Sanctification
Sanctification is a fancy-pants Bible word that means the process of making one holy. Far too often, even though it's really been just a handful of times for me personally, I've heard fellow believers who claim that preaching sanctification and teaching that believers should be striving for holiness and living Godly lives is legalistic and not biblical. The claim is that God is love, we are now under His mercy and grace (which all are true) and that since our sins are completely forgiven in Christ it doesn't really matter how we live or if we go to war with our old sinful desires because grace and mercy will abound and overcome in the End.
Is this attitude biblical?
The Apostle Paul gave the Ephesians some practical evidence in Eph. 4:25-32 to show if sanctification was taking place in their lives. Paul, led by the Spirit, writes things like, "put away lying" (v.25), "be angry and do not sin" (v.26), "let him who steals steal no longer" (v.28), "let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth" (v.29), and "don't grieve the Holy Spirit" (v.30). These are just a few things listed, but the point being that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).
The Spirit immediately begins working on the new believer to help him/her fully "put on Christ" while removing the "old self and it's desires." This process is sanctification. Although there isn't necessarily a time frame provided, it's Scripturally unmistakable that EVERY believer should be growing in holiness as he/she spiritually matures. To be a believer and yet continue on in sin is counter-biblical and anti-Spirit, to which Paul even said in Romans 6:1-2 - "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7-8 - "For this is the will of God, your sanctification......For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit."
If you claim to be a believer, you WILL be experiencing some level of sanctification. It's impossible to not be sanctified in the Spirit and claim to be born again. Are you experiencing sanctification?
Is this attitude biblical?
The Apostle Paul gave the Ephesians some practical evidence in Eph. 4:25-32 to show if sanctification was taking place in their lives. Paul, led by the Spirit, writes things like, "put away lying" (v.25), "be angry and do not sin" (v.26), "let him who steals steal no longer" (v.28), "let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth" (v.29), and "don't grieve the Holy Spirit" (v.30). These are just a few things listed, but the point being that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).
The Spirit immediately begins working on the new believer to help him/her fully "put on Christ" while removing the "old self and it's desires." This process is sanctification. Although there isn't necessarily a time frame provided, it's Scripturally unmistakable that EVERY believer should be growing in holiness as he/she spiritually matures. To be a believer and yet continue on in sin is counter-biblical and anti-Spirit, to which Paul even said in Romans 6:1-2 - "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7-8 - "For this is the will of God, your sanctification......For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit."
If you claim to be a believer, you WILL be experiencing some level of sanctification. It's impossible to not be sanctified in the Spirit and claim to be born again. Are you experiencing sanctification?
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