Let's
get it clear here, technically speaking, the words; Sanctification, Holiness, and Saint mean the same
thing. They are identical words. They are identical in meaning because they are
translated from the same Greek word "HAGIOI," meaning; "to be made as God is in essence," "made God's own," "belonging to God, to be
as it were, exclusively His". But we are to
understand also that each of these words Sanctification, Holiness, and Saint, are used to express different angles of the same idea,
just as a coin has two different faces, "a head", and a "tail", and each part gives
a different view of the same coin. These words help us to look at the same
thing from their different angles. Having said this, let's progress.
The Bible declares that we have been sanctified once and
forever. The Greek word is "Hagiazo." The traditional or theological definition tells
us it means, "set apart." Religionists define sanctification as; "a progressive work of the Holy Spirit and man that makes us freer and freer from sin and like Jesus Christ in our actual lives." However, this definition is absurd in light
of the Pauline revelation. This so because, it obscures the true meaning of
this terminology, especially when it is viewed from the understanding of the
Pauline revelation that the New Creation is not a work in progress, but a
completed or finished work already (Col.
2:10). Therefore, such religious definition lacks Biblical coherence,
because it comes to us mangled by the machinery
of religion. It's not just quite right. It
doesn't hit the heart of the thing. From Paul's revelation of truth, to be sanctified does
not necessarily mean "set apart for God's use". It means much more than just being set apart for
God. This is because, if all that sanctification means is that we are just
"set apart" for
God or "set apart for His use," then it does not carry the full profundity of
what the word means according to the Pauline revelation. To be sanctified carries a deeper and richer meaning than the traditional definition that most
Christians ascribe to it. Being "set apart" is simply one of the privileges of sanctification,
it's not its actual meaning.
What
Sanctification Means: To be sanctified
means; "to be made God's own," or "to belong to God." (Ref; The Complete Word Study Series, by
Spiros Zodhiates). This is so because in the New Testament Greek, the expression "God's People," is translated from two major Greek words, which
are "LAOS," and "HAGIOI."
[1] Laos: This word means
primarily God's chosen people, which was initially used as a designation for
the Jewish people. But when they rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah, the word was
then applied to the New Israel, which is the Church. (Ref: Translators New Testament). [2] Hagioi: (God's People.) If you notice, this is the root Greek
word from which the words sanctification,
holiness, saints, etc, have been derived. In the New Testament, this word
Hagioi is used to describe Christians as God's people who have been set apart
for God, and thus "belong" to God, just as Israel of old belonged to God, and
were in a special sense God's people, and thus were set apart for God's
service. This is the sense of the verb in Acts
26: 18, and many other contexts. Often this word is equivalent to
Christians. (Ref: Translators New
Testament). It is therefore clear from the above explanation that to be
sanctified means to [1] to belong to God. [2] made God's own possession or
people. Based on the reality that we have been sanctified (made God's own), we
have by this means been set apart for His service. God made us His own (i.e. He
sanctified us) through the New Birth. This is a one-time act of God, it is
unrepeatable, and is irrevocable. This should be clear enough for common sense
to understand.
Now the point to understand about sanctification is this;
You cannot belong to God gradually or progressively. Because we through the New
Birth, have been made God's own, i.e. sanctified, the effect of this is that
[1] it sets us apart from
the rest of the world [2] we now share
the same spiritual purity as God. To be sanctified doesn't mean we were
"cleansed,"
or "washed".
