SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFY

In (o) Jn 10'« and (6) 17"-" our Lord makes Himself the object of the verb, — in the second instance the subject also, (a) The Father 'consecrated' Him for Hia world-mission (a pre-incarnate destination; see 1", 1 Jn 4»- "; ct. Jer 1'); (6) at the Last Supper the Son endorses that consecration in view of its dread issue, and proposes to share it with His disciples, as He dedicates Himself to the sacrifice of the cross. Thus in the Person of Jesus Christ sanctification assumes a new and very definite character; as Christian holiness, general consecra-tion to the service of God becomes a specific consecration to the mission of redemption. In Mt 23"-" Jesus speaks ad hominem, appealing to the axiom that ' the holy place ' sanctifies whatever is devoted to it.

(2) The Epistle to the Hebrews builds upon the OT conception of holiness. Its doctrine of sanctification is found in 2" 9"-" lO"-"- "■'^ 12" 13"-'2. Being ' the captain of salvation ' and ' high priest ' of mankind, it is the office of Jesus to 'sanctify' His brethren, i.e. to consecrate them to God's service, for which as sinners they have been disabled (5' 10»). This He effects God- ward by 'making propitiation for' their 'sins' (2"), and man-ward by 'cleansing their conscience' with the virtue of 'his blood' — by removing the sense of personal guilt before God — even as the animal sacri-fices 'sanctified' the Israelites 'unto the cleanness of the flesh' (9'"), and made their ritual worship possible. The chasm which sin has opened between man and God was bridged by the mediation of Jesus Christ; no longer is he kept aloof from the Divine presence, but is bidden to 'come with boldness unto the throne of grace' (4'« 10"-^). 'Once for all' this access has been secured, this qualification bestowed on ' the people ' whom 'Jesus sanctified by means of his own blood' (13'2): 'we have been sanctified' according to 'the will of God,' which Jesus embraced and whose demands He met on our behalf with perfect loyalty, in 'the offering of his body' (10*-'°). By that 'one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified' — He has assured, for all who will accept it, till the world's end, a full qualification for fellowship with God (10"). Hebrews supplies the link between the 'I sanctify myself of Jesus, and 'that they also may be sanctified in truth ' (Jn 17"). With the writer of Heb., ' cleansing' and 'sanctification' define, on the negative and positive sides, all that St. Paul means by 'justification' and 'sanctification '; only, the second term is here made more prominent and wider in meaning than with the Apostle. St. Paul sees the sinner confronted by the Law of God, guilty and impotent; his fellow-teacher sees him stand-ing outside the temple of God, defiled and banned. Sanctification means, for the former, engagement to God's service (Ro G'^-k); for the latter, empowerment for God's worship. That this grace imports, however, in Hebrews more than a status once conferred, is evident from 12"; it is a state to be increasingly realized, an ideal to be pursued to the end.

(3) St . Paul addresses his readers constantly as ' saints ' (see art. Holiness) ; once as ' sanctified in Christ Jesus ' (1 Co 12), — a phrase synonymous with 'called saints,' i.e. made holy by God's call which they obeyed, when He summoned them into His Kingdom (cf. vv.'- ^a-so^ 1 Th 1* 2") . The former expression points to the com-pleted act of God by which they have become His saints (cf. 1 Co 6", Ac 2032 2618). That sanctity, with St. Paul, is a term of relationship, not primarily of character, is evident from 1 Co 7", where ' the unbelieving husband ' or ' wife ' is said to ' have been sanctified in ' the Christian wedded partner, so that their offspring are 'holy': the person of the unbeliever, under the marriage-bond, is holy in the believer's eyes, as indeed every possession and instrument of life must be (see 1 Ti 4'-'). In the case of the believer himself, who 'in Christ Jesus' is brought into immediate personal contact with God (Col 3'), destination and use imply moral condition — ' the vessels of the Lord' must be 'clean' and "made ready

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SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFY

for every good work' (2 Ti 2"-^; cf. 1 above, touching the OT Law of Holiness); so that, while 'sanctity' does not denote character, it normally connotes this; all virtue comes under the category of that which ' becometh saints ' or 'is fit in the Lord' (Eph fi''. Col 3'2- 's etc.). Accord-ingly, in 1 Th 4*- ' 'sanctification ' is opposed specifically to ' lust ' and sexual ' uncleanneas'— by contrast, probably, with the pagan 'consecration' to impure deities, as in the case of the hieroduloi of Corinth icf. 1 Co G's-^o).

