Sanctification

"What is the role of the Holy Spirit in sanctification?"

As the third person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit is sorely neglected in evangelical circles almost to the extent of overlooking His powerful work in a Christian’s life. This essay will reveal the significant and integral role the Holy Spirit plays in the life of a believer, particularly in the sanctification of Christian believers. This will be achieved by firstly considering the importance of sanctification and secondly identifying two key aspects of progressive sanctification in which the Holy Spirit works.

It is important to firstly state what is meant by sanctification and why it is a necessary component of the believer’s life. The verb “to sanctify” is often used interchangeably with “to make holy” and generally refers to something or someone who is to be set apart for God and used for His service. Ferguson defines it in this way: “‘To sanctify’ means that God repossesses persons and things… and takes them into his own possession in order that they may reflect his own glory”. When considering the lives of Christian believers, the Scriptures reveal two distinguishable elements of this sanctification.

The first of these is often referred to as “definitive sanctification” , the term many authors use to denote the once-for-all definitive act of sanctification that occurs in every believer the moment they put their trust in Christ and are united with Him in His death and resurrection. This is evident in passages that speak of believers as “sanctified” signifying the act of sanctification as having been completed, such as 1 Corinthians 1:2, “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus” and again in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “you were sanctified.. in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”. Hebrews 10:10 also mentions the believer being “made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The Bible shows that this definitive sanctification is demonstrated as the believers having died to sin and becoming new creations in Christ (Rom. 6:2-3). Through the work of Christ, the Christian is separated from their love of sin and the world. Reymond explains that the Christian is “constituted holy” by God as a result of the Christian’s “spiritual union with Christ in his death and resurrection” where sin can no longer have mastery over him.

But that is not all there is to sanctification as Christians are well aware that despite dying to sin, the problem of sin continues for every believer. The second element of sanctification that is evident from Scripture addresses this and is commonly known as “progressive sanctification”. Progressive sanctification acknowledges the Biblical teaching of the lifelong process of sanctification (2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 4:1-8). Johnston describes this aspect of sanctification as God working “by His Holy Spirit to make those who are righteous in His sight in principle, righteous in reality through their new obedience to Christ”. It is a continuation of the union Christians have with Christ’s death and resurrection, resulting not only in being made holy but in a holiness of life. Definitive sanctification can be considered the beginning of the process of sanctification and progressive sanctification as the “continual maturing of the new person”. It will be made apparent in this essay that the Holy Spirit’s role in sanctification is most clearly seen in this progressive sanctification of believers.

Before proceeding any further, an understanding of the importance of sanctification and the essential role it has in the life of a believer is necessary. This starts ultimately with God and our understanding of Him. The Bible reveals God to be a God who is holy (Ex. 15:11; Is. 57:15; Hos. 11:9; Ezek. 39:7 etc.) and morally pure (Hab. 1:12-13). Man was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) but as sin entered the world through the rebellion of man (Gen. 3) the image of God in man was “defaced” and as a result, we all “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Sanctification is necessary because God desires a people who have been created in His image, to be holy as He is holy, to “image his character” (Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:15; 1 Thess. 4:7). Throughout the Scriptures, the renewing of God’s people in His image is seen to be the goal of sanctification. As Christ is the perfect image of God (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15) it can be thus said that it is the image of Christ which sanctification points towards. Transformation by sanctification needs to occur in the believer to produce Christlikeness. Reymond extends this even further in explaining that “as we are transformed from glory to glory, [it] is the glory of God himself” that is the goal of progressive sanctification. Perfectly imaging Christ will occur when He returns, for it is at that time, “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn 3:2). John continues to write, “Everyone who has this hope in him [Christ] purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 Jn 3:3).

It is important to explore the necessity of the role the Holy Spirit plays in sanctification. In order to understand the integral role of the Holy Spirit in sanctification, one must contrast it by exploring attempts of progressive sanctification without the Holy Spirit. The obvious contrast is between the Israelite living under the old covenant and the Christian living under the new covenant. Israel was told to “express the divine image” (Lev. 19:2) and was given the Mosaic Law to fulfil this command to be holy. But rather than reveal her obedience, the law instead convicted her of her sin (Rom. 7:7). Things appeared bleak for the Israelites. But God in His sovereign goodness, promised to change the sinful hearts of His people to enable them to obey His commands (Ezek. 36:26). Ezekiel 36:27 tells of God’s promise to put His Spirit in His people to help them to follow His decrees and keep His laws. Thus began the promise of the new covenant between God and His people, fulfilled through the Lord Jesus. Through the believer’s union with Christ in His death and resurrection, the believer is given the Holy Spirit to dwell within, enabling obedience to God’s moral law (Rom. 8:4). Reymond rightly states that “Christians can no more sanctify themselves by their own efforts than can sinners justify themselves by their own efforts.”

