Meaning of Sanctification in Its Various Uses

Probably one of the most fruitful sources of controversy concerning the Scriptural doctrine of entire sanctification is the great amount of confusion and variety of opinion as to the meaning of the term “sanctification” as used in the Bible. We are prone to suppose that, because in one text or use it has to do with a particular phase of Christian life or experience, therefore it has that same meaning in every other use of it in the Bible. The mistake is often made of giving a technical meaning to this term and of trying to limit its usage to this one meaning. To illustrate: One man finds the term used of the cleansing from committed sins, therefore he decides that must be the Scriptural meaning of the word exclusive of all other meanings. Another man finds it used of the work of regeneration, or the new birth, so he decides it means that wherever it is found. Another finds it used of the cleansing of believers after conversion, and he tries to teach a second cleansing from every text in which the term is used. Still another person finds the term used in the sense of consecration, or a setting apart, so he contends it means that and nothing more.

The many one-sided views of sanctification as often held forcibly remind us of the story of the six blind men who went to see the elephant. The one who took hold of his leg thought the elephant was like a tree. Another who grasped his tail thought him like a rope. A third seized his ear, and decided he was like a fan; while the one who placed a hand upon his broad side said he was like a wall. And, as the story goes, when each had examined the beast and found him different from what the others had, they all disputed loud and long as to which held the right theory of the elephant. This is a homely illustration, but it is exactly parallel to the cause for much of the dispute concerning the nature of sanctification. Men see one phase of its meaning and suppose that is all there is to it. They are all partly in the right, yet they are all in the wrong as much as were the six blind men, and their conception of the meaning of the term “sanctification” is as inadequate as were the views of the blind men concerning the elephant.

The Meaning of the Term

To understand clearly the Scriptural meaning of the term “sanctify,” it is necessary to go back of the English word to the Greek term. The best Greek authorities hold that the Greek hagios and its derivatives are properly translated by the following English words in their various forms—sanctify, holy, pure, chaste, clear. In the Bible they are translated by these various words. They also include the idea of consecrating to a holy purpose or of ascribing holiness to a person or thing. However, the more common use of the Greek hagios is to cleanse. Likewise the primary meaning of sanctify is to cleanse. Therefore it is evident that wherever there is a cleansing, there must in that sense be a sanctification, whether that cleansing be of the heart or of the life, spiritual or physical, of committed sins or of inherited depravity, actual or ceremonial. If it were always borne in mind that sanctification may have this variety of meaning, as does cleansing or almost any other term, much misunderstanding could be avoided. The sense of the term or the sanctification referred to in a particular text of the Bible must be determined by the context, etc., as we determine the particular usage of any other term. We question whether the term sanctification has any technical use in the Bible as it seems to have in the minds of many people.

Eight Different Possible Uses of Sanctification

The term “sanctification” is capable of being used in at least eight different senses in respect to experience or practice and is used in most of these senses in the Scriptures. In some of these uses an equivalent term is employed. The following is a list of these uses, the first four of which it will be seen refer to a cleansing of the heart and are always used when the work is said to be done by God. The second four are other uses of sanctification and are applied to work performed by man.

1. Sanctification wrought by God.
   1. Sanctification of the heart generally without distinguishing as to the particular works of justification, etc.: Acts 20:32; 26:18; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 6:11; Hebrews 2:11; 13:12; Jude 1; Romans 15:16.
   2. Justification as a sanctification or cleansing from committed sins: Revelation 1:5; 1 John 1:7,9; Hebrews 9:14; 1:3.
   3. Regeneration, or the removal of or cleansing from the stony heart and the giving of a new heart: Ezekiel 36:25-27.
   4. Entire sanctification: John 17:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 5:26.
2. Sanctification not wrought by God.
   1. Sanctification of the outward life: 1 Peter 1:14-16; 2 Timothy 2:19-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:7.
   2. Reverence, sanctification by ascribing holiness to: 1 Peter 3:15; Numbers 20:12.
   3. Consecration, or sanctification by setting apart: John 17:19; 10:36; Deuteronomy 5:12.
   4. Ceremonial and physical sanctification: 1 Corinthians 7:14; 1 Timothy 4:5; Exodus 19:23.

The foregoing, if not the only uses, are at least the principal proper uses of sanctification. Careful study of the referenced scriptures will be profitable.

Entire Sanctification Defined

While we allow these various senses of the term “sanctification,” it is not our purpose in this book to discuss all of them, but only that often described as “entire sanctification.” We define it briefly at this point as a definite cleansing, subsequent to conversion, from the depravity of the nature, which condition remains in the regenerated until the time of this entire sanctification, a work contemporary with the Holy Ghost baptism. As a matter of convenience we shall here commonly designate this second cleansing by the term “sanctification”; but it should be remembered that the word sanctification ordinarily has no technical meaning.