit works holiness into daily life.
Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”
And it calls for our participation
Sanctification is neither passive nor self-powered. Paul joins the two together: 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.' We are to follow after 'the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord.' The growth is God's work in us, and our calling is to respond: to pursue it, to live it out, and to keep walking in the holiness He gives.
So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
As you read, you may wonder…
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Verses to meditate on
For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,
But of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”
So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
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