Sanctification: a one-time gift of God? Or an on-going, life-long process?

A question came across my desk from a church member regarding the word sanctification:

In our Sunday School lesson, the author used the term “process of sanctification.” I have a problem with that phrase, because I believe we are sanctified only once – at the moment of our salvation. I believe sanctification is the initial act of God making us holy and setting us apart, but then we abide in Christ and continually grow in holiness. Can you help me understand this phrase – “process of sanctification”?

What would your answer have been to the question:

Is Sanctification a one-time gift or an on-going process?

Here is the answer I gave to my friend:

First, we need to define our terms. Because sometimes two people can be describing two different things using the same word. And other times two people find they are using two different words, but talking about the same thing. In this case, both words (holiness and sanctification) are being used to define something that occurs once and something that is a process.

You indicated holiness means both a one-time event and a life-long process. The author of the Sunday School lesson was using the word sanctification to mean the same thing. That is because the definition of sanctified is “to make holy unto God.” And so the words are tied together and carry a very similar meaning. Here is some information from a Bible Dictionary:

The word “sanctification” comes from the biblical root words that are translated as “holy,” “hallow,” “hallowed,” “holiness,” “consecrate,” “saint,” “sanctify,” and  “sanctification.”  As all these words are translations of the same root, no one of them can be treated adequately without reference to the others.

Therefore, you are right when you say that the word Holy carries two meanings:

1. We are Made Holy to God by Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross, AND
2. We are abiding in Christ as we strive to walk in a Holy manner.

And theologians use the exact same argument for the word Sanctification:

1. We are Sanctified (made Holy) to God by Jesus on the Cross, AND
2. We are in the process of Sanctification (becoming more holy) as we abide in Him.

From the Bible Dictionary again:

Sanctification is the matter of a life and not of a moment. A life may be consecrated (or sanctified) in a moment, providing the right relation to God with the person now in saving fellowship with Him. The life is thus made holy in principle. But the real making holy will occur over the whole life of the person. It is nothing less than the constant transformation by the Spirit of Christ until we, “speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head” (Ephes. 4:15).

So, to sum up – Your understanding of the way the word Holy should be seen in two different senses is the same way that Sanctification typically is seen, because the two words are tied together in meaning.

This is why it is important that we define our terms when speaking! As we talk these things out, we often find we are in close agreement. Unfortunately, many people become adversarial over such issues and break fellowship with other, damaging their relationship. Had they taken the time to patiently talk it out, they may have found out that they agreed on the issue after all!

Thus ends my response to my friend. But here is my question for us now:

• Have you been Sanctified (Made Holy) by Jesus’ Death on the Cross?
• Are you being Sanctified (growing in Holiness) by abiding in Christ now?
• And in our adversarial society, will you commit to patiently talk to people before jumping to conclusions about what you think they mean, so as to maintain good relationships with others? (Part of our God-given role as Ambassadors of Reconciliation!)

As you go out today into the wide world full of the unholy, live as a person sanctified and set apart by God for His kingdom purposes. Be an ambassador of light and love for Him!

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