The Holy Spirit And Sanctification In Christianity

Introduction

Sanctification occurs throughout the Christian’s life and cannot be maintained without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Evidence can be observed in Christians today from the moment of accepting Christ as well as exemplifying a life that would be pleasing to God by means of obedience. The Holy Spirit and sanctification are two components fundamental for the Christian life according to Paul in Romans. We will discuss and address the Holy Spirit, sanctification and obedience and how these relationships manifests themselves in the life of a Christian through a lifestyle of sound judgement, good morals and ethics.

For the purposes of this discussion, justification can be interpreted as positional sanctification. The terminology among

The verb “sanctify” comes from the Greek “hagiazo” and can be defined as “the process to make holy, to separate, or to set apart.” Sanctification consequently can be scholarly defined as “the sovereign act of God whereby He sets apart a person, a place, or an object for Himself in order that He might accomplish His purpose in the world by means of that person, place, or object.”

Reviewing and interpreting the scholarly definition I construe a personal definition as such: Sanctification is the continual process of God molding and defining a person to be like Christ, including mind, body, soul and action, and where, as a result of daily faith, the Holy Spirit is active in the life of a believer.

Defined as being “set apart” or “a process to be made holy”, sanctification can only begin while we are in our earthly bodies but cannot be completed while here on earth. With the latter being said, sanctification begins when the believer places their faith in Christ and completes upon or resurrection and glorification with Christ. Paul makes the statement of struggling with the flesh even after coming to Christ. This struggle is due to the fact we are still sinners yet we have been given grace and a renewed spirit in Christ; therefore the perfect renewal cannot take place while here. As Paul refers to “the flesh,” he is not speaking physically but spiritually. The “flesh” represents the sin nature of our earthly bodies. God’s grace allows his work to be started and gives us hope knowing we are not bound to our fleshly bodies. Divine grace accompanied by the Spirit begins the gradual process of sanctification or holiness, making us less sinner and more saint. A sinner’s justification before God and their inward transformation secondary to that justification places the new believer on the road of sanctification. This road leads them toward not only the holiness asked by Christ but the holiness promised by Christ. Furthermore, sanctification is not optional as Paul states, “12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation…” (Romans 8:12 NIV) we are