It is not a "purification process," whereby impurities are removed from us gradually
or progressively. This is because there are no impurities in the new man that
has already been created pure in Christ Jesus, by the Almighty God Himself. For
if there be any slight impurity in the New Man (our Born Again spirit) in
Christ, whether little or otherwise, requiring any form of purification, whether
gradual or otherwise, then the New Birth would be in vain. It would mean that
Jesus Christ did an incomplete work. The New Birth is not a "washing" or "cleansing," nor is it a
"purification process." On the contrary, it is the recreation of our
human spirit. We were not washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, nor were we cleansed,
or purified by it. On the contrary, we were recreated. What happens in the New
Birth is the total replacement or recreation of a person's spirit. The Old
spirit man is gone, and a brand new spirit comes into being, taking the place
of the old. (2 Cor. 5:17,18; Ezek. 11:19;
36:26). This brand new spirit does not need any further cleansing or
washing, because, it is created new with the same exact purity of Jesus Christ
Himself. Those who teach that sanctification means to be cleansed or washed by
the blood of Jesus Christ, think so because they do not understand the New
Birth. We are sanctified through the New Birth. It is once for all, and
forever. (Heb. 10:10), meaning that
it is not done repeatedly. Therefore, Sanctification is not a process, as
religionists erroneously teach. It is not progressive. The Bible declares that
whatever the LORD does lasts forever, nothing can be added to it, and nothing
can be removed from it. "Everything God
has done will last forever; nothing he does can ever be changed; You can't add
anything to it or take anything away from it. God does this so that people will
stand in awe of Him." (Ecc. 3:14). Jesus is the one who sanctifies or makes a person Holy
through the New Birth. And once He's done it, no one can add to it, reduce it,
or change it. We have often heard persons speak of sanctification as a
progressive work, of which our old nature is made gradually better by the Holy
Spirit; and, moreover, that until this process has reached perfection, until
our fallen and corrupt nature has become completely subdued and completely
sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we are not fit for heaven. This view is complete
nonsense as far as the God and the Believer is concerned. This is so because in
the first place, as Believers, we do not have any old, fallen, or corrupt
nature, let alone subduing it. Know for sure that the old nature was crucified
with Jesus Christ on the cross, and was removed in the New Birth. "Let us never forget that our old man was crucified
(put to death, destroyed) on the cross with Jesus, so that by so doing, the
power of sin over us, was destroyed, in order that we would never again be slaves
to sin." (Rom. 6:6).
"Those who are in Christ, (that belong to Him) have crucified the old man (old nature, corrupt nature, sinful nature) with all its passions and desires." (Gal. 5:24). Notice what Paul is saying here; "was crucified" and "have crucified" are both past tense. This implies that the Believer does not have any old man to crucify any longer. There's really nothing left for the Believer to crucify anymore. "I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live, but Christ is living in me; the life I now live as a mortal man I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Gal. 2:20). Here Paul is saying that the old man (i.e. his old self) no longer lives, but that Christ is now the one living in him, and that Christ who is now his new life has replaced (i.e., taken the place of) the old man. This means that the old man is forever gone, and no longer exists in the believer. Does anyone need more proof about this truth? Consider also this scripture. "Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old things (the old man, old nature, corrupt spiritual nature) has disappeared. A new man (a new spiritual being with a new nature) has come into existence." (2 Cor. 5:17). Can there be any further argument? None! The matter is forever settled by scripture.
Another thing we also
need to understand is that, the Word of God never teaches us that the Holy
Spirit has for His objective the improvement, either gradual or otherwise, of
the "natural man," nor of the "flesh." Concerning the natural man, Paul expressly
declares that, "The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14).
And the "flesh" on its own part, no matter how well it is
improved, shall never inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). Therefore, any improvement of the flesh (of our behavior or morals), is not
Biblical sanctification in reality. These two passages are clear and conclusive
on the point. If the "natural man"
can neither "receive" nor
"know" "the things of
the Spirit of God," and if the "flesh"
in all its efforts and improvements (no matter how good it can be made to be),
can still never inherit the kingdom of God, then how can that "natural man," or "flesh" be sanctified by the Holy Spirit,
who knows that these things shall never inherit God's kingdom? That would be a
total waste of time. Is it not plain that, to speak of "the sanctification
of the natural man, or of our outer man, or of the flesh (our behavior, or morals)," is totally opposed to the direct
teaching of 1 Cor. 2:14? As scripture
has pointed out, "flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 15:50), no matter how good it
is, or good it may try to become. Therefore, it is clear that sanctification is
not about the improvement whether gradual or otherwise of the "flesh" (of our
behavior or morals), or of the "natural man". On the contrary, sanctification is totally a spiritual
thing. It occurs only in our Born Again spirit, and it is a gift. You can't do anything to merit it. You cannot work for
it, and you even don't need to ask God for it. A person becomes sanctified the
moment they are born again. It belongs to you as much as Eternal Life belongs
to you. God gave Eternal Life. God gave Redemption. God gave wisdom. God gave
me sanctification, and God gave Himself in the person of His Son to us so that
“He that has the Son has the Life.” If you have Eternal Life, you have the
nature of God. If you have the Nature of God, you have Righteousness. If you
have righteousness, then you automatically have sanctification. You are
sanctified already.
