Is Sanctification Positional, Progressive, or Neither? - Part 3

In Parts 1 and 2, we examined sanctification from the view of the blood of Jesus that eternally cleanses (sanctifies) from all sins making a believer sanctified (holy), resulting in a believer’s identity being a saint or holy one.

This sanctification is neither positional or progressive but is actual and immediate upon a person’s faith in Jesus.

In the next several parts of this study, we will examine how the word sanctification is used in other parts of the Bible as we seek to discover if sanctification is positional, progressive, or neither.

Let’s start with 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, Paul writes to some of the believers in Corinth who are behaving sexually immorally.

To correct their behavior, he appeals to the believer’s actual identity (not positional identity) in 1 Corinthians 6:11 when he writes,

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed [cleansed-purified of all sins], you were sanctified [set apart], you were justified [declared innocent of all sins] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The believers, according to 1 Corinthians 6:11, have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God.

Being washed, sanctified, and justified are not positional truths but actual truths for the believer in Jesus, who shed his blood so that we could be eternally washed clean from all our sins, sanctified (set apart for God), and justified (declared innocent of all sins because Jesus took our guilt upon himself at the cross).

For the believer in Jesus, being washed, sanctified, and justified are not progressive truths but personal truths and real spiritual truths based upon the blood of Jesus.

Based upon these actual truths, Paul appeals to the real, personal identity of the believers for motivation to change their behavior regarding sexually immorality.

He writes in 2 Corinthians 6:13-20,

The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

We see in these verses that our bodies are not meant for sexually immorality but are now joined with Jesus, united with Jesus, in one spirit.

We also see that the Holy Spirit indwells believers.

The only way we could be united with Jesus in one spirit and have the Holy Spirit live within us is if we are actually washed from all sins, having our bodies set apart (sanctified) for the Holy Spirit to indwell us.

Our bodies have now been sanctified, meaning set apart for God, for his purposes to be fulfilled in our lives.

Our bodies are God’s because he purchased us with his own blood at the cross (see Revelation 5:9; 14:4).

Therefore, Paul concludes we should honor God with our bodies.

So, we see that sanctified in these verses is God setting aside our bodies for his purpose since he washed and purchased us with his own blood.

To read Part 4 of Is Sanctification Positional, Progressive, or Neither?, click below.

Part 4: Is Sanctification Positional, Progressive, or Neither?