SANCTIFICATION (קָדﯴשׁ, H7705, ἁγιασμός, G40, santification, moral purity, sanctity; cf. Lat. sanctus facere, “to make holy”). One of the most important concepts in Biblical and historical theology, this term and its cognates appear more than a thousand times in the Scriptures. Sanctification may be defined as the process of acquiring sanctity or holiness as a result of association with deity. Its synonyms are consecration, dedication, holiness, and perfection.

I. In the OT

A. Etymology. The basic Heb. word lying behind such terms as “sanctification,” “holiness,” “hallowed,” and “separation” is the root qadōsh. Its etymology is uncertain. Attempts to find its origin in Babylonian, Assyrian, and Arabic languages remain indecisive. The Sem. root, KDSH, means to “cut off” or to “separate.” The word KDSH appears in three discernible meanings:

1. Radiance. Numerous passages speak of holiness or sanctification as linked with God’s presence, as at the burning bush (Exod 3:5), at Mt. Sinai (19:16-25; 24:17), in the desert (14:24), and in the Tabernacle and Temple (40:34-38; 1 Kings 8:11). In these passages God’s presence is marked by radiance and light; significantly, a synonym of qadosh is “glory” (kabod).

2. Separation. The most basic meaning of “sanctification” is separation. In each of the thousand places where this term and its cognates appear in the canonical Scriptures, the meaning of separation is either explicit or implicit, and in no instance is this meaning excluded. Mt. Sinai (Exod 19:23), the first-born (13:2), the Sabbath (20:11), and a pagan army (Isa 13:3) were “sanctified” by being set apart.

3. Purity. a. Ceremonial. The objective of sanctification is purity, whether ritual or moral purity or both. The former is that normally required of priests and other officials in divine service (Exod 22:31); it is ritual correctness.

b. Spiritual. In the moral and ethical sense, purity is conveyed in such texts as these: “I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie” (Ps 89:35; cf. Amos 4:2), and “You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev 19:2; cf. Deut 7:6; Ps 51:7, 10; Isa 4:3; 6:3; Hab 1:12).

It should be noted that the idea of moral purity or goodness is not inherent in the term or terms; the moral connotation comes rather from the God with whom the term is linked. In eleven OT usages the concept of sanctification is linked with amoral deities and shrines and has no moral content (e.g. Gen 38:21, 22; Deut 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; Job 36:14; Hos 4:14). Since Yahweh is righteous, the sanctification which He effects is ethical and moral as well as cultic in character.

B. Concern for inward righteousness

1. In the canonical writings. From an emphasis on ceremonial purity in priestly contexts, the moral meaning comes to be predominant in the later prophets and wise men. An analysis of the moral meaning of sanctification brings one to Isaiah’s vision which, as Procksch says, is “the central point of the entire theology of holiness” (TWNT). The two important declarations in Isaiah’s vision are (1) “iniquity (עָוֹן, H6411) removed” and (2) “sin (חַטָּאת, H2633) purged, covered,” reflecting an awareness of sin that is deeper than specific acts for which the removal of guilt is needed. It is rather the corrupt source from which sinful acts arise. The prophet therefore experiences not only pardon and the removal of guilt, but purging of the inner defilement at its source, hence lips “purged.”

In several passages taher (cleansing) is used in the context of spiritual cleansing and purity (e.g. Job 14:4; 17:9; Hab 1:13). Passages such as these, and Psalms 15; 19:13; 24:4; 101:2; 139:23, 24 show that the OT is cognizant not only of outward sins but of inward defilement as well, and they give hope for inner renewal of the spirit. The statements reflect a concern, not only with the formal or forensic removal of guilt, but also with the residual, inward pollution or sinfulness.

The most explicit and detailed description of sanctification is to be found in Psalm 51. The psalmist (prob. David) prays for pardon of actual offenses. But he is concerned with more than a rectification of the past; he also pleads for cleansing and renewal of his disposition.

Influenced by a study of comparative religions, scholarship of an earlier day tended to give an exaggerated emphasis to this amoral, cultic aspect of the Hebraic concept. There is now an increasing recognition that the moral content is present throughout and to an increasing degree from the early prophets onward (Pss 15:1-5; 24:3-6; 51:1-17; Hos 4:1-10; Amos 2:6-11). See Righteousness.

