What does sanctification mean? Someone once gave my wife and I a set of 2 mugs that have images and representations of the Eastern European city where we lived and ministered for 3 years.
On one hand, these are simply ceramic coffee mugs. However, they represent our friends and those with whom we served and loved for 3 years in a foreign place. Without these people in our lives, it would have been a desperate and lonely time.
Because these mugs were given to us by a dear, close friend, they reside in my office for now, where I can frequently look at them. They are reminders about the good times and the challenging ones in that city and where I am prompted to lift up our friends, our church family, and that city in prayer.
These mugs, by all rights have been set apart for a purpose, which is to remind me of where we served and to pray for those we love in that country.
Have you ever had something you treasured, maybe a gift or something that represented a special memory? Did you, in some way set that apart?
Set Apart
In the article 3 Ways to Having More Faith, one of the points I mentioned was to be sanctified.
Sanctified. That’s not a word we use too much these days. Simply put, to be sanctified means to be set apart, particularly for a special purpose.
The word is closely related to “saint” and the original word in the New Testament is hagiazo (hag-ee-ad’-zo) and it represents things or people that have been consecrated, or dedicated to God. It also means to purify internally by renewing the soul, and to have been freed from the guilt of sin.
One very clear example of this is in John 17:16-19 when Jesus says this as He prays for His people,
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
John 17:16-19
Jesus, having Himself been set apart for a special purpose, prays for His followers not only in that time, but for all times (John 17:20) to be sanctified in the truth of God’s Word.
According to that verse, if you’ve placed your trust in Christ Jesus, you have been sanctified. Set apart.
Sanctified, Yet Sinful Still
Have you ever done or said something that just didn’t look very “sanctified?” I have, and do so just about every day. Sometimes I’ll have a thought, a word, or an action of my own and wonder how I could have done that.
Sound familiar? How then, does this “once and for all” sanctification work with that?
It starts with this truth: you and I have not yet been perfected and we won’t be until the day we pass into eternity.
You and I, as followers of Christ have received a positional holiness. In other words, you have been sanctified, or set apart according to 1 Corinthians 1:30. What’s more, according to Hebrews 10:10, this initial sanctification is done once and is not repeated.
This is the justification you have in Christ (Romans 3:28), but understanding the difference between justification and sanctification is desperately important.
Additionally, because Jesus said that you would remain in the world, you still have to contend with the sin nature you’ve inherited. This means you’ve been “freed from sin” (Acts 13:39) through Christ, and yet still sin according to your nature (1 John 1:10).
The Journey of Sanctification
If you’ve been following Christ for weeks, days, hours or decades the situation and the process is the same. Sanctification is the journey of a lifetime and here is how Paul explained that:
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14
It’s worth repeating. Sanctification is a journey. When you placed your trust in Christ you began that journey and, being renewed by the Holy Spirit, you gradually become more like Him (2 Corinthians 3:16-18). Especially as you grow closer to Him every day. That is one of the results of sanctification and 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 tells us so:
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18
The Bottom Line
If you have placed your trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you have been sanctified, or set apart for His glory. And having been justified, you remain “in the world but not of it.” That means you must continually deal with the sinful nature of your flesh, yet having been renewed, the Holy Spirit will guide and lead you along the journey of sanctification.
And it really is the journey of a lifetime.
Hi Gene,
I’m glad to see you highlighting sanctification. Today, we often get a one-sided picture of God’s grace, focused on good news of justification, but neglecting the good news of sanctification. It’s good news that God frees us not only from the legal penalty of sin, but also from the power of sin over our life by producing within in us the fruit of the Spirit. By taking us out of the darkness and setting us in the light, God enables us to live to thrive.
Hi John, Wow, “live to thrive.” Good that you should mention that. Over the last 12 months, since we finished our work in Eastern Europe, my wife and I have been thinking and praying a lot over the word “thrive.” As He made it more and more clear that it was time to once again move, we experienced feelings of, really, a lack of thriving, which is why it became our prayer that wherever He moved us, we would thrive in ministry and in life. Needless to say, the 12 months since then have been months of further refining and sanctification. Thanks for your insightful words of wisdom!