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The
Definition of Sanctification
Sanctification is
that continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which the holy
disposition imparted in regeneration is maintained and strengthened.
"The steamship
whose machinery is broken may be brought into port and made fast to the
dock. She is safe, but not sound. Repairs may last a long
time. Christ designs to make us both safe and sound.
Justification gives the first - safety; sanctification gives the second -
soundness." O. P.
Gifford
"The work of
Jesus in the world is twofold. It is a work accomplished for
us, destined to effect reconciliation between God and man; it is a work
accomplished in us, with the object of effecting our
sanctification. By the one, a right relation is established
between God and us; by the other, the fruit of the reestablished
order is secured. By the former, the condemned sinner is received into the
state of grace; by the latter, the pardoned sinner is associated with the
life of God..... How many express themselves as if, when forgiveness with
the peace it procures has been once obtained, all is finished and the work
of salvation is complete! They seem to have no suspicion that
salvation consists in the health of the soul, and that the health of the
soul consists in holiness. Forgiveness is not the reestablishment of
health; it is the crisis of convalescence. If God thinks fit to
declare the sinner righteous, it is in order that he may by that means
restore him to holiness." Godet
Man needs God to
continue and preserve his spiritual life, just as much as he needed God to
begin it at the first. Creation in the spiritual, as well as in the
natural world, needs to be supplemented by preservation.
Salvation is
something past, something present, and something future; a past fact,
justification; a present process, sanctification; a future consummation,
redemption and glory.
"Sanctification
consists negatively, in the removal of the penal consequences of
sin from the moral nature; positively, in the progressive
implanting and growth of a new principle of life.... The Christian church
is a succession of copies of the character of Christ. Paul never
says: 'be ye imitators of me' except when
writing to those who had no copies of the New Testament or of the
Gospels."
E. G. Robinson
"Sanctification
does not mean perfection reached, but the progress of the divine life
toward perfection. Sanctification is the Christianizing of the
Christian." Clarke
"Any man who
thinks he is a Christian, and that he has accepted Christ for
justification, when he did not at the same time accept him for
sanctification, is miserably deluded in that very experience." A.
A. Hodge
The operation of God
reveals itself in, and is accompanied by, intelligent and voluntary
activity of the believer in the discovery and mortification of sinful
desires, and in the bringing of the whole being into obedience to Christ
and conformity to the standards of His word.
John 17:17 - "Sanctify
them in the truth: thy word is truth" ; 2 Cor. 10:5 -
"casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" ; Phil.
2:12,13 - "work out your won salvation with
fear and trembling; for it is god who worketh in you both to will and to
work, or his good pleasure" ; 1 Pet. 2:2 - "as
new-born babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that
ye may grown thereby unto salvation."
John 15:3 - "Already
ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you."
Regeneration through the word is followed by sanctification through the
word. Eph 5:1 - "Be ye therefore
imitators of God, as beloved children." Imitation is at
first a painful effort of will, as in learning the piano; afterwards it
becomes pleasurable and even unconscious.
A large part of
sanctification consists in the formation of proper habits, such as the
habit of Scripture reading, of secret prayer, of church going, of efforts
to convert and benefit others.
"Every man must
grow, as trees grow, downward and upward at once. The visible
outward growth must be accompanied by an invisible inward growth." Baxter
"The spiritual
man having passed from death to life, the natural man must pass from life
to death." Drummond
"There are
three deaths: 1. death in sin, our natural condition; 2. death for sin,
our judicial condition; 3. death to sin, our sanctified condition .... As
the ascending sap in the tree crowds off the dead leaves which in spite of
storm and frost cling to the branches all the winter long, so does the
Holy Spirit within us, when allowed full sway, subdue and expel the
remnants of our sinful nature."
A. J. Gordon
"Have peace in
thine own heart; else thou wilt never be able to communicate peace to
others." Thomas a Kempis
"Man is a
vessel destined to receive God, a vessel which must be enlarged in
proportion as it is filled, and filled in proportion as it is
enlarged." Godet
1 John 3:3 - "every
one that hath this hope set on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
Sanctification does not begin from within. The objective Savior must
come first. The hope based on Him must give the motive and the
standard of self-purification. Likeness comes from liking. We
grow to be like that which we like. Hence we use the phrase "I
like" as a synonym for "I love." We cannot remove
frost from our window by rubbing the pane; we need to kindle a fire.
Growth is not the product of effort, but of life. "Taking
thought" or "being anxious"
is not the way to grow. Only take the hindrances out of the way, and
we grow without care, as the tree does.
The moon makes no
effort to shine, nor has it any power of its own to shine. It is
only a burnt out cinder in the sky. It shines only as it reflects
the light of the sun. So we can shine "as
lights in the world" only as we reflect Christ, Who is
"the Sun of Righteousness"
and "the Light of the world."
Though the weakest
faith perfectly justifies, the degree of sanctification is measured by the
strength of the Christian's faith, and the persistence with which he
apprehends Christ in the various relations which the Scriptures declare
Him.
Mat. 9:29 - "According
to your faith be it done unto you" ; Luke 17:5 - "Lord,
increase our faith" ; Rom. 12:2 - "be
not fashioned according to this world; but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God" ; 13, 14 - "But
put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill
the lusts thereof" ; Eph. 4:24 - "put
on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and
holiness of truth" ; 1 Tim 4:7 - "exercise
thyself unto godliness"
"Good, the more
communicated, the more abundant grows." Milton
When asked,
"which of his works he valued most, Story, the sculptor, replied:
"My next."
"I have but one
passion, and that is Christ." Tholuck
This is an echo of
Paul's words: "to me to live is Christ"
but Paul is far from thinking that he has already obtained, or is already
made perfect. He prays "that I may
gain Christ, ... that I may know Him."
Click on the
articles listed below and on the left of this page to read about
SANCTIFICATION. They were written by men of God and they will bless
you in your pursuit of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Sanctification