Sanctification eBook: Alive in Christ

By Lyle W Lange

What is sanctification?So what is sanctification exactly? If asked for a definition, could you give one? Christians lead lives of faith trusting in this core principle, even though they may not entirely understand what it means or what it looks like in daily life. Sanctification defines and explains what sanctification means in easy-to-understand terms. It also examines the contrast between justification and sanctification— as well as why sanctification is dependent upon justification— and why it all matters for the Christian.In this book, you' ll gain a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about sanctification and how it impacts your daily life as a Christian.The People' s Bible Teachings is a series of books on all the main teachings of the Bible. Following the pattern set by The People' s Bible series, these books are written for all Christians in an easy-to-read manner. The authors of The People' s Bible are all pastors and professors who have had years of experience teaching others about the Bible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Northwestern Publishing House
• Release date: Jul 1, 1999
• ISBN: 9780810026100

Book preview

Editor’s Preface

The People’s Bible Teachings is a series of books on all of the main doctrinal teachings of the Bible.

Following the pattern set by The People’s Bible series, these books are written especially for laypeople. Theological terms, when used, are explained in everyday language so that people can understand them. The authors show how Christian doctrine is drawn directly from clear passages of Scripture and then how those doctrines apply to people’s faith and life. Most importantly, these books show how every teaching of Scripture points to Christ, our only Savior.

The authors of The People’s Bible Teachings are parish pastors and professors who have had years of experience teaching the Bible. They are men of scholarship and practical insight.

We take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Professor Leroy Dobberstein of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wisconsin, and Professor Thomas Nass of Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minnesota, for serving as consultants for this series. Their insights and assistance have been invaluable.

We pray that the Lord will use these volumes to help his people grow in their faith, knowledge, and understanding of his saving teachings, which he has revealed to us in the Bible. To God alone be the glory.

Curtis A. Jahn

Series Editor  

Introduction

What is freedom? Is it the right to do or say whatever you want, regardless of the consequences to yourself or others? Is it really freedom when we do whatever we want? Is this not actually slavery to the appetites and desires of our sinful flesh? Real freedom is found only in Christ. It is freedom from the condemnation we deserve from God for breaking his law. It is freedom to serve God without fear and with holy lives.

God is holy. He desires only what is right and good. He can do no wrong. God created Adam and Eve in his own image, free from any corruption by sin. He gave them hearts that desired only what he willed. He enabled them to do what is right and good. They loved God with all their hearts, and they loved each other perfectly. Their holy lives of love served as testimonials to the love of their gracious Creator.

Tragically, Adam and Eve brought this blessed state to an end. They fell for the devil’s lie that they would be better off if they were free from God’s control. They rebelled against God and brought disaster down upon the entire human race. Because of sin they no longer loved God the way they should. Because they did not love God the way they should, they no longer loved each other the way they should. Their lives, which had once testified to the love of a gracious God, then demonstrated the horrible corruption of sin. They passed on this corruption and guilt to the entire human race.

If God had not intervened, humanity forever would have remained in slavery to sin. God, however, in his love for sinners, promised and sent his Son to free us from the slavery of sin. Through Christ’s righteousness, which is ours through faith, we stand righteous in God’s sight. Through the power of the gospel, God frees us from the slavery of sin and enables us to serve him with new lives. The lives we lead through faith in Christ are testimonials to the love of God.

It is God’s will that we lead holy lives. This good will of the Holy Trinity, however, has been resisted throughout history by the unholy trinity—the devil, the unbelieving world, and our own sinful flesh. The devil schemes to lead us into sin and unbelief. The unbelieving world also seeks to keep us from following God’s will. It tries to seduce us into sin and unbelief; it attempts to frighten us through persecution so we do not carry out God’s will. Our own sinful flesh wars against God’s will.

Believers of all ages have lived in pagan societies hostile to their faith. Yet God still calls on us to lead holy lives. It is his will that our lives may draw others to learn of Jesus.

This was God’s will for the people of Israel in the Old Testament. The Lord said to the Israelites: Keep my commands and follow them. I am the LORD. Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who makes you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD (Leviticus 22:31-33). The people of Israel lived among pagans in the land of Canaan. The Canaanites practiced the grossest forms of idolatry and immorality in their worship. God wanted Israel to remain free from the Canaanites’ influence. He also desired his people to serve as a light among the gentile nations. Their lives were to serve as a beacon to draw the nations to the coming Savior. Sadly, the Old Testament records that too often God’s people did not serve as a light to the nations around them. Instead, they were enveloped by the darkness of sin that surrounded them.

The world into which Jesus sent the first disciples with the light of the gospel was clouded by the darkness of sin and unbelief. Paul wrote to the Christians living in Rome, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Rome was considered the cesspool of the world in Paul’s day. Vices of every form imaginable flowed into Rome from the nations she had conquered. Paul did not tell the people of his day, When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Rather, he reminded the Christians in Rome that God had freed them from the slavery of sin. They were people transformed to live holy lives to the glory of God. They were to avoid sin and live righteously. Their lives were to cause people to desire to learn about Jesus.

What about the world in which we live today? Is our society a place that is benevolent toward our Christian faith and life? No. We also live in a pagan world. Idolatry, drug abuse, sexual immorality, violence, abortion, disrespect for human life, open and flagrant defiance of God’s commandments—all are common in our society. God does not want us to conform to the ways of the world. He has transformed us so that we might serve him in righteousness and holiness. He says to us, as Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received (4:1). God desires that we live lives that attract people to the good news about Jesus.

