To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: (I Cor 1:2)
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption… (I Cor 1:30)
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (I Cor 6:9b-11)
…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Eph 1:4)
And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb 10:10)
Praise you, Father, for you have placed me in Christ and in doing so have made me holy. I am yours because in Christ you have set me apart for yourself.
Martin Luther hammered 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg and ignited the Reformation. This event is what most people think of when they think of Luther. Luther, however, did so much more than begin the Reformation. He pastored churches, shepherded leaders, taught theology, and wrote voluminously on both theological and practical matters.
David Robinson played basketball for the San Antonio Spurs. He won two NBA titles and a Most Valuable Player award on the way to a Hall of Fame career. These facts are what most people think of when they think of David Robinson. Robinson, however, did so much more than play basketball. He provided college scholarships to at-risk kids, founded a private school for low-income students, proclaimed Christ to San Antonio youth, and much more.
When we think of famous people, we tend to think only of the famous stuff. I suppose that’s natural, but it can be limiting, especially when we come to Jesus.
Most people who know anything about Jesus know that He died to save us from our sins, that His death on the Cross was the punishment for our sins, bringing forgiveness and salvation. Jesus, however, did so much more than bring salvation. He conquered death; He defeated Satan, and He sanctified us through and through. Now “sanctify” is a Bible word that means something like “to make holy, righteous, pure; to set apart for God.” This means that Jesus did more than the famous stuff — more than bring salvation. Jesus came to make us new, clean, holy, blameless.
The holiness of God that is in Christ is given to all who are also in Christ. This means that the foundation for holy living is not in our attempts at moral behavior. It is not in our good deeds or our repentance. It is not in anything we do. The foundation for holy living is Jesus.
In Him, we are holy. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:10). It is a past event and it is once for all. Paul writes to the church in Corinth and addresses “those who were sanctified in Christ Jesus” (I Cor 1:2). He sees sanctification as a completed deed in Christ.
Holiness is not something we manufacture. It is a gift of God that we already have in Christ just as salvation is a gift of God that we have in Christ. Holiness is not something we strive for apart from Christ. It is something we rest in when we are in Christ. We are called to live a holy life (I Pet 1:15-16) because we have been made a holy people. Holiness is part of our identity in Christ. It’s who we are.
We are holy because our old self has been crucified with Christ (Rm 6:1-11). We have died with Him (Gal 2:20; Col 3:3). God punished our sin through the shedding of the blood on the Cross. Consequently, the just punishment has been served, and we have access to forgiveness. But God also eliminated the source of our sin through the death of our old self on the Cross. In Christ, the sinful you is dead. You have a new you. This is part of the work of Christ. He has made a new race, and He Himself is the head (I Cor 15:20-23; 45-49).
Of course, we are to live out the new life God has given us, and that “living out” involves practical things like telling the truth, fighting greed, remaining sexually pure, and controlling our temper. Sometimes people think of these practices as sanctification, and in one sense they are correct. But in another sense, sanctification in Christ precedes the practices. The practices are the consequence of what Christ has done. We remain sexually pure because we are holy. Trying to live a holy life is no good unless it is first grounded in the real sanctification that we already have in Christ. If we try to live a holy life apart from Christ, it is like trying to spend a million dollars when we have only five hundred in the bank. But if we rest in Christ and in the finished holiness He has procured for us through the Cross and Resurrection, suddenly we find that we have billions of dollars in the account. Holiness is ultimately not a work of ours but a work of grace. We were saved by grace, and so we are to live our daily life by grace as well. “Having begun by the Spirit, are [we] now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal 3:3) The entire life of the follower of Jesus is a gift of grace that we access through faith in the finished work of Christ. Salvation comes that way, but so does sanctification. A holy, righteous life comes from Jesus. It does not come from us.
It is important for us to acknowledge this aspect of the work of Christ, for it is woefully neglected in the common preaching and writing of the contemporary church. Jesus is not just our Savior. He is also our Sanctifier. He does not just forgive sins. He frees us from sin itself — from its power, its grip. We can live a new life because He has made us a new creature. Or to put it another way, we can live a new life because we are in Him. He has made us holy in the sight of God. That is simply who we are.
