As discussed previously, sanctification is essentially the lifelong process of a Christian becoming more Christlike. This is true in both a negative sense and in a positive sense. In a negative sense, sanctification weakens the power of sin and selfishness, referred to as mortification of the old person. In a positive sense, sanctification strengthens the role of the indwelling Holy Spirit, referred to as quickening of the new person. Louis Berkhof offers the following definition. “Sanctification may be defined as that precious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which He delivers the justified sinner from the pollution of sin, renews his whole nature in the image of God, and enables him to perform good works.”[i] The Westminster Catechism definition is similar: “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.”[ii]
In the NT, sanctification is a translation of the Greek word hagiamos (ἁγιασμός). It literally means to be made holy. Holy, in turn, means to be set apart for God. The core concept of sanctification is therefore being increasingly distanced from earthly considerations and becoming closer to divine considerations. In this sense, sanctification is better understood as becoming more sacred rather than more morally pure, although this is an inevitable result.
All people have a sinful nature, and this sinful nature remains after justification. But the process of sanctification allows the Holy Spirit to increasingly diminish the power of the sinful nature. This is made possible due to a heightened awareness of one’s own depravity and impurity due to the opposite presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In contrast to God’s perfect holiness, we begin to understand our deserving of God’s wrath and can therefore begin to understand the infinite value of God’s grace. Paul sums up our condition, “I find then the principle that evil is present in me … I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am!” (Rom 7:21-24).
Being aware of our sinful condition, we are of course instructed to rid ourselves of it the best we can with the help of our Spirit-powered new self. Paul writes, “[I]n reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph 4:22-24). Paul refers to this overcoming of the power of our sinful nature as various things including our old self being crucified along with Christ (Rom 6:6), no longer being a slave to sin (Rom 6:6), and our earthly body being dead to sin (Col 3:5).
In the process of sanctification, overcoming our sinful nature occurs in parallel with the strengthening of our spiritual nature which was formerly dead but is now alive. Christians are said to be a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) that are experiencing newness of life (Rom 6:4). With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes the possibility of comfort, spiritual guidance, and spiritual strengthening. The Holy Spirit can also help to illuminate your understanding of Holy Scripture. Charles Hodge likens this process to the leavening of bread:
“It is leaven introduced to diffuse its influence gradually through the whole mass. Sanctification, therefore, consists in two things: first, the removing more and more the principles of evil still infecting our nature, and destroying their power; and secondly, the growth of the principle of spiritual life until it controls the thoughts, feelings, and acts, and brings the soul into conformity to the image of Christ … Sanctification therefore, according to this representation, consists in the gradual triumph of the new nature implanted in regeneration over the evil that still remains after the heart is renewed. In other words … it is a dying unto sin and living unto righteousness … on the one hand … to lay aside all malice, and wrath, and pride, and jealousy; and on the other, to cultivate all the graces of the Spirit, faith love, hope, long-suffering, meekness, lowliness of mind, and brotherly kindness.”[iii]
Sanctification is a divine work of the triune God but is particularly associated with the Holy Spirit who in indwelling in the believer. Paul says that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). In turn, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Grace (Heb 10:29), the Spirit of Truth (Jn 14:17 ESV), the Spirit of Glory (1 Pt 4:14), and the Comforter (Jn 15:26 KJV).
But sanctification also requires cooperation with the Holy Spirit as one can still choose to be led by desires of the flesh. This is why sanctification can sometimes proceed wonderfully and other times seem to regress, both in oneself and in others. Jesus demonstrates this in its extreme form through the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15-11-32). The prodigal son abandons his father for a life of unholiness and debauchery but always remains an unconditionally loved son by his Father. This represents extreme regression in the sanctification process. When the son humbly returns to the father, he is welcomed with joy rather than with contempt for the lapse, which is what will always happen when adopted children of the almighty Father return after a lapse, no matter how extreme. An equally important message is the attitude of mature believers to those struggling with sanctification. In the parable, the elder son who has been a model child is jealous and confused about the Father’s love and joy towards the returning son. But Jesus is clear in this parable that God is always pleased with strong believers but the return of the struggling is cause for celebration. Jesus summarizes this in the parable of the lost sheep, “If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, will [the shepherd] not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, and go and search for the one that is lost? And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven for one of these little ones to perish” (Mt 18:10-14).
