Sanctification, Sanctify
SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFY.Sanctify (Latin, from the Vulgate) = the native Eng. hallow (i.e. make, count, keep holy), the latter word being in use somewhat the loftier EV [Note: English Version.] employs hallow 35 times in OT and twice in NT (Mat 6:9 = Luk 11:2), sanctify thrice as often in OT and 26 times in NTfor identical Hebrew and Greek terms. For the meaning of the root word holy, see art. Holiness. The noun sanctificationdenoting first the act or process of making holy (hallowing), then the resultant state (hallowedness)appears in 5 NT passages in the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , giving way to holiness in others (Rom 6:19; Rom 6:22, 1Th 4:7, 1Ti 2:15, Heb 12:14) though the Greek noun is the same, where RV [Note: Revised Version.] makes the needed correction; everywhere, except in 1Pe 1:2, the state rather than the process is implied. To Paul belong 8 out of the 10 examples of the noun, and 11 out of the 28 examples of the verb in NT (including Act 20:32; Act 26:18); 7 of the latter are found in Hebrews. AV [Note: Authorized Version.] employs the synonymous consecrate for sanctify in 7 OT passages, which the RV [Note: Revised Version.] emends in three instances, leaving consecrate for the regular Hebrew verb in 2Ch 26:18; 2Ch 29:33; 2Ch 31:6, Ezr 3:5; the consecrate of Heb 7:28 and of Heb 10:20 is corrected by the RV [Note: Revised Version.] to perfect and dedicate respectively.
1. In the Israelite, as in other ancient religions, that is holy which is set apart for Divine use, so that the sanctified is the opposite of the common, secular, profane. Isa 65:3 ff; Isa 66:17 illustrate the application of this term in heathenism. With this broad signification it is applicable to whatever is devoted to the public service of J [Note: Jahweh.] to personspriests, Nazirites, etc.; to sacrifices; to vessels, garments, buildings, days (especially the Sabbath). In Isa 13:3, Joe 3:9, Jer 6:4 (see RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), even a war is sanctified and the warriors are J [Note: Jahweh.] s sanctified ones, when it is put under J [Note: Jahweh.] s auspices (cf. the Mohammedan Yihad or Holy War); accordingly, in Num 21:14 we hear of a book of the wars of J [Note: Jahweh.] . The numerous Levitical and other kindred uses of the verb bear this formal sense. But as holy came to designate the specific character of J [Note: Jahweh.] the Holy One of Israel (see Is. passim)in distinction from heathen gods, sanctify acquired a corresponding ethical connotation; holiness came to imply a character (actual or ideal) in the holy people, accordant with its status. For Israel, being J [Note: Jahweh.] s servant, is brought near to Him (Exo 19:4 ff., Deu 4:7, Jer 2:2, Psa 65:4; Psa 73:27 f., Psa 148:14; contrast Exo 19:12-24, Jer 2:13, Hos 9:1 etc.), and such proximity necessitates congenialitythat congruity of nature whereof circumcision and the ceremonial cleansings were symbolical (Psa 15:1-5; Psa 24:3-6; cf. Isa 1:4; Isa 1:16 f., Isa 3:8; Isa 6:3-8, Jer 4:1-4, Hab 1:12 f., Eze 36:16-28, Psa 51:1-19 etc.). The refrain I am Jehovah resounds through the Law of Holiness in Lev 17:1-16; Lev 18:1-30; Lev 19:1-37; Lev 20:1-27; Lev 21:1-24; Lev 22:1-33; Lev 23:1-44; Lev 24:1-23; Lev 25:1-55; Lev 26:1-46; this code blends the ritual and the moral in the holiness it demands from Israel, which is the corollary of J [Note: Jahweh.] s own holiness. Such is the OT doctrine of sanctification. The prophets, it is said, taught an ethical monotheismwhich is to say, in effect, they ethicized holiness. The sanctification binding Israel to J [Note: Jahweh.] was, in a sense, reciprocal: Ye shall not profane my holy name (cf. Exo 20:7, Lev 19:12; Lev 22:2, Amo 2:7, Mal 1:11 f.); but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am J [Note: Jahweh.] , which hallow you (Lev 22:32); to sanctify J [Note: Jahweh.] or His name is to recognize and act towards Him as holy, to make him holy in ones thoughts and attitude (see Isa 8:13; cf. 1Pe 3:15). This expression is characteristic of Isaiah (Isa 5:16; Isa 29:23) and Ezekiel (Eze 20:41; Eze 28:22; Eze 28:25; Eze 36:23; Eze 38:16; Eze 39:27), who regard J [Note: Jahweh.] as sanctified when His awe-awakening judgments bring men to acknowledge His Deity and character; in this connexion sanctify is parallel to magnify, glorify, exalt, as in Eze 36:23; Eze 38:23. J [Note: Jahweh.] is even said to sanctify himself, or His great name, when He vindicates His holiness and makes Himself known in the sight of many nations for what in truth He is.
