To arrive at a meaning of the term sanctification we need to see how the word is used in the New Testament. So we must go through each verse that uses the word and see how the word is used. This alone can inform our doctrine on the subject.
Acts 20:32 speaks of “them which are sanctified”. Here it means to be a saint, which means sanctified by the blood of Christ and members of His body. “Saint” comes from the same Greek root as sanctified. Paul addresses some of his epistles “to the saints who are at…” and he names the city.
Saint or sanctified means to be in Christ. It means new birth. New birth is an instantaneous event. It is not a process. We do not grow into new birth, though there may be a period of being drawn by God towards the day it occurs. But we are either a saint or we are not a saint.
In Acts 26:18 Paul records Jesus’ words to him, regarding “them that are sanctified by faith that is in Me”. Sanctification is by faith, not our faith, but the faith that is in Christ. Both these verses in Acts put sanctification in the context of new birth. They speak of a faith that sanctifies us at new birth and which preserves us in Christ. It is both past tense and a continual preservative in Christ.
Rom 15:16 states the Gentiles were sanctified by the Holy Spirit and the gospel. Again, this is new birth and is clearly Paul’s meaning.
1 Cor 1:2 states “to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…” Sanctification here means to be set apart to God by new birth and to be members of His body.
1 Cor 1:30 tells us that Jesus has been made unto us “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption”. Our sanctification is of Jesus just as much as our redemption is. He is our sanctifier. Sanctification here is a person, Jesus. It is not a method or a list of rules.
1 Cor 6:11 speaks of the new birth, “And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of the Lord God.”. This shows that in Paul’s mind sanctification occurred with justification at new birth.
1 Cor 7:14 “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife…”. Paul uses sanctification to mean that the marriage is accepted by God, because of the believing wife. The word is used in the same way as justification would be used. The marriage is judicially clean. Justification and sanctification are different ways of expressing the same thing. (This does not mean we should marry unbelievers.)
Justification may be seen as a consequence of sanctification. We are justified (just- as- if-I’d never sinned), because we have been cleansed through sanctification, washing and renewing of the Spirit. If sanctification was progressive we would be in trouble, because we would not be justified yet! Justification is not to all by the cross, but by faith, meaning new birth and actual cleansing (Rom 3:28).
1 Thes 4:3 states, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication.”. Here sanctification refers to our life style. It is God’s will that our life reflects the sanctification God granted us and glorifies Him. But life style sanctification does not affect our sanctification in Christ, if we remain in Christ. However, those who are sanctified in Christ will not continue in sin (Rom 6:1-2).
1 Thes 5:23 states, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of the Lord Jesus.”. Here sanctify is used in the sense of keeping, sustaining and preserving. Paul commends us to God, the Alpha and Omega of our sanctification, through Christ. This keeping is not just of our spirit, but also of our mind and body.
Sanctification here relates to the whole person, which also includes our life style. This is a commendation for us to live as saints. It is not part of a complicated teaching on the “how to” of a drawn out process of sanctification. We are to simply look to Him in living His life.
2 Thes 2:13, states “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth.”.
At new birth there is sanctification of/by the Spirit, which includes our whole person. It is not just our spirit that is sanctified at new birth. Col 1:22 says we are presented blameless and unreprovable by Christ in the gospel. This is because His blood also washes our soul and body.
2 Tim 2:21 states “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified and meet for the master’s use and prepared for every good work.”. Paul is saying here that if a man separates himself from error he shall be useful to God in good works. Sanctified here refers to being useful to God in service.
Heb 10:10 “By this testament we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”. This verse shows that we have been sanctified by the blood of Christ and that we cannot add to it. This includes our whole spirit, soul and body.
Heb 10:14 “For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.”. This again shows that Christ sanctified us by the offering of Himself. It also shows sanctification is past tense. It is not something in a process.
Heb 10:29 “…the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified…”. This verse again shows that we are sanctified by His blood. It also shows that sanctification is past tense for the believer.
Heb 13:12 “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”. Again, we see here that we are sanctified by His blood. This is why Luther’s cry “the blood alone” is correct, both for justification and sanctification and why we should add nothing to it.
1 Pet 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus…”. Sanctification here is by the new birth in the Spirit, which causes us to willingly obey, due to our new heart. It is through the blood of Christ.
Jude 1 “…to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called…” Here again, we are sanctified and kept by the Father through the finished work of Christ and not of ourselves.
These are the verses in the New Testament that use the word sanctify or sanctification. Not one of them speaks of a progressive work. All of them relate to the new birth and the finished work of the cross and show that we are sanctified by the blood of Jesus alone. We are exhorted to walk in sanctification, since God has freely changed our nature. No works of religious tradition are commended to help us to do this, but obedience through faith alone.
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