1 Corinthians 1:30-31 King James Version (KJV)
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

I must admit that it seems like there is a desire to argue a point, be correct, and not seek to understand what others are saying or what we have in common on an issue. It does not lead to growth, but instead to becoming more deeply entrenched in an already determined point of view. But as I read the comments, I see much that I have heard and seen for nearly 40 years. Same discussion. Different people. Different generation. No conclusion reached.

Can we say this.

1) Sanctification is God's will for His people. It is a thing so to speak. We should be sanctified.
2) We are incapable of sanctifying ourselves. It is God who does this work in us.
3) A sanctified life will mean that our lifestyle will be different than it was before.
4) As we grow in God, the fruit of sanctification, holiness, will increase. We will find ourselves being different (more like Christ) in a year than we are now.
5) Part of sanctification is our yeilding to God and allowing Him to do this work in us. We could call this the entryway into sanctification.

Interestingly enough, Parham and his followers taught that one was not actually "born again" until they were sanctified. There was a distinction made between justification (what happens at salvation) and sanctification (the work of grace by which we were made completely free from sin, including the ability to live a completely sinless life). For the record, I disagree with this point of view as stated. But it was the way I was taught. If you will think it through, much of what I am hearing in this thread and others could be placed into whether this perspective is something you agree with or not. That is the point. Different generation of people. Same old discussion.

But can it be agreed that 1-5 above are true as stated?

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Travis

I can certainly agree Travis. There is nothing controversial in the least in those 5 points.

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Todd

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Travis

Sorry Duplicate

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Mike

Good post Travis, and I believe that most everyone that has access to Sermon Index and that contributes to the discussions on here are not looking for a way to sin more and justify it, but actually as you had mentioned, we hate sin, and love righteousness and holiness with our hearts desire to live lives pleasing to the Lord. If we sin we are quick to confess the sin, but sinning is not something that we do habitually. We also confess and glory in our weakness, knowing that the Lord is the One holding us up and keeping us from sinning. The attitude that it is impossible for me to sin is nothing but pride, and is one of the ways that the enemy sets us up for a fall.

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Mike

It is also interesting to note that the religious hypocrites trusted in their own righteousness, and looked down on the repentant sinner that humbled himself, and prayed for mercy. He knew his own sin, and cried out “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.”

9 “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18: 9-14)

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Mike

But, what sayeth the scriptures….?

19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, ((((Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.)))
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
21 (((((If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified,))))) and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife

(emphasis mine)
The implications of verse 21 are not to be overlooked or understated-

From the outside looking in on this thread, it would seem that there is a need to parse out the difference between “sin vs iniquity” …. These are not the same-

Sin is always a choice to either violate the law of God or our conscience
Iniquity is the condition or environment produced from the practice of sin

ie: if a woman flashed her breast’s in public that would be sin but not iniquity,
however if she took a job in a strip club, an environment where she is compelled to sin, where sin is promoted and rewarded, where she would be punitively punished for not sinning, that would be iniquity-

note; Jesus didn’t say in Matt 21 “depart from me you lawless sinners” rather “lawless workers of iniquity”

We are going to mess up, on our best day in our best effort, much like basketball… no matter how dedicated and disciplined a person is, it’s not a matter of if but when, they are going to miss a shot. That is the NC definition of sin, “missing the mark” but that is far from iniquity -
Sanctification deals more so with iniquity than with “missing a shot” -

note.2; there are at least 8 different words in the NC that are translated as “perfect, being perfected, perfection” (if my memory serves me correctly)
tho the one in question is, at the end of the day, an agricultural term denoting full maturity or being fully ripened.
So an example could be, an orange or tomato where tho it may have bug spots, sun spots or even bruises, tho if it is fully ripened it is “perfected” meaning it can’t get any better from where it is.

Remember we are not like those whom clean up the outside while neglecting the inside… we don’t really concern ourselves with the outside, rather our lot is to seek internal cleanliness,… remember the kingdom of God is within and not in observation of external ordinance's-

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Fletcher

Saw this after reading your defination of iniquity.

Chattah, which is most often translated as sin, means to miss the mark.

Awon, often translated as iniquity, relates more to the inner character and points to an intentional twisting of a given standard.

Pesha, often translated as transgression, is more of a willful rebellion against the given standard.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my pesha [transgressions].

Wash me thoroughly from my awon [iniquity], and cleanse me from my chattah [sin]!

For I know my pasha [transgressions], and my chattah [sin] is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I chattah [sinned] and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in awon [iniquity] and in chattah [sin] did my mother conceive me.

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Colin Murray

Thank you for sharing :)
The last passage shared from psalm 51 really helps to better illustrate it -

Sanctification, in large part, means s being yoked together with Christ…
It’s His righteousness, and we become partakers as we co-labor with Him.
If we abide in Him we will produce much fruit, much like a marriage-
When two people get married they are as married as they’ll ever be, no matter how long they stay married they will never be more married than when they first said “I do” and were pronounced so, but…. “if” they stay married, if they stay faithfully committed they will surely grow in intimate knowledge of one another, as such this intimate knowledge/experience will permeate and ultimately define the marriage. Likewise if we “stay saved” as Keith Daniels used to say, then we will grow in Christ and He in us - while it’s true that He is our sanctification, we nonetheless have an active part to play, without which we will not come to full maturity or a ripened state of “perfection”.
Just like industrial tomato farming, those that abide in the vine and are fully ripened are harvested regardless of their external appearance, whereas those that may appear “perfect” externally but did not abide in the vine are trampled under feet by the harvesters which are only looking for fruit on the vine-

note; interestingly,… bugs seem to sense the sugar content of fruit and cause “damage” to the exterior surface of the sweetest fruit much like the saints that most closely follow Jesus are often the most afflicted, ie; the apostles -
It’s important to note we are judged according to our works or the fruit produced by our co-laboring with Christ and not on our external appearance. The focus on external appearances is more Judaism where one gets duped by planting the “good” seeds from the wrong tree, which are not of the tree of life and therefore have no life in them - this leads to self-righteousness not Christ-likeness -

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Fletcher