The Holy Spirit acts in both definitive and progressive sanctification. It is Christ who earns our sanctification for us by being the perfect example of one who is holy (Jn 17:19; Col. 1:22; 1 Cor. 1:30). But it is the Holy Spirit who applies this sanctification to us and who helps us to follow in Christ’s example, being conformed to His image (2 Cor. 3:18). 1 Peter 1:2 speaks of believers experiencing the definitive “sanctifying work of the Spirit”. For this essay however, we will focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in progressive sanctification.

The Scriptures show that progressive sanctification has both negative and positive aspects in which the Holy Spirit works. The negative aspect is clearly portrayed in a number of New Testament passages and is often referred to as “mortification” . Mortification is so named due to the command for the believer to “mortify” the misdeeds of the body (Rom. 8:13). In Romans 8, Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of their life in the Spirit and gives them the command to mortify their fleshly deeds. It is possible for Paul to command this because rather than living in accordance to the sinful nature, the believers have the Spirit living within them (Rom. 8:9) who enables them to put sins to death (Rom. 8:13b). Both Hoekema and Reymond make a striking point regarding the believers having definitively died to sin now being commanded to continuously die to sin. They state that previously in Romans 6-7, Paul had informed his readers of their definitive break with sin in dying to it. However, here in Romans 8:13 Paul is exhorting the believer to “conform his processive experience with sin to his definitive death to sin”. Hoekema points out that Paul emphasises the necessity of the strength of the Spirit in this act and therefore “this struggle against sin must be understood as an aspect of their sanctification”.

Likewise, in Galatians 5, Paul reveals that if believers “live by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) the desires of the “flesh” (ESV) will no longer be gratified. Paul is not saying that these desires of the flesh will disappear, in fact he makes it clear that despite “crucifying the flesh” (Gal. 5:24, ESV) we still do not do what we want (Gal. 5:17). While the Christian lives by the Spirit, this life is still lived in the flesh which “bears marks of a perpetual addiction to sin.” It appears a hopeless situation and if a believer were to be left to his own devices, he would surely never overcome it. But in God’s grace the Christian has the Spirit living in him who helps him to overcome these desires and produce in him good fruit (Gal. 5:22-23) rather than leading him to succumb to them. When sin is overcome, one can be sure that it is the Spirit who is working, for sin can only be mortified through the Spirit.

On the contrary, progressive sanctification also has a positive aspect which is often called “vivification”. If in mortification the believer is to put off fleshly desires, in vivification the believer is to put on Christ-likeness. Vivification refers to the lifelong process of the “increasing transformation into the likeness of Christ” and the Bible makes it clear that it is only through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer that conforms him more and more into this likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). Vivification emphasises the “new self” the believer has now become which is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). This new self is continually being renewed by the Spirit who works through the process of vivification in the believer’s life (Col. 3:10).

There are a number of passages that exhort Christians to display the character of Christ in their lives (Col. 3:12; Eph. 4:32, 5:2; 1 Thess. 4:1 etc.). One of the clearest passages that show evidence of the Spirit working within believers to produce Christ-likeness is Galatians 5:22-23. Paul gives the Galatians a list of the fruit of the Spirit, which are also referred to as the “Christian graces” that are naturally produced in the life of the Spirit-led Christian. Simply by calling these graces “fruit of the Spirit”, Paul is emphasising the integral role the Spirit plays in producing them in the life of a believer. The real possibility for believers to produce these graces is solely due to the Holy Spirit within them.

Mortification and vivification are spoken of by Reymond in this way: “The Christian life [is] simultaneously one of dying and one of living – of dying more and more unto sin and of living more and more unto righteousness”. It may be that where there is no holy life, there possibly is not new birth.

There are clearly implications in sanctification for the believer also. A believer is to be “fully and consciously engaged in his sanctification”. The Christian plays both a passive (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:1; Gal. 5:22-23) and active (Phil. 2:12-13; Col. 3:5) role in sanctification. It is passive in that the Christian is completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to sanctify. It is active in that the Christian is also asked to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25), to act in obedience and to strive for holiness. However, even the Christian’s active role is fulfilled “by the Spirit”. It is still the Holy Spirit who enables the Christian to be obedient.
The Holy Spirit uses a variety of means to increase holiness in the Christian. J.C. Ryle identified the Bible as the primary instrument through which the Holy Spirit effects sanctification in the believer (John 17:17). Packer also adds those activities which are associated with the Word of God, including prayer, fellowship, worship and the Lord’s Supper. Christians are to be active in all of these things “which God provides for their spiritual growth”.

Both sanctification and the Holy Spirit are necessary components in the life of a Christian. Without sanctification, it is not possible to be conformed to the image of Christ, bringing God ultimate glory. Without the Holy Spirit, sanctification is not possible. It can be concluded therefore, that the Holy Spirit’s role in sanctification, particularly in mortification and vivification, is integral in enabling the Christian to be holy as God is holy. In this life, the Christian will continually grow in holiness but looks forward to the day he comes face to face with Christ, when his holiness becomes complete and perfected.

NB. See previous NB!