Sanctification
Historic orthodoxy
The lifelong work of God's grace by which believers are made more holy, dying to sin and living to righteousness.
Also called: growth in holiness
What it means
Sanctification is what God does in a person after he has justified them. Justification is a once-for-all verdict: the believer is declared righteous for Christ's sake. Sanctification is a process: the believer is actually changed, more and more, into the likeness of Christ.
Scripture speaks of sanctification in two ways. There is a definitive break with sin at conversion, when the believer is united to Christ and set apart as God's own. There is also a progressive growth that continues until death, as the Holy Spirit works through the Word, prayer, the sacraments, and the fellowship of the church.
The Reformation confessions teach that sanctification is real but imperfect in this life. A continual and irreconcilable war remains between the flesh and the Spirit, yet the regenerate part overcomes. Christians differ on how this growth happens and how far it can go in this life, which is why the site records a church's view.
In Scripture
God's will for his people is their sanctification, including sexual purity.
Believers work out their salvation because God is at work in them to will and to act.
Christians are to pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
Beholding the Lord's glory, believers are being transformed into his image from one degree of glory to another.
Believers were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 13.1-3; LBCF 1689 13.1-3
Related terms
Progressive sanctificationHistoric orthodoxy
The Reformed teaching that believers grow in holiness gradually throughout life, by the Spirit through ordinary means, without reaching sinless perfection before death.
Justification by faith aloneHistoric orthodoxy
God declares sinners righteous in His sight not because of anything they do, but only because of Christ's righteousness, received through faith alone.
RegenerationHistoric orthodoxy
The work of the Holy Spirit by which a person dead in sin is made spiritually alive, given a new heart that turns to God in faith and repentance.
Three uses of the lawHistoric orthodoxy
The Reformation teaching that God's moral law restrains evil in society, shows sinners their need of Christ, and guides believers in grateful obedience.
Perseverance of the saintsHistoric orthodoxy
The teaching that all whom God has truly saved will be kept by his power and will continue in faith and holiness to the end.