POSITIONAL TRUTH AND SANCTIFICATION
Scripture touches every area of life, including how we think, what we say, what we do, and why we do it. Everything we need to know to live a godly life is covered in the pages of God's Word.
God's Word is His "testimony" to us about Himself. His Word is absolutely trustworthy - His promises can be believed, and His instructions obeyed.
Every time we pick up the Bible, we pick up the truth. Jesus said, "If you continue in My word...you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free:" (John 8:31-32).
Most people in America and many more worldwide identify themselves as Christians. But how many of them can explain and defend the gospel, articulate basic biblical theology, or live lives that support the claims of their faith? The tragic fact is that compared to the vast number of people who claim to be Christians, very few are actually growing to be more like Christ.
That process of spiritual growth is called sanctification, and it’s a vital part of every believer’s life.
And just as with salvation, sanctification is not accomplished by our will or actions—it’s the work of the Lord in the lives of His people. True sanctification, according to Scripture, is the process of God’s transforming work in your life. In the moment of your salvation, you are declared justified by the Lord through the sacrifice of His Son and freed from the guilt of sin. From there, sanctification frees you from the pollution of sin, helping you destroy sinful patterns and relinquish your former wickedness. How?
Jesus had a lot to say about sanctification in John 17. In verse 16 the Lord says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” and this is before His request: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (verse 17). In Christian theology, sanctification is a state of separation unto God; all believers enter into this state when they are born of God: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” (1 Corinthians 1:30). The sanctification mentioned in this verse is a once-for-ever separation of believers unto God. It is a work God performs, an integral part of our salvation and our connection with Christ (Hebrews 10:10). Theologians sometimes refer to this state of holiness before God as “positional” sanctification; it is related to justification.
While we are positionally holy (set free from every sin by the blood of Christ - "and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" - Acts 13:39), we know that we still sin (1 John 1:10). That’s why the Bible also refers to sanctification as a practical experience of our separation unto God. “Progressive” or “experiential” sanctification, as it is sometimes called, is the effect of obedience to the Word of God in one’s life. It is the same as growing in the Lord (2 Peter 3:18) or spiritual maturity. God started the work of making us like Christ, and He is continuing it (Philippians 1:6). This type of sanctification is to be pursued by the believer earnestly (1 Peter 1:15; Hebrews 12:14) and is effected by the application of the Word (John 17:17). Progressive sanctification has in view the setting apart of believers for the purpose for which they are sent into the world: "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (John 17:18–19). That Jesus set Himself apart for God’s purpose is both the basis and the condition of our being set apart (see John 10:36). We are sanctified and sent because Jesus was. Our Lord’s sanctification is the pattern of and power for our own. The sending and the sanctifying are inseparable. On this account we are called “saints” (hagioi in the Greek), or “sanctified ones.” Prior to salvation, our behavior bore witness to our standing in the world in separation from God, but now our behavior should bear witness to our standing before God in separation from the world. Little by little, every day, “those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14) are becoming more like Christ.
There is a third sense in which the word sanctification is used in Scripture—a “complete” or “ultimate” sanctification. This is the same as glorification. Paul prays in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." . Paul speaks of Christ as “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) and links the glorious appearing of Christ to our personal glorification: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Colossians 3:4). This glorified state will be our ultimate separation from sin, a total sanctification in every regard. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
See charts below:
In Christ we are perfect positionally; but in practice we fall short. The Christian life is the experience of becoming in practice what we are in position. For every positional truth in the New Testament there is a corresponding practice we are to follow:
POSITION PRACTICE
2 PETER 1:3-4 EPHESIANS 1:3 COLOSSIANS 2:10 HEBREWS 10:14 | 2 PETER 1:5-8 EPHESIANS 4:1 2 TIMOTHY 3:17 COLOSSIANS 4:12 HEBREWS 13:20-21 |
SPIRITUALLY ALIVE LIVE THE LIFE
EPHESIANS 2:1, 4-5 1 JOHN 4:9 JOHN 11:25, 14:19 ACTS 17-28 | PHILIPPIANS 1:21 GALATIANS 2:20 ROMANS 6:11-13 TITUS 2:12 |
DEAD TO SIN DON’T GIVE IN TO SIN
EPHESIANS 1:7 1 JOHN 1:9, 2:12 ROMANS 6:2-10 | ROMANS 6:11-15 COLOSSIANS 3:3 |
FORGIVEN COUNT ON IT!