What is a holy life? In what does the Christian’s sanctified life consist? Paul warns us against those having a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5). Not all that appears as holy living is pleasing to God. Following mere human rules and regulations does not please God. Instead, it burdens consciences and leads people spiritually astray. Only God can tell us what kind of life is worthy of the calling he has given us. No person, no church body, no theologian, no church official can tell us what constitutes the Christian life. Only God can tell us this. In his Word the Lord tells us what makes up the sanctified Christian life. Through his gospel the Lord supplies the power for living a sanctified life.

Let us turn to the Bible and see what God teaches concerning the lives we are to lead in response to his grace. May God bless our study of sanctification so we hallow his name by truthfully teaching his Word and living holy lives according to it!

1

The Bible’s Definition of Sanctification

What is sanctification? The Bible uses the word sanctification in two different ways. It speaks of sanctification in a wide sense and in a narrow sense. Sanctification in the wide sense refers to all God does for the salvation of sinners. It includes the following: In eternity God chose us to be saved. In time he sent his Son to atone for our sins. He brings us to faith in Jesus by the Holy Spirit’s work through the good news about Jesus (the gospel) and Baptism. He preserves us in the faith through the gospel and the sacraments so that we enter eternal life. All this is included when the Bible speaks of sanctification in the wide sense.

Sanctification in the narrow sense refers to the new life God enables the Christian to lead in response to his grace. God brings us to faith, gives us spiritual life, and enables us to live godly lives. Sanctification in the narrow sense, referring to the new life the Christian leads through faith in Jesus, is what Christian teachers speak of most often when referring to sanctification. The majority of this book addresses sanctification in the narrow sense.

We will look at Bible passages that show us how the Bible uses sanctification in the wide sense and in the narrow sense. The Bible itself must distinguish for us which sense of the word sanctification is being used. Let us first look at those passages that use sanctification in the wide sense.

Before looking at the Scripture passages, we should note that even though the words for sanctification occur in the original languages of the Bible, the NIV translators opted not to use the word sanctification as such. In certain instances they also opted to use other words for the verb sanctify. As we quote the Scripture verses in the next section, we will insert the words sanctification and sanctify in brackets to alert the reader where they occur in the passages.

Sanctification in the wide sense— all God does to save sinners

Peter addressed the Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor as God’s elect … who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work [sanctification] of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood (1 Peter 1:1,2). Peter reminded his readers of all God did to save them. In eternity God chose them to be his own. He sent the Holy Spirit to bring them to obey Christ in faith. Through faith in Jesus, they possessed the perfect righteousness Jesus won for them by his holy life. The filth of their sins had been washed away by Christ’s blood. This work, by which the Holy Spirit gives Christians salvation, Peter called the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

Similarly, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work [sanctification] of the Spirit and through belief in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). It was no accident that the Thessalonian Christians came to faith. Before time began, God chose them to be his own. In time he sent the Holy Spirit to bring them to faith in Jesus. This work, by which the Holy Spirit gave the Thessalonians salvation through faith in Jesus, Paul also called the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

Other passages in the Bible also use the word sanctify in the sense of relating all God did for the sinner’s salvation. Consider the words Paul spoke to King Agrippa. Paul related how Jesus had sent him to preach the good news of salvation to those who were not Jews. Jesus had said to Paul, I am sending you to them [the Gentiles] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Acts 26:17,18). To be sanctified by faith is to receive, through faith, the righteousness Jesus won by his life, death, and resurrection.

Similarly, Paul wrote to the Ephesians, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy [to sanctify her], cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (5:25-27). It is evident from this passage that we are not made holy before God because of our own efforts. Rather, God counts us as holy because he cleansed us from the stain of sin through the washing of Baptism. God uses Baptism to bring us to faith. Through faith he clothes us in Jesus’ righteousness.

From these passages it is evident that the Bible uses the word sanctification to describe all God does for the sinner’s salvation. God brings us to faith in Jesus, clothes us through faith in Christ’s righteousness, and preserves us in faith to eternal life. Martin Luther spoke of this work of God in his explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed: The Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

Luther amplifies this explanation in his Large Catechism: Just as the Son obtains dominion by purchasing us through his birth, death, and resurrection, etc., so the Holy Spirit effects our sanctification through the following: the communion of saints or Christian church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting…. Therefore to sanctify is nothing else than to bring us to the Lord Christ to receive this blessing [forgiveness], which we could not obtain by ourselves.¹

Sanctification in the narrow sense—the new life God enables the Christian to live through faith in Jesus

The Bible also uses the word sanctification to speak of the new life God enables Christians to live through faith in Jesus. This new life is what we call sanctification in the narrow sense. When we speak of the narrow sense, we refer to how the word is used with a limited definition. In Christian teaching sanctification most often refers to the new life God enables the Christian to live through faith in Jesus.

Before we look at our new life in Christ, let us look at the life from which Jesus saved us. We learn about that life from God’s law.

God’s law acts as a mirror. It clearly shows what all people are like by nature. The image God’s law reflects of us is not a pretty one. People do not like to hear what God’s law says about them. By nature people prefer a touched-up picture, one that eliminates anything unpleasant about them. People like to feel good about themselves. They prefer to think they are by nature eager and able to please God. Such a picture, however, is not the picture the Bible paints of human beings as they are from birth.

The Bible tells us all people by nature are dead in sin, enemies of God, and slaves to Satan. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient (2:1,2). When children are conceived, physical life begins. Though physically alive, all people are spiritually dead in sin. They cannot do a thing to save themselves. If someone offered a corpse a million dollars to get out of a coffin, that person’s money would be safe. No matter how attractive the offer, the corpse cannot respond. The corpse has no life to give any response. Similarly, God offers people salvation in the gospel. By nature no one can accept the offer. No one by nature has the spiritual life to do so.

Not only are all people by nature dead