Question 39:
What is sanctification?
Answer:
Sanctification is the work of God's free grace by which we are renewed in the
whole person after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto
sin, and live unto righteousness.
Day 1: Sanctified
Freely by Grace (God’s Choice and Our Response)
2
Thessalonians 2:13
The
third benefit of our effectual calling that we will look at this week is
sanctification. For me this has been one
of the most difficult doctrines to grasp.
However, this is one that makes little sense unless it is viewed through
the lens of the reformed student. For
the Armenian and semi-Pelagian, the end is to become a believer and the means
is the “plan of salvation.” For the
Calvinist, the end is to “be the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:14) and the
means is the Gospel through sanctification.
In the former there is a distinct point when one’s purpose has been
accomplished, but in the latter the purpose is never-ending. Thus, the reformer sees sanctification in three
dimensions: the purpose of our sanctification for eternity being established
before time began, the manifestation of our sanctification being given in time
at conversion, and the realization of our sanctification completed being
realized in the glory to come.
Our
passage in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 is an excellent place to start for it
gives us the beginning point of our salvation and our motivation to live the
sanctified life. We get the impression
from scripture that the Thessalonians were anxious for the Lord to return. In his first letter, Paul had to teach and
comfort these worried about their loved ones who “sleep in Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14) In this second letter we find Paul reminding
them of the same things (verse 5). The
reminder is that before the Lord returns there must be this great falling away
(or apostasy from the Greek apostasia).
The purpose of this is to reveal the “lawless one” for who he is and that the
resulting darkness (and Satan himself) will be swallowed up in the consuming
brightness of the coming of Christ (verse 8).
Those who do not receive “the love of the truth” will be greatly deluded
by their master into believing a lie, thus having their condemnation sealed
with him (verses 11-12).
But
for the “brethren beloved by the Lord” (adelphos agapao hupo kurios) the picture
is painted quite differently. As the
catechism says, the difference is found in an act of God’s free grace. We see the cause of our salvation as God’s
choice. Chose in the Greek is haireomai meaning to take for oneself,
to prefer, choose. As Jesus said, “You
did not choose Me, but I chose you...”
(John 15:16) God initiates our salvation by choosing us to it. But when does he choose us? When we exercise faith? When we are born and do good? When we first choose Him? Paul says that His choosing occurred from the
beginning (Greek: arche = beginning,
origin, that by which anything begins to be, the origin, the active
cause). Thus, from the foundation of the
world God has chosen us (Ephesians 1:4).
We
see further that the salvation that God has chosen us for is through
sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. We have already seen in several of our past
lessons that our salvation is received by belief or faith in the truth of God’s
redemptive work in His precious Son Christ Jesus Our Lord. We have also seen the work of His Holy Spirit
in our effectual calling. But the Holy
Spirit does not cease His work once we receive Christ by faith, He continues to
indwell us and work out sanctification in us.
(Ephesians 1:13-14, 2:22, 3:16, 5:18, 6:18) Sanctification is given in the Greek as hagiasmos meaning holiness,
consecration, purification, and sanctification of heart and life. The root in the Greek is hagios where we get our words for holy and saint. Very simply sanctification is the process by
which we are set apart for worship of Almighty God our Father. Sanctification has been wrongly characterized
as preparation to meet God. But sanctification is the process of meeting God in present times in the flesh. It is today and everyday to come that we
worship God and enjoy Him.
Sanctification is where God deals with the nature of our flesh and
strengthens us with His Spirit through trials, tribulations, corrections,
rebukes, etc. Thus, as verse 14 says
that the gospel works to heap glory upon Christ Jesus. This is what sanctification does.
The
apostate will have be deceived and condemned, but we are to be bound (Greek = opheilo = to owe, be in debt for) to
give thanks (Greek = eucharisteo = to
be grateful, give thanks) always (Greek = pantote
at all times, always, forever). It is
not a debt that we pay grudgingly, but we pay it willingly to the One who has
graciously created us and redeemed us.
What else should we owe to God, but our highest praise of word,
attitude, and deed since He is our refuge, our sanctuary, our Master, our
strength, our Creator, our King, our Father, our comfort, our advocate, our
help, our hope, our deliver, our judge. He
is God Almighty, God Most High, Sovereign LORD, Majestic Glory, Eternal God,
the great I AM WHO I AM. He is love,
healer, provider, peace, true, faithful, exalted, everlasting, all wise, all
knowing, unchangeable, boundless, and He is our very great reward.
Discuss the following with your family:
1.
Define
sanctification. Discuss the difference
of viewing our sanctification from a reformed view.
2.
Is there evidence
of sanctification in your life? Your
family’s life?
3.
What is God to
you and your family? Have a time of
praise in word, prayer, and song.
Throughout the week have the smaller children to color and draw pictures
representing God’s glory (burning bush, Jesus, cloud, pillar of fire,
etc.). Parents and older children, we
must allow God to transform our hearts such that every fiber of our being
praises Him.
Day 2: A New
Creation in Christ
Ephesians
4:23-24
The
beginning point of our sanctification is regeneration. But, we are not immediately transformed into
the image of Christ. Babies are born
immature and undeveloped, but they are born with all that is necessary to grow
into a mature adult. Likewise, we are
born into the
This
process begins in the mind. Paul starts
to speak to this issue in verse 17. He
contrasts the way they used to walk in the “futility of their mind.” They had a mind, but it could only devise
evil acts and evil intentions. Their
understanding was darkened and they were blind of heart. They were driven by the emotion of what
brought selfish pleasure. Notice in
verse 20 that even though Christ had taught them their behavior did not
automatically change the old nature still resides in our flesh.