Much can be done alone with regards to sanctification through spiritual formation efforts such as private prayer and Bible study. But people are social creatures that develop intellectually and socially best when pursued with others. Sanctification is no different. Charles Hodge writes, “Thus also it is by the Church-life of believers, by their communion in the worship and service of God, and by their mutual good offices and fellowship, that the spiritual life of the soul is developed.”[iv] Thus, we are admonished to not neglect worshipping together. “[A]nd let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another” (Heb 10:24-25). And if we meet together for worship, God will work not only upon the individual soul but in the group as a whole. Jesus explains, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Mt 189:20).
Part of the sanctification process therefore includes sacraments with a corporate function. With the Lord’s supper we collectively remember and reflect on the atoning work of Christ. With baptism we celebrate the joy of admitting a new believer into the Body of Christ and therefore becoming a spiritual brother or sister. These communal rituals, in addition to regular corporate worship at church gatherings, are edifying and therefore support the sanctification process. Many ascribe more to these sacraments, which will be discussed further in the chapter on the Church.
How is one to know if sanctification is progressing in a positive or in a negative way? A good test is the previously mentioned fruits of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). This verse makes it clear that being led more the Spirit and the new man and less by desires of the flesh and the old man will result in moral improvement. If you see these traits strengthening in you or in others it is good evidence that sanctification is progressing. If you see these traits weakening in you or in others it is good evidence that something in your pursuit of Christian maturation is probably misguided.
I end the work by addressing the views of Basil of Caesarea on the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in his De Spiritu Sancto.[v] Basil was one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers and was heavily engaged in the Arian controversy. Basil writings were therefore focused on demonstrating the full divinity of the Holy Spirit in addition to the full divinity of the Son. Part of his approach in doing this was to emphasize the divine work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. Basil links sanctification to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He describes the Holy Spirit as the “Breath of God” and the source of sanctification when indwelling in believers. At the time, this was a new way of understanding the Holy Spirit. David Gillooly writes, “The third section of the treatise on the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil (329-379) is a most important and valuable part of pneumatic theology. It sheds a new light upon the Holy Spirit as the Breath of God, and the Holy Spirit’s role as the sanctifier of souls.”[vi]
Being divinely perfect, the Holy Spirit is capable of perfecting others. In Basil’s view this is primarily accomplished by illuminating the power of reason in believers so that they can increasingly comprehend divine truth. Basil writes, “All who are in need of sanctification turn to the Spirit … Capable of perfecting others, the Spirit himself lacks nothing … The source of sanctification, a light perceptible to the mind, he supplies through himself illumination to every force of reason searching forth truth.”[vii] But the efficacy of sanctification depends upon the strength of faith and trust. The sanctifying effect of the Holy Spirit is not always the same, “not sharing according to a unique measure but by distributing his energy in proportion to faith.”[viii] Last, Basil teaches that the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit that is imparted spirituality to the believer can be used with effect upon others. “Souls in which the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual and send forth their grace to others.”[ix] And so sanctification can be thought of as the Holy Spirit working in individuals, but also as the Holy Spirit working through individuals for the sanctifying benefit of others.
[i] Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Eastford, CT: Martino Fine Books, 1941: 532.
[ii] This is the answer to the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 35, “What is sanctification?”
[iii] Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 3 Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, 1873/2013: 221, 224, 226.
[iv] Ibid., 230.
[v] This discussion of De Spiritu Sancto is based on the translation in Allister McGrath’s The Christian Theology Reader, Section 3.8
[vi] David Gillooly, “The Divinity of the Holy Spirit in the Theory of Basil the Great,” Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1978: 13.
[vii] Alister McGrath, The Christian Theology Reader, Wiley-Blackwell, 2017: 164.
[viii] Ibid., 164.
[ix] Ibid., 164.
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