Sanctification: A Study in Divine Grace
Jack Kettler
Abstract
This study examines the biblical doctrine of sanctification, distinguishing it from the forensic act of justification, defining its semantic range, and delineating the respective roles of divine agency and human responsibility. Drawing on lexical analysis, selected scriptural texts, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and classic commentaries, the essay argues that sanctification is an ongoing, Spirit-wrought transformation of the believer into the image of Christ, grounded exclusively in Christ’s atoning work and sustained by the Word and Spirit.
Introduction
Sanctification both presupposes and follows justification. Whereas justification is a once-for-all declarative act of God in which the believer is declared righteous on the basis of Christ’s finished work, sanctification is a progressive, lifelong process in which the Holy Spirit conforms the justified person more fully to the image of Christ in desire, thought, and conduct. The present inquiry proceeds in the spirit of the Bereans (Acts 17:11), testing all claims against the written Word.
Definition and Semantic Range
Contemporary lexicography defines the verb “to sanctify” as (1) to set apart for a sacred purpose or religious use, or (2) to free from sin and purify. Theologically, sanctification is the ongoing inner transformation in which the Holy Spirit works to make the believer more and more like Christ in every respect. To sanctify is to set apart or consecrate for holy use.
God calls believers to this end: “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7). Believers are likewise commanded to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).
The biblical concept extends beyond individual persons. Families are summoned to sanctification: “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments’” (Genesis 35:2). Nations may be set apart: “And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore” (Ezekiel 37:28). Even places and objects receive sanctification, as when bounds are set about Sinai (Exodus 19:12), the seventh day is hallowed (Genesis 2:2), and the tabernacle with its utensils is consecrated (Exodus 27:18–20). Ultimately, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15), for every created thing is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer.
Human Responsibility under Divine Empowerment
Believers are called to active participation in this process. They are to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10–11) and to “take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). The classic Pauline formulation balances divine and human agency: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).
The Westminster Confession of Faith (XVI.2–3) underscores that good works, while necessary fruits of a true and lively faith, remain wholly dependent upon the Spirit of Christ:
“II. These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the Gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end, eternal life.
III. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ. And that they may be enabled thereunto, beside the graces they have already received, there is required an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit, to work in them to will, and to do, of His good pleasure: yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent, as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit; but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them.”
Lexical Analysis
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words supplies the following analysis of the relevant terms.
A. Noun
HAGIASMOS (“sanctification”) denotes (a) separation to God (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2) and (b) the course of life befitting those so separated (1 Thess. 4:3, 4, 7; Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 12:14).
“Sanctification is that relationship with God into which men enter by faith in Christ, Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 6:11, and to which their sole title is the death of Christ, Eph. 5:25, 26; Col. 1:22; Heb. 10:10, 29; 13:12. Sanctification is also used in NT of the separation of the believer from evil things and ways. This sanctification is God’s will for the believer, 1 Thess. 4:3, and His purpose in calling him by the gospel, v. 7; it must be learned from God, v. 4, as He teaches it by His Word, John 17:17, 19, cf. Ps. 17:4; 119:9, and it must be pursued by the believer, earnestly and undeviatingly, 1 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 12:14. For the holy character, hagiosune, 1 Thess. 3:13, is not vicarious, i.e., it cannot be transferred or imputed, it is an individual possession, built up, little by little, as the result of obedience to the Word of God, and of following the example of Christ, Matt. 11:29; John 13:15; Eph. 4:20; Phil. 2:5, in the power of the Holy Spirit, Rom. 8:13; Eph. 3:16. The Holy Spirit is the Agent in sanctification, Rom. 15:16; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2; cf. 1 Cor. 6:11. The sanctification of the Spirit is associated with the choice, or election, of God; it is a Divine act preceding the acceptance of the Gospel by the individual.”
B. Verb
HAGIAZŌ (“to sanctify”) is applied to (a) the gold adorning the Temple and the gift on the altar (Matt. 23:17, 19); (b) food (1 Tim. 4:5); (c) the unbelieving spouse of a believer (1 Cor. 7:14); (d) the ceremonial cleansing of the Israelites (Heb. 9:13); (e) the Father’s Name (Luke 11:2); (f) the consecration of the Son by the Father (John 10:36); (g) the Lord Jesus devoting Himself to the redemption of His people (John 17:19); (h) the setting apart of the believer for God (Acts 20:32; cf. Rom. 15:16); (i) the effect on the believer of the Death of Christ (Heb. 10:10, said of God, and 2:11; 13:12, said of the Lord Jesus); (j) the separation of the believer from the world in his behavior—by the Father through the Word (John 17:17, 19); (k) the believer who turns away from such things as dishonor God and His gospel (2 Tim. 2:21); and (l) the acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ (1 Pet. 3:15).
