It was my privilege to contribute the first volume in the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, edited by Don Carson.¹Possessed by God: A New Testament Theology of Sanctification and Holiness, NSBT 1 (Leicester: Apollos, 1995). This book was based on a series of public lectures I gave at Moore College in August 1994. I first met Don in Sydney, when he came to give a series of lectures at Moore College in 1985. Subsequently, he invited me to participate in two conferences at Tyndale House Cambridge, organised on behalf of the World Evangelical Alliance Theological Commission. His enthusiasm for the discipline of biblical theology and his intention to promote publications in this field encouraged me to send him my work on sanctification. His comments and suggestions in preparation for publication were incisive and most helpful, as anyone who knows Don might expect!

1. The Challenge of Biblical Theology

My undergraduate development was much influenced by the passion of my teachers Donald Robinson and Graeme Goldsworthy for biblical theology. My postgraduate research on Hebrews was then supervised by Professor F. F. Bruce, who was well known for interpreting the New Testament in the light of the Old.²My dissertation was published as Hebrews and Perfection: An Examination of the Concept of Perfection in the Epistle to the Hebrews, SNTSMS 47 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982). In my undergraduate years, I was personally and theologically troubled by the inadequacy of popular approaches to the topic of holiness and sanctification. When I began studying Hebrews in depth, I was struck by the way the author spoke so definitively about the accomplishment of our sanctification ‘through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’ (10:10 ESV; compare 13:12). I had previously understood that sanctification is a process of moral and spiritual transformation following justification by faith, but I soon discovered that New Testament writers were mostly using the terminology in a different way.

A biblical-theological approach to the interpretation of a text requires that it be carefully examined in its immediate context, related to the use of similar terms and concepts in other biblical contexts, and ultimately understood in terms of the progressive revelation of God’s purpose for humanity from creation to new creation.³See B. S. Rosner, ‘Biblical Theology,’ in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000), 3–11. So, the text in Hebrews 10:10 caused me to reflect on why and how the author first applies Psalm 40:6–8 (39:7–9 LXX) to the sacrifice of Christ (Heb 10:5–9) and then argues that this inaugurated a new-covenant relationship with his people (10:11–18; cf. 10:29). Jesus sanctifies the new people of God by dying for them and bringing them to faith in himself as brothers and sisters (2:11–13). God’s ultimate purpose is to bring them to glory with his Son (2:20). These biblical arguments led me to examine in some detail how the language of sanctification was used in the Old Testament and applied in the New Testament to Christ and the gospel.

I discovered that Jesus had spoken in this way about his high-priestly ministry and its consequences when he described himself as the one ‘whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world’ (John 10:36; cf. Exodus 29). The Greek verb used here and elsewhere (ἁγιάζω) can also be rendered ‘sanctify’, ‘set apart’, or ‘make holy’. Jesus goes on to talk about his salvific work and its consequences in terms of consecrating himself in death to do the Father’s will, so that his disciples may be ‘sanctified (or ‘consecrated’) in truth’ (John 17:19). In line with this perspective, the apostle Paul addresses the church of God in Corinth as ‘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, both their Lord and ours’ (1 Cor 1:2). Paul goes on to claim that God has made his Son to be ‘our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption’ (1:30)⁴The noun ἁγιασμός (‘sanctification’) in 1 Cor 1:30 can also be translated ‘holiness’. I discuss the way this term should be understood in different NT contexts in Possessed by God, 139–42. and then describes them as those who were washed, sanctified, and justified ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’ (6:11).

