Spir Dynamics 160 3/18/93; Eph 1107, 8/2/89; 278, 528; Rev 510, 655

DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION

A. Definition and Description.

1. Sanctification is a technical theological term for the status quo of the royal family of God in three phases of the protocol plan. The term means to be set apart to God for a special purpose. We, the royal family of God, are set apart to God in three ways from salvation to the eternal state.

2. Phase one, positional sanctification, refers to salvation at which point the baptism of the Spirit enters every believer into union with the person of Jesus Christ. There are seven results of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, four of which are pertinent here.

a. Sanctification is the means of extending the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age, so that the correct designation for this dispensation is the great power experiment of the Church Age.

b. Sanctification is the means of the formation of the royal family of God.

c. Sanctification is the means of the creation of a new spiritual species for the utilization of the divine omnipotence; i.e., the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son related to the perpetuation of human history, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit related to your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere.

d. Equal privilege for every believer to execute the protocol plan of God in union with Christ.

e. Positional sanctification means you have eternal security; there is no way you can ever get out of your relationship with God.

3. Phase two, experiential sanctification, is the function of the spiritual life after salvation. The function of the spiritual life depends on the three spiritual skills: the filling of the Holy Spirit, the metabolization of metabolized doctrine, and the utilization of the ten problem solving devices. This produces experiential or spiritual righteousness. This is your residence, function, and momentum inside the operational-type divine dynasphere.

4. Phase three, ultimate sanctification, is the believer in his resurrection body in the eternal state.

5. Positional sanctification is the status quo of every Church Age believer at the moment of salvation through faith in Christ. God the Holy Spirit enters him into union with Christ by means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

B. Etymology.

1. There are a number of Greek words used for sanctification that help define the concept. The Greek verb HAGIAZO means to “set apart.” That’s exactly what God does with the royal family; He sets us apart in order to show that we are royalty. Remember that Jesus Christ has three royal warrants.

a. Royal Warrant number one: Jesus Christ as God. Royal title: Son of God. Royal family: God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

b. Royal Warrant number two: Jesus Christ as humanity from the point of His physical birth. He is directly descended from the fourth son of David and Bathsheba, Nathan. Royal title: Son of David. Royal family: Dynasty of David. Mary was descended from Nathan; Joseph was descended from Solomon.

c. Royal Warrant number three: Jesus Christ since His resurrection, ascension, and session. Royal title: King of kings and Lord of lords, Bright Morning Star. Royal family: He was without a royal family at the point of His session. As a result, God inserted the Church Age, the mystery age, for the calling out of a royal family for our Lord’s third royal title. It is during the Church Age only that the greatest privileges and opportunities ever given to the common believer are provided. Once this royal family is completed, it will be resurrected by the Rapture of the Church.

2. So HAGIAZO tells us that we are set apart in a special way in history. We have unique privileges and unique opportunities which start at salvation. One of the seven ministries performed by God the Holy Spirit at salvation is the baptism of the Spirit, in which the Holy Spirit enters each believer into union with Christ. This is the way in which the royal family is formed. This never occurs outside of the Church Age. So HAGAIAZO is used for positional sanctification, meaning that every believer is “in Christ.” “In Christ” is technical for positional sanctification, in that we are set apart forever as the royal family of God.

3. HAGIAZO is translated “to make holy, to consecrate, to sanctify.” It means you are appointed by the Justice of God as aristocracy forever. It therefore refers to God’s plan for aristocracy. (Your aristocratic function is maturity adjustment to the justice of God.)

4. The adjective HAGIOS is one of the titles for the royal family of God. Unfortunately, it is translated into the English by an obscure word which has an erroneous connotation: “saint.” This connotes some sort of self-righteous, strained, painful, sacrificial life. But actually HAGIOS describes you as a believer in Christ. Every Church Age believer is a saint, no matter who or what he is.

5. Principles of application from HAGIOS.

a. HAGIOS is used in front of your name to tell you that, since the moment of your salvation, throughout time on earth, and for all eternity future, you have been set apart for the greatest privileges and greatest opportunities that have ever existed for believers. What do you have that none of the great Old Testament believers had? You have the indwelling of the person of Christ, the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, the computer assets of election and predestination, and the divine dynasphere, just to name a few. Never in the history of the human race has so much been given by God to believers as has been given to Church Age believers.

b. Jn 6:19, “And we have believed; in fact, we have come to know that You are the Holy One from God [HO HAGIOS TOU THEOU].” This anticipated Christ’s royalty. The singular HAGIOS in the nominative is applied to our Lord before it is ever applied to us. So sanctification in all its implications goes back to our Lord Jesus Christ, the supreme aristocracy of all the human race!

c. But HAGIOS is also used of you because your aristocracy is related to Christ. Although human aristocracies eventually disappear, your aristocracy is the most secure that could ever exist, for it is the only aristocracy which will last forever. You are a saint by divine appointment. Your magna charta is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

6. Aristocracy also means only one class. We are all believers in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. This excludes any differentiations of race, sex, or human status.