Today's teachings on ‘sanctification’ by many
religious Church groups has become a serious stumbling block in the lives of
many Christians, because of the legalistic view they attach to it. In many of
these cases today, sanctification is presented as, "a gradual and progressive process or experience, whereby we
are to prayerfully seek sanctification, so that through the power of the Holy
Spirit, our flesh becomes totally crucified, bringing us to perfection, whereby
we are able to completely live a sinless and obedient life to God so that we
will be able to keep all His laws, commandments, rules and regulations,
requirements, etcetera." To
the person suffering from a religious stinking thinking, this view may sound
sensible on the surface, but when studied in the light of our redemption in
Christ, and what the New Testament teaches about our sanctification in Christ,
we find that this view is a total failure, full of unrealistic demands and
false doctrine. This form of false teaching is common across many denominations
today. It’s the kind of teaching that promotes works, self-help or law
mentality, which of course is used to keep believers under bondage to legalism,
and control by advocates of legalism. It’s not 'Good news,’ because the burden
to seek sanctification in the first place lies on the Believer, because you are
the one that must always ask the Holy Spirit for it. In addition to that, the
teaching also advocates that the effort required to keep the Believer
sanctified comes from The Believer. In other words, you can lose your
sanctification if you are not careful enough. This is totally unthinkable,
unacceptable and a washy wash (lacks clarity and coherence with the New
Testament). Sometimes we even hear such false teachings go on to say that we are
in covenant with Jesus, because of our relationship with Him, thereby because
He has saved us, we in return have to obey the law, be holy, purify ourselves,
and seek sanctification ourselves. No! That is false teaching. It's not the
Gospel truth. Understand this, we are under the Everlasting Covenant which God
the Father made with Jesus. We had no part to play in it, we are just the
recipients of it through faith in Jesus Christ. We can’t break the covenant
because we are not a party to it. We are not the ones who personally made the
covenant with God, and you cannot make any other covenant with God today. He
will not accept any other covenant you try to self-righteously make with Him.
The only covenant He accepts is the one He made with Jesus Christ, of which we
are just the beneficiaries. There is, actually, no such thing in the Bible as ‘progressive sanctification’. This is a man-made doctrine that has been
used to keep us under law. The Gospel truth is that our old man has already
been crucified and buried, in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and our
new man is risen in Christ Jesus. This New Man in Christ is who we are now,
through the New Birth, and he is pure, holy, sanctified, righteous, justified.
Any sinful act in our conduct today comes from the unrenewed mind. It occurs
simply because; our natural human
mind or thinking (the unrenewed mind) refuses to acknowledge that the old man
became dead and buried on the cross of Jesus Christ, and has spiritually been
forever removed from us the moment we were Born Again. This explains the reason Paul advises us to
have our minds renewed. (Rom. 12:2; Eph.
4:23). And because Christ is our life now (Col. 3:4), He is the one that produces anything good in us; we can
do nothing by our flesh or self-effort, to make us holy or sanctified. (Jhn. 15:5). We don't even need to pray
for sanctification. It's pointless praying for something that you already have
in Christ and through Christ. God won't even answer such baseless prayers for
something He's already given to us in Christ, and made us to be. Telling God to
sanctify you is buffoonery. It's indeed a foolish and unscriptural thing to do.