The
Greek word used for mind is nous,
which speaks to where we reason, have intellect, make choices, feel, perceive,
and judge. The phrase “spirit of your
mind” emphasizes a change our way of thinking.
Spiritual darkness has been replaced by spiritual understanding with
obvious moral implications regarding our choices, emotions, perception,
judgement, etc. There is a charge here
to be renewed (Greek = ananeoo to
renew in the mind) in our minds. The
Holy Spirit indwells us and the law is now written on our hearts (Hebrews
10:16), thus we must now cooperate with what is within us such that He can mold
us into the image of Christ.
The
next step is to “put on the new man” which is to be contrasted with the putting
off of our former conduct in verse 22.
“Put off” in the Greek is apotithemi
meaning to put off or aside or away.
“Put on” in the Greek is enduo
which literally means to cloth one’s self.
Thus a new heart leads us to two actions concerning sanctification. First is repentance. The law in our hearts convicts us and we are
compelled to confess our sins sorrowfully and turn to God for His mercy. We cease in our former conduct. Second we put on all the attributes of our
new nature in Christ.
The
new man is made manifest in us in two ways in true righteousness and
holiness. John MacArthur characterizes
true righteousness as how we relate to our fellow man and holiness describes
how we are to relate to God. So true
righteousness relates to the last six of the Ten Commandments (Exodus
20:12-17), loving our neighbor as ourselves, as loving our enemies, praying for
those who spitefully use us, to be hospitable, kind, compassionate, etc. And holiness would be encompassed by the
first four of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-11), to love God with all of
our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to worship in spirit and truth, to walk
worth, to be holy, etc. Again, this does
not all happen at once, but God gradually takes us as babes and through the
word, prayer, and trials. God grows us
into spiritually mature Christians.
Discuss
the following with your family:
1.
Turn to Galatians
5:16 – 26. Discuss the differences
between those who walk in the Spirit and those who fulfill the lusts of the
flesh. Dwell on the fruit of the Spirit. Guide your family to petition God to bear
such fruit. (Tomorrow we will focus more
on the works of the flesh.)
Day 3: Dead to
Sin, Alive in Christ
Romans
6:11
In
the last lesson we dealt primarily with the putting on of the new of our
sanctification. Today we will deal with the putting off of the old.
All
the way back into Chapter 5, Paul is laying out the significance of the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Verse 19 was
a memory verse for some of us several weeks ago stating that through one man’s
disobedience (Adam) all sinned, but through one Man’s obedience (Christ’s) many
will be made alive. In verses 20 and 21,
Paul shows how the law revealing more of our sins causes the grace of God to
abound even more. For where there is an
abundance of sins, there is an abundance of grace to atone for them.
In
6:1, Paul deals with the next logical argument that some may raise, “well
should we just sin all the more for grace to abound even more?” The answer of course is no, which Paul
discusses in verses 2-14. Our sins have
been buried with Christ and we have born anew to live “in the likeness of His
resurrection” (verse 5) and we are now free from sin not slaves to it (verses
6-7).
In
verse 11, we see that we must be transformed to image of Christ who has dominion
over death mentioned in verses 9-10. As
Christ died and took our sins with Him and the power of death that comes with
sin, we should also reckon ourselves dead to sin. The Greek for reckon in is logizomai meaning to reckon, to
consider, to take into account, weigh, meditate on, to suppose, deem, judge, to
determine, purpose, and decide. The word
is much stronger than it may appear. It
is not some supposition, but fact.
Spiritually we are dead to sin and must cooperate with the Spirit to
make it manifest in the flesh. This is
in the imperative mood, something that we must do. The word indeed (men in Greek meaning truly, certainly, surely, indeed) interjected
emphasizes this point. To be dead to sin
is to exist as if sin does not exist itself.
The Greek nekros for dead
meaning deceased, lifeless, dead or more specifically to this case means
destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative.
On
the other hand, we have life and life abundant in Christ Jesus. (John 10:10)
Life in the Greek is zao
meaning to live, to have true life, to be in full vigor, to be fresh, strong,
efficient, and to be active, powerful, efficacious. Verses 12 –14 show us that we no longer have
to obey the lusts of the flesh. We are
no longer under the law, but under grace.
We have the life, the power to choose righteousness over sin. For the truly elect, it is more than we just have
ability to reject sin, but the desire also.
(Consider Isaiah 6:1-8, 1 John 2:3-6, 15-17, 3:4-10, 5:1-5, and 3 John
11) Thus, we can now proceed with
the purpose of our calling to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We can say now and forevermore with the
twenty-four elders, "You are worthy, O
Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by
Your will they exist and were created."
(Revelation 4:11)
Discuss
the following with your family:
1. Turn again to Galatians 5:16 – 26. Dwell this time on the works of the
flesh. Discuss how as believers we have
the command and power to put these sinful lusts to death. Be reminded that these may only be manifest
in the heart, but just as grievous to God.
2. You may also want to review Romans 1:26-32, Ephesians
5:1-12, 2 Timothy 3:1-10, 1 Timothy 6:11-16.
These are further lists contrasting a sanctified life of holiness verses
the lusts of the flesh.
Scripture: 2
Thessalonians 2: 13; Ephesians 4:23, 24; Romans 6:11.