7. The noun HAGIOSMOS is translated sanctification or sanctifying. It is also translated holiness or consecration. It refers to investiture of aristocracy. It refers to the state of being made an aristocrat forever. It also refers to our Lord’s battlefield royalty with emphasis on His integrity. It especially emphasizes our relationship to the integrity of God.

8. A noun rarely used is HAGIOTES, which means sanctification. It is often translated holiness. This describes the principle by which all believers are related to the integrity of God and the aristocracy of God.

9. Another noun, HAGIOSUNE, is used only by the apostle Paul, who apparently coined it. HAGIOSUNE means holiness, set apart, or sanctification. This word emphasizes the categorical stages of our aristocracy: phases one, two, and three. This word relates our aristocracy to God’s plan for the royal family of God.

10. Since this concept applies to Church Age believers only, it is found only in the Greek. It has no Hebrew equivalents, since everything related to the Church, as part of the mystery doctrine, was not revealed to Old Testament writers.

C. The Three Phases of Sanctification.

1. Positional Sanctification, Phase One.

a. This occurs at salvation through faith in Christ. Every believer is taken at salvation and entered into union with the person of Christ. This constitutes equal privilege to execute the protocol plan of God.

b. The mechanics of positional sanctification is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

c. Positional sanctification is the means of eternal security. You can never be taken out of union with Christ. Rom 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.”

d. Positional sanctification qualifies the believer to live with God forever. There are two reasons for this.

(1) The believer possesses the righteousness of God; that of the Father being imputed, and we share the perfect righteousness of Christ through our positional sanctification. If we are going to live with God forever, we have to be as good as He is. We are, by having His perfect righteousness.

(2) The believer possesses eternal life. 1 Jn 5:11-12, “And this is the deposition: that God has given to each one of us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son [positional sanctification] has eternal life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have the [eternal] life.” If we are going to live with God forever, we must also have His life, eternal life. We do; it comes from the Father through imputation and from the Son through positional sanctification.

e. Positional sanctification belongs to all categories of believers, whether winners or losers experientially. 1 Cor 1:2, 30 says that even the worst of believers (those in the Corinthian church) are sanctified in Christ Jesus.

f. Positional sanctification is the status of the new spiritual species. Eph 2:10, “We are His creation, having been created in Christ Jesus for good of intrinsic value achievements which God has prepared in advance, that we should walk by means of them.”

(1) We walk by means of them through:

(a) Postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.

(b) Cognition of Bible doctrine for orientation to God’s grace and His plan.

(d) Cognition and use of our very own portfolio of invisible assets.

(e) The development and use of the unique problem- solving devices of spiritual adulthood.

(f) The utilization of metabolized doctrine to pass the three categories of suffering for blessing.

(g) The adoption of grace priorities for our lives.

(2) This includes God emphasis over people emphasis, spiritual living in the divine dynasphere over psychological living in the cosmic system, and the use of divine power rather than human power and talent in the execution of God’s plan.

(3) This means equating living with dying through the use of God’s perfect happiness (+H) at spiritual maturity (Phil 1:20-21), and equating adversity with prosperity through the use of +H (Phil 4:11-13).

g. Positional sanctification is the means of forming the royal family of God, Eph 1:5, 10.

h. Characteristics of positional sanctification.

(1) It is not an experience; it is neither emotional nor ecstatics.

(2) It is not progressive. It cannot be improved in time or in eternity.

(3) It is not related to human merit. We are not in Christ because of what we do, but because we believed in Him and God the Holy Spirit did the work of entering us into union with Him.

(4) It is obtained en toto at the moment of salvation through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

(5) It is understood only through cognition of the pertinent doctrine.

(6) It is eternal in nature; it cannot be changed by God, angels, or mankind.

i. Implications of positional sanctification.

(1) We share the perfect righteousness of Christ, 2 Cor 5:21.

(2) We share the eternal life of Christ, 1 Jn 5:11-12.