“Since every believer is sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. 1:2, cf. Heb. 10:10, a common NT designation of all believers is ‘saints,’ hagioi, i.e., ‘sanctified’ or ‘holy ones.’ Thus sainthood, or sanctification, is not an attainment, it is the state into which God, in grace, calls sinful men, and in which they begin their course as Christians, Col. 3:12; Heb. 3:1.”¹
Progressive Sanctification and Glorification
The transformative nature of sanctification is captured in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers offers the following exposition:
“(18) But we all, with open face.—Better, And we all, with unveiled face.—The relation of this sentence to the foregoing is one of sequence and not of contrast, and it is obviously important to maintain in the English, as in the Greek, the continuity of allusive thought involved in the use of the same words as in 2Corinthians 3:14. ‘We,’ says the Apostle, after the parenthesis of 2Corinthians 3:17, ‘are free, and therefore we have no need to cover our faces, as slaves do before the presence of a great king. There is no veil over our hearts, and therefore none over the eyes with which we exercise our faculty of spiritual vision. We are as Moses was when he stood before the Lord with the veil withdrawn.’ If the Tallith were in use at this time in the synagogues of the Jews, there might also be a reference to the contrast between that ceremonial usage and the practice of Christian assemblies. (Comp. 1Corinthians 11:7; but see Note on 2Corinthians 3:15.)
Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.—The Greek participle which answers to the first five words belongs to a verb derived from the Greek for ‘mirror’ (identical in meaning, though not in form, with that of 1Corinthians 13:12). The word is not a common word, and St. Paul obviously had some special reason for choosing it, instead of the more familiar words, ‘seeing,’ ‘beholding,’ ‘gazing stedfastly;’ and it is accordingly important to ascertain its meaning. There is no doubt that the active voice signifies to ‘make a reflection in a mirror.’ There is as little doubt that the middle voice signifies to look at one’s self in a mirror. Thus Socrates advised drunkards and the young to ‘look at themselves in a mirror,’ that they might learn the disturbing effects of passion (Diog. Laert. ii. 33; iii. 39). This meaning, however, is inapplicable here; and the writings of Philo, who in one passage (de Migr. Abrah. p. 403) uses it in this sense of the priests who saw their faces in the polished brass of the lavers of purification, supply an instance of its use with a more appropriate meaning. Paraphrasing the prayer of Moses in Exodus 33:18, he makes him say: ‘Let me not behold Thy form (idea) mirrored (using the very word which we find here) in any created thing, but in Thee, the very God’ (2 Allegor. p. 79). And this is obviously the force of the word here. The sequence of thought is, it is believed, this:—St. Paul was about to contrast the veiled vision of Israel with the unveiled gaze of the disciples of Christ; but he remembers what he had said in 1Corinthians 13:12 as to the limitation of our present knowledge, and therefore, instead of using the more common word, which would convey the thought of a fuller knowledge, falls back upon the unusual word, which exactly expresses the same thought as that passage had expressed. ‘We behold the glory of the Lord, of the Jehovah of the Old Testament, but it is not, as yet, face to face, but as mirrored in the person of Christ.’ The following words, however, show that the word suggested yet another thought to him. When we see the sun as reflected in a polished mirror of brass or silver, the light illumines us: we are, as it were, transfigured by it and reflect its brightness. That this meaning lies in the word itself cannot, it is true, be proved, and it is, perhaps, hardly compatible with the other meaning which we have assigned to it; but it is perfectly conceivable that the word should suggest the fact, and the fact be looked on as a parable.
Are changed into the same image.—Literally, are being transfigured into the same image. The verb is the same (metemorphôthè) as that used in the account of our Lord’s transfiguration in Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:2; and it may be noted that it is used of the transformation (a metamorphosis more wondrous than any poet had dreamt of) of the Christian into the likeness of Christ in the nearly contemporary passage (Romans 12:2). The thought is identical with that of Romans 8:29: ‘Conformed to the likeness’ (or image) ‘of His Son.’ We see God mirrored in Christ, who is ‘the image of the invisible God’ (Colossians 1:15), and as we gaze, with our face unveiled, on that mirror, a change comes over us. The image of the old evil Adam-nature (1Corinthians 15:49) becomes less distinct, and the image of the new man, after the likeness of Christ, takes its place. We ‘faintly give back what we adore,’ and man, in his measure and degree, becomes, as he was meant to be at his creation, like Christ, ‘the image of the invisible God.’ Human thought has, we may well believe, never pictured what in simple phrase we describe as growth in grace, the stages of progressive sanctification, in the language of a nobler poetry.
