Sanctification

Positional

Once for all

1 Cor 1:2.

1 Corinthians 1:2 ESV

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

sanctified appears in the perfect tense which describes a completed act with continuing results.

1 Cor. 6:11.

1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Notice God’s work of washing, justifying and sanctifying are connected but distinct. They are all described as events that are snapshots in time (aorist tense). All believers have been washed of their sin, declared righteous despite their sin and marked as holy over and above their sin once for all.

2 Tim 2:21.

2 Timothy 2:21 ESV

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

See also Acts 20:32 & 26:18.

A breach with sin

Rom. 6:1-17.

Romans 6:1–17 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

v. 6: underscores the once for all break with sin

v. 14: sin no longer reigns because we are ow under the reign of grace

We now obey from the heart because we have come under the control of the provisions of grace.

Our positional sanctification should also be seen in our resurrection with Christ (see verses 4 & 11)

Progressive

Sin is still present in the believer

1 Ki 8:46.

1 Kings 8:46 ESV

“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near,

Psalm 143:2.

Psalm 143:2 ESV

Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

James 3:2.

James 3:2 ESV

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

1 John 1:8.

1 John 1:8 ESV

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Living & Dying

Rom. 8:13.

Romans 8:13 ESV

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Col 3:1-5.

Colossians 3:1–5 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Paul tells the Colossians that they have both died with Christ (v. 3) and been raised with Christ (v. 1). This supports the definitive or positional aspect of our sanctification.

But in verse 5, Paul connects our call to pursue holiness to our position. In other words, though we have died to sin, we must still put sin to death. This is a combination of the indicative and the imperative nature of the Christian life.

1 John 3:1-3.

1 John 3:1–3 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

John makes clear that after Jesus appears, we shall be like Him.

But Christians are not simply to sit back and wait for Christ’s return in order to be like Him. Christians are called to continually hope and as a result continues to purify himself. This implies continuing sanctification.

Col 3:9-10.

Colossians 3:9–10 ESV

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

The progressive nature of sanctification is also shown in the growth of the new self.

Since the new self is said to need renewal, it is clear that it does not yet exist in a sinless state.

Final

The goal

Eph 1:4-6.

Ephesians 1:4–6 ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

The ultimate end of the salvation of His people is the glory of God.

Eph 2:5-7.

Ephesians 2:5–7 ESV

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

All the amazing blessings of our salvation, including our sanctification is the display of the immeasurable riches of God. The glorification of God’s people is what will reveal God’s perfections to the world.

Like Jesus

Rom. 8:29.

Romans 8:29 ESV

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

not just future happiness but perfect likeness to Jesus.