THE SHACKLING OF GRACE
What is really at stake?
Greetings! Consider this...
The most fundamental mistake I find throughout the church today is the idea that identity and behavior are inseparable. The church teaches us we can never break free from the “such a worm as I” mentality, because, as the Reverend points out, “We are not capable of not sinning....because we continue to leak total depravity.” In other words, this part of the good news is only applicable to the next life, and sanctification is limited to a process of gradually being cleaned up to the status of being a “better sinner.”
What is at stake here is the totality and completeness of what God did on our behalf, through the death and resurrection of His Son.
Am I suggesting that we, as Christians, no longer sin? Absolutely not! However, I am saying that in spite of our occasional wrong behavior, our identity has been permanently changed, reflecting a life that is eternal in nature and being.
Most teaching limits sanctification to a present/ future process, and leaves a believer stuck with a lowly identity riddled with shame and guilt. If sanctification is confined to the future, how do Christians reconcile scriptures like, “you are complete in Christ.... a holy people.... the righteousness of God in Christ. perfected for all time.... a new creation”
The word sanctification means “holiness, to set apart.” To sanctify, therefore, means "to make holy." To sanctify someone or something is to set that person or thing apart for the use intended by its designer.
The past tense of sanctify is used at least fifteen times in the New Testament. It is spoken of, not as a process, but as a completed act of the Lord Jesus when God placed us in Christ, executed us with the Lord Jesus, buried us, raised us and enthroned us. If (since) then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-3). Note the tense of these verses.
Sanctification in the Old Testament
One of my theological consultants, Dr. David Orison, president of Grace for the Heart, wrote the following:
First, it is God who sanctifies and he does so by association. Israel was sanctified because she was set apart to be his. The vessels of the tabernacle and temple were sanctified because they were set apart for worship of him. The priests were sanctified because they served him. The sabbath was sanctified because it was set apart by and for the Lord. Several times in the Scriptures we read, “For I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” That means they were holy/sanctified because he was holy/sanctified and they belonged to him.
Another thing seen in the Old Testament is that the people were often called to sanctify them
selves. Before they crossed the dry Jordan River, Joshua called the people to sanctify themselves. Before they identified Achan as the one who stole the booty and hid it in his house, Joshua told the people to sanctify themselves. The bearers of the Ark were to sanctify themselves before their holy work. There was a distinction between their normal daily life and their appearance before the Lord. Anytime the people entered the presence of the Lord or did special work of worship, they were to sanctify themselves.
Now, I don’t see this anywhere in the New Testament. I do not believe this is a New Covenant concept, although I suspect it lies behind such things as dressing up in our ‘Sunday best’ and giving things up for Lent. I also suspect that many preachers and teachers have this in mind when they talk about sanctification as a process.
Point two: The idea that we can do something to sanctify ourselves or make ourselves holy is not a New Covenant concept. While the New Covenant between God and the people was different because of Jesus, we have no particular reason to think that the process of sanctification was different. We are still sanctified by association. Sanctification is not something separate from the person of Jesus Christ. He is our sanctification, according to Paul. But of Him you are in
Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).
His life has sanctified us. We are holy because he is holy, just like he said. He is holy and we are holy because he is in us and we are in him. Our identity in Christ was given to us, once and forever, as a gift—nothing of our work or character or sacrifice was in it. And with that identity came sanctification, once and forever. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10).
Because we are associated with Jesus, and I mean that in the strongest terms, we are sanctified. We live in relationship with him. We are more intimately connected to him than we could be with any other person. He lives in us and we live in him. This association is our identity.
I know there are some who will say that we can lose that relationship because of wrong actions or attitudes. I don’t believe that. I did nothing to get this relationship except to receive it and I do nothing to maintain the relationship. I believe that I will belong to Jesus for eternity because he is my life. There is no me apart from him.
Point three: My sanctification/holiness comes to me only and always through Jesus. He is the
holy one and he makes me holy just by association. So now the question remains as to whether there is some kind of process of sanctification. How could that be true if sanctification is simply a fact of our relationship with Jesus? What kind of process would make sense? Would I become more holy? Would I somehow keep myself holy? Do we somehow redefine sanctification when it comes to living out the Christian life? Are there two definitions allowed by scripture?
Well the problem with proof-texting is that we start from an assumption and look to the scriptures to affirm it. If we start with the idea that sanctification is a process, something like what the people did for themselves in the Old Covenant, then we will probably find it in the New Testament scriptures. But we don’t have to do that.
Let’s look at a couple of passages. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren (Hebrews 2:11). For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:14).
Much is made of this idea of “being sanctified.” However, the word “being” is not in the text. It is an inflection of the word “sanctified” that allows a continuous action. The KJV and the
NASB both chose “are sanctified.” But if we remember that this action is accomplished only by the Lord and only through our association with him, we find the answer.
The connection between us and the Lord is a continual process. Not a process of becoming, but a process of being. We have no holiness apart from him. Holiness is in us because he is in us. But our connection with him is dynamic. We live in a real and active relationship with him. He is continually holy in us and we are continually holy in him. We don’t become more holy, but we are continually being made holy (sanctified) in him. It isn't that we can lose this, but simply that he is continually active within us.
Point Four: Our sanctification is a done deal, a finished work, once and forever—because it is in Jesus. But his life in us is dynamic, living and active. It is always responsible to note verses that seem out of sync with a teaching. For example, Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
In what way has God not sanctified us completely? It is difficult to harmonize this verse with any idea of sanctification. I suspect that it is simply a blessing in which Paul reminds his readers
at the end of his letter that God is at work in them and has claimed them as his own. He makes it very clear, in the next verse, that sanctification is the sole work of God. Pursue peace with all people , and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
Finally we come to the process of spiritual growth, as Major Ian Thomas said,
“becoming who we are.” Any idea of pursuing holiness (same word as sanctification) can only mean the transforming of our thinking to conform with the mind of Christ, which is already active and resident within us. We are certainly a becoming people, as far as outward behavior is concerned. The day will come when our behavior will fully and forever become consistent with who we are.
But is this sanctification? It seems both incorrect and unhelpful to say that it is. This is spiritual growth, the “working out of our salvation.” We do not become more saved or more sanctified through this process. We simply draw a little closer in our understanding to the identity that is ours in Christ.”
Sanctification involves a renewal of the mind. Are we saved by grace and sanctified by works? If along with the Reverend we quoted earlier in the chapter we buy into the belief of sanctification by our works, then sanctification for all of us will be an “ongoing and difficult process.” We will be attempting to duplicate needlessly the finished work of Christ. This duplication will be impossible and is what makes Christians burn out and too often drop out.
Learn more in my next email, "Before the Cross."
-Lee LeFebre
