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We believe that sanctification is God’s work of setting believers apart for Himself and making them holy. Scripture presents this work as already accomplished, continuing throughout the Christian life, and finally completed when believers are with Christ.
Everyone who is united with Christ has already been set apart for God. This standing is not earned through spiritual maturity or personal obedience. It is given by God because of Christ’s finished work.
Sanctification also continues throughout the believer’s earthly life. The Holy Spirit works through God’s Word to renew our minds, change our desires, expose our sin, and make us increasingly like Christ. Believers actively participate by trusting God, turning from sin, obeying His Word, and submitting themselves to the Spirit’s work.
This growth does not make us more accepted by God or add to our justification. Our acceptance rests entirely on Christ. Nevertheless, growth in holiness is God’s intended result of the new life He has given.
Sanctification remains incomplete during this earthly life. When believers are finally with Christ, God will free them completely from sin. At Christ’s return, He will also raise and glorify their bodies, completing His saving work in them.
Supporting Scriptures
Set Apart for God in Christ
I Corinthians 1:2; I Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 10:10, 14
Growing in Holiness
John 17:17; Romans 6:11-14; Romans 12:1-2; II Corinthians 3:18; II Corinthians 7:1; Galatians 5:16-25
God’s Work and the Believer’s Obedience
Philippians 2:12-13; I Thessalonians 4:3-8; Hebrews 12:10-14
Sanctification Completed
Ephesians 5:25-27; Philippians 3:20-21; I Thessalonians 5:23-24; I John 3:2-3
Sanctification in the Life of the Believer
This diagram summarizes the relationship among justification, progressive sanctification, and glorification. It does not suggest that believers earn glorification through spiritual progress or that growth proceeds without setbacks.
Concept adapted from a teaching diagram and used with permission.
Layman's Terms
When God saves us, He sets us apart as His own. We belong to Him because of what Christ has done, not because we have already become spiritually mature.
God then begins changing how we think, desire, and live. This change takes place throughout the Christian life. We cannot produce this change by our own power, but neither are we passive. The Holy Spirit works within us, and we respond by trusting, obeying, and turning from sin.
We will not become completely free from sin during this earthly life. God will finish that work when we are finally with Christ.
Further Study
Set Apart and Being Changed
The New Testament speaks of believers as people who have already been sanctified and as people who are still being sanctified. These statements describe two related aspects of God’s work.
When God saves us, He sets us apart as His people. We belong to Him because we are united with Christ. This is sometimes called definitive or positional sanctification.
God also continues changing us throughout our lives. This is progressive sanctification. The believer who has been set apart for God is gradually learning to think, desire, and live as someone who belongs to Him.
God Works and We Respond
Sanctification is God’s work within us. The Holy Spirit uses Scripture to reveal sin, renew our thinking, shape our desires, and direct us toward obedience. We cannot make ourselves holy apart from His power.
This does not make believers passive. Scripture calls us to present ourselves to God, resist sin, renew our minds, pursue holiness, and obey what He has revealed. We act because God is already at work within us, giving us both the desire and the ability to follow Him.
Our effort does not replace God’s grace. It is a response to His grace and depends upon His continuing work.
Sanctification Does Not Earn Acceptance
Justification and sanctification are closely connected, but they are not the same.
In justification, God declares the believer righteous because of Christ. This is a completed act and does not increase as the believer matures.
In sanctification, God progressively changes the believer’s life. This growth remains incomplete and varies throughout the Christian life.
We do not become more justified or more accepted as we grow. Our standing before God rests entirely on Christ. We pursue holiness because we have been accepted, not in order to make God accept us.
Why Christians Still Struggle with Sin
God gives believers new spiritual life, but He does not immediately remove every sinful desire, habit, or weakness. Christians therefore continue to experience conflict between the desires of the flesh and the work of the Spirit.
Sanctification is real, but it is not always experienced as steady, uninterrupted improvement. Actual spiritual growth includes advances, setbacks, correction, and restoration. A believer may grow significantly in one area while remaining immature or struggling in another.
The presence of struggle does not mean that growth is imaginary or that sin should be accepted. Believers are called to confess sin, turn from it, receive God’s correction, and continue pursuing holiness.
God remains faithful throughout the process. He will not leave His work unfinished. When believers are finally with Christ, they will be freed completely from sin and fully conformed to His holy character.
Memory Verse
Hebrews 10:14
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