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Sanctification is a second, instantaneous, and definite work
of grace, subsequent to salvation, which is accomplished in
the believer through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ.
The word sanctify, along with the words
translated saint, holy, and hallowed,
is derived from the Greek word hagios , which means
“holy.” For this reason, the experience of sanctification
is also sometimes referred to as “holiness.” The verb sanctify
has three basic meanings: “to make holy or purify,”
“to consecrate or to separate from ungodliness and dedicate
to God,” and finally, “to hallow.” A study of these words
reveals that sanctification is the purification of the heart
of a person—a dedication to God and an eradication of the
sin nature. A holy and sanctified person, then, is one who
has been consecrated or set apart to serve God and is cleansed
from his old sin nature.
The teaching of sanctification did not begin
in the Apostolic Faith Church. When Florence Crawford, this
church's founder, walked into meetings being held on Azusa
Street in Los Angeles in 1906, the people there taught her
about the experience of sanctification. They had learned it
from those who taught them. John Wesley is credited with reviving
the teaching of sanctification, but the experience did not
begin with him either. It began with God! Sanctification is
a Bible doctrine.
In Old Testament times, God pointed His people
to sanctification. We read in Leviticus 20:7, “Sanctify yourselves
therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.”
The merit of the atonement provided by Jesus'
death was foreshadowed by the Levitical offerings (Hebrews
13:11-12). The Old Testament Tabernacle is sometimes used
as an illustration of the three foundational Christian experiences:
salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
An Israelite's sins were forgiven when he brought his trespass
offering to the priest who offered it upon the brazen altar,
located in the Tabernacle courtyard (Leviticus 6:1-7). When
the offering for sin was presented, no mention was made of
actual trespasses (Leviticus 9:3,15). This offering typified
heart cleansing.
When a trespass offering had been offered upon
the altar, the priest would then perform a ceremonial washing,
typifying the ordinance of water baptism, at a laver that
was also located in the courtyard. Following the washing,
the priest would enter the first of the two rooms that made
up the Tabernacle, called the Holy Place. Representing the
experience of sanctification, the Holy Place contained a table
with shewbread on it, which typified the Word of God. The
golden candlestick, also in the Holy Place, represented the
light that God sheds into a Christian's life. The third item
in the Holy Place was the golden altar. On it was a continual
offering of special incense, and the fire that started its
burning was sent by God himself. The burning incense represented
the prayers that come out of a sanctified heart.
Next to the Holy Place, but separated from it
by a veil, was the Holy of Holies, which represented the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. The Shekinah glory of God, a physical
manifestation of His presence, dwelt in this room. Only the
High Priest could enter this room once a year, on the Day
of Atonement. When Jesus was crucified, the veil separating
the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was torn from top to
bottom (Matthew 27:51), and sanctified Christians now have
direct access to the fullness of the Spirit of God in their
lives. The steps symbolized by the Tabernacle illustration
must still be followed today. The experience of salvation
should be followed by water baptism as soon as possible, and
a Christian can only receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit
after being entirely sanctified.
In the New Testament era, we find that the experience
of sanctification was taught to the Early Church. Paul was
concerned that the believers in Thessalonica be sanctified.
Reading through the Book of 1 Thessalonians, it is clear that
these believers had a good start, but they needed something
more. Paul said that he sent Timothy, “ our brother,
and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel
of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning
your faith” (1 Thessalonians 3:2). In verse 10, he says, “Night
and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and
might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.” The lack
in their spiritual lives would be supplied by the experience
of sanctification.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, we read, “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. Faithful is he that calleth
you, who also will do it.” Here, Paul the Apostle states very
clearly, almost as a prayer, his desire for the believers
at Thessalonica to receive this experience.
When a person prays through to salvation, he
receives the assurance that his sins have been forgiven, and
the Lord will not hold them against him any longer. He has
been pardoned—absolved from the wrongdoings in his past. Still,
there remains in him that carnal nature from which those deeds
sprang in the first place. That is why sanctification is needed.
Salvation deals with the acts and guilt of committed sins,
while sanctification deals with the nature of sin, the inward
tendency inherited from Adam.
It is important to understand that when the
Bible mentions “sins” plural, it is referring to committed
sins. “Sin” singular usually references the Adamic nature.