Sanctification completes justification (wh. see); to-gether, these constitute the present work of salvation, the re-instatement of the sinful man before his Maker, his instatement into the Christian standing and con-dition (see 1 Co 6", and the connexion between chs. 5 and 6 of Ro.). In principle the former depends on the latter, in experience they are concomitant (Ro 6"- 22). They are alike acts of God, dealing with men in His grace through Christ (Ro 8™- ", 1 Th 5"'-, Jn 17"; cf. Lv 2282'). The 'anointing' and 'sealing' of 2 Co 12"-, while referring formally to baptism, substantially describe sanctification, since God consecrates the believer for His use and marks him in baptism with His 'broad arrow."

As the writer of Hebrews shows in his own way — see (2) above — Christ is the mediator of sanctification no less than of justification. He 'bought' men with the 'price' of His blood — the bodily 'limbs' along with the inner self — so that we are no longer 'our own' and may not 'live for ourselves,' but are, from the hour we know this, men 'living for God in Christ Jesus'; and Christ 'presents' His redeemed 'to God as holy' and makes them God's 'sure possession,' destined 'for the praise of His glory' (1 Co 6'"-, Ko 6"-" 12', Col 122, Eph 1", 1 P 2», Rev 1« etc.). Once, in relation to the Church His bride, Christ is Himself called the ' sanctifier' (Eph 52«; cf. He IS"). Being our Head and Repre-sentative before God, dedicating ' all his own ' ( Jn 17'°) to the Father in the offering of Calvary, Jesus virtually accomplished the sanctification of His people, with their justification, once for all (1 Co I™): Paul's saying, 'I have been crucified with Christ' (Gal 22» 6"), implies that he has been, by anticipation, included in the perfect sacrifice; he thus unfolds the implicit doctrine of Jn 17"- and "is (see (1) above; cf. He 10").

Collectively, believers were sanctified in the self-devo-tion of their redeeming Lord; individually, they are sanctified when they accept the Redeemer's sacrifice and personally endorse His action. From the latter point of view, sanctification is the man's own deed: he 'presents himself to God as alive from the dead' (Ro &"■ '*); but the sinner is never, as in OT phrase, said to 'sanctify himself,' — though 1 Ti 48-' approaches this mode of statement. The Holy Spirit is, with much emphasis, identified with the work of sanctification; Christian believers are 'sanctified in the Holy Spirit' (Ro 15", 1 Co 6"; also 1 Th 4"-, Eph 4s«; cf. 1 P 12 etc.). To receive ' the'gif t of the Spirit ' and to be sanctified are the same thing; when God takes possession of the believer, his 'body' becomes a 'temple of the Holy Ghost' (1 Co 6") — then he is a holy man; and to possess 'the Spirit ' is, in effect, to have ' Christ dwelling in the heart ' (Eph 3'«-") . This twofold identity ('sanctified' =' in the Spirit' — ' joined unto the Lord ') holds alike of the Church and of the individual Christian (1 Co 3'8'-, Eph 22i'-; ct. 1 P 2'). Paitli conditions this experience (Ac26i8, Eph 1'"). Like the author of Hebrews, Paul recognizes a progressive holiness based upon the fundamental sanctification of the believer, the former being the growing and finally complete realization of the latter. Holiness is the starting-point, perfect holiness the goal of the Christian course — the progress 'is a growth in holiness rather than to holiness' (Bartlet). Hence in Ro 612-22 the aim of one's 'service to God' and 'righteousness' is found in 'sanctification'; and in 1 Th 628'- the Apostle prays that God will 'sanctify to full completeness' his readers, who are still lacking in many respects (3'"), so that their 'spirit, soul, and body in full integrity may be