What does it mean to be sanctified?
The word "sanctified" sounds religious and remote, and many people assume it describes someone unusually pious or a slow climb toward moral perfection. The commentators press a different starting point: sanctification is first something God does to a person, and only then something that person works out in daily life.
The Root Meaning
Before it describes character, the word describes ownership. One writer clears away the common misunderstanding:
F. B. HoleTo some people, sanctification just means being sanctimonious. It really means nothing of the sort. Nor does it even mean becoming very holy, except in a secondary sense. The primary meaning of "sanctify" is to set apart — to separate from ordinary uses to the service and pleasure of God.
That meaning holds wherever the word appears, and the way a person is set apart can differ from case to case:
William KellyThere is no reason for departing from the basic thought always contained in "sanctification." It always means the setting apart to God of those concerned. This is its true and simple meaning… It does not matter where the word is found in Scripture: sanctification, when used of a man, always means his being set apart to God. How the person is set apart is another matter.
Already Sanctified
Because it is God's act, it is not a status a believer earns by degrees. It is as settled as being forgiven:
F. B. HoleEvery true believer is sanctified. To each one it can be said, "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). So if you are truly converted and "in Christ Jesus," you may speak of yourself as sanctified with as much confidence as you would speak of yourself as redeemed.
This meets the anxious question of whether one qualifies:
Robert F. KingscoteSome have said, "I am not sure whether I am among those who are sanctified. It says, 'perfected those who are sanctified.'" "Sanctified" in the Letter to the Hebrews never means inward sanctification by the Spirit of God… "Sanctify" means "to set apart." So when a person believes, God sets him apart from the rest of the world by putting all the value of the precious blood of Christ upon him.
The Spirit's Work at the Start
Some passages place sanctification before justification, which puzzles readers who expect the opposite order. Commentators explain this as the Spirit's opening work in a person, not a later stage:
F. B. Hole"Sanctification of the Spirit" does not refer to the progressive work of the Spirit in the hearts of believers, shaping them more and more to the will of God. It refers rather to that setting apart for God which is achieved by the initial working of the Spirit of God in people's souls — working which has in view His coming to live in us once the gospel is believed.
Sanctified by the Truth
The practical side is real, and Jesus prayed for it. Its instrument is the Father's word:
F. B. HoleThe truth separates by building up that spiritual resistance which protects from spiritual disease. The root idea of sanctification is setting apart. The Son has given the Father's word, which introduces us to all His love, His thoughts, His purposes, His glory. All this is truth — reality of the most divine sort. The world lives so largely in a region of unreality and pretence… If we know divine realities we must of necessity be set apart from the world's unrealities.
Neglect has identifiable causes, and so does progress:
A. J. PollockWe must be true in practice to what God has made us in position. The neglect of two things is the most common cause of a lack of practical sanctification: one is prayer, and the other is the constant, prayerful study of the Word. On top of this, we must keep the Lord before us. If we have any object short of Christ there will be failure.
Christ Sanctified Himself
The Lord uses the word of Himself, which rules out any idea of Him becoming purer. Two settings are distinguished:
Morrish Bible DictionaryHe was set apart by the Father for carrying out the purposes of His will. In His prayer for His disciples in John 17 the Lord also says, "For their sake I consecrate myself." He set Himself apart in heaven from rights that belonged to Him as man, so that His own might be sanctified by the truth. He was sanctified on earth for the Father; He has sanctified Himself in heaven for the saints.
Where It Ends
The process has a fixed finishing point, and it is not self-improvement that reaches it:
Arno C. GaebeleinComplete sanctification will be the blessed and eternal portion of all who are Christ's when He comes, and we shall be like Him, "conformed to the image of His Son." The perfection comes with the coming of the Lord.
Summary
- Set apart — the word never means "made gradually nicer"; it means separated from ordinary use for God's service and pleasure.
- Given — every believer is already sanctified through Christ's offering, as certainly as they are redeemed.
- Started — the Spirit's sanctification is His first work on a soul, which is why Scripture can place it before justification.
- Sustained — the practical side grows through the Father's word, prayer, and keeping Christ before the eye.
- Finished — full sanctification arrives when He comes and we are made like Him.