Neither of these last two texts implies a sequence of divine activity. They describe different aspects of the saving work of Jesus and the regenerative work of the Spirit, which enable faith in Christ through the gospel of grace (cf. Acts 20:32; 26:18; 2 Thes 2:13–14; 1 Pet 1:2). They do not focus on a process of individual transformation following conversion or imply that sanctification follows justification. They address our status and position before God collectively as ‘the saints’ (ἅγιοι, ‘holy ones’), who are called to be holy (1 Cor 1:2; 1 Thes 4:1–8; Heb 12:12–17; 1 Pet 1:13–16, 22). Sanctification by faith was a new idea for me, but it stimulated new patterns of understanding. Sanctification in terms of being set apart to belong to God and his people is a gift of his grace, together with the other blessings promised in the gospel. God takes ownership of us as his Spirit enables us to trust in his Son. Faith in Christ is what essentially differentiates us from others and is manifested in works that demonstrate God’s holy will and character.⁵Don J. Payne, in Already Sanctified: A Theology of the Christian Life in Light of God’s Completed Work (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 13–38, reviews various positions that have been taken on the relationship between faith and sanctification since the Reformation. See also his conclusions about sanctification in the OT (pp. 41–56).

Put differently, the assurance that we are relationally God’s holy people, because of his gracious initiative and provision for us in Christ, is the motivation and empowerment for holy living. Complete sanctification of body, soul, and spirit will be accomplished by God ‘at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Thess 5:23–24; cf. Eph 5:25–27; 2 Thess 2:14). This outcome is elsewhere referred to as glorification (Rom 8: 17, 29–30; cf. 1 Cor 15:42–44; 2 Cor 3:18; Phil 3:20–21). The same expectation of ultimate transformation into the likeness of Christ causes the apostle John to speak about living pure lives in the present (1 John 3:2–3).

New Testament teaching about sanctification is a development of Old Testament teaching about God’s saving intentions for Israel as his ‘treasured possession among all peoples’ (Exod 19:4–6). They were set apart from the nations and established in the land he promised them, to belong to God and be his holy people (Lev 19:2). As a holy nation, they were to demonstrate what it meant to live under the direct rule of God, with his sanctifying presence in their midst (Exod 29: 43–46; Deut 7–15). As ‘a kingdom of priests’, they were to serve the Lord exclusively and thus be a people through whom his character and will might be displayed to the nations (Deut 16–26). In this way, God’s original promise to bring blessing to ‘all peoples on earth’ would be enacted (Gen 12:3).⁶Marny Köstenberger, in Sanctification as Set Apart and Growing in Christ, SSBT (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 13–25, more broadly relates the Bible’s teaching about the sanctification of Israel to God’s intended restoration of humanity as the image of God. These covenantal and corporate perspectives are reflected in New Testament teaching about the way Jesus has sanctified a people for himself to fulfil God’s eschatological saving plan for the nations.

2. Sanctification Expressed

As my thinking developed, I was pleased to discover a series of articles on sanctification by John Murray⁷John Murray, Collected Writings, 4 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 2:277–317. and started to explore the history and significance of different approaches to this topic. Systematic theology is another way of ordering and relating the teaching of Scripture, but when its exponents move in different directions and come to different conclusions, the discipline of biblical theology must surely be foundational in evaluating those differences. Murray’s articles were a significant contribution to that debate and to my thinking.⁸See the brief summaries of different views provided in Stanley N. Gundry, ed., Five Views on Sanctification, Counterpoints (Grand Rapids: Academie, 1987) and Donald L. Alexander, ed., Christian Spirituality: Five Views, Spectrum (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988).

Murray observes that in the New Testament the most characteristic terms for sanctification are used, ‘not of a process, but of a once-for-all definitive act.’⁹Murray, Collected Writings, 2:277. With reference to 1 Cor 1:2; 5:11, Murray argues that Paul ‘co-ordinated their sanctification with effectual calling, with their identity as saints, with regeneration, and with justification.’ He begins to substantiate this claim theologically by reflecting on Romans 6:1–7:6 and discerning the need for ‘a once-for-all definitive and irreversible breach with the realm in which sin reigns in and unto death.’¹⁰Murray, Collected Writings, 2:279, noting also the parallel arguments in 1 Pet 2:24; 4:1, 2, and 1 John. He focuses on the theme of dying and rising with Christ, which brings together his historic achievement, our incorporation into the benefits through baptism into Christ, and the subsequent moral imperative. Murray argues that ‘the saving action of each person of the Godhead at the inception of the process of salvation insures the decisive character of the change thereby effected.’¹¹Murray, Collected Writings, 2:285. Most significantly, the apostle ‘constantly interweaves the most explicit references to the death and resurrection of Christ as once-for-all historic events with the teaching respecting actual, experiential death to sin on the part of the believer.’¹²Murray, Collected Writings, 2:291. Murray argues that ‘it is necessary to stress both aspects, the past historical and the experiential in their distinctness, on the one hand, and in their inter-dependence, on the other.’ Stimulated by Murray’s argument, but wishing to explore the context more fully, I decided to devote chapter five of my book to an exposition of Romans 6–8. I concluded that ‘holiness’ or ‘sanctification’ in Romans 6:19, 22 (ἁγιασμός) is presented as the God-given alternative to the condition of uncleanness and lawlessness from which we were rescued by God in Christ. ‘The ethical demand of sanctification arises out of the saving activity by which God consecrates us to himself as a distinct and dedicated people.’¹³Peterson, Possessed by God, 103.

Elsewhere, Paul prayed that God might establish the hearts of the Thessalonians ‘blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints’ (1 Thess 3:13). He also exhorted them to express their sanctification in the present by abstaining from sexual immorality and learning to control their own bodies ‘in holiness and honour’ (4:3–4). To the Corinthians he said, ‘Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God’ (2 Cor 7:1). These passages suggest the need to work out the implications of our holy status and calling in every aspect of our lives. Commenting on 1 Corinthians 6:11, John Calvin put it this way:

that having been once justified, they must not draw down upon themselves a new condemnation—that having been sanctified, they must not pollute themselves anew—that, having been washed, they must not disgrace themselves with new defilements, but, on the contrary, aim at purity, persevere in true holiness, and abominate their former pollutions.¹⁴John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, trans. John Pringle, reprint ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Logos, 2010), 211.

Hebrews 12:3–11 considers the way God disciplines the ones he loves in the struggles of life, ‘that we may share his holiness.’ An immediate benefit is ‘the peaceful fruit of righteousness,’ but the author also goes on to say, ‘Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord’ (12:14). Once again, the emphasis here is on the need to realize and express our holy status and calling, until by God’s grace we stand before him transformed. I examine these and other passages in chapter four of my book and conclude that the focus is not on self-improvement or a linear progress in holiness. The ongoing battle with sin and the flesh necessitates decisive action, as we draw on all the resources provided by God to enable us to ‘run with endurance the race set before us’ (Heb 12:1–3; cf. Phil 3:12–21).

3. Progressive Sanctification

Sanctification is commonly understood in evangelical circles as a process of moral renewal and transformation after conversion. For example, Bruce Milne acknowledges that the terminology refers to being ‘set apart’ or ‘consecrated’ to be God’s own possession, but he argues that it has a second meaning in Scripture, ‘which now prevails in theological usage: the attainment of intrinsic holiness of character.’¹⁵Bruce Milne, Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief, 3rd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 263–64. Milne goes on to say:

Scripture’s lack of a single term to refer to the growth in holiness of God’s people, and its use of a term rooted in the once-for-all status we receive in faith-union with Christ, underline the impossibility of separating the crisis of renewal from subsequent moral transformation. In theological terms, justification (a once-for-all act affording the Christian righteous standing before God) cannot be separated from sanctification (the life-long process of moral transformation into more of Christ’s image).¹⁶Milne, Know the Truth, 264.

Unfortunately, this argument does not give adequate weight to the co-ordinate use of justification, sanctification, and redemption terminology in Pauline texts about salvation, conversion, and calling (1 Cor 1:30; 6:11). Furthermore, it fails to show how the emphasis on definitive or positional sanctification in the New Testament functions to encourage holy living and relates to gospel eschatology.¹⁷Compare the argument of Payne, Already Sanctified, 129–34. Put differently, it fails to explain how the progress of sanctification should emerge from understanding and experiencing the blessing of positional sanctification.

