The words “saint” and “sanctify,” are related to one another but their meanings are not always clearly understood. Sanctify is an uncommon word outside of religious discussions, so we do not have an everyday or intuitive understanding of it. Saint, on the other hand, is a far more familiar word, but it bears an excess of cultural connotation which obscures its scriptural use and meaning.
Both words find their root in the Latin word sanctus, which simply means “holy.” Therefore, when we read the words “saint” and “sanctify” in our Bibles, we usually could just as accurately substitute some form of “holy.” Holiness describes something which is separate from common things or is “set apart.” We can understand holiness as being set apart from sin and wickedness, or we can understand it as being set apart for God’s special purposes.
With this perspective, “saint” and “sanctify” become more straightforward. A saint is a person who is made holy not through some personal achievement but by being set apart from sin by God for his purposes. This meaning is clearly seen in how the word is used in New Testament writing. People who belong to God are called saints, such as in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2). Being saints describes both what we are (God’s people) and what we are called to (a life of holiness).
To sanctify, therefore, is to make holy. The New Testament authors use this concept in a multiple ways. In some contexts, “sanctification” refers to something that has happened to all Christians in the past: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified… by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). In this sense, sanctification is something we experienced when we were cleansed by the blood of Christ through baptism – we were made holy. But the same authors also describe sanctification as an ongoing process in which we participate! Just a few verses later in Hebrews 10, the author refers to “those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:14), and Paul urges the Thessalonian saints to live out his teaching because God’s will was their sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3). He urges these Christians to live a certain way because God had called them “in holiness,” and living unholy lives disregards God (v.7-8)!
In sanctification, we find a harmonization of two beautiful truths. On the one hand, the blood of Jesus and the power of the Spirit have already sanctified us. This was done to us in the past. On the other hand, God’s will is that we continue to be sanctified, submitting the way we live to emulate and imitate God’s holiness. This is something in which we participate in the present. We are holy because God has set us apart as “a holy nation… for his own possession” (1 Pet. 2:9f), but we all can attest to the fact that becoming a Christian doesn’t make our living holy overnight. In the words of Peter, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Pet. 1:14-15). Through the blood of Christ, we are saints, able to be confident and secure in the sanctification found therein. In Christ, by the power of the Spirit, and through the working of God’s Word, we are being sanctified, transformed from the inside-out. Having thus been set apart from sin for the work of God, we share the same calling that all saints before us have answered – to live holy lives unto God’s glory (1 Pet. 2:12). Let us answer this call with readiness!
nadiestel@gmail.com