John addresses the two-fold sin problem and offers the two-fold
remedy in 1 John 1:7-9 where he says, “If we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all
sin [singular, the sin nature] . If we say that we
have no sin [if we say we were not born with an Adamic
or sin nature], we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sins, [plural, committed
sins] he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
[salvation], and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
[sanctification] .” Forgiveness is offered for actual
committed sins, while cleansing is offered for the Adamic
nature.
In Paul's instruction to the believers at Thessalonica,
he spoke of his desire that the “God of peace sanctify you
wholly” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The meaning of the word wholly
is “entirely,” and that is the reason the experience
of sanctification is sometimes referred to as “entire” sanctification.
In fact, this verse could accurately be read, “the very God
of peace sanctify you complete to the end,” “the very God
of peace sanctify you through and through,” “all in all,”
or “in every part.” There is no implication that God would
sanctify them “by and by,” or “part way and more as you go
along.” The experience of sanctification is complete.
Even though the word “wholly” is very expressive,
Paul continues, “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” If God sanctifies the whole spirit, soul, and body,
is anything left? No, it is entire sanctification. It is complete.
In verse 24, Paul added, “Faithful is he that calleth you,
who also will do it.” Will do what? He will sanctify a person
wholly and preserve him blameless unto the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Clearly, the thought here is that a Christian
receives something definite, and receives it before the Lord
Jesus Christ returns.
In many New Testament references to sanctification
and holiness, the definite nature of sanctification is evidenced
in the original Greek text by the aorist tense of the verb,
which indicates a specific and completed act, rather than
an ongoing one. Though spiritual growth continues throughout
a Christian's life, the cleansing work of sanctification is
not a gradual process; it is accomplished in an instant. In
every phase of his life, a sanctified Christian continues
to learn to apply what he has received. Christian growth begins
when a person prays through and is saved, and it should continue
until that person steps into Heaven.
Holiness is more than morality. Morality is
limited because people use differing standards to define what
is moral and what is immoral. In contrast, holiness is defined
by God's Word and is imparted through sanctification. Holiness
is a state of the heart that is commanded, and it is what
every Christian needs (Hebrews 12:14). Sanctification provides
it; there is no other way to be holy.
Genesis 1:26 indicates that man was made in
the image of God in the sense that he has an immortal soul.
Human beings also bear the image of God in the sense that
they are moral creatures. People can experience a sense of
guilt or remorse. They can feel joy. They have the power of
reasoning and choice—they have the moral capacity to choose
to do right or to do wrong.
Though Adam and Eve were created with a pure
bias or inclination, they chose to do wrong, and by that choice
plunged all of humanity into a depraved condition. Genesis
5:3 says , “And Adam . . . begat a son in his own
likeness, after his image.” The first child born into this
world was in Adam's image, not God's image. After
the fall, mankind inherited Adam's depraved nature, and every
person born into this world has an unholy inclination. Everyone
begins with that as a moral basis.
One of the clear lessons in the first chapter
of Genesis is that like produces like. Repeatedly the Bible
states that each living plant and creature reproduced after
its kind. That is true of fallen man too. All people inherited
their moral nature from Adam—his sinful nature. That is why
two sanctified people do not produce a sanctified child. Their
offspring is a fallen child with a depraved nature who needs
to be saved and later sanctified. John 3:6 says, “That which
is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.” All people need to be born of the Spirit—to
have their hearts regenerated and their past sins forgiven.
Then they are ready to have their hearts cleansed and made
holy through the sanctifying power of Jesus' Blood.
The Bible makes it very clear that, in addition
to being born with a sinful nature, every individual also
eventually chooses sin. Selfishness is part of a child's nature
long before he develops an ability to reason. Then, when reason
is developed, he continues in the same direction and makes
the same choice Adam made.
It is possible to trace a “behavior trail.”
Mark 7:21-23 says, “From within, out of the heart of men,
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil
things come from within, and defile the man.” Following the
behavior trail back to its source does not lead to the mind,
although the mind may have determined how a wicked deed would
be carried out. The behavior trail does not lead to the hand,
though the hand may have committed the deed. The behavior
trail will always lead to the heart where the plan was conceived.
It is the heart of man that has the problem. God's remedy
for sin goes to the heart of man and solves the heart problem.
