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.