Dear Pastor, Know Your Theology of Sanctification

The moment I realized the inadequacy of my understanding of sanctification is forever etched in my memory. It occurred during a small group meeting when we were discussing the interaction between our actions and the work of the Holy Spirit in our sanctification process.

As is often the case in such conversations, people shared what had helped them grow—or at least what they had been taught in church to help: Bible reading, prayer, etc. All of them firmly affirmed that it was the Holy Spirit who did the work of sanctification. Finally, one honest woman exclaimed, «I don’t understand how I can grow in sanctification as a Christian?»

A little background. This woman had been following Jesus for many years, but recently she felt that her growth had stalled. She read her Bible, prayed, and attended church every Sunday, but she felt bitter toward others and said things she later regretted. She understood that her sin was displeasing to God. So she knew she couldn’t just sit back and wait for God to sanctify her. But she was also beginning to understand that her sanctification was not happening in direct proportion to her own efforts. She was trying hard, but she wasn’t making any progress. Earlier that evening I had said that if we approach spiritual disciplines as the direct cause of our sanctification, the focus shifts from the gospel of Christ to ourselves, and this undermines our growth. I could see that this resonated with her, even though it scared her.

But I couldn’t answer her question because my understanding of salvation was fragmentary. I didn’t understand the big picture, so the different processes—like justification and sanctification—were at odds with each other. I mumbled something, but it was more like a mumble that went on longer than anyone would have liked, and then we took a break for refreshments. There’s nothing like store-bought cookies to break the tension.

Pastor's Responsibility

I don't think every Christian needs to be able to clearly explain the theology of sanctification in order to be sanctified, any more than my wife and our young daughter need to understand the psychology of mother-child attachment in order to form that bond. We can be nourished by Christ and grow spiritually even if we don't fully understand how it happens. But, to continue this analogy, what if something goes wrong in the process of forming an attachment? I certainly hope there is someone who understands it well enough to help.

And that is why pastors must know their theology of sanctification. You may be thinking, «Isn’t that the job of a biblical counselor?» Yes. But pastors—especially those who bear the brunt of preaching and teaching—have a responsibility to preach the truth of biblical sanctification in order to point their people in the right direction.

Think about it: If you are not preaching with the sanctification of your people in mind, what are you doing? You certainly don’t want to just educate them or, worse yet, entertain them. You want them to be changed. But do you have a clear idea of how that happens? If not, how can you be sure you are leading them in the right direction?

Where we often go wrong

The dangers that can hinder sanctification are permissiveness and legalism.

Legalism sees sanctification as a work that I do myself. Maybe I do good works to earn salvation. Or maybe I do them to gain more of God’s grace. I think, «If I just stop doing this or start doing that, everything will be fine.» This is legalism because it is about obedience for the sake of a relationship with God, not as a result of a relationship with Him.

Another error is the permissiveness advocated by those who are called antinomians (anti — against; nomas — law). This stems from an over-focus on what Christ has already accomplished, so that there seems to be no room for our own efforts. Antinomians see the dire consequences when our efforts are misapplied, and (erroneously) conclude that we should stop making any effort at all.

Let’s consider what happens when there is no clear understanding of sanctification. We can encourage people to fight legalism with permissiveness and vice versa—to fight permissiveness with legalism. I remember a group of students who asked me to stop talking about the Gospel because they were afraid it would undermine their pursuit of holiness. I know other people who, if they are honest, find comfort in the fact that they sin because it proves they are not becoming legalists. But this is not biblical sanctification, and we should not encourage this kind of thinking.

It is easier to promote pseudo-sanctification than it seems. I have heard good pastors emphasize what their church should do, but say nothing about the power that enables it to do it. There have been sermons where grace is so divorced from holy living that the answer to Paul’s question, «Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?» seems to be an affirmative yes.

These problems can be solved through preaching that puts Christ at the center of every text. But we need a theology of sanctification to go one step further and ask, "When we come to Christ, how are we to put on Him and not 'make provision for the flesh' to be lustful?"«

I am not saying that every sermon should include a long lecture on the doctrine of sanctification. It may come in one sentence as we come to Christ. Or perhaps it will be evident in your words to the person at the door who is anxious or self-satisfied. The point is that if «putting on Christ» and «seeking things above» are the main commandments related to our sanctification, we must know what it means to do them, and this should be clear in our sermons.

Sanctification in Christ

A clear theology of sanctification must emphasize the need to grow in holiness without diminishing grace, and emphasize grace without diminishing the need to grow.

How to do this? I will only briefly outline the main points here. The real purpose of this article is to encourage you to study sanctification.

The first step is to see holiness as an integral part of salvation. We need to stop talking about «salvation» and «holiness» as if they were two different things that can be contrasted. We need to be careful when we quote Ephesians 2:8-9:

«"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast.",

— without adding verse 10:

«"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in them.".

Salvation includes holiness—not as a condition, but as a part. Note: The Bible does not create a tension between the gift of grace and good works.

Why is this so? This brings us to another important point: salvation is union with Christ. Unfortunately, we often think of salvation as a collection of individually packaged gifts. There is the gift of «forgiveness,» the gift of the «Holy Spirit,» the gift of «redemption,» and so on. The problem is that each of these gifts begins to exist independently, and overemphasis on one can overshadow the other. For example, if I am enjoying the great gift of forgiveness, do I really need to «unpack» the one called «sanctification»? Or, if I am living in the gift of «sanctification,» do I still need to hold on to the gift of «imputed righteousness»?

In reality, salvation is the acceptance of Christ, who has become all that is necessary for salvation. We are «in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.» Since every gift comes through the acceptance of Christ, they all fit together perfectly. We use the forgiveness of sins and imputed righteousness not to sit back but to draw near to Christ and find help for a holy life. And when we live a holy life, we do not ignore our justification; on the contrary, we are further impressed by God’s holiness, which increases our appreciation for the imputed righteousness of Christ, which is our legal standing before God. The Spirit also unifies the Christian life; the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead «for our justification» (Rom. 4:25) also unites us to Christ, fills us with fruit, and intercedes for us before God.

In other words, growing in one aspect of our salvation inevitably draws us deeper into the person of Christ and our spiritual union with Him, which also connects us to every other grace we have in Him. We have every spiritual blessing in Christ. When we view our salvation as a whole, we simply cannot pit one gift against another. So we will not fight legalism with permissiveness. We will fight both legalism and permissiveness through Christ.

Study sanctification!

I am grateful for this woman’s question because it prompted me to study sanctification. No matter how much we have understood this truth, we still have much to learn—and infinitely more to experience. However, even a basic but biblical paradigm of sanctification will help us lead our people deeper into Christ, and therefore deeper into holiness.

There is a lot of emphasis in evangelical circles right now on understanding justification. That is good. But let us make sure that we do not neglect sanctification.