When the heart problem is solved, the behavior problem is
solved.
God has provided a way to deal with the heart
problem. The Bible repeatedly instructs about the need for
cleansing, purging, and purifying. It says that the old nature,
(also referred to as “the old man” and “the body of sin”)
must be put off. (See Colossians 3:9; Romans 6:6.) These are
references to the necessity in the believer's life for the
experience of sanctification.
What does sanctification do in a life? When
a person has been sanctified, the old man, the carnal nature,
no longer dominates him because it has been eradicated. Sometimes
the phrase “Christian perfection” is used, referring to the
standard of life imparted to the sanctified believer. In Hebrews
13:20-21, we read, “Now the God of peace . . . make you
perfect in every good work to do his will, working in
you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus
Christ.” Sanctification provides a perfect heart—a state of
living where a person loves the Lord with all of his heart,
soul, mind, and strength; where every deed is motivated by
his devotion to God. It provides restoration of the pure nature
that mankind enjoyed before the fall. The sanctified heart
continually seeks after God and His will. Sanctified individuals
cultivate purity in spirit, soul, and body, and they turn
away from anything that would contaminate any part of their
beings.
It is important to know what sanctification
does, but it is also helpful to know what it does not do.
Sanctification does not raise a person's IQ. A diminished
intellect was the result of the fall, but the provision for
restoration does not deal with man's head; it deals solely
with the heart. So a person must not become discouraged and
conclude he is not sanctified just because he does not perfectly
understand something.
Sanctification does not deal with the physical
man, even though physical limitations were the result of the
fall. No doubt Adam experienced sickness; he died a physical
death. If sanctification had provided for restoration of the
physical body, that would not have happened.
People are not mentally, physically, or emotionally
perfect as a result of sanctification: they are morally perfect.
Sanctification deals with man's moral nature and
his need for moral restoration. That is why sanctified individuals
continue to face physical, mental, and even emotional limitations
that were a result of the fall. It is important for a person
not to search his head or his mind when going through a trial
or a challenge, but rather to search his heart. If the motivating
and underlying theme of his life is to love the Lord with
all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27), God
put that purpose there when He sanctified him.
Sanctification does not eliminate the possibility
of being tempted. Look back again to Adam, who was created
in a pure, moral state, but still was subject to temptation.
Adam had the power to overrule what he knew was right in his
heart; he did so and chose to do evil. The sanctified person,
with that pure, moral condition, can still choose to overrule
what he knows is right, and fall back into sin, but it is
certainly not necessary.
Heart purity, obtained at sanctification, establishes
an intense desire to correct personal shortcomings. The proof
of sanctification is that when a person sees some shortcoming
in his life, rather than resisting the reminder or check of
the Lord, the first and heartfelt response is to immediately
go to his knees and say, “God, help me to do better next time,
because I love You with all my heart, and I want to please
You in every way.” That deeply rooted desire to please the
Lord describes sanctification.
This is not to excuse behavior that springs
from a carnal nature. God knows the difference. Sin is an
act of deliberate enmity and rebellion toward God, and it
is dangerous to call any and every behavior just a “mistake.”
Rather than spending too much time trying to tag it, a person
should quickly come before God, acknowledging his shortcomings
and asking for His “grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews
4:16). God will help. There is victory in the Gospel!
In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, it says, “For this is
the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should
abstain from fornication.” God created the human family with
certain natural appetites and desires—put there by God to
serve a purpose. In Adam and Eve's case, there was nothing
wrong with desiring pleasant food. There was nothing wrong
with desiring to be wise. God gave them those desires. Paul's
reference to fornication addresses the desire planted by God
whereby the human family would be propagated. No matter what
human behavior is considered, a person needs to be sanctified
in order for that desire to be properly channeled.
With sanctification, God puts within a Christian's
heart the “want to,” the proper desire. When Paul says, “This
is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should
abstain from fornication,” he is not just saying that a person
needs sanctification, but he is telling why it is
needed. Sanctification is needed so that this desire—and all
others—are directed according to God's law of love.
Left to themselves, natural appetites and desires
can run rampant through people's lives. Even a cursory look
at society reveals the results of the fallen nature: God-given
appetites and desires have been completely unrestrained in
many cases. Man needs to be forgiven for past sins and then
he needs to be sanctified so his life can be lived according
to the way God intended man to live. When a person is sanctified,
it is not hard to live a holy life. It is spontaneous!
Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers, expressing
his desire that their “whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Preservation
is a function that sanctification accomplishes. To preserve
is “to keep in perfect or unaltered condition, to maintain
intact, prevent from decaying or spoiling.” So the prayer
is for the God of peace to sanctify wholly and to keep a person
in that blameless condition unto the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That experience is the preservation: God keeps the
heart without moral fault. The core of the teaching of sanctification
is that it gets to the heart and addresses the heart's needs.
The way in which a person approaches God for
sanctification is different from how he approaches Him for
salvation. When a person comes to God for salvation, he comes
knowing that he is a sinner. There are sinful deeds in his
life that separate him from God, and he feels remorseful about
them, so he comes to God in repentance and asks for mercy
and forgiveness. The Lord floods his heart with peace and
gives him a completely new life.
When that individual comes to God to be sanctified,
he does not come with repentance for committed sins. Instead,
he comes with a recognition of needing something more—a deliverance
from the inbred sin nature. He hungers for the ability to
fully conform to the image and nature of Christ, so he comes
consecrating, presenting his life in total submission as a
living sacrifice to God. That is his part—to yield or separate
himself to God. As he looks to God in simple faith, believing
Him for this experience, God will do His part by purifying
the Christian's heart and making it holy.
A person knows when he has received the experience
of sanctification, just as surely as he knew when he was saved,
even if he does not know what to call it at the time. The
divine love of God floods his heart. The bias or inclination
to sin is gone, and a deeper peace, rest, and joy comes into
his soul. The Spirit of God witnesses with his spirit that
his heart has been cleansed.
There is joy in the sanctified heart. Acts 16:25
says, “At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises
unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” Paul and Silas had
been arrested, beaten, and put in stocks. At first glance,
one might wonder, How could they sing in that condition? Yet,
a little closer look at the sanctified heart might prompt
the question, How could they not sing? That is what a sanctified
heart does! It just happens. What do birds do? They chirp.
What do stars do? They shine. The sanctified heart sings;
that is its natural behavior. If a person is sanctified, the
song is there, even though it may be deep inside when trials
are great.
When a person with a sanctified heart gets down
to pray, there is a praise to the Lord that wells up in his
heart. What will happen when a heart comes before God in that
manner? The Holy Ghost can be expected to descend upon that
pure vessel and fill it with His Spirit. That is what happened
in the Early Church when they were all “with one accord in
one place” (Acts 2:1). God's Spirit came down and filled those
believers with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, because that
is what the Holy Ghost does. People can expect the same today.
The Holy Ghost comes down on a pure sanctified life and endues
that one with power from on high and sends him on his way
to win souls for Jesus.
Sanctification provides unity, a oneness among
God's people. In John 17, Jesus prayed that his followers
might be sanctified, that they might be one as He was one
with His Heavenly Father. That prayer was definitely answered,
for before the Day of Pentecost they “all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14). When people
are sanctified, they are one in their desires for the furtherance
of the Gospel. They will be in it together, pulling with the
same goal in view. That is what a group of sanctified people
does! While there still will be individual preferences and
perspectives, it will not be a tug-of-war. Between sanctified
individuals, unity and harmony will prevail.
Ephesians 5:25-27 uses an illustration to describe
the purpose of sanctification. It says, “Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word, that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” The
purpose of sanctification is to make the Church what it ought
to be in the sight of God. Sanctification is not for unbelievers.
Sanctification is for those who have been saved; those who
know their sins have been forgiven. They will be part of the
“glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing,” but “holy and without blemish.”
After sanctification, the sanctified state is
maintained through the same consecration by which it was obtained.
A person abides in Christ, and allows Him to abide within.
He lives according to the way God would have him live. He
is more sensitive to the checks of the Holy Spirit. He is
more careful than he was before. He is more open to the prompting
of the Spirit of the Lord.
If you have been born again, sanctification
is an experience that is for you today. It is required for
all Christians, for God has commanded, “Be ye holy; for I
am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Consecrate your all to Him, and pray
until the experience is yours. What a wonderful difference
it will make in your life!
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