Genuine Salvation Part 4: SANCTIFICATION
- Basic meaning of sanctification is “to be set apart” [for the special service of God]. “sanctified” refers to anything specially set apart for God; to be used for His holy purposes
- “to sanctify” means to make holy or to purify. It is the gracious & continuous work of the Holy Spirit in purifying the sinner (2 Cor. 3:18).
SANCTIFICATION: A SUPERNATURAL WORK OF GOD
“the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; & I pray God your whole spirit & soul & body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. (1Thess 5:23-24)
3 ASPECTS OF SANCTIFICATION (Romans 6:22)
“But now being made free from sin, (the Past initial work of God in us: Born again) (I John 3:7-9); and become servants to God,
(a Present continuous work of God in us) (Phil. 2:13); “ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (Our future Hope of God’s final perfecting work in us: Glorification)
I.) A PAST SUPERNATURAL WORK OF GOD IN US
Sanctification begins with the New Birth. We must be born again (John 3:3-7).
“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints” (I Cor. 1:2)
The Greek word “sanctified” is a “perfect passive.” Perfect tense Indicates something happened in the past & has an abiding effect in the present. Passive voice means the sanctifying was done to us. It was not something we do ourselves!
This initial aspect of sanctification causes a radical cleavage with sin in our life. Being Born Again causes us to die to sin (Rom. 6 & 7). Read especially Romans 6:1-11: “We who died to sin” (Rom 6:2)
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF REPENTANCE & FAITH
Before God’s grace transformed our life we were “dead in sin” (Eph. 2:5). Now we are “dead to sin” (Rom. 6:2). If the death of Christ for sin, has not become our death to sin, we will die in our sin! (I Pet. 2:22-24). This is clear from Romans 6:3-6
(3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) “we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (6) Knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”
ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND:
THE NATURE OF MAN – Spiritual Anatomy 101
- “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Gen. 1:27)
The Hebrew word “create” is “bara.” It means to make something out of nothing that previously exists. The Hebrew word for “Soul” is “nephesh.” The Greek word for soul is “psyche” from which we get our English “psychology.”
Illustration: We get a great revelation of the soul from Jesus’s account of the Rich man & Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31). The rich man’s soul is in Hell. His soul had eyes & could see; a Mouth & could speak; & was conscious & could remember his life on Earth.
- “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground…” (Gen. 2:7). Here the word “form” [Hebrew = yatsar] means to “mold something into form” like a potter molds clay. God “formed” the body of man like a potter (Isa. 64:8; Jer. 18:4, 6; etc.). God formed man’s body from previously existing materials in the earth. The LORD God took one of Adam’s ribs… And made a woman… (Gen 2:21-22).
THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SOUL & BODY
The soul fits perfectly into the body just as a hand fits into a glove. Both male & female bodies were fearfully & wonderfully designed to be the house for their soul & spirit (2 Cor. 5:1-5; Ps. 139).
RELATIONSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO OUR HUMAN SPIRIT
God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). It is only God’s Spirit that can give life (John 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6; I Pet. 3:18). The breath of life in Hebrew is “neshamah.” It is translated “spirit” in (Prov. 20:27): “the spirit of man is the candle of the LORD.” Illustration: Our spirit is like a candle
GOD SANCTIFIES OUR ENTIRE BEING: BODY, SOUL, SPIRIT
The God of peace sanctify you wholly; I pray God your whole spirit & soul & body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Thess. 5:23 & Heb. 4:12)
The human body was originally created to be a “dwelling place for God in the Spirit” (I Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Eph. 2:22; I John 3:24; 4:13).
THE LIFE ALTERING TRAGEDY OF ADAM’S SIN
After Adam sinned he had a live physical body; a lost soul; and a dead spirit. God’s Holy Spirit left their soul & human spirit and they were now dead “in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). The sin nature, that we have all inherited from Adam & Eve, came into being like a cancer in our flesh (Rom. 7:18). We became salves to sin & satan.
WHAT IS DEATH ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE?
Death is not an annihilation of being. Biblically Death is a separation. Physical death is the separation of the inner man from the outer man; the soul & spirit separates from the body. “The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26). We also learn death occurs when the soul leaves the body. Genesis 35:18 reveals “as Rachel’s soul was in departing (for she died).” When Elijah wanted to bring a little boy back from the dead, Elijah prayed: “Let the child’s soul come into him” (I King 17:21-2).
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL DEATH?
Spiritual death results when the Holy Spirit of God separates from the human spirit (Gen. 2:17; Acts 26:18; Eph. 2:1-2, 5; 4:18).
A person “without Christ” living in them is spiritually dead “without God & without hope” (Eph. 2:12). We are a lost soul, with a dead human spirit, living in the prison of a slowly dying physical body.
When Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit He raises us from spiritual death and enables us to Die to sin yet Live for Him.
When Christ comes into our hearts He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit freeing our soul from its bondage to the body. This Baptism with the Holy Spirit accomplishes the circumcision of the Spirit “in” us. The Holy Spirit “circumcises” our body of flesh from our soul. (Col. 2:11-13)
“In [Christ] ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: (12) Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (13) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:11-13).
The believer who has been baptized in the Holy Spirit has literally died! Their soul has separated from his flesh! By the miraculous operation of God. That is the Biblical revelation of physical death: “separation of the soul from the body.”
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [Greek = rendered idle], that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:6).
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
My soul is no longer a slave to my flesh. The power of sin [in my flesh] over my soul has literally been severed [put to death] by the circumcision of the Holy Spirit.
My soul has scripturally & literally died to my flesh. I am freed from bondage to the lusts of my flesh by the circumcision of Christ! FREE! FREE at Last!!
WHAT IS CIRCUMCISION?
Cutting off needless flesh! In the O.T. God’s people knew it had a deep spiritual meaning (Deut. 10:16; 30:6): Circumcision of HEART!
- T. Circumcision was A Prophetic Type Of our spiritual circumcision that separates us from the old sinful nature that dwells in our flesh (Rom. 7:18). “In Christ ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ (Col. 2:11-13). The Christian who has been Baptized with the Holy Spirit is no longer “in the flesh but in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:9).
So we see there is a huge Difference between Circumcision & Baptism; especially between the Baptism of the Spirit & the circumcision of the Spirit. They are two totally different “operations” of God. All this “spiritual reality” takes place “inside” my physical body: the house my soul & spirit lives in (2 Cor. 5:1-9).
IMPORTANT LESSONS
Wrong question to ask: “Have you been Baptized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues?”
Right question to ask: “Have you been Circumcised with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of victory over sin?”
We have been FREED from the power of sin by the supernatural work (operation) of Almighty God. Study these truths; cry out to God for the grace to make them a reality in your daily life. Never give up in your battle with sin; Victory is guaranteed by our LORD Jesus Christ!
Your soul & spirit are the real “treasure” that lives in your body: a simple “earthen vessel” (2 Cor. 4:6-7), that will be glorifies when Christ returns for His beloved Bride (All those who accept Christ as their LORD).