Sanctification

Concise Bible Dictionary:

This term is from qadesh, ἁγιάζω “to set apart to sacred purposes, consecrate.” It has various applications in the Old Testament as to days: God sanctified the seventh day on which He rested; it was afterward to be kept holy by the Israelites (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:8). As to persons, the whole of the Israelites were sanctified to God (Ex. 19:10,14). The firstborn were further sanctified to God, to be redeemed by the Levites (Ex. 13:2). The priests and Levites were sanctified to the service of God. As to the place and vessels of divine service, the tabernacle and temple, and all the vessels used therein, were devoted to sacred use in the worship of God (Ex. 30:29). We have thus what was suitable in view of God: there was also what was obligatory on the part of those that approached.
The priests, Levites, and people were often called upon to sanctify themselves, to be ceremonially fit to approach God and His sanctuary (Lev. 20:7; Num. 11:18; etc). God declared, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me” (Lev. 10:3): God must be approached with reverence and in separation from what is unsuited to Him.
In the New Testament sanctification has many applications.
1. The thought is twice expressed by the Lord Jesus as to Himself. He spoke of Himself as one “whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world” (John 10:36). He was set apart by the Father for the accomplishment of the purposes of His will. In His prayer for His disciples in John 17 the Lord also says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself.” He set Himself apart in heaven from rights that belonged to Him as man, 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.
2. Believers are said to be “sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 10:10). They are thus saints, “sanctified ones” before God, apart from the life of flesh, a class of persons set apart to God for priestly service (Acts 20:32; Acts 26:18; Rom. 1:7; etc.). In this there is no progress; in effect it implies the most intimate identification with Christ. Such are His brethren. “He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one” (Heb. 2:11): the sanctified are “perfected forever” by one offering (Heb. 10:14).
3. But believers are viewed also on the side of obligation and are exhorted to yield their members “servants to righteousness unto holiness” (ἁγιασμός). (Rom. 6:19). God chastens them that they may be partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:10). Without sanctification no one will see the Lord. In this there is progress; a growing up into Christ in all things (Eph. 4:15). The apostle Paul prayed that the God of peace would sanctify the Thessalonians wholly (1 Thess. 5:23).
4. Sanctification appears to refer to change of association, for the possibility is contemplated of some who had been sanctified treading under foot the Son of God, and treating the blood of the covenant as an unholy or common thing, thus becoming apostates from Christ, and departing from the association in which they had been sanctified (Heb. 10:29).
5. In the existing mixed and corrupt state of Christendom (viewed as a great house, in which are vessels, some to honor and some to dishonor), the obligation to sanctification from evil within the sphere of profession has become obligatory in order that a man may be “a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21).
6. An unbelieving husband or wife is said to be sanctified in the believing partner, and their children are holy (ἅγιος). They can thus dwell together in peace, instead of having to separate from an unbelieving partner, as in Old Testament times (1 Cor. 7:14; compare Ezra 9-10).
7. Food is “sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” Hence “every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:4-5). This is altogether opposed to restrictions prescribed by the law, or which man may impose on the use of what God in His goodness has created for man’s use.

From Anstey’s Doctrinal Definitions:

This term means “to make sacred by being set apart.” It can be applied to:
•  Persons (Ex. 13:2; John 10:36; 1 Cor. 7:14).
•  Places (Ex. 19:23; 29:43).
•  Things (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 40:10-11; 1 Tim. 4:5).
In connection with persons, there are three main aspects in the New Testament. These are:
1) Absolute Or Positional Sanctification
This aspect is the result of a work of God done in the believer through new birth (1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2) and for the believer through being justified by faith in Christ (Acts 20:32; 26:18; Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:2, 30; Heb. 10:10, 14; 13:12; Rev. 22:11). As a result, the believer, who was once among the mass of unsaved persons heading for a lost eternity, has been set apart in a new place before God. This aspect of sanctification is a one-time thing in a believer's life. Every Christian has been sanctified in this positional sense—regardless of what state his or her practical life may be in.
2) Progressive Or Practical Sanctification
This aspect is a result of the believer being exercised about his moral and spiritual state and seeking by the grace of God to perfect holiness in his life practically. See John 17:17; Romans 6:19 ("holiness"); 2 Corinthians 7:1 ("holiness"); 1 Thessalonians 4:4-7; 5:23; Ephesians 5:26-27, and Hebrews 12:14 ("holiness"). This aspect of sanctification is to be an on-going, daily exercise in the believer's life.
3) Relative or Provisional Sanctification
This aspect has to do with persons being set in a clean place on earth through separation, without necessarily having an inward work of faith in their soul.
In the case of a marriage where one partner is saved and the other is not, the unbelieving one is “sanctified” in a relative sense by his or her association with the believing partner who is sanctified (1 Cor. 7:14). It does not mean that the unbeliever is thereby saved, but that he is in a place of holy privilege.
In the case of those associated with Abraham, Romans 11:16 states that they are in a place of relative holiness (sanctification). The point that the Apostle makes in this verse is that if the "root" of the nation of Israel (Abraham) has been set in a holy place of privilege in relation to God, then the "branches" (Abraham's descendants) are in that “holy” place too (Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 1 Kings 8:53; Amos 3:3). He is not speaking of what is vital through new birth, but of being in a place of outward favour and privilege.
The Apostle Paul also refers to a person purging himself from the confusion that has come into God’s house (Christendom) by “separating himself” from it, and thus being “sanctified” in this relative sense (2 Tim. 2:19).
Relative sanctification is also seen in Hebrews 10:29. The Jews who professed faith in Christ in that day had thereby taken Christian ground and thus had been “sanctified” in a relative sense by Christ’s blood. Again, being in this sanctified place does not necessarily mean that they were saved. The writer of the epistle warns them that if they abandoned that position and went back to Judaism, they would prove to be apostates, and there would be nothing but judgment waiting for them (Heb. 10:30-31).
The Lord Himself was also "sanctified" in this relative sense. He was set apart to come into the world for the purpose of accomplishing the will of God (John 10:36). He also set Himself apart in leaving this world and going back to the Father (John 17:19).
A person could also set himself apart to do evil (Isa. 66:17).
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J. N. Darby warned of the danger of over-emphasizing the practical side of sanctification, stating that it could be taken by some that a person can make himself acceptable to God in his natural state by cleaning up his life. He pointed out that if the primary setting apart of persons to God through absolute sanctification is not held, sanctification becomes a mere gradual fitting of man in his natural state for his acceptance before God—which, of course, cannot be done (Collected Writings, vol. 10, p. 78). Notwithstanding, this is exactly what has happened in the history of the Church. Many ignorant souls down through the years have tried to better themselves through law-keeping and asceticism in hopes of making themselves acceptable to God. Such an idea does not see the flesh as being irreparably bad and essentially ignores the need for new birth. Therefore, there needs to be balance in Christian ministry in presenting the truth of sanctification, and thus guarding against erroneous assumptions, such as the one Mr. Darby mentioned. In fact, Scripture actually refers to sanctification in its positional sense more often than the practical and relative senses.

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