Sanctification as Set Apart and Growing in Christ (eBook)

Introduction

There is a great deal of confusion regarding the nature of sanctification today. In fact, as Steve Porter observes, “an in-depth understanding of spiritual progress has often been lacking within evangelicalism.”1 He refers to church historian Richard Lovelace, who called this “the sanctification gap”—the chasm between people’s best intentions and their inadequate understanding of what the Scriptures teach on sanctification. According to Lovelace, evangelicalism, throughout its history, and in keeping with its Reformation heritage, has focused primarily on justification at conversion as well as on general doctrinal orthodoxy and activities such as church involvement, evangelism, and missions. As a result, the tendency within evangelicalism has often been to emphasize the product rather than the process—doing rather than being, and activity rather than character growth and spiritual development. Porter laments that “in the absence of a robust theology of sanctification, various erroneous models of spiritual growth have emerged that confuse and disillusion many.”2

The Language Gap

One reason for this sanctification gap may be the confusion caused by the translation of the Greek terms for “holiness” (hagiasmos/hagiosunē/hagiotēs) and “holy” (hagios) with sanctificatio and sanctus in the Latin Vulgate, which has led to the renderings “sanctification” and “saints” in many, if not most, of our English Bibles. Such renderings, in turn, open up possible connections with Roman Catholic theology and tradition, where “saints” are those who meet special qualifications for holiness. However, while believers doubtless display different levels of maturity, Scripture does not divide people into ordinary Christians and a special category of holy people. Instead, biblically speaking, holiness should set all believers apart from the world and to God. Therefore, to give but one example, it is potentially misleading for English translations to render the Greek term hagioi as “saints.” Rather, the word is better understood as designating all true believers as “holy ones” regardless of their level of spiritual maturity.

The Tradition Gap

A survey of the literature on sanctification reveals another barrier to understanding, namely, multiple and contradictory perspectives.3 This plethora of views is the result of varying hermeneutical approaches, views of Scripture, and traditions in different Christian groups or denominations. According to Wayne Grudem, perspectives range from Roman Catholic to Anglican/Episcopalian, Arminian (Wesleyan/Methodist), Baptist, Dispensational, Lutheran, Reformed (Presbyterian), and Renewal (Charismatic/Pentecostal).4 Over the centuries, various traditions formed around differing notions of holiness and sainthood, starting with the New Testament church and continuing through the patristic and medieval periods, and, significantly, the time of the Reformation.5 Some viewed sanctification primarily as a contemplative and ascetic exercise in the context of monastic spirituality; others conceived it primarily—if not exclusively—in terms of progressive transformation.6 Some have contended that perfection is achieved upon conversion,7 while others have argued that a new level of holiness is attained at a second experience of the Holy Spirit subsequent to conversion, a phenomenon sometimes called “second blessing” or “entire sanctification.”

The Relevance Gap

A third and final obstacle to understanding sanctification, apart from linguistic confusion and multiple traditions, is apathy. Many people today simply do not care about holiness. The age in which we live is in many ways an irreligious and irreverent age. There is doubtless a “hole in our holiness”—to cite the aptly chosen title of Kevin DeYoung’s popular treatment of the topic—at least in part because the whole notion of holiness as being set apart for God and being wholly devoted to serve and worship him has fallen on hard times.8 For many, talking about holiness seems hopelessly antiquated. There is a demonstrable “relevance gap” in the effort of communicating the concept of holiness to those caught up in the pursuit of pleasure, worldly status, and possessions. Why care? And what is holiness anyway? For others, a desire for purpose and transcendence leads to “legalism” of a more secular variety: vague spirituality, political tribalism, or even strict diets and exercise regimens fill in for true holiness. It seems we need to start from scratch in educating, and in some cases reeducating, even people in the church as to what holiness is and what the pursuit of it entails.

Starting from Scratch

Starting from scratch is exactly what I aim to do in the present volume. In fact, “start from scratch” is a good way to conceive of biblical theology. What is biblical theology?9 At its core, it is a way of studying a given topic in Scripture—in our case, sanctification—on its own terms and in its own original context. Rather than refracting our understanding of what Scripture teaches on sanctification through the Latin Vulgate or a particular faith tradition, I go back to the roots of our Christian faith—the Holy Scriptures—and set out to study the biblical teaching on holiness and sanctification historically, inductively, and, at least initially, descriptively.

That is, I do not start with our own contemporary context or questions—though application is our end goal—but trace how God’s people were instructed about holiness historically, first in the Old Testament (Israel) and subsequently in the New Testament (the church).

I do not start with an already set theological system or faith tradition and read Scripture through its lenses but attempt to infer and reconstruct the biblical teaching as much as possible by reading and interpreting the relevant texts in Scripture inductively.

Finally, I try to connect the dots between the relevant passages as they progressively unfold throughout Scripture and mutually inform each other so as to construct a coherent whole—a “biblical theology of sanctification”—descriptively before moving on to apply it to our lives today. This is a considerable but not unmanageable task, as I hope to show in this short volume. I believe that such a biblical-theological approach will help avoid much of the confusion that has arisen and unfortunately has kept many from growing in holiness.

The Language of Sanctification

Scripture often uses multiple related words that contribute to its overall portrayal of a concept. For instance, we would be remiss to focus our attention exclusively on the meaning of the single word sanctify when there are descriptions of the concept of sanctification in Scripture in the form of other words and phrases even where the particular sanctification word group is not used.10 A biblical-theological survey of sanctification, then, commences with a simple word study but does not stop there. An initial immersion into relevant passages will help us absorb the intricacies of the doctrine of sanctification in the context of Scripture.

In this way, we will find bits and pieces of the entire biblical teaching communicated in ways that may be foreign to us in terms of their cultural and historical background and uniqueness. As with a closeup view of a painting’s details, we may not immediately perceive the overall picture, but we can nonetheless begin to examine the various colors and textures that make up the beauty of a given doctrine.11 In the following chapters, as I begin to survey first the Old Testament, and then the New, I will therefore survey the terminology that together helps us reconstruct the biblical concept of sanctification.

Getting Started

I cannot do much for those who simply do not care about the things of God—irreverence or irreligiousness. But I hope to do my small part in helping to alleviate lack of knowledge or confusion regarding the biblical teaching on sanctification and to stir those who feel in themselves a growing lethargy and desire to be awakened. A greater understanding of what God’s word teaches about sanctification will, I trust, lead to a more confident and effective pursuit of holiness, resulting in holier individuals and a holier community of faith. In fact, as we will see, striving for greater holiness is not merely an individualistic quest but has an important relational dimension. What is more, not only is holiness lived out in community; it should also result in mission. With this, I begin where any proper investigation of a matter must necessarily take its point of departure—in the beginning.