Murray proposes a progressive view of sanctification with both negative and positive dimensions: ‘both mortification and sanctification.’¹⁸Murray, Collected Writings, 2:295; cf. Rom 6:11–14; 8:13; Col 3:1–15. It is odd that Murray uses the word ‘sanctification’ a second time with reference only to the positive side of the process. Other terms such as ‘vivification’ and ‘aspiration’ could be substituted. However, the emphasis in Romans 6 is on a continuing pattern of response to Christ in the gospel, rather than a step-by-step appropriation of holiness. 2 Corinthians 3:18 most clearly defines the goal of sanctification, though this is obviously a divine work and not a promise of measurable daily progress. Transformation into the image of Christ is our God-given hope, and the basic consideration for believers is that ‘we must recognize increasingly the implications of union and communion with Christ, and of communication from him.’¹⁹Murray, Collected Writings, 2:304. The law of God is ‘the transcript of God’s perfection’ (p. 307), but the supreme revelation of what God is and of his will for us is the Lord Jesus Christ himself (p. 308). Although sanctification is only one aspect of the process, for Murray it is foundational: ‘it must, in the nature of the case, be patterned after the image, conformity to which is the final end.’²⁰Murray, Collected Writings, 2:310. Payne puts it more strongly: ‘Sanctification forms the basis and framework for obedient conformity to the image of Christ’ (p. 69). Furthermore, ‘Sanctification presents us with everything we need to pursue and live out the implications of holiness—including our responsibility to do so’ (p. 70). Murray rightly contends that it would be ‘a deflection from biblical patterns of language and conception to think of sanctification exclusively in terms of a progressive work.’²¹Murray, Collected Writings, 2:278.

4. Conclusion

Biblical teaching about sanctification first emerges in contexts concerning the salvation of Israel and God’s commissioning of his people to reflect his holiness in every aspect of their lives. Israel is blessed with the giving of God’s law to facilitate this and enable them to be a source of blessing to ‘all the families of the earth’ (Gen 12:3; cf. Exod 19:56; Deut 7:6–11). The fulfilment of this pattern of salvation and blessing for people from every nation is achieved by the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, resurrection-ascension, and pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enables faith in God’s Son and appropriation of all the benefits offered in the gospel: cleansing from sin, justification, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor 1:30; 6:11; Eph 5:25–27; 2 Thess 2:13–14; Heb 2:11; 9:11–14; 10:10, 29; 13:12; 1 Pet 1:2). The challenge of this new status in Christ is to manifest God’s holy will and character in everyday life and relationships by the Spirit’s enabling (1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thess 4:1–8; Heb 12:14; 1 Pet 2:13–21). Transformation, renewal, and growth to maturity in Christ arise from God’s sanctifying initiative and advance his plan to restore humanity in his image. Glorification in Christ, when we finally stand before him, is the ultimate aim of this divine engagement with us (Rom 8:17, 29–30; 2 Cor 3:18; Col 3:1–4; 1 John 3:2–3).²²I explore this in the sixth chapter of Possessed by God and also in David G. Peterson, Transformed by God: New Covenant Life and Ministry (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012). Just as justification, sanctification, and redemption are different ways of explaining how the saving work of the Lord Jesus impacts our lives in the first place, transformation, renewal, and growth to maturity are co-ordinate ways of describing the continuation and completion of God’s saving work. If sanctification is simply identified with moral and spiritual development after conversion, the salvific foundation of this process is obscured.²³Payne, in Already Sanctified, 9, rightly concludes that ‘transformation depends on sanctification but should not be confused with it.’ Each of the terms that the Bible uses in this connection should be appreciated for the contribution it makes to our understanding of God’s total plan.

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