Reference: Sanctification
Easton
involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration. In other words, sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration, and it extends to the whole man (Ro 6:13; 2Co 4:6; Col 3:10; 1Jo 4:7; 1Co 6:19). It is the special office of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work (1Co 6:11; 2Th 2:13). Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification, inasmuch as it (1) secures union to Christ (Ga 2:20), and (2) brings the believer into living contact with the truth, whereby he is led to yield obedience "to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come."
Perfect sanctification is not attainable in this life (1Ki 8:46; Pr 20:9; Ec 7:20; Jas 3:2; 1Jo 1:8). See Paul's account of himself in Ro 7:14-25; Php 3:12-14; 1Ti 1:15; also the confessions of David (Ps 19:12-13; 51), of Moses (Ps 90:8), of Job (Job 42:5-6), and of Daniel (Da 9:3-20). "The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father's loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.", Hodge's Outlines.
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This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.
Then you shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever.
If they sin against you, (for there is no man that sins not,) and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;
I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Who can understand his errors? cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not.
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; read more. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and from your judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs unto you, but unto us shame of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed your law, even by departing, that they might not obey your voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand your truth. Therefore has the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he does: for we obeyed not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who has brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has gotten yourself renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I beseech you, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of your servant, and his supplications, and cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our supplications before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for your own sake, O my God: for your city and your people are called by your name. And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I know not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. read more. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
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 our God.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if indeed I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, read more. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
And have put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
Morish
This term is from qadesh, ??????, 'to set apart to sacred purposes, consecrate.' It has various applications in the O.T.
As to days: God sanctified the seventh day on which He rested; it was afterwards to be kept holy by the Israelites. Ge 2:3; Ex 20:8.
As to persons: The whole of the Israelites were sanctified to God. Ex 19:10,14. The firstborn were further sanctified to God, to be redeemed by the Levites. Ex 13:2. The priests and Levites were sanctified to the service of God.
As to the place and vessels of divine service: The tabernacle and temple, and all the vessels used therein, were devoted to sacred use in the worship of God. Ex 30:29. We have thus what was suitable in view of God: there was also what was obligatory on the part of those that approached.
The priests, Levites, and people were often called upon to sanctify themselves, to be ceremonially fit to approach God and His sanctuary. Le 20:7; Nu 11:18; etc. God declared, "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me," Le 10:3; God must be approached with reverence and in separation from what is unsuited to Him.
In the N.T. sanctification has many applications.
1. The thought is twice expressed by the Lord Jesus as to Himself. He spoke of Himself as one "whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world." Joh 10:36. He was set apart by the Father for the accomplishment of the purposes of His will. In His prayer for His disciples in John 17 the Lord also says, "For their sakes I sanctify myself." He set Himself apart in heaven from rights that belonged to Him as man, that His own might be sanctified by the truth. He was sanctified on earth for the Father, He has sanctified Himself in heaven for the saints.
2. Believers are said to be "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Ro 15:16; 1Co 1:2; Heb 10:10. They are thus 'saints,' 'sanctified ones' before God, apart from the life of flesh, a class of persons set apart to God for priestly service. Ac 20:32; 26:18; Ro 1:7; etc. In this there is no progress: in effect it implies the most intimate identification with Christ. Such are His brethren. "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one," Heb 2:11; the sanctified are "perfected for ever" by one offering. Heb 10:14.
3. But believers are viewed also on the side of obligation and are exhorted to yield their members "servants to righteousness unto holiness" (????????). Ro 6:19. God chastens them that they may be partakers of His holiness. Heb 12:10. Without sanctification no one will see the Lord. In this there is progress: a growing up into Christ in all things. Eph 4:15. The apostle Paul prayed that the God of peace would sanctify the Thessalonians wholly. 1Th 5:23.
4. Sanctification appears to refer to change of association, for the possibility is contemplated of some who had been sanctified treading under foot the Son of God, and treating the blood of the covenant as an unholy or common thing, thus becoming apostates from Christ, and departing from the association in which they had been sanctified. Heb 10:29.
5. In the existing mixed and corrupt state of Christendom (viewed as a great house, in which are vessels, some to honour and some to dishonour), the obligation to sanctification from evil within the sphere of profession has become obligatory in order that a man may be "a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." 2Ti 2:21.
6. An unbelieving husband or wife is said to be sanctified in the believing partner, and their children are holy (?????). They can thus dwell together in peace, instead of having to separate from an unbelieving partner, as in Old Testament times. 1Co 7:14: cf. Ezra 9, Ezra 10.
7. Food is "sanctified by the word of God and prayer." Hence "every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving." 1Ti 4:4-5. This is altogether opposed to restrictions prescribed by the law, or which man may impose on the use of what God in His goodness has created for man's use.
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And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes,
And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
And you shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever touches them shall be holy.
Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be you holy: for I am the LORD your God.
And say unto the people, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh: for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and you shall eat.
Say you of him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent into the world, You blaspheme; because I said, I am the Son of God?
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them who are sanctified.
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in me.
To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I speak after the manner of men because of the weakness of your flesh: for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ:
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and fit for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Of how much worse punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done insult unto the Spirit of grace?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Watsons
SANCTIFICATION, that work of God's grace by which we are renewed after the image of God, set apart for his service, and enabled to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. Sanctification is either of nature, whereby we are renewed after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, Eph 4:24; Col 3:19, or of practice, whereby we die unto sin, have its power destroyed in us, cease from the love and practice of it, hate it as abominable, and live unto righteousness, loving and studying good works, Tit 2:11-12. Sanctification comprehends all the graces of knowledge, faith, repentance, love, humility, zeal, patience, &c, and the exercise of them in our conduct toward God or man: Ga 5:22-24; 1Pe 1:15-16; Mt 6:7. Sanctification in this world must be complete; the whole nature must be sanctified, all sin must be utterly abolished, or the soul can never be admitted into the glorious presence of God, Heb 12:14; 1Pe 1:15; Re 21:27; yet the saints, while here, are in a state of spiritual warfare with Satan and his temptations, with the world and its influence, 2Co 2:11; Ga 5:17,24; Ro 7:23; 1Jo 2:15-16.
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Then she let them down by a rope through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may you go your way.
But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, self-control: against such there is no law. read more. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live sensibly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they who are written in the Lamb's book of life.