Yet Christians do it. Religious teachers tell us we must fight sin in our
lives, fight against the flesh and overcome sin to make ourselves more
sanctified. This is ridiculous. The Bible never teaches us to fight sin. That's
not the message of the Gospel. Religion may teach you to fight sin. Church
dogma may teach you to fight sin. Denomination may teach you to fight sin.
Bible schools and seminaries may teach you to fight sin. Sunday school
teachings may teach you to fight sin. Even world renown Bible scholars and
General Overseers may teach you to fight sin. But the Bible will never teach
you to fight sin. There's nothing to fight. Sin is already dead. It died with
Jesus Christ on the Cross. (Rom. 6:10;
Heb. 9:26). Jesus became sin on the cross. The Father made Him to become
sin for us on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21),
and when He died, sin died with Him, because He died as sin. Permit me to
announce here, at this point, this good news to you that "Sin is already
dead and buried." The only place it exists now is in your unrenewed thinking.
How can you still be fighting with something that is already dead and buried, or
better said, wiped out of God's sight, by Jesus Christ? The only thing the Holy
Spirit through Paul tells us now to do is that; "we are now to reckon ourselves dead to sin." (Rom.
6:11). The only remedy against the flesh is to walk in the spirit. (Col.
5:16, 25). Walking in the spirit, is not about fighting your flesh, it's not
about trying to use fasting and self-denial to kill your flesh or physical
body. The problem is not your physical body. The problem is the unrenewed mind.
When the mind of the Believer is continually renewed and governed by Christ
consciousness, it results to effortless transformation of our way of life.
Understand also that Jesus Christ is our
sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30). This implies that to have Jesus Christ is to have
sanctification. You cannot have Him progressively, partially, or gradually.
Anyone who has Him has Him in full. Your knowledge of Him may increase
progressively, but you already have Him in full. What you need now is to grow
in your knowledge of Him. The more you know Him, the more this knowledge will
cause the effects of our sanctification to progress outwardly in our lives.
You
see, you are either SANCTIFIED once
forever or not at all. No such thing as “progressive sanctification”.
“Progressive
sanctification” is NOT supported by any scripture, but “sanctified” is used to describe every
believer in Christ. Take for example, what Paul said to Believers at Corinth. "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that ARE
SANCTIFIED in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:" (1 Cor. 1:2).
Jude the Apostle, likewise says the same
thing as Paul. "Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that ARE SANCTIFIED by God the
Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, [and] called:" (Jude 1:1).
Notice from those two passages above, that the early
Church believed and taught the early Christians that everyone who is Born
Again (Believers in Christ) is already completely sanctified. Our Born Again
spirit is already totally sanctified. Concerning this, Paul declares that we
are already complete in Christ. If we are complete in Christ, and of course we
are, what then is lacking? Nothing! "and God has
made you complete in Christ. Christ is in charge of every ruler and
authority." (Col. 2:10). The doctrine of
"progressive sanctification/holiness," is a lie. It's a religious
hoax, with the aim of keeping Believers who subscribe to that fraudulent
teaching, under bondage to legalism, and to keep them from knowing who they
are, their rights and privileges in Christ, and Satan is the one behind this
religious deception and delusion. This also proves that the liars who use it
are not even sure of their salvation under their own doctrine. If you have to
progress for your own sanctification, then it means you are indirectly accusing
God or the Holy Spirit that He did not do a perfect work in you in Christ. And
remember, in Christ, God never does anything in halves. Whatever He does in
Christ is complete. You can't change or add anything to it to make it more
complete. (Ecc. 3:14; Col. 2:10).