(3) We share the election of Christ, Eph 1:4.

(4) We share the sonship of Christ, Gal 3:26.

(5) We share the heirship of Christ, Rom 8:16-17.

(6) We share the priesthood of Christ, Heb 10:10-14.

(7) We are transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love, Col 1:13.

j. This constitutes the principle of equal privilege under the computer asset of predestination. This is the basis for the formation of the royal family of God.

k. Positional or phase one sanctification is divided into two parts theologically: retroactive positional truth and current positional truth. This whole concept is presented in Romans as analogous to the believer being divorced from the old sin nature and now married to the Lord Jesus Christ.

l. In retroactive positional truth, the believer is identified with Christ in His spiritual and physical deaths and burial.

(1) Identification with Christ in His spiritual death is rejection of good and evil, tantamount to separation from the first husband, the old sin nature. (This whole analogy follows divorce procedure.)

(2) Identification with Christ in His physical death is separation from good and evil, tantamount to separation from our first husband, the old sin nature.

(3) Identification with Christ in His burial is tantamount to actual divorce, where there is death between the two involved.

m. In current positional truth, the believer is identified with Christ in His resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God the Father, tantamount to our second marriage which demands “walking in newness of life.” We are “new creatures; the old things have passed away.” Old things refers to our past marriage to the old sin nature.

2. Experiential Sanctification, Phase Two.

a. Experiential sanctification is the function of the spiritual life after salvation. The function of the spiritual life depends on the three spiritual skills: the filling of the Holy Spirit, the metabolization of doctrine, and the utilization of the ten problem solving devices. This produces experiential or spiritual righteousness. Our spiritual righteousness is capacity for divine blessing in time. As our spiritual righteousness increases, our capacity increases, and therefore our blessing in time from God increases. When we execute the protocol plan of God by reaching spiritual maturity, then we have the conveyance of our escrow blessings for time because we have the capacity to enjoy them from our spiritual righteousness.

b. Experiential sanctification refers to residence, function, and momentum inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere. Here is where winners and losers are manufactured experientially.

(1) So experiential sanctification exists inside your palace. This is the place of the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the only place where you can execute the protocol plan of God. Outside your palace, Satan has two very nice rest homes (dungeons) for you: cosmic one and cosmic two. In these losers are developed.

(2) This provision of your very own divine dynasphere, for which you can opt any moment, hour, and day, is your equal opportunity under the computer assets of predestination. Therefore, in eternity past, God the Father provided for every believer his very own place for experiential sanctification in his prefabricated palace.

(3) So basically, experiential sanctification is the believer residing in his very own palace, under the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit, and having momentum from metabolized doctrine.

c. Experiential sanctification is referred to by the Greek word EUSEBEIA, translated “spiritual life (not godliness).”

3. Ultimate Sanctification, Phase Three.

a. Ultimate sanctification refers to the believer in the eternal state. It carries the concept of having a resurrection body. In eternity, every believer will have a resurrection body.

b. Until the Rapture of the Church occurs, all Church Age believers who die go to heaven in an interim body where there is equally great happiness and blessing to all believers, whether they are winners or losers.

c. At the Rapture all Church Age believers receive their resurrection bodies, both winners and losers, both those already in heaven (“the dead in Christ shall rise first"), and those alive on the earth (“and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord”).

d. So ultimate sanctification is the state of being blameless before God, possessing a resurrection body, 1 Cor 1:8; Eph 1:4.

e. Following the Rapture of the Church, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, winners receive the conveyance of their escrow blessings for the eternal state and be presented to God the Father in the royal court of heaven.

f. Ultimate sanctification converts the body of Christ into the Bride of Christ.

g. In ultimate sanctification, the Church is resurrected aristocracy, and therefore, different from all other resurrections. The royal family of God shares in the coronation and triumph of Jesus Christ at the Second Advent. Therefore, the bride must be prepared prior to the Second Advent.

h. Other passages: Phil 3:21; 1 Thes 5:23; 1 Jn 3:1-2.

D. The Categorical Exception to Sanctification.

1. The concept of sanctification of our physical food is taught in the Bible.

2. To sanctify your food all the time, everywhere, is a very good idea, for you never know what is in that food. In this way, you can still receive all the benefits from the food without any side effects, simply because you have sanctified that food.

3. To sanctify food requires one believer in fellowship offering a very short prayer asking God the Father to set apart his food.

4. To ask God to “sanctify” or “set apart” your food means to ask Him to overrule any impurities that may have infiltrated the food; i.e., impurities from storage, from exposure (to elements or creatures), from virus or bacteria.

