Sanctification – Part 2

In Part 1 we saw that every believer is positionally sanctified: set apart to God in a moment, once for all, the day he trusts Jesus Christ as Savior. That work is finished, and it saved us from the penalty of sin. But Scripture also speaks of a sanctification that is still going on in the believer’s life, and of one that is still to come. This post takes up both. A simple way to hold all three together is this: positional sanctification saves us from sin’s penalty, progressive sanctification from its power, and ultimate sanctification from its very presence.

Growth That Is Real, but Uneven

Progressive sanctification is the believer’s ongoing, experiential growth in holiness. It is God working in daily life to make us in practice more like the One we already belong to. If positional sanctification saved us from the penalty of sin, progressive sanctification is God saving us, day by day, from its power. Peter puts it simply: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ…” (2 Peter 3:18). And Paul describes the process this way: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Notice the phrase from glory to glory. It is a process, and a process takes time. It also is not a straight line. Even the apostle Paul wrote honestly about the struggle: “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19). And Solomon observed, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again…” (Proverbs 24:16). Setbacks are part of the path, and the believer gets up and goes on.

Secure While You Grow

This is where many have been misled, so it needs to be said plainly: progressive sanctification is not about keeping your salvation. Look again at the gold line across the top of the graph. It stays level the whole way through. Your standing before God does not rise when you have a good week or fall when you stumble. The penalty was dealt with once for all, and growth does not reopen the question.

Jesus said of His own, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). And Paul declares, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1).

What, then, happens when a believer sins? Fellowship is hindered, but the relationship is not broken. A child who disobeys is still his father’s child, and the Lord deals with us accordingly: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). The way back is open: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).

A dip in the line is a setback in growth. It is never a loss of salvation.

God Wants You to Grow

Security is not a license to stand still. The same God who saved you wants you to become more like Him, and He says so plainly: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

Holiness is not a burden imposed on the believer to earn something. It is the natural direction of a life that belongs to God. Paul appeals to us on the basis of what God has already done: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

And we do not grow in our own strength. Paul writes, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). Notice that he says work out, not work for. Salvation is already ours. We are to live it out, and God Himself supplies the desire and the power. As Paul says elsewhere, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

This is what it means to be saved from the power of sin. Sin is still present with us, but it no longer has to rule us: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

The Day the Work Is Finished

Now look at the far upper right of the graph, where the climbing line meets the gold one. That is ultimate sanctification, and it is a certainty, not a hope. It comes at one of two moments: when the believer departs this life, or when the Lord returns for His church in the Rapture.

At death, Scripture says the believer is “…willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). And for the generation living when Christ comes, Paul writes, “…We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

On that day the struggle ends, because we are saved from the very presence of sin. John writes, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Paul prays, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly…” (1 Thessalonians 5:23), and he assures us, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

What God begins, He finishes. We will look at the glorified body in a later post on glorification.

Growing From a Secure Place

If you have trusted Christ, you are already set apart, you are being changed day by day, and you will one day be made perfectly like Him. The first is complete and has saved you from sin’s penalty. The second is underway and is saving you from sin’s power. The third is guaranteed and will save you from sin’s presence. So grow, and do not be discouraged by the setbacks, because the God who holds you is the same God who is working in you.