2. In the intertestamental writings. In the lit. produced between the Testaments, the Wisdom of Solomon reflects a deep appreciation of the spiritual life. A much deeper awareness of the pervasiveness and subtlety of sin is seen in the thoughtful lines of 2 Baruch and 4 Esdras, but they may well be contemporary with the writings of the NT. An even more profound concern with sanctification and holy living is discernible in the scrolls produced by the residents of Qumran in the decades prior to John and Jesus. In several of their hymns, and esp. in the Manual of Discipline, the conviction is expressed that the Spirit of Truth will purge the believer’s heart from all impurity and make perfect his relationship with his God (IQS iv). The Qumran lit. is more optimistic with reference to sanctification than were the authors of 2 Baruch and 4 Esdras. The holy life envisioned therein is ascetic and legalistic in contrast to the assurance, freedom, and joyousness of the NT.

II. In the NT

A. Vocabulary. Perhaps the most important Gr. term for sanctification is hagiasmos, which connotes the state of grace or sanctity not inherent in its subject, but the result of outside action. The term occurs ten times in the NT (Rom 6:19, 20; 1 Cor 1:30; 1 Thess 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Tim 2:15; Heb 12:14; 1 Pet 1:2). The act of sanctifying is expressed by the verb hagiazo which occurs some thirty-six times and in several cases means moral purification (John 17:17, 19; Acts 20:32; Eph 5:26; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Tim 2:21; Heb 13:12; 1 Pet 3:15). The noun hagios, tr. “saint” sixty-one times, was the common NT designation of a believer. It means that such a person is now separated from the world and joined to Christ (1 Cor 1:2; cf. Num 16:3-10; 2 Chron 23:6). In Ephesians hagios is joined with amomos where the church is described as being “holy and blameless” (Eph 1:4; 5:27), the latter term referring to the unblemished sacrificial victim, and twice used of Christ (Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19; cf. Lev 22:21). Thrice hagiosune is used of moral purity which the Gospel requires and imparts (Rom 1:4; 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thess 3:13).

B. Facets of sanctification. Four clearly definable distinctions in the NT meaning of sanctification emerge.

1. The sanctification of God the Father. When Jesus prayed, He acknowledged the holiness or sanctity of His Father (John 17:11). In the model prayer believers are taught to pray for the hallowing of the Father’s name (Matt 6:9; Luke 11:2; cf. 1 Pet 3:15). Moses’ failure at this point led to his exclusion from the Promised Land (Num 20:12; Deut 3:26).

2. The sanctification of the Son. The Son was “sanctified” by the Father (John 10:36) at the Incarnation, and the Son “sanctified” or dedicated Himself for the sake of His disciples (17:19). In these instances the meaning clearly is “separation”; it designates a relationship rather than inner moral renewal.

3. The sanctification of the believer a. Positionally. Positional sanctification is also properly called status sanctification or cultic sanctification. What was the predominant meaning in the OT is retained, but to a lesser degree in several NT passages. The meaning of separation with reference to gifts to God is clear (Matt 23:19—“the altar that sanctifieth the gift” [KJV]; cf. Rom 15:16 RSV; 1 Tim 4:5) and with reference to believers (1 Cor 1:2—“sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” hagioi; cf. Rom 1:7). The Corinthian believers were “sanctified” in the sense of being set apart and yet remained “carnal” or unsanctified spiritually. Sanctification in this sense is attributive or imputational; it designates one’s status, position, or relationship, and not necessarily one’s nature or spiritual condition. It is imputed righteousness or justification.

b. Progressive. Initial or progressive sanctification begins in the believer from the moment of his becoming “in Christ.” Actual sanctification is the most common usage of the term; it designates imparted righteousness. Progressive sanctification occurs when one becomes a “partaker of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), a “new creation in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17), or is “born anew” (John 3:5, 8). It involves not only a changed relationship to God but also a changed nature, a real as well as a relative change. Among the passages which stress this aspect of sanctification are Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; and Hebrews 9:14 (cf. Rom 5:1-4; 2 Cor 5:17; James 1:21; 1 Pet 1:3, 22, 23; 2:1). The epistle to the Hebrews, in particular, speaks of initial sanctification in this manner, thus linking the OT and the NT concept and nomenclature (Heb 2:11; 8:10; 9:14; 10:10, 14; 13:12) and making it the equivalent of regeneration.

c. Entirely. Entire sanctification is the most debatable aspect of the subject. All major theological traditions agree with reference to sanctification up to this point. The Reformed traditions, Orthodox, and Catholic do not, however, find in Scripture or in experience provision for full deliverance from sin while “in the flesh.” This may be attributable in part to the influence of oriental dualism imported into Christian theology via Augustine who was influenced by a Manichaean philosophy before he became a Christian.

Those who find in Scripture and in grace provision for complete victory over sin prior to death are many in the Arminian, Pietist, Quaker, and Wesleyan traditions. Caspar Schwenk-feld, a contemporary of Luther, was among the earliest of the reformers to call for a “reformation of the Reformation” and to protest against a tendency to an accommodation of sin in some Catholic and Reformation theology.