5. 1 Tim 4:4-5 explains the sanctification of food. “Because everything created by God is good for food, and nothing is to be rejected as unclean, if the food is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified for nourishment through the Word of God and prayer.” Note its purpose: to be sanctified for nourishment. First you have to be thankful for the food. And then you have to know enough doctrine (“through the Word of God”) to know what to say in prayer. So you must be in fellowship for your prayer to be heard.

6. To sanctify food takes no longer then one sentence: “Father, sanctify this food; in Christ’s name, Amen.” God isn’t impressed with a lot of words, especially unnecessary ones.

E. The Means of Sanctification: Our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the means of sanctification through His saving work on the cross.

a. There is no sanctification in the Church Age outside of those who personally believe in Christ.

b. Were it not for the unique Person of Christ in His Hypostatic Union and His efficacious saving work on the cross, there would be no sanctification in the human race, no being set apart to God.

c. No salvation means no sanctification, because salvation precedes all three categories of sanctification.

d. We are a new spiritual species in contrast to the Jews who are a new racial species.

2. Our Lord as the means of sanctification is taught in Heb 10:9-10, 14. This was what our Lord said when He came into the world. “At that time [point of virgin birth, incarnation], He [Jesus Christ] said, `Behold, I have arrived to accomplish Your will [purpose],’ by means of which will we [Church Age believers] have been sanctified to God forever through the offering of the body of Christ once and for all on the cross. For by means of one offering, He has made perfect forever those being sanctified.”

F. Recipients of Sanctification: Church Age Believers Only.

1. In positional sanctification at salvation, the believer is entered into union with Christ through the baptism of the Spirit. We share the eternal life, righteousness, sonship, heirship, royalty, election, and destiny of Christ, as well as many more things.

2. In experiential sanctification in time, the believer is sanctified through the function of the spiritual life, the execution of the three spiritual skills.

3. In ultimate sanctification, the eternal state, the believer is sanctified through the possession of a resurrection body.

G. Three Agents of Sanctification.

1. The agent at the point of salvation is God the Holy Spirit. This is the baptism of the Spirit, as mentioned in 1 Cor 12:13 and Eph 4:4.

a. 1 Cor 12:13, “By means of one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Greeks [Gentiles], whether slave or free, we were all caused to drink one Spirit.”

(1) Baptism means to identify one object with another object. We are identified with Christ which makes us all equal. The only true equality in history is found in the equality produced by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are all equal before Christ because we are all in union with Christ.

(2) The same equality means we have the same opportunity to execute the protocol plan of God under the doctrine of predestination. Equality is opportunity.

(3) There was no equality in the Old Testament, especially in Israel. Consider the Levitical priesthood and the Jewish royal family.

b. The phrase “to drink one Spirit” in 1 Cor 12:13 is explained in Jn 7:37-39 when our Lord gave a message on the last day of the Feast of the Tabernacles. “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast [Tabernacles], Jesus stood up and shouted saying, `If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, `Out of His innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’’ By this He meant the Spirit, whom those [Church Age believers] who believe in Him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified.” Drinking portrays the non-meritorious aspect of faith in Christ.

c. The Holy Spirit was never given in the Old Testament. Occasionally certain people were empowered by the Spirit. But the indwelling and filling of the Spirit are reserved for the Church Age.

d. Just as when you drink water, water is in you; so also when you believe in Christ, you are caused to drink the Holy Spirit, which is tantamount to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

2. Bible doctrine is the agent is experiential sanctification.

a. Jn 17:17, “Sanctify them by means of doctrine. Your Word is doctrine.”

b. Eph 5:26, “That having purified her [Church], He might sanctify her by means of the washing from the water [doctrine] of the Word.”

c. 2 Thes 2:13, “Brethren, we should always give thanks to God for you, loved by the Lord; for from the beginning God has elected you with reference to salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”

d. The absolute concept of experiential sanctification is related to the filling of the Holy Spirit. The relative concept of experiential sanctification is related to the degree of spiritual growth through perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine.

3. God the Father is the agent of sanctification in the eternal state.

a. Rom 8:28-29. In 1 Cor 1:8 we are said to be “blameless in the day of our Lord.”

b. Eph 1:4, “that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” “Blameless” is the special work of God the Father in eternity future.

(This doctrine was also taught in Heb 121 6/20/74, 220 10/4/77, and the Strong Delusion series, 12/3/79.)

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