From glory to glory.—This mode of expressing completeness is characteristic of St. Paul, as in Romans 1:17, ‘from faith to faith’; 2Corinthians 2:16, ‘of death to death.’ The thought conveyed is less that of passing from one stage of glory to another than the idea that this transfiguring process, which begins with glory, will find its consummation also in glory. The glory hereafter will be the crown of the glory here. The beatific vision will be possible only for those who have been thus transfigured. ‘We know that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is’ (1John 3:2).
Even as by the Spirit of the Lord.—The Greek presents the words in a form which admits of three possible renderings. (1) That of the English version; (2) that in the margin, ‘as of the Lord the Spirit’; (3) as of the Lord of the Spirit. The exceptional order in which the two words stand, which must be thought as adopted with a purpose, is in favour of (2) and (3) rather than of (1), and the fact that the writer had just dictated the words ‘the Lord is the Spirit’ in favour of (2) rather than (3). The form of speech is encompassed with the same difficulties as before, but the leading thought is clear: ‘The process of transformation originates with the Lord (i.e., with Christ), but it is with Him, not ‘after the flesh’ as a mere teacher and prophet (2Corinthians 5:16), not as the mere giver of another code of ethics, another ‘letter’ or writing, but as a spiritual power and presence, working upon our spirits. In the more technical language of developed theology, it is through the Holy Spirit that the Lord, the Christ, makes His presence manifest to our human spirit.’ (Comp. Notes on John 14:22-26.)”²
The Westminster Confession of Faith on Sanctification
The Westminster Assembly (1643–1648), convened by the Puritan Parliament, produced a Confession that has served as a principal secondary standard for numerous Protestant and Evangelical traditions, including its adaptation in the Savoy Declaration (1658) and the London Baptist Confession (1689). Chapter XIII states:
“I. They, who are once effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart, and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection,[1] by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them:[2] the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed,[3] and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified;[4] and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces,[5] to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.[6]
II. This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man;[7] yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part;[8] whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.[9]
III. In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail;[10] yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome;[11] and so, the saints grow in grace,[12] perfecting holiness in the fear of God.[13]”
Scriptural proofs cited by the Confession include:
[1] 1 Cor. 6:11; Acts 20:32; Phil. 3:10; Rom. 6:5–6.
[2] John 17:17; Eph. 5:26; 2 Thess. 2:13.
[3] Rom. 6:6, 14.
[4] Gal. 5:24; Rom. 8:13.
[5] Col. 1:11; Eph. 3:16–19.
[6] 2 Cor. 7:1; Heb. 12:14.
[7] 1 Thess. 5:23.
[8] 1 John 1:10; Rom. 7:18, 23; Phil. 3:12.
[9] Gal. 5:17; 1 Pet. 2:11.
[10] Rom. 7:23.
[11] Rom. 6:14; 1 John 5:4; Eph. 4:15–16.
[12] 2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 3:18.
[13] 2 Cor. 7:1.
Conclusion
Sanctification follows justification and is likewise a gracious gift of God. Justification is the once-for-all declarative act in which sins are fully forgiven on the basis of Christ’s atoning work. Sanctification is the subsequent process by which the indwelling Holy Spirit progressively conforms the believer to Christ. Apart from the cross and the gift of the Spirit, true sanctification is impossible. Isaiah’s prophetic vision remains the believer’s hope and summons: “And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein” (Isaiah 35:8). The apostolic charge stands: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Notes
W. E. Vine, “An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words” (Iowa Falls, IA: Riverside Book and Bible House), 989–990.Charles John Ellicott, “Bible Commentary for English Readers”, 2 Corinthians, vol. 2 (London: Cassell and Company), 374.
Declaration
“For transparency, I note that I used Grok, an AI tool developed by xAI, and Grammarly AI for editorial assistance in drafting, organizing, and refining the manuscript’s clarity and grammar, as indicated in the article’s attribution. All theological arguments, exegesis, and interpretations are my own, and I take full responsibility for the content.” – Jack Kettler
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