EPHESIANS 1:7 1JOHN 1:9, 2:12 COLOSSIANS 1:14 | ROMANS 8:1, 33-34 |
MADE RIGHTEOUS LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY
ROMANS 1:17; 3:21-26; 4:1, 3, 6; 5:17 | 2 TIMOTHY 2:22 1 JOHN 3:7 |
CHILDREN OF GOD ACT LIKE GOD’S CHILDREN
EPHESIANS 1:5 GALATIANS 3:26 | EPHESIANS 5:1 1 PETER 1:13-14 |
GOD’S POSSESSION YEILD TO GOD
EPHESIANS 1:4 2 TIMOTHY 2:19 | ROMANS 12:1 2 TIMOTHY 2:19-21 |
HEIRS OF GOD ADD TO YOUR INHERITANCE
ROMANS 8:17 COLOSSIANS 1:12 EPHESIANS 1:11, 14, 18 1 PETER 1:3-4 | MATTHEW 6:19-21 2 CORINTHIANS 5:9-10 2 JOHN 8 1 CORINTHIANS 3:12-14 |
BLESSED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL CHERISH THOSE BLESSINGS
BLESSINGS IN THE HEAVENLIES
EPHESIANS 1:3, 2:6-7 1 PETER 1:3-4 | COLOSSIANS 3:1-2 |
HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP LIVE AS CITIZENS OF HEAVEN
(WE ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD)
PHILIPPIANS 3:20 JOHN 17:14-16 1 JOHN 5:4-5 | 1 JOHN 2:15 COLOSSIANS 3:1-2 JAMES 1:27 |
SERVANT OF GOD ACT LIKE A SERVANT
1 CORINTHIANS 7:22-23 ROMANS 6:22 | ROMANS 6:17-19, 12:11 HEBREWS 12:28 |
NEW LIFE WALK IN NEW LIFE
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 | ROMANS 6:4 |
FREE FROM LAW YET KEEP FULFILLING THE LAW
ROMANS 6:14, 7:1-6 | GALATIANS 5:1 ROMANS 8:4 |
CRUCIFIED TO THE WORLD AVOID WORLDLY THINGS
GALATIANS 1:4, 6:14-15 | 1 JOHN 2:15-17 JAMES 4:4 ROMANS 12:2 |
LIGHT TO THE WORLD WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT
1 THESSALONIANS 5:5 MATTHEW 5:14 | EPHESIANS 5:8 MATTHEW 5:15-16 |
VICTORIOUS OVER SATAN CLAIMING VICTORY
REVELATION 12:9-11 | EPHESIANS 11;17 JAMES 4:7 |
CLEANSED CLEANSE YOURSELF
JOHN 15:3 1 JOHN 1:7, 9 | 2 CORINTHIANS 7:1 PHILIPPIANS 4:8 |
HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME LIVE HOLY LIVES
EPHESIANS 1:3 1 CORINTHIANS 3:17 | 1 JOHN 3:7 1 PETER 1:15-16 2 PETER 3:14 |
FREE ENJOY YOUR FREEDOM
JOHN 8:32 | GALATIANS 5:1 |
IN CHRIST ABIDE IN HIM
EPHESIANS 1:3, 10; 2:6, 13 | 1 JOHN 2:28 |
SECURE IN CHRIST ENJOY YOUR SECURITY
1 PETER 1:5 ROMANS 8 JOHN 10:27-28 | 2 PETER 1:10 |
POSSESSORS OF PEACE LET IT RULE
ROMANS 5:1, 14:17 JOHN 14:27 ACTS 10:36 | ROMANS 14:19 COLOSSIANS 3:15 |
ONE LIVE THAT ONENESS
EPHESIANS 4:4-6, 1:9-10 1 CORINTHIANS 12:13 | EPHESIANS 4:3 JOHN 17:21 |
IN GRACE GROW IN GRACE
ROMANS 6:1 | 2 PETER 3:18 |
IN FELLOWSHIP EXPERIENCE THAT FELLOWSHIP
1 JOHN 1:3-7 | 1 CORINTHIANS 10:20 EPHESIANS 5:11 |
JOYFUL EXPERIENCE THAT JOY
ROMANS 5:2 | 1 JOHN 1:4 JOHN 15:11, 16:24 PHILIPPIANS 4:4 |
SPIRIT INDWELT AND LED YIELD TO THE SPIRIT’S CONTROL
1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 ROMANS 8:9, 14 | EPHESIANS 5:18, 4:30 1 THESSALONIANS 5:19 GALATIANS 5:25 |
SPIRIT-GIFTED USE YOUR GIFT
1 CORINTHIANS 12:4 ROMANS 12:5-6 | ROMANS 12:3-6 1 PETER 4:11 |
EMPOWERED FOR SERVICE DEMONSTRATE THAT POWER
ACTS 1:8 EPHESIANS 3:20 2 CORINTHIANS 4:7 2 TIMOTHY 1:7 | 1 CORINTHIANS 2:4 PHILIPPIANS 3:10 EPHESIANS 6:10 PHILIPPIANS 4:13 |
LOVE LOVE
ROMANS 5:5 1 JOHN 2:5, 5:1 | 1 PETER 1:22, 4:8 JOHN 13:34-35 I JOHN 3:18 |
THERE ARE PLENTY MORE SCRIPTURES, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA.