Sanctification

"Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:2-3 (NIV)

Sanctification is an interesting word that Christians hear, hopefully, all the time. But what is it really, and do we understand its true meaning? Nelson's New Christian Dictionary defines sanctification as an act, process, or experience of consecration and purification by which a person is made holy and acceptable to God through the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit. It also involves separation from the impurities and pollution of the world and a renunciation of sin. The Greek word for sanctification is hagiasmoas which is a "state of purity." All that being said, sanctification is basically being set apart by God for His good works and service to Him. Once you are sanctified by God, you are no longer a slave to sin and the impurities of this world.

Before Christ, God chose the people whom He sanctified by sending the Holy Spirit upon them and their adherence to the Law set them apart. David wrote "know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him." (Psalm 4:3) God could also take away His Holy Spirit, therefore turning one back over to the sins of the world. He removed His Spirit from Saul when he sinned against God and replaced him with David as king. After David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed in battle, he knew that his actions were unacceptable to God. His repentance recorded in Psalm 51 is indicative of the fear he held that God would remove him from His favor. "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me." (Psalm 51:10-11)

After Jesus came to Earth, He died and rose again in order that He would defeat death and it would no longer control those sanctified through Him. Paul writes to the Galatians "are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" (3:3) The ideas of Christianity and sanctification were fairly new to the Galatians, who were traditionally a pagan, non-Jewish group of people. The ideas of being "set apart by God" was very appealing to them but they were being confused by the Judaizers of the day telling them that they must abide by the Law of Moses to be sanctified. Paul wanted them to understand that they could not be sanctified through human measures but only by the Holy Spirit, and that is why God sent Christ to die in the first place. For if we could be sanctified by our works, there would be no reason for Jesus to have come to Earth.

Romans 8 says "therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." (1-4) This is the ultimate understanding of sanctification, that we are dead to sin through Christ and alive to God through the Holy Spirit. We must live according to the Spirit in us and not according to the worldly definition of what is good. For our "righteous acts are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:4) and the only good in us is the Holy Spirit which was placed there by God through Christ.

This is sanctification, that we are set apart by God Himself as His elect so that we may do His good works here on Earth and live eternally in His glory. We are free from the bondage of sin and the death, inherent in a life not sanctified by God.