Those who believe that they are to progress in their sanctification, believe so
because they think that they not actually justified by faith, and as such, they
haven't entered into the faith rest. (Heb. 4:3-11). Here Paul is saying that
Israel as a Nation has not yet entered into God's rest. Although God is still
waiting for them to receive Christ and enter into His rest. The Law of Moses
never gave them rest. Its purpose was never to give them rest. Its purpose was
to make the sins of the men under the Law, to be more obvious, and to magnify
their sins, thereby making the people more conscious of sins. Concerning this,
Paul, in the following passages, tells us why the Law of Moses was given to the
Jews under the Old Covenant. He says;
"Why then was the Law given? What was its purpose? It was given in order to show what wrongdoing is, thereby increasing, and magnifying sin. But it was only supposed to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant (Jesus Christ), to whom the promise was made. The Law was given to Moses by angels, and he in turn gave it to the people, because he acted as their mediator." (Gal. 3:19).
"The Law was introduced in order to increase sins (failure)..." (Rom.5:20a).
By this, we understand that the Law of Moses can only
show a man what is wrong, but it can never provide a cure for the man. It was
never meant to cure anyone of their sins, nor provide them salvation. It also
magnifies sin and increases failure. It gives knowledge of sin. (Rom. 3:20, KJV). It gives birth to sin
consciousness. Again Paul says!
"Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those (the Old Testament Jews) who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God's judgment. Nobody can have God's approval by following and obeying Moses' Teachings (i.e. the Law). Moses' Teachings (the Law) only shows people how sinful they are. (Rom. 3: 19, 20).
The Law shows people how sinful they are, makes them
guilty, and brings them under judgment. It makes them sin conscious. From all
these, one can see how meaningless, and utterly futile it is trying to serve
God today by law-keeping. It can only lead to frustration, as it did the
Israelites under the Old Covenant.
Get this clear, under the Mosaic Covenant (the Old
Covenant), nobody was blessed because they obeyed the Law and Commandments of
Moses. The blessings came to them only as a result of the animal sacrifices
they performed to atone for their sins. The blood of those bullocks, goats,
and pigeons, was only a shadow of the perfect blood of Jesus Christ, which was
shed on the cross once and for all for the sins of mankind. It is foolhardy
for anyone today to think that they can gain God's approval, approbation, or
blessings, by bringing themselves under the Law, trying to obey it. But thank
God today that Jesus Christ has fulfilled and abolished the Law as a means of
serving God, and as a means of seeking His approbation. (Rom. 3:20, 28; Gal. 2:16; Gal. 5:4; Eph. 2:15). Jesus Christ has
taken take away sin, but He also took away that which gives sin its power,
which is the Law. (Heb. 9:28a; 1 Cor. 15:56). The rest of God is Jesus Christ and all that He has
accomplished for us in His perfect substitutionary work. Anyone who has entered
into Christ, by being Born Again has entered into God's rest. This rest is rest
from trying to please God and gain His approbation by works, performance, or by
trying to keep the laws and commandments of Moses. Therefore every person who
is Born Again has already entered into God's rest and should be resting in
faith, rather than trying to gain God's approbation through meritorious
efforts, or law-keeping. We are to be resting in [1] the assurance of all that
Jesus Christ is to us, and [2] all that He has accomplished for us in His
finished work, and [3] what He through the Holy Spirit, has made us in the New
Birth, what we have become already in Him, our oneness with Him, our ability,
rights, inheritance, and privileges. Therefore the believer who thinks that
sanctification is progressive is actually still living in doubt of all the
testimony that God declares concerning us in Christ. Such Believers are living
in doubt of their oneness with Jesus Christ. And not living in God's rest, or
the faith rest. Hebrews. 2:11 says, "for both He that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them
brethren." (Acts 26:18; Heb. 2:12; Psm. 22:22-25).
