According to the testimony of Jesus Christ, He sanctified Himself so that we can be sanctified likewise. So, what is the grace of sanctification?
John 17:17, 19
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth… For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”
If Jesus, being the Son of God who was born perfectly sinless (or without sin nature) as Son of Man, had to sanctify Himself in truth, then what was the nature of His sanctification, and why did Jesus pray for us to do likewise?
Hebrews 5:8-9
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,
Sanctification is the process of keeping oneself sin-free or disobedience-free, that is, free from sinning, through total obedience to the Word of God (“logos”) and truth of the Spirit (“rhema”) according to the will of God.
In other words, sanctification is the process of consecration for the purpose of godliness, that is, conformance to the holy image of the Father, through explicit obedience to His Word of truth without deviation or trespass.
So, concerning the image of Christ and of His sanctification in the world, in the beginning was the Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14), and at the end was the flesh sanctified and made perfect in its expression of the Word.
Thus, sanctification on our part is essentially the spiritual formation of our life and lifestyle through learning obedience to the truth of the Father in the likeness of Christ in the flesh, so that we can be made perfect likewise by the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
Sanctification can then be summed up by the command, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48).
Hebrews 2:11
For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
If He who was sanctified by the truth is He who sanctifies by the same truth, then what was true of Jesus in the days of His flesh must now be true of those whom He sanctifies in the days of their flesh. Therefore, it is by having the same sanctified image as Himself that Jesus the Firstborn is not ashamed to call us brethren, for those who are sanctified must become like the One who sanctifies, just like a disciple becoming like his Teacher (Matthew 10:25). After all, how can He not be ashamed to call us His brethren when we, as His disciples and members of His body, do not bear the same image as Him?
Ephesians 5:26-27
so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
Similarly, what is true of the Bridegroom is what is true of the bride, since they shall be joined as one flesh. By the washing of water with the Word, Jesus will sanctify the church, being His bride, so that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless, just like Himself. Only the bride who is sanctified pure, holy, and blameless like the Bridegroom will be received by Him and joined to Him as “bone of My bones, and flesh of My flesh” without being unequally yoked (Ephesians 5:29-31; Genesis 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 6:14).
Sidelight: The bride was taken from the side of Adam, and what came out of the side of Jesus when pierced were blood and water (John 19:34). So, what saves the church as the bride of Christ is blood and water – not just the blood but water as well. Simply, this means that salvation has two parts; namely, atonement for disobedience through the blood, and sanctification for perfect obedience through the water of the Word. The blood is our remedy if we sin or disobey, while the water is our sanctification towards a holy and glorious stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13). The marriage of the Lamb, that is, to be joined to His glorified body, is conditioned on both the blood and the water. When the Spirit is ready to present the bride to Christ in all her purity and glory, the Spirit and the bride will say to the Bridegroom, “Come.”
Romans 8:29
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Indeed, God has predestined the body and the bride of His Son to conform to the image of His Son, so that we would be “like Firstborn, like brethren”, and “like Bridegroom, like bride”. In view of this, He has given us the blood, the water, and the Spirit to enable us to walk in the same manner as His Son walked on earth until we conform to the image of His Son.
1 John 2:6
the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
Therefore, having considered all the above, to walk in the same manner as Jesus walked is to walk in His sanctification – spirit, soul, and body – until we possess our own human vessels in sanctification and honour in the image and likeness of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, 7-8
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;… For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
Hebrews 12:14
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
Our sanctification is the saving purpose and power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because no one will see the Father, or abide in Him, without sanctification, including Jesus Himself. Imagine what would happen if Jesus disobeyed the Father, even just once.
So, if no one will see the Lord without sanctification, then we must be transformed into His image of sanctification before we can see Him face to face in the Day of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Thus, when we progressively sanctify ourselves by the Word of truth just like Jesus was sanctified by the Word of truth, our image on the mirror of the Word will reflect the image of Jesus Christ, from glory to glory.
1 John 3:2-3
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Hence, even though our image has not appeared as yet what we will be, but when the sanctification process has progressively transformed us into the same image from glory to glory, we will be like Him when He appears, because the sanctified and the Sanctifier will behold each other face to face as in a mirror. On that day, for the third and final phase of our salvation (having been born-again and sanctified), our flesh-and-blood bodies will be glorified into the likeness of His flesh-and-bone body (Luke 24:39). So, everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
To walk in sanctification is to walk in obedience according to the law of faith (Romans 3:27), to the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:1), and to what we hear the Father speak and what we see the Father do (John 5:19-20, 30; John 8:38; John 12:49-50); until we are transformed from glory to glory into the same image as Christ, which is the image of the holy Father.
Any disobedience will be sin, and a deviation from the holiness and sovereign will of the Father. Wilful and perpetual sinning break and reject sanctification, and rejecting sanctification is rejecting the God who gives us His Holy Spirit as our seal of salvation. Simply put, rejecting sanctification rejects the saving grace for which we are called.
Thus, sanctification is the distinctive mark of the new creature, and the seal of God’s salvation, in Christ; and the imprint of both this mark and seal is the image of Christ, the Word, both “logos” and “rhema”, made flesh.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Now, if rejecting sanctification is rejecting the salvific purpose for which we are called, does it mean that the gift of salvation by the grace of God is dependent on or determined by our sanctification?
The gift of salvation is for the saving purpose for which we are called, and it has a designed process for application. When we reject the application process of the gift, we effectively reject the saving purpose of the gift, even though we may have the gift package in our hands.
For example, if the gift from the Bridegroom is a cleansing, moisturising, and whitening nard, and you do not use the content to purify your body, then you will still be wrinkled and spotted, full of blemishes, on your wedding day. This is bad faith towards the Bridegroom, and a rejection of His gift.
So, it is not the gift in our possession that will benefit us, but the faithful application of the contents of the gift that will benefit us. Thus, the sanctifying virtues of the gift of salvation must be applied faithfully according to the Bridegroom’s instruction called the Word in order for the gift to be efficacious in presenting us pure and spotless to the Bridegroom when He comes. This is true faith in the sanctified Bridegroom who sanctifies.
Without sanctification, no one will see the Lord despite having received the gift package for salvation from Him, for salvation is not just about forgiveness of sins but freedom from sinning in conformance to the image of the Firstborn.
Hence, the grace of sanctification is the grace of salvation according to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Can we truly be sanctified and preserved complete in spirit, soul, and body, being sin-free and without the blame of disobedience at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
So, just like the rich young ruler asked (Mark 10:17-30), what shall we do to inherit eternal life?
While we trust in the blood of Christ to cleanse us from our disobedience to the Word and Spirit, we must pursue sanctification by the water of the Word and Spirit until we attain to a sin-free or disobedience-free stature in the holy and glorious image of Christ, our Bridegroom-in-waiting; for without sanctification, no one will see the Lord.
Further to what I have mentioned earlier, to pursue sanctification is to pursue spiritual formation, and to pursue spiritual formation is to pursue the Word of God and the truth of the Spirit that will renew our mind and conform us to the image of Christ according to the will of God (Romans 12:1-2).
So, let us consider how we can know the Word, pray in the Spirit, practise truth in our daily living, and obey the Father like the Son would in His Kingdom purpose on earth. As we do these things, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with us all. Amen.
Post-Script
The role of the fivefold ministry is to enable the church to attain to the standard of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13). Only when we have attained to this complete stature of the image of Christ can we do the works that Jesus did, even greater than those He did, on earth in His stead (John 14:12), so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it (Matthew 16:18-19), especially in the last days.
This is the grace and glory of sanctification.
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