Have you ever asked yourself, “What is sanctification?” The Reformation Study Bible’s theological article on “Sanctification” provides a clear and concise answer.

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According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q. 35), sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” It is a continuing change worked by God in us, freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues. It does not mean that sin is instantly eradicated, but it is also more than a counteraction, in which sin is merely restrained or repressed without being progressively destroyed. Sanctification is a real transformation, not just the appearance of one.

GOD CALLS HIS CHILDREN TO HOLINESS, AND GRACIOUSLY GIVES WHAT HE COMMANDS.

The basic meaning of “sanctify” is to set apart to God, for His use. But God works in those whom He claims as His own to conform them “to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). This moral renovation, in which we are increasingly changed from what we once were, flows from the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:13; 12:1, 2; 1 Cor. 6:11, 19, 20; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:22–24; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 13:20, 21). God calls His children to holiness, and graciously gives what He commands (1 Thess. 4:4; 5:23).

Regeneration is birth; sanctification is growth. In regeneration, God implants desires that were not there before: desire for God, for holiness, and for glorifying God’s name in the world; desire to pray and worship; desire to love and bring benefit to others. In sanctification, the Holy Spirit “works in you, both to will and to work” according to God’s purpose, enabling His people to fulfill their new, godly desires (Phil. 2:12, 13). Christians become increasingly Christlike, as the moral profile of Jesus (the “fruit of the Spirit”) is progressively formed in them (2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:19; 5:22–25).

Regeneration is a momentary act, bringing a person from spiritual death to life. It is exclusively God’s work. Sanctification is an ongoing process, dependent on God’s continuing action in the believer, and consisting of the believer’s continuous struggle against sin. God’s method of sanctification is neither activism (self-reliant activity) nor apathy (God-reliant passivity), but human effort dependent on God (2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 3:10–14; Heb. 12:14). Knowing that without Christ’s enabling we cannot do good works, but also that He is ready to strengthen us for all we have to do (Phil. 4:13), we “abide” in Christ, asking for His help constantly— and we receive it (Col. 1:11; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 1:7; 2:1).

REGENERATION IS BIRTH; SANCTIFICATION IS GROWTH

The standard to which God’s work of sanctifying His saints is directed is His own revealed moral law, expounded and modeled by Christ Himself. Christ’s love, humility, and patience are a supreme standard for Christians (Rom. 13:10; Eph. 5:2; Phil. 2:5–11; 1 Pet. 2:21).

Believers find within themselves contrary urgings. The Spirit sustains their regenerate desires and purposes, but their fallen instincts (the “flesh”) obstruct their path and drag them back. The conflict of these two is sharp. Paul says he is unable to do what is right, and unable to restrain himself from doing what is wrong (Rom. 7:14–25). This conflict and frustration will be with Christians as long as they are in the body. Yet by watching and praying against temptation, and cultivating opposite virtues, they may through the Spirit’s help “put to death” particular bad habits (Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5). They will experience many particular deliverances and victories in their battle with sin, while not being exposed to temptations that are impossible to resist (1 Cor. 10:13).

Fundamentally, the gospel is news. It’s good news—the good news about what our triune God has graciously accomplished for His people: The Father’s sending the Son, Jesus Christ, God incarnate, to live perfectly, fulfill the law, and die sacrificially, atoning for our sins, satisfying God’s wrath against us that we might not face an eternal hell, and raising Him from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the victorious announcement that God saves sinners. And even though the call of Jesus to “take up your cross and follow me,” “repent and believe,” “deny yourself,” and “keep my commandments” are necessary commands that directly follow the proclamation of the gospel, they are not in themselves the good news of what Jesus has accomplished. The gospel is not a summons to work harder to reach God— it’s the grand message of how God worked all things together for good to reach us. The gospel is good news, not good advice, just as J. Gresham Machen wrote: “What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you.” 

Have you ever been tempted to surrender control of your life to any of Christ’s enemies? As Memorial Day in the United States, we remember those who’ve fought to establish and defend the freedoms we enjoy. And from the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga to the surrender of Germany 170 years later, surrender has always meant to submit to a new master. When you became a Christian, you did that. Peter was reminding these Christians here that that is what they had done when they became Christians. So he says in 3:15 that they were to sanctify, or set apart, “Christ as Lord in your hearts.”

Our hearts are by nature rebellious. Having been surrendered to Him, they should now be those places where His rule and Word hold sway. We should want to follow Him, even if following Him involves suffering. And because this world is in rebellion against God, then our former false peace will leave, and we will become the focus of a pitched battle, sometimes around us, sometimes inside of us. Following a good God in an evil world will sometimes involve suffering. What does following Christ as Lord mean for you? In 1 Peter 3:8–22, Peter spells it out for us. In verses 8–9 he addresses how Christians should live, in verses 10–17 he looks at why we should live that way, and then, in verses 18–22 he gives us some examples.

How we do this is found in verses 8–9 and is pretty straightforward: “To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.” Following Christ implies doing all these things.

Of course, it’s easier to list these things than to live them. Sometimes the love that we profess to others has to make some hard choices. And more times than not, that will mean God in His love showing us some further way that we can die to ourselves, as our minds become rightly concerned with others, as we begin to put ourselves in their position and feel with them what they feel, as we begin to recognize the family relation that He has put us in with each other, so that everything from our passions to our own self-estimates are put in service not of ourselves, but of others. Finally, this can progress even to the point of being able to take insults being thrown at us, and return not with more of the same, but, as Peter says here, with blessing. We do this as a way of acknowledging our own brokenness before the Lord and utter dependence on His grace. That’s how we should live if we’re really following Christ.

On the question as to why we should live like this, Peter says that we should do this basically because it is God’s will. He quotes the Old Testament in verses 10–12 to prove it. And Peter’s quotations here from Psalm 34 and Isaiah 8 show that he is drawing this issue to the basic issue of the fear of the Lord. These Old Testament passages both talk about fearing God alone. Christ, he says in 3:15, is to be recognized as the Lord in the Christian’s heart, and if He’s recognized there, obedience to His purposes will follow. Christians are called to set apart Christ as Lord in their hearts, as opposed to anything else. And that isn’t like what the people around these early Christians were doing; and it is also unlike what they were tempted to do themselves. They were tempted not to recognize Christ as their Lord, perhaps simply because it was too hard.

Who lives like this? Peter gives some examples at the end of chapter 3. His first example is Christ: “For Christ also died for sins once, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (3:18). Again and again when Christ was tempted, He refrained from evil. Christ obeyed God even when it meant suffering to the point of laying down His life. And Christ was made alive. Christ was vindicated in His life of obedience to God the Father.

He is our supreme model in doing good and obeying God. He is a model of following God, even when it involved suffering. And He is a model of being vindicated finally in His obedience. How encouraging to Christians who suffer in faithfulness to be shown that suffering is followed by glory!

The other example that Peter gives is Noah (3:19–20). Many people have been confused