Eternal Sanctification
“I will be their God; and they will be My people” is the declaration of Yahweh, the Most high God. Everyone and everything else is mere background props (theatrical properties) in God’s cosmic drama. Those people, the reprobate, who do not belong to the Lord serve as antagonists in the story, along with Lucifer and his demons. Separating the elect from the reprobate is one major theme throughout the Bible. The biblical and theological theme for this separation of the two groups of people is called sanctification.
Sanctification comes from the Latin language (sanctus). It provides us with English words like: sanctuary; holy; holiness, and saint among others. In the Hebrew, it is qadosh, and in the Greek hagiasmos. The definition throughout the Bible is “to set apart.” The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19); and sanctification is entirely and exclusively the will and the work of God (1 Thess 4:3).
Our God is Triune: Father; Son; and Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19) — one God in essence, manifest in three Persons. There are not three gods. Each Person in the Triune Godhead executes sanctification. In other words, there is perfect unity in the diversity aspect of sanctification being worked by God.
First, God the Father sanctifies His chosen people by predestining them to adoption as sons, in love, before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5). By God’s free will and gracious choice (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 11:5–6), our heavenly Father elected vessels of His mercy unto salvation (Rom 9:23). He wrote the names of those who would share in his eternal glory in the Lamb’s book of life before creation (Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). He gave these people to His eternal Son before the world was (Jn 17:2, 6, 9, 24); and it was the mission of the Son of God to rescue them after the creation, the Fall, and their being lost and enslaved to sin.
Second, God the Son sanctified God’s chosen people at the cross of Calvary (1 Cor 1:2). In the rebellion of humanity, all people sinned being sons of Adam, the federal head of fallen sinners (Rom 3:23; 5:12) — his posterity. Man in sin is at enmity with his Creator and Judge (Jn 7:7; Rom 1:30; 5:9–10). Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4). By inheritance (Ps 51:5), nature (Eph 2:3), and practice (Rom 3:23) man misses the mark, trespasses the line, and falls short of the standard of God’s holy Law (Rom 8:7).
Sanctified in Christ means the elect soul is reconciled to God (Rom 5:10–11). By the redemption price, paid in the currency of Jesus’ precious blood (1 Jn 1:19), the beloved of God have their entire debt of sin cancelled (Col 2:14). The blood of Jesus releases us from our sins (1 Jn 1:7; Rev 1:5). We are set free from bondage to sin (Jn 8:32–35; Rom 6:6), and we become slaves to Christ (Eph 6:6).
Jesus Christ is the King of kings, Lord of lords, and King of glory (Ps 24; 1 Tim 6:15). He is the Lord God omnipotent who reigns forever in His kingdom of heaven, which will one day be the kingdom of this world (Rev 11:15). All authority in heaven and on earth belong to Him to rule and to judge (Mt 28:18).
Based on the meritorious work of our substitute sacrifice for sins (1 Pet 2:24), the elect redeemed have atonement with God. Jesus, the Prince of peace (Is 9:6), brought peace from the God of peace (Rom 5:1; 15:33), who secured peace for those who turn away from sin, Satan, and the evil world system in this perverse generation (Acts 17:30).
In this sanctification, our city of refuge, our shelter from the storm of God’s wrath against sinners is established “in Christ” who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10). It is guaranteed by God through the eternal covenant (Heb 13:20), cut by the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world in the eternal counsel, purpose, and will of God (Rev 5:6, 12).
The place of mystical union between God and His people is “in Christ.” This introduces us to the work of God to move lost, elect sinners from the domain of darkness and dominion of Satan and into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Acts 26:18; Col 1:13).
Third, the work of sanctification by the Holy Spirit is that work of transfer (1 Pet 1:2). The Bible uses many descriptive words to help us see and understand how we are sanctified in this present evil age. Let us consider three of them.
First, the Spirit baptizes God’s elect, redeemed with His own divine presence. Baptism by the Spirit is the introduction of the Holy Spirit into the soul of the sinner (Mt 3:11; Acts 2:38). In this act of indwelling occupation, we are also baptized into the body of Christ, His church, the Israel of God (1 Cor 12:13; Gal 6:16).
Second, sanctification by the Spirit makes the regenerated soul alive to God (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). It is the resurrection of the dead soul, who is now akin to spiritual things (1 Cor 2:15). In Christ, all are made alive and shall never die (Jn 11:26; 1 Cor 15:22), meaning the regenerate soul has the permanent, indestructible life of God residing in him or her (Heb 7:16). This is new life for one born again of the Spirit of God (Rom 6:4; 2 Cor 5:17).
Third, the sanctifying work of the Spirit includes the imagery of family. An orphan is separated from his or her family (Jn 14:18). The orphan lives in a less-than-desirable environment in the company of peers, under the authority of the love-less state. This is the state of Adam’s progeny in the world.
God the Father chooses the orphans to include in His holy family (Eph 1:4–5). God the Son pays for the adoption that releases the child into the care of God the Spirit, the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8:15, 23), who moves into the adopted child of God (see what kind of love the Father has for us!), as a pledge of his or her place in the eternal home of heaven (Eccl 12:5; 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5). In God the Father’s house are many mansions (Jn 14:2), where Christ, our elder brother, has gone to prepare a place for each of His beloved.
In this aspect of sanctification, the Spirit teaches, helps, comforts, leads, and guides those in whom He permanently indwells (Rom 8:9, 11). As our Caregiver, the Spirit provides for our Christian life in every way until the end of our days in these bodies of sin and death. The more we know of the One who loved us and who gave Himself for us, the more mature we are in Christ (Eph 4:13; Heb 5:14). Having put on Christ (Rom 13:14), the Christian grows in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18), which is the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Tim 2:25). Christlikeness is the manifestation of Christ in us (Gal 2:20), which is also our hope of glory (Col 1:27).
Final sanctification is eternal heaven in the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth (Is 65–66; Rev 21–22). Our eternal home is heavenly Zion, the New Jerusalem, the eternal city of God where righteousness dwells in endless light (Heb 12:22; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:25; 22:5). The glory of heaven is Christ Jesus, the King of glory.
When our Christian stewardship as ambassadors for Christ is completed here in this world (2 Cor 5:20), each believer’s soul goes to be with the Lord (Phil 1:23). The body of death returns to the dust from which it was formed (Gen 3:19). The reunion of redeemed souls, in Christ, with glorified bodies, will occur on the day of Christ’s second coming and the resurrection to life (Jn 5:29; Rom 8:30; 1 Cor 15:23; 1 Cor 2:19; 3:13).
On that day, body and soul, we will be caught up together in the air to be with Christ at His coming with all the saints and holy angels (Mk 8:38; Lk 9:26; 1 Thess 4:17). We will see Him face-to-face (1 Cor 13:12). We will be like Him, glorified (Rom 8:17; 1 Jn 3:2). We will sit down with Him on His throne to judge the fallen angels and the world (1 Cor 6:2–3). We will always and forever be with our Lord (1 Thess 4:17).
In summary, God the Father sanctified us before creation, choosing for us to be His beloved people. God the Son sanctified us at the cross that we would be co-heirs of His in the eternal inheritance, which is sanctified, reserved in heaven for us. God the Spirit has sanctified us by applying all the blessings and benefits to us in Christ. The final aspect of our salvation will be a family reunion, a marriage supper, an eternal dwelling place where there is perfect prosperity, provision, security — the perfect life, in perfect light, where we will only know perfect love as the people of God, whose God has done everything necessary to secure us, His beloved, forever.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
February 10, 2025