2. In the NT we must distinguish the usage of our Lord, of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and of the Apostle Paul.
(1) Adopting the language of Lev 22:32 and of the prophets, Jesus bids the disciples pray, Our Father hallowed be thy name on earth (Mat 6:9 f. = Luk 11:2)the unique example of such use of sanctify in the NT, apart from the citation in 1Pe 3:15; elsewhere glorify thy name (Joh 12:28 etc.). To bring about this hallowing is the very work of Jesus, who for this end makes known the Fathers name (Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18; Joh 14:7-9, Joh 17:6; Joh 17:25 f., Mat 11:27; cf. Joh 17:8, 2Co 4:6, also Jer 9:23 f., Jer 31:34). In (a) Joh 10:36 and (b) Joh 17:17-19 our Lord makes Himself the object of the verb,in the second instance the subject also. (a) The Father consecrated Him for His world-mission (a pre-incarnate destination; see Joh 1:18, 1Jn 4:9; 1Jn 4:14; cf. Jer 1:5); (b) 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 consecration to the service of God becomes a specific consecration to the mission of redemption. In Mat 23:17-19 Jesus speaks adhominem, 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 Heb 2:11; Heb 9:11-13; Heb 10:10-14; Heb 10:19-22; Heb 12:14; Heb 13:11-12. 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 Gods service, for which as sinners they have been disabled (Heb 5:1; Heb 10:22). This He effects God-ward by making propitiation for their sins (Heb 2:17), and man-ward by cleansing their conscience with the virtue of his bloodby removing the sense of personal guilt before Godeven as the animal sacrifices sanctified the Israelites unto the cleanness of the flesh (Heb 9:13 f.), 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 (Heb 4:16, Heb 10:19-22). Once for all this access has been secured, this qualification bestowed on the people whom Jesus sanctified by means of his own blood (Heb 13:12): 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 (Heb 10:5-10). By that one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctifiedHe has assured, for all who will accept it, till the worlds end, a full qualification for fellowship with God (Heb 10:14). Hebrews supplies the link between the I sanctify myself of Jesus, and that they also may be sanctified in truth (Joh 17:19). 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 standing outside the temple of God, defiled and banned. Sanctification means, for the former, engagement to Gods service (Rom 6:12-22); for the latter, empowerment for Gods worship. That this grace imports, however, in Hebrews more than a status once conferred, is evident from Heb 12:14; 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 (1Co 1:2),a phrase synonymous with called saints, i.e. made holy by Gods call which they obeyed, when He summoned them into His Kingdom (cf. 1Co 1:9; 1Co 1:26-30, 1Th 1:4; 1Th 2:12). The former expression points to the completed act of God by which they have become His saints (cf. 1Co 6:11, Act 20:32; Act 26:18). That sanctity, with St. Paul, is a term of relationship, not primarily of character, is evident from 1Co 7:14, 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 believers eyes, as indeed every possession and instrument of life must be (see 1Ti 4:3-5). In the case of the believer himself, who in Christ Jesus is brought into immediate personal contact with God (Col 3:3), destination and use imply moral conditionthe vessels of the Lord must be clean and made ready for every good work (2Ti 2:19-22; 2Ti 1:1-18 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 5:31, Col 3:12; Col 3:18 etc.). Accordingly, in 1Th 4:4; 1Th 4:7 sanctification is opposed specifically to lust and sexual uncleannessby contrast, probably, with the pagan consecration to impure deities, as in the case of the hieroduloi of Corinth (cf. 1Co 6:13-20).
