16. Sanctification Defined
CHAPTER XVI Sanctification Defined
"The blood by faith now reaches me; In soul and body I am free, And now I’ve constant victory Since I am sanctified."
Having learned in the previous chapter that there is in the justified believer a remaining element of depravity, we must now study the deeper experience of sanctification. First let us seek a thorough definition of the word " sanctification" in its use throughout the Bible. Before proceeding to an affirmative definition, however, let us consider what sanctification is not. This consideration is particularly necessary for the reason that many persons have an exaggerated idea of what the experience of sanctification is.
Sanctification is not infallibility. There is much difference between an error in judgment and an error in moral conduct. Sanctification is a purification of the moral nature and an infilling of the Holy Spirit, not an impartation of infallible judgment. I t is true that the presence of the Holy Spirit and the absence of native depravity enlighten the intellect and may assist us in the exercise of good judgment, especially in matters relative to moral conduct and the service of Cod, but the operations of the Holy Spirit do not so overpower our human intelligence as to result in infallibility.
Sanctification is not absolute perfection. such experience as absolute perfection is promised in the Word of God, nor has such a state been experienced by any mortal man. Sanctification is of the nature of moral perfection, but does not make us either physically or intellectually perfect.
Sanctification is not of such a nature as to preclude the possibility of growing in grace. It is a qualitative, not a quantitative experience. It removes depravity and sheds the love of God abroad in the heart (Romans 5:5), but leaves us to grow in grace as long as we live.
Sanctification does not make it impossible for the sanctified to fall from grace. It is merely redemption. Redemption means to buy back. We are bought back to the moral plane-righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24)-from which Adam fell. If sanctification raised us to a plane where to fall from grace were impossible, sanctification would do more than redemption. It is true that sanctification makes perseverance not only possible but highly probable, vet it does not preclude the possibility of falling from grace, any more than did Adam’s holy state preclude the possibility of his disobedience and fall.
Sanctification is not the destruction of human nature. A sanctified man is still a man, not an angel. The taking away of the " carnal nature, " as native depravity is sometimes called, is not the annihilation of those faculties and propensities peculiar to a natural man. The sanctified are, therefore, still subject to trials, afflictions, and temptations. Man has a physical, a mental, and a moral nature: sanctification does not primarily affect either the physical or the mental, but elevates especially the moral nature by cleansing it from native depravity and filling it with the Holy Spirit.
There are two aspects of the moral self: man’s moral nature is either good or evil. For instance, a man is at one time sinful, but at another time righteous. The sinful man and the righteous man are the same man, but his moral nature is different. A change has taken place. What has happened? The apostle Paul answers: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). The "I" that was "crucified" in Paul was the old sinful nature that dominated him when he was a Pharisee; the "I" that "lived" was the better self which lived through Christ. The human self, then, is the evil self when it corresponds with evil, but the same self becomes the holy living self when the evil is crucified and Christ comes in. The verb "to sanctify" as used in the Old Testament comes from the Hebrew qadash , and means to make, pronounce, or observe as clean, either ceremonially or morally (see Strong’s Hebrew English lexicon). The New Testament word comes from the Greek word hagios, and means (1) to consecrate; (2) to make holy or to purify; and (3) to venerate. Our English word "to sanctify" is a derivative of the Latin words sanctus, meaning holy, and ficare, meaning to make. Its simplest definition therefore, is to make holy. A concise definition of the English word is as follows: " To make sacred or holy; set apart to a holy or religious use; to hallow. "
More important than the technical etymology of the word is its use in the Bible. To a Biblical definition of the word through its varying uses in the Bible let us now turn our attention. The following brief is, I think, the clearest and at the same time the most concise way to express the Bible use of the word:
BIBLE USE OF THE WORD SANCTIFICATION I. In the Old Testament Use- 1. Men are said to sanctify: a) Other men. Exodus 19:10. b) Temporal things other than man. Exodus 19:23; Exodus 30:28-29; Deuteronomy 5:12. c) The Lord. Numbers 20:12; Numbers 27:14.
2. God is said to have sanctified: a) Men. Exodus 31:13. b) His name. Ezekiel 36:23. c) The Sabbath day, Genesis 2:3;
II. In the New Testament Use- 1. One text (1 Corinthians 7:14) excepted, no man except Christ is said to sanctify another man or men.
2. One text excepted, temporal or material objects other than man are never said to be sanctified.
3. No man except Christ is said to sanctify himself.
4. Men are said to be sanctified. Acts 20:32; Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 2:11; Hebrews 10:14; Hebrews 10:29.
5. Men are said to ’sanctify the Lord God in their hearts,’ that is, to regard God as holy. 1 Peter 3:15.
6. Husband and wife are said to sanctify each other. 1 Corinthians 7:14.
7. Foods are sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:5.
8. Men are said to purge, or sanctify, themselves from heretics. 2 Timothy 2:21.
9. God is said to sanctify: a) Christ. John 10:36. b) Men. John 17:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Jude 1:1.
10. Christ is said to sanctify: a) Himself. John 17:19. b) Men. Hebrews 13:12; Hebrews 10:10; Ephesians 5:26.
11. The " offering up, " or sacrificing, of the Gentiles is said to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:16. In view of the foregoing, it will be readily perceived that the word " sanctification ;’ has various meanings. Hereafter in the prosecution of this work, "sanctification" will be used in its primary, New Testament sense, meaning to purify or make holy, or in its specific sense, meaning entire sanctification (1 Thessalonians 5:23). In our study we may find ideas parallel in meaning to sanctification in connection with which the word "sanctify" or "sanctification" are not employed. The idea of sanctification is often expressed in such words as " purifying their hearts," "they received the Holy Ghost." It is the doctrinal idea of sanctification in which we are primarily interested, but for the sake of clearness, the term " sanctification" has been adopted as the uniform word for the expression of the idea.
TWO PHASES OF SANCTIFICATION In the experience of sanctification, as in that of justification, there is both a positive and a negative phase. In justification guilt is washed away by the atoning blood of Christ and innocence takes its place; in sanctification native depravity is taken away and purity takes its place. The Holy Spirit also is received in a special sense, which completes the work of redeeming grace. We shall have occasion further to develop these two phases of sanctification in the following chapters.