1. Defined
Hagiasmos = sanctification
Used of:-
- separation to God
- the course of life befitting those separated.
That relationship with God into which men enter by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. More Than Morality.
Sanctification involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth: This work of the Holy Spirit brings the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new principles implanted at regeneration. This brings the believer into living contact with the truth, and he is led to yield obedience to the its teaching , and to embrace the promises of God for this life and that which is to come.
3. Involves the Whole Person.
Sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration, and extends to the whole person.
(Rom 6:13 NRSV) No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
(1 Cor 6:19 NRSV) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?
(2 Cor 4:6 NRSV) For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(1 John 4:7 NRSV) Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
4. The Work of the Holy Spirit.
One of the special offices of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption is to carry on this work
(1 Cor 6:11 NRSV) And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
(2 Th 2:13 NRSV) But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
5. Involves Faith.
Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification, as it secures union to Christ
(Gal 2:20 NRSV) and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
6. An Ongoing Task .
Perfect sanctification is not attainable in this life
(1 Ki 8:46 NRSV) “If they sin against you–for there is no one who does not sin–and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;
(Prov 20:9 NRSV) Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin”?
(Eccl 7:20 NRSV) Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.
(James 3:2 NRSV) For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.
(1 John 1:8 NRSV) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
See the examples of :-
Paul’s account of himself in Rom. 7:14-25; Phil. 3:12-14; and 1 Tim. 1:15;
The confessions of David (Ps. 19:12, 13; 51),
Moses (90:8),
Job (42:5, 6),
Daniel (9:3-20).
“The more holy a man is, the more humble, self renouncing, Self abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father’s loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.”,
Hodge’s Outlines.