Sanctified by the Holy Spirit

God’s plan of salvation for humanity reflects His glorious perfection. When Jesus cried out on the cross: “It is finished,” His sacrificial death broke the power of sin for those who would turn to Him in repentance, confession, and faith. As we accept Jesus’ offer to become His children, He cleanses us from all our sins and enables us to enter into a relationship with God, who is holy. 1 Corinthians 6:11 describes this experience: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” How glorious is life, when it is hidden in the love of God and in sweet fellowship with Him! Nevertheless, the child of God soon realizes that the “old Adam” still dwells in the flesh. It is a fallen nature, with an innate inclination toward evil, rebellion, and sin. And how fiercely will Satan attack to cause the newborn Christian to fall again! James describes it this way: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14–15). Added to this is one’s own ego—one’s own will—which so often refuses to yield to the will of God. And so, the struggle may be fierce, the temptation strong, and often the child of God feels more like a failure than a saint! There is great danger that disobedience will pull the follower of Jesus out of his privileged relationship with God, out of holy communion with Him. Must the child of God eventually give in to temptation? Is it really impossible to lead a holy life pleasing to God? No! Paul writes: “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20). If we remain in Him, God’s grace will enable us to remain victorious.

A complete salvation

God has made provision in His plan of salvation to deal with the constant rise of self in opposition to His will. In His high priestly prayer, Jesus petitioned the Father for those who would believe in Him, saying: “Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). The word “sanctify” (Greek hagiazō) means purification, dedication, and to make holy. We ask: from what were the followers of Jesus, who had already been cleansed of their sins and stood in a holy relationship with him, to be sanctified? After all, their names were already written in the Book of Life by God! The only possibility is: from their corrupt nature, from the inclination toward evil, from the constant resistance of their own will.

Paul wrote to the children of God in Rome: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). The sanctification that Jesus prayed for His own involves a complete surrender to God. This includes body, spirit, life, possessions, the will—everything! In one of our hymns we sing in the refrain:

“Holy, dear brethren, we must be holy,
Living before the throne;
Self and possessions, all must be truly
Given to God alone.”

In order for His followers to experience complete sanctification, just before His ascension, Jesus gave them a command, saying; “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). This experience of entire sanctification, in which the Holy Spirit takes full possession of a person and fills them with Himself, was not just for the disciples back then on the first Pentecost. No, it is a necessity for all God’s children. When people in Samaria turned to God and were baptized, the apostles in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to ensure that these new children of God were also filled with the Holy Spirit (see Acts 8).

After his conversion, God sent a man to Paul so that he too might be filled with the Holy Spirit. This experience was so important to Paul that he wrote to the Thessalonians: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 NIV). God calls His children to Himself in order to draw them into this complete surrender and to fill them with the Holy Spirit. Every child of God already has the Holy Spirit in them since being born again. But they are to be sanctified “through and through”, filled and baptized. In complete sanctification, God desires to take the vessel placed on the altar as His own possession and to fill it to overflowing with the Holy Spirit and with power!

The goal of the experience

In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised that the sanctified disciples would be filled with power to be fearless and convincing witnesses of His resurrection. The world must be won for Christ, and that will only happen when God’s children have died to themselves and are completely dedicated to His cause. But there is also another consequence of entire sanctification: the removal of one of the greatest obstacles to a victorious life. When we as Christians are constantly struggling with our corrupt nature and our own will, temptations can become incredibly difficult, indeed almost unbearable in the long run. But when this nature is purified and the self is crucified, our response to temptations changes completely, and we have greater power to overcome.

God’s goal in entire sanctification is to preserve His child in holiness and to manifest Himself powerfully in that person’s life. In John 7:38–39, Jesus spoke of streams of living water that would flow from the bodies of those filled with his Holy Spirit. May we too, “sanctified by the Holy Spirit,” bear precious fruit for our Savior and Redeemer! Dear child of God: have you had this precious experience?

Ron Taron
Steinbach, MB