Basic to the concept of entire sanctification is one’s concept of sin. If his definition of sin is influenced by hamartia (ἁμαρτία, G281), i.e. any want of full conformity to the will of God, then sanctification can hardly be “entire” or complete. If, however, like Wesley, he stresses sin as anomia (ἀνομία, G490), “lawlessness” (1 John 3:4), i.e. a conscious and deliberate departure from the known will of God, then he may embrace promises which offer entire sanctification as a gift of grace (Rom 6:1-23; 1 Thess 5:23; 1 John 3:3). Such readers gather from Scripture (Matt 5:8; John 17:17; Rom 6:6-19; 2 Cor 7:1; Eph 4:24; 5:26; Phil 2:15; Col 1:22; 1 Thess 3:13; 5:23; and 1 Pet 1:16, among other passages) that the call to salvation is nothing less than a call to full deliverance from indwelling sins of attitude and motive as well as deeds. The position of the Scriptures which can be cited in support of entire sanctification is both negative and positive.

The negative aspect: Paul, after reminding his readers that as “holy ones” (hagioi) they are temples of God (2 Cor 1:2; 6:16), exhorts them: “Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1). The negative aspect is seen in the command for cleansing from all “defilement” (molusmos), a pollution that is both religious (disloyalty to God) and ethical (association with iniquity, 2 Cor 6:14) and yet that to which the “saints” are subject.

The positive aspect is seen in the command to “perfect” or bring to completion the quality of holiness (hagiosune) which is now only potential. That this is a present option is apparent from the tense of the verbs and also from the closing words of the letter—“Be perfect” (KJV, καταρτίζεσθε).

C. Crisis or process?The evidence from Scripture, reason, and experience leads to the conclusion that sanctification is both process and crisis. The process begins when one is “risen with Christ” in the new birth. Paul’s emphasis on faith blends well with this emphasis upon a stage in the Christian’s life when he recognizes his inner defilement, deliberately renounces a self-centeredness, and embraces by faith God’s provision in Christ for full deliverance and perfection in love (Col 1:22; 1 Thess 5:23; Eph 3:19; Rom 6:11-14; Gal 2:20).

“This conscious self-consecration to the indwelling Spirit...is uniformly represented as a single act...(2 Cor 7:11)...Such an awakening and real consecration...was rather a thing of definite decision (expressed by the aorist, Rom 13:14; Col 1:9f.; Eph 6:11, 13-16) than of vaguely protracted process (expressed by presents)” (Bartlet, HDB, IV, 393).

The call to sanctification is nowhere sounded more urgently than in Romans, where Paul, after explaining justification and its results (Rom 3:21-5:21), makes it emphatically clear that the Christian is to make no provision for residual sin (6:1-23). In the light of its context the struggle with indwelling sin in Romans 7 is not the description of the normal “saint” but rather the futility of justification by law, apart from Christ (7:24-8:1, 2). The same call to holy living is sounded in several other epistles including Colossians (1:22, 28; 3:1-15), Galatians (5:1, 13) and 1 Thessalonians (3:13; 5:23). In the latter the call is sometimes interpreted as an eschatological event in the future. In several passages (Col 1:23; 1 Thess 5:23; 1 John 3:3) the future is the climax, but there is little if any exegetical ground for concluding that full deliverance from sin must wait until the soul is separated from the body.

D. Actual or potential?Sanctification, defined broadly as the work of God’s grace in man’s perfection in righteousness, begins when he becomes a believer and hence is “in Christ.” It continues progressively until death brings him into Christ’s presence unless he “does despite to the Spirit of grace.” It is only as one by dedication and faith realizes in actuality what is provided in the atonement that this grace is experienced; it does not follow as a matter of course, as the exhortations in the NT imply. Parallel to the work of sanctification is the infilling of the Holy Spirit in the believer, perfection in love, having the “mind of Christ,” and “walking as he walked.”

Bibliography J. B. Bartlet, “Sanctification,” HDB, IV (1909); R. S. Taylor, A Right Conception of Sin (1939); C. W. Brown, The Meaning of Sanctification (1945); G. C. Berkouwer, Faith and Sanctification (1952); C. T. Craig, “The Paradox of Holiness,” INT (1952); J. Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1952), 1777; W. Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (1955), 1692; S. Neill, Christian Holiness (1960); K. Keiger, ed., Insights Into Holiness (1962); G. A. Turner, The Vision Which Transforms (1964); L. T. Corlett, “What is Sanctification?” Herald of Holiness, Sept. 1, 1965, 10ff.; A. A. Hoekema, “Barth on Sanctification,” The Banner, 22 October 1965, 16ff.