Sanctification completes justification (wh. see); together, these constitute the present work of salvation, the re-instatement of the sinful man before his Maker, his instatement into the Christian standing and condition (see 1Co 6:11, and the connexion between chs. 5 and 6 of Ro.). In principle the former depends on the latter, in experience they are concomitant (Rom 6:6 f., Rom 6:22). They are alike acts of God, dealing with men in His grace through Christ (Rom 8:30; Rom 8:33, 1Th 5:23 f., Joh 17:17; cf. Lev 22:32 f.). The anointing and sealing of 2Co 1:21 f., 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 waysee (2) aboveChrist is the mediator of sanctification no less than of justification. He bought men with the price of His bloodthe bodily limbs along with the inner selfso 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 Gods sure possession, destined for the praise of His glory (1Co 6:19 f., Rom 6:11-14; Rom 12:1, Col 1:22, Eph 1:14, 1Pe 2:9, Rev 1:6 etc.). Once, in relation to the Church His bride, Christ is Himself called the sanctifier (Eph 5:26; cf. Heb 13:12). Being our Head and Representative before God, dedicating all his own (Joh 17:10) to the Father in the offering of Calvary, Jesus virtually accomplished the sanctification of His people, with their justification, once for all (1Co 1:30): Pauls saying, I have been crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20; Gal 6:14), implies that he has been, by anticipation, included in the perfect sacrifice; he thus unfolds the implicit doctrine of Joh 17:9 f. and 1719 (see (1) above; cf. Heb 10:14).
Collectively, believers were sanctified in the self-devotion of their redeeming Lord; individually, they are sanctified when they accept the Redeemers sacrifice and personally endorse His action. From the latter point of view, sanctification is the mans own deed: he presents himself to God as alive from the dead (Rom 6:13; Rom 6:18); but the sinner is never, as in OT phrase, said to sanctify himself,though 1Ti 4:3-6 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 (Rom 15:16, 1Co 6:11; also 1Th 4:7 f., Eph 4:30; cf. 1Pe 1:2 etc.). To receive the gift 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 (1Co 6:19)then he is a holy man; and to possess the Spirit is, in effect, to have Christ dwelling in the heart (Eph 3:16-19). This twofold identity (sanctified = in the Spirit = joined unto the Lord) holds alike of the Church and of the individual Christian (1Co 3:16 f., Eph 2:21 f.; cf. 1Pe 2:9). Faith conditions this experience (Act 26:18, Eph 1:13 f.). 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 coursethe progress is a growth in holiness rather than to holiness (Bartlet). Hence in Rom 6:19-22 the aim of ones service to God and righteousness is found in sanctification; and in 1Th 5:23 f. the Apostle prays that God will sanctify to full completeness his readers, who are still lacking in many respects (1Th 3:10), so that their spirit, soul, and body in full integrity may be preserved, and thus found blameless in holiness before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus (1Th 3:13). This supplication touches the ideal life in Christ; but it is an ideal to the present Christian state, and is not to be relegated to the visionary or the celestial: Faithful is he who calleth you; who also will do it (1Th 5:24).