Calvinist theologians define
sanctification as; the process of being made holy only through the merits and
justification of Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit that is then
reflected in man. This view is however wrong. This is so because;
sanctification is not a process. God never does anything by halves. There is no
such thing as a half justification, nor is there anything as half holiness,
half righteousness, or half justification, nor is there such a thing as half
sanctification. The idea of a member of the family of God, or of the body of
Christ, wholly justified, but only half sanctified, is at once opposed to
scripture, and revolting to all sensibilities of the Divine nature. Sanctification cannot be attained by any works-based process but is obtained only through the work and power of the Holy Spirit at the
moment of the New Birth. When a man is unregenerate, (i.e. not Born
Again), it is his essence (unregenerate spirit man) that sins and does evil;
because that is its nature. But when a man is Born Again, it is no longer the
man (in his essence, i.e. his regenerated spirit) that sins, but the man is
acting outside of his nature. In other words, the man is not being himself, he
is not being true to who he is.
Having said that, another thing that destroys the idea of
progressive sanctification is our standing in Christ. We have perfect (complete, total) standing in Christ.
Complete sanctification is as fully included in the word "salvation" as is righteousness, redemption, justification.
We did not get Christ by effort, but by faith, and when we laid hold on Christ,
we received all that is in Christ completely, nothing lacking, nothing missing.
Our standing is in Christ, and if we are in Christ for one thing, then we are
in Christ for all things. We cannot be in Christ for one thing, and at the same
time be out of Him for another thing that is in Him. That is to say, we cannot
be fully in Christ for righteousness, and yet be out of Him, or partially in
Him for sanctification. When we received Christ, we were taken completely off
the old grounds of the old nature with all its belongings, at the moment we
were recreated; at that moment when we received Jesus Christ, we forever lost
the old man with its old nature and its old legal standing, and in its place,
we received a new man with a new legal and vital standing in Christ. Based on
this change in our standing and spiritual personality; from the old to the new,
we are now looked upon by God as ones in Christ. We are no longer "in the flesh," but "in the Spirit." (Rom. 8:9). God sees us only in Christ,
and as Christ. We have become one with Christ forever. "As He is, so are we in this world."
(1 Jhn. 4:17). Such is our absolute
standing. We are already like Him, as far as God is concerned. So if Jesus is
completely sanctified, then so are we also. There is no such thing as
sanctification in or of the flesh. Our standing in Christ is a settled and
eternal position of every Believer. There is but one and the same standing for
every child of God, i.e. every member of Christ. Our knowledge, experience
(i.e. walk), understanding, intelligence, and gifts manifested may vary, but
our standing is the same. Christ is our standing, and since Christ is our
wisdom, Righteousness or justification, Sanctification, and redemption, (1 Cor. 1:30), then it implies that we
have equal wisdom, equal Righteousness, or justification, equal Sanctification,
and equal redemption in Christ. Therefore, no Believer is more sanctified than
the other. We have the same or equal sanctification. But the effect of this
sanctification in our lives varies to the degree that our mind is dominated by
Christ consciousness. From all this, you can understand that there is no
such thing as progressive sanctification or progressive holiness. The man-made
theory of progressive or gradual sanctification is a hoax, orchestrated by
religionists to keep believers under the yoke of self-effort and legalism.
There is nothing progressive about Sanctification, or
Holiness. We do not grow in Holiness. We do not grow in sanctification. But we can grow
in our knowledge, consciousness, or awareness of our Holiness, or of our
sanctification, such that the "effects" of it become more and more evident in your life.
Some people speak about sanctification as the process of
transformation. Sanctification is not Transformation. They are not the same
thing. Sanctification as already stated is once and forever for every member
of the Body of Christ. It is never a gradual or progressive process. It is an
instantaneous spiritual phenomenon, and take place at the moment a person is
born again. (Heb. 2:11; 10:10,14). Nevertheless, its
"outward effects" are seen in the lives of every believer in a gradual or
progressive way. Never forget or misunderstand this truth. Transformation on the other hand is a
process. It is a gradual or progressive mental change that takes place in our
thinking or reasoning, as we grow in our knowledge or consciousness of Christ
or the word of God. Transformation, therefore, has to do with the renewing of our
mind. (Rom. 12:2). Having understood
this, one could easily say that transformation is simply one of the effects of
sanctification. But they are not the same thing.
