By Gary Ray Branscome
Sanctification has to do with what sets believers apart
from the world as holy; both in the eyes of God and from man’s perspective.
Therefore, in its broadest sense sanctification includes being cleansed “of
all sin” by “the blood of Jesus Christ” (1John 1:7); receiving “the
Holy Spirit” (Acts
The words, “We are sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by one offering He has
perfected for ever those who are sanctified,” tell us that we are
sanctified [set apart in the eyes of God as holy] by the blood of Christ, and
the forgiveness He won for us by His death on the cross (Hebrews 10:14). And,
because, “All of our righteousnesses are like
filthy rags,” that is the only sanctification that makes us holy in the
eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6). However, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying
that the improvement in behavior that comes as a result of sincere repentance
and the work of the Holy Ghost is not important. Some people who turn to Christ
come from a background so perverse that they cannot continue in it
without bringing condemnation down on themselves. As it is written, “The
unrighteous will not inherit the
The words, “This is the will of God, even your
sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality: That every one of you
should know how to control his body and take a wife in a way that is
holy and honorable; Not in the passion of lust, like the heathen who do not
know God,” tell us that a key aspect of our sanctification is sexual
self-control (1Thessalonians 4:3-5). Nevertheless, evil is so rampant in our
society that many Christians and even churches no longer are shocked by sexual
sin, and even tolerate it. That is totally unacceptable! Christian couples
are to begin marriage in a way that is “holy and honorable,” and
that excludes living together before marriage.
Fornication is so serious that the Apostle Paul commanded
the Corinthian congregation to excommunicate those who were unrepentant,
saying, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you… And
you are puffed up. Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with sorrow? and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?…
Deliver such a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in
order that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”
(1Corinthians 5:1-5). And, to every pastor and congregation that is tolerant of
such wickedness, the following words of Ezekiel apply. “I have appointed you
as a watchman for the house of
“Faithfulness in Christian marriage entails
that: great mortification. For a Christian man there is no escape. Marriage may
help to sanctify and direct to its proper object his sexual desires; its grace
may help him in the struggle; but the struggle remains.… No man, however truly
he loved his betrothed and bride as a young man, has lived faithful to her as a
wife in mind and body without deliberate conscious exercise of the will,
without self-denial.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, from a letter to his son.)
Having said this, I want to make it clear that there is far
more to sanctification than just dealing with sexual sin. The words, “The
goal of our instruction is love flowing from a pure heart, a good conscience,
and a sincere faith,” tell us that the goal of all instruction is a
right heart before God, as well as sincere faith (1Timothy 1:5). And, having a
right heart and clean conscience before God excludes all attempts to excuse or
rationalize sin.
While a clean conscience is of key importance to our
sanctification, you should never confuse conscience with guilt. Our conscience
is our inner knowledge that something is, or could be, wrong. Guilt is the
inner condemnation that we may or may not feel if we do something we believe to
be wrong. The way of the world is to deal with guilt by making up some excuse
or reason to justify wrongdoing in an attempt to alleviate guilt. A shoplifter
may ease feelings of guilt by saying, “The store will never miss it”. A
slanderer may use the excuse, “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” and so
forth. A woman who caused much strife in her home excused it by saying
“Everybody argues”. A man who had certain sins pointed out to him, excused them
by saying, “That isn’t sin, that’s human nature”. Rationalizing sin is the way
of the world. However, God says, “He who excuses his sins will not prosper:
but whoever confesses and forsakes them will be treated mercifully”
(Proverbs 28:13). A Christian should never excuse sin, for by excusing it you
are denying your need for forgiveness. For that reason, a Christian should
always be willing to confess his sin to God, and should even be willing to ask
forgiveness for thoughts or behavior that he is not sure are sinful. If even “our
righteousnesses are like filthy rags,” there is
nothing we do that does not need some forgiveness (Isaiah 64:6). And, we should
be more interested in admitting our sin, than excusing it. In fact, when it
comes to confessing sin, Christ set an example for us by going to John for
baptism. Christ, who had “no sin” was not afraid to be seen being baptized “for
the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4, see 2Corinthians
The words, “Do not be conformed to this world: but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,” tell us that improvement
in our behavior starts in our mind (Romans 12:2). We need to bring our thinking
into agreement with the word of God. And, a big part of that involves learning
to recognize our sins, and stop excusing them. However, another part
involves training the conscience, so that we recognize sin as sin, and
are sorry when we fall short.
Passages That Address
Sanctification
“I now send you, to open
their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance
among those who are sanctified through faith in me” (Acts 26:17-18).
“Let us cleanse
ourselves from everything that defiles body and soul, following holiness
to its goal in the fear of God.” (2Corinthians 7:1).
“As He who has called you is holy, so you
should be holy in everything you do” (1Peter
“Let
us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
sensuality and debauchery, not in strife and envying. But put on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans
“For the grace of God
that brings salvation has appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12).
“The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians
“I am being frank with you because of the
weakness of the flesh: for as you have yielded your members as slaves to
uncleanness and to iniquity leading to more iniquity; even so now yield your
members as servants to righteousness to sanctification. For when you
were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. Yet what benefit did
you get out of those things that you are now ashamed of? For
those things result in death. But now having been freed from sin,
and become servants of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the
result is everlasting life” (Romans