Sanctification in Christianity

In Christianity, sanctification (or in its verb form, sanctify) literally means "to set apart for special use or purpose", that is, to make holy or sacred (compare Latin: sanctus).

[4]Saint Paul of the Cross stated that "Prayer, good reading, the frequent reception of the sacraments, with the proper dispositions, and particularly the flight of idleness—these are, believe me, the means of sanctifying yourself.

[9] Martin Luther taught in his Large Catechism that Sanctification is only caused by the Holy Spirit through the powerful Word of God.

"Thus we have the Ten Commandments, a commend of divine doctrine, as to what we are to do in order that our whole life may be pleasing to God, and the true fountain and channel from and in which everything must arise and flow that is to be a good work, so that outside of the Ten Commandments no work or thing can be good or pleasing to God, however great or precious it be in the eyes of the world...whoever does attain to them is a heavenly, angelic man, far above all holiness of the world.

"[13] Anabaptist belief emphasizes that sanctification is initiated by being born again by the Spirit of God and then practiced by following or being a disciple of Christ.

Sanctification is seen as mortifying the deeds of the flesh, cleansing impure motives and thoughts of the mind and heart as well as glorifying the Father through worship, obedience and faith working in love.

It is not clear that John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, conceives of sanctification as a doctrine separate from justification.

Following Augustine, Calvin embraces a non-perfectionist account of sanctification as progressive but incomplete until eschatological consummation:"I insist not that the life of the Christian shall breathe nothing but the perfect Gospel, though this is to be desired, and ought to be attempted.

"[22] Against those who "maintain the perfection of holiness in the present life," Calvin replies:"...we deem it sufficient briefly to reply with Augustine, that the goal to which all the pious ought to aspire is, to appear in the presence of God without spot or blemish; but as the course of the present life is at best nothing more than progress, we shall never reach the goal until we have laid aside the body of sin, and been completely united to the Lord.

Forgiveness of sins being previously given, the good works which follow have a value different from their merit, because whatever is imperfect in them is covered by the perfection of Christ, and all their blemishes and pollutions are wiped away by his purity, so as never to come under the cognizance of the divine tribunal.

The life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences itself by loving obedience to God’s revealed will.

[29] Wesleyan covenant theology also emphasizes that an important aspect of sanctification is the keeping of the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments.

"[32] This process of sanctification that begins at the new birth (first work of grace) has its goal as Christian perfection, otherwise known as entire sanctification (second work of grace),[26][33] which John Wesley, the progenitor of the Methodist faith, described as a heart "habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor" and as "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked".

[34] To John Wesley the work of entire sanctification was distinctly separate from regeneration,[35] and was "wrought instantaneously, though it may be approached by slow and gradual steps.

"[35] A more complete statement of Wesley's position goes like this:"It is that habitual disposition of soul which, in the sacred writings, is termed holiness; and which directly implies, the being cleansed from sin, 'from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit;' and, by consequence, the being endued with those virtues which were also in Christ Jesus; the being so 'renewed in the spirit of our mind,' as to be 'perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.

It is expounded upon in the Methodist Articles of Religion:[37] Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanseth from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk in his holy commandments blameless.

[37]Terming the experience of entire sanctification the baptism of the Holy Spirit, John William Fletcher, the systematic theologian of Methodism, emphasized that the experience of entire sanctification through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit cleanses the believer from original sin and empowers the believer for service to God.

―Principles of Faith, Emmanuel Association of Churches[41]If a person backslides but later decides to return to God, he or she must confess his or her sins and be entirely sanctified again (see conditional security).

[42][43][44] John Wesley taught outward holiness as an expression of "inward transformation" and theologians in the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition have noted that the observance of standards of dress and behaviour should follow the new birth as an act of obedience to God.

And the Apostles that were in the Light, Christ Jesus, (which destroyes the Devil and his works) spoke Wisdom among them that were Perfect, though they could not among those that were Carnal; And their Work was for the perfecting of the Saints, for that cause had they their Ministry given to them until they all came to the Knowledge of the Son of God, which doth destroy the Devil and his works, And which ends the Prophets, first Covenant, Types, Figures, Shadowes; And until they all came to the Unity of the Faith which purified their hearts, which gave them Victory over that which seperated [sic] from God, In which they had access to God, by which Faith they pleased him, by which they were Justified; And so until they came unto a Perfect Man, unto the Measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ; and so the Apostle said, Christ in you we Preach the hope of Glory, warning every man, that we might present every Man Perfect in Christ Jesus.

[51]The early Quakers, following Fox, taught that as a result of the New Birth through the power of the Holy Spirit, man could be free from actual sinning if he continued to rely on the inward light and "focus on the cross of Christ as the center of faith".

[53] Keswickian theology, which emerged in the Higher Life Movement, teaches a second work of grace that occurs through "surrender and faith", in which God keeps an individual from sin.