St. John does not employ in his Epistles either sanctify or sanctification, but their whole substance is there. 1Jn 1:8 f. and 1Jn 2:1 f. recall-recall the teaching of Hebrews in speaking of the propitiation made by our Advocate, whose blood cleanses from all sin and thus brings the sinner into fellowship with the Father. Pauls doctrine of holiness is resumed in such passages as 1Jn 3:23 f., 1Jn 4:18 f., 1Jn 5:3 f., 1Jn 5:20, setting forth union with Christ through the indwelling Spirit as the spring of a new, eternal life for the man, in the strength of which Gods commandments are kept in love, sin and fear are cast out, and the world is overcome.
G. G. Findlay.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Sanctification, Sanctify
“sanctification,” is used of (a) separation to God, 1 Cor, 1Co 1:30; 2Th 2:13; 1Pe 1:2 (b) the course of life befitting those so separated, 1Th 4:3-4, 1Th 4:7; Rom 6:19, Rom 6:22; 1Ti 2:15; Heb 12:14. “Sanctification is that relationship with God into which men enter by faith in Christ, Act 26:18; 1Co 6:11, and to which their sole title is the death of Christ, Eph 5:25-26; Col 1:22; Heb 10:10, Heb 10:29; Heb 13:12.
“Sanctification is also used in NT of the separation of the believer from evil things and ways. This sanctification is God’s will for the believer, 1Th 4:3, and His purpose in calling him by the gospel, 1Th 4:7; it must be learned from God, 1Th 4:4, as He teaches it by His Word, Joh 17:17, Joh 17:19; cp. Psa 17:4; Psa 119:9, and it must be pursued by the believer, earnestly and undeviatingly, 1Ti 2:15; Heb 12:14. For the holy character, hagiosune, 1Th 3:13, is not vicarious, i.e., it cannot be transferred or imputed, it is an individual possession, built up, little by little, as the result of obedience to the Word of God, and of following the example of Christ, Mat 11:29; Joh 13:15; Eph 4:20; Phi 2:5, in the power of the Holy Spirit, Rom 8:13; Eph 3:16.
“The Holy Spirit is the Agent in sanctification, Rom 15:16; 2Th 2:13; 1Pe 1:2; cp. 1Co 6:11. … The sanctification of the Spirit is associated with the choice, or election, of God; it is a Divine act preceding the acceptance of the Gospel by the individual.” * [* From Notes on Thessalonians, by Hogg and Vine, pp. 115,271.]
For synonymous words see HOLINESS.
“to sanctify,” “is used of (a) the gold adorning the Temple and of the gift laid on the altar, Mat 23:17, Mat 23:19; (b) food, 1Ti 4:5; (c) the unbelieving spouse of a believer, 1Co 7:14; (d) the ceremonial cleansing of the Israelites, Heb 9:13; (e) the Father’s Name, Luk 11:2; (f) the consecration of the Son by the Father, Joh 10:36; (g) the Lord Jesus devoting Himself to the redemption of His people, Joh 17:19; (h) the setting apart of the believer for God, Act 20:32; cp. Rom 15:16; (i) the effect on the believer of the Death of Christ, Heb 10:10, said of God, and Heb 2:11; Heb 13:12, said of the Lord Jesus; (j) the separation of the believer from the world in his behavior — by the Father through the Word, Joh 17:17, Joh 17:19; (k) the believer who turns away from such things as dishonor God and His gospel, 2Ti 2:21; (1) the acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ, 1Pe 3:15. “Since every believer is sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1Co 1:2, cp. Heb 10:10, a common NT designation of all believers is ‘saints,’ hagioi, i.e., ‘sanctified’ or ‘holy ones.’ Thus sainthood, or sanctification, is not an attainment, it is the state into which God, in grace, calls sinful men, and in which they begin their course as Christians, Col 3:12; Heb 3:1.” * [* From Notes on Thessalonians, by Hogg and Vine, pp. 113,114.]