What about John
17:17 and 1 Thessalonians 4: 3-5; 5:
23, are these passages not referring to progressive or gradual sanctification?
Are they not implying that sanctification is progressive? Never! Well, on the
surface, it may look like this is what those passages are saying. But that is
further apart from the truth as the east is from the west. These scriptures
should never be taken in isolation of other New Testament passages that declare
that we've been totally sanctified already. (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 10:10, 13;
Jude 1:1). In John 17:17, Jesus
is not talking about or teaching that sanctification is progressive or that it
happens gradually.
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth." (Jhn. 17:17).
Notice that this prayer
was a prayer Jesus made once for all His disciples, before redemption. He is
not doing that prayer again. In this prayer, He is simply telling the Father to
keep us sanctified through His word, not that the word should sanctify us again
and again, but that it keeps us sanctified. Scripture makes it clear that we
are sanctified once, not, again, and again, not progressively or gradually. It is
in the light of this, the Holy Spirit through Paul declares that our
sanctification is once for all Believers, "By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Heb. 10:10). We were sanctified by the word in the New
Birth, and we are also kept sanctified by the word. It is the word of God that
keeps us sanctified, not our works, not our praying for sanctification, not our
fasting or penance. The Father Himself keeps us sanctified through His word.
Earlier on Jesus had pointed out to His disciples that "anyone who already has been made clean does not need to take a fresh (or
another) bath, except for his feet to be washed." (Jhn. 13: 10). In other words, it's only the feet that get dirty, not the
total man. Not the spirit man inside that has no contact with the earth. The
feet is the part of a man that touches the ground, and thereby gets dirty as
one walks along a dirty place, and so it needs to be washed again and again as
the occasion may warrants. So what do our feet mean or represent? Biblically
speaking our feet represents our walk or our way of life. And our walk, i.e.
the way we leave is determined by our way of thinking or reasoning. Whatever
governs our mind will determine the way we live. Therefore the "washing of our feet" that Jesus is
referring to here is not repeated sanctification of our Born Again spirit, which
can never again get dirty, but to the transformation (renewing) of our way or
manner of life, which is as a result of the renewing of our mind. The
transformation of our manner of life is gradual and continuous because we live
in a world where our minds (the part of us that never gets Born Again) get
contaminated by the pollutions of the world and therefore need continuous renewing.
The transformation of our way of life is not sanctification. Rather, it is the
"effect" of
sanctification.
THE EFFECTS OR
WORK OF SANCTIFICATION
Paul declared,
"And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess. 5: 23). As earlier said this verse should not be taken in
isolation of other New Testament verses that declare we've been sanctified
already.
Here Paul is saying first
of all, that God who is the source and giver of peace, is the one who is also
our sanctifier, and He sanctifies us wholly. Wholly means complete, total. This
implies that when God sanctifies a person, He does it completely. The point
Paul is making here is that; God our sanctifier, will brings the effects of our sanctification to its
completeness in our lives. He is not saying that God will keep sanctifying us
again and again, progressively. That's a wrong theology as far as the Pauline
revelation is concerned. That, He has already done once and forever through the New Birth. The message Paul is emphasizing here is that; God who is our sanctifier will bring
our sanctification to its full (complete) "effect" in our lives. That God will bring
our sanctification to its full or complete work in our lives. Sanctification
does certain works in our lives. The works that sanctification does in our
lives are its effects. Almost everyone knows that the effects of a particular
thing is different from the thing itself. For instance the effects or work that
eating food does in your body is different from the food itself. Until the food
is eaten, it does not have any effect in our body, but once eaten, then, its
effects can begin in our body. That's the point made here. It is evident that
Paul is talking about the "effects" of our sanctification taking its full course in
our lives, progressing from our Born Again spirit, down to our soul (or mind),
and finally gaining effect in our physical body (i.e. outer man), transforming our
way of life. Our sanctification in Christ does have effect on us, progressing
from our Born Again spirit, to our soul, and finally to our body. Our
sanctification in Christ affects our total man. For instance, it preserves or keeps
our spirit, soul, and body blameless unto the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ.
Again we read of what Paul said; "For this
is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from
fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as
the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and
defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is
the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For
God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore
that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit." (1 Thess. 4: 3-8).
Here Paul is simply pointing out first of
all, that our sanctification is the will of God, not the will of man. And this
has already been accomplished in our lives already when we got Born Again. But
this sanctification although already accomplished in us, carries on certain
works or effects in our lives. The works or effects of this sanctification are
the things Paul enumerates in this passage. For instance, it empowers us to shun
fornication, i.e. the abuse of sex. By the word fornication (Greek = Porneia), Paul is not necessarily referring to the mere
unlawful sexual intercourse between a male and female, as many have imagined; although
in some ethical sense that idea is inclusive in some way, because of the inappropriateness
of such acts. Such inappropriate acts very well existed among Christians of
Paul's day, and is still a common shortcoming of many Christians today, of
which although we are not under the Law, and cannot be condemned by it, yet this
practice remains ethically unhealthy because of the attendant problems that may
result from it, in the lives of God's people. Nevertheless, strictly speaking,
Paul used the word "Porneia" (fornication) in the metaphorical sense, in reference to
the abuse of sex. That is, the use of sex for purposes other than that for
which God created it. In all his writings, Paul used the term "fornication"
primarily in reference to demon or idol worship, which was a common practice
among the pagan cultures of his day. They abused sex by indulging in orgies,
whereby they use sex as a means of worshipping demons, promoting demon worship
and demonic activities, which includes prostituting sex for commercial
purposes, a practice indulged in by the pagan temple priestesses and priests,
of Paul's day. The term "fornicator" (Greek = Pornos) means pagan temple prostitute. A term primarily associated
with paganism, and as such is never used in reference to Believers in Christ. Through the power of sanctification which is
already at work in us, in Christ, we grow to learn to possess our vessels in sanctification
and honor. Therefore those who use John 17:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; 5:23, to teach that sanctification is progressive or gradual, do
so as a means of promoting their erroneous idea. They think the effects of
sanctification means that sanctification is progressive or gradual. They are misapplying
the effects of sanctification to mean progressive sanctification. This is a
serious error. Sanctification is not gradual or progressive, it is constant,
and is forever. But it's "effects" in our lives is what is gradual or progressive,
depending on how we yield to the inward drive of the Holy Spirit in us. The
effects or work of sanctification makes us manifest outwardly what we already are
inwardly in Christ, in our walk with God. This outward change is effortless.
It is very clear that much of the
misunderstanding which prevails, in reference to sanctification, is traceable
to the habit of confounding two things which differ very significantly, namely
[1] our standing or position in Christ, and [2] our walk or condition. As
Believers in Christ, our standing is perfect, because it is a gift of God in
Christ. On the other hand, our walk, alas is very imperfect, fluctuating, and
marked with personal shortcomings. While our position is absolute and
unalterable, our practical personal experiences or condition may exhibit
manifold imperfections, inasmuch as we are still in this physical body, and
surrounded by various hostile influences which affect our living condition from
day to day. Now the point is this, if our standing is measured by our walk, and
our position by our condition, or what we are in God's view by what we are in
man's view, then the result must be false. If I as a Believer in Christ, reason
about myself from the natural point of view, instead of from what I am in
Christ, I must, of necessity, arrive at a wrong conclusion. This is what we should
look carefully at always. Christians who are sense knowledge minded or
religious-minded are very much disposed to reason upward from themselves to
God, instead of downward from God to us. We should bear in mind that God looks
on His people, and acts toward us, too, according to our standing in Christ. He
has given us this standing. He has made us what we are. We are his workmanship.
Therefore to speak of the Believer as half Justified would be a dishonor cast
upon God; and to speak of us as half
Sanctified, or partially Sanctified, requiring further progressive sanctification,
would equally be just the same error as saying we are half Born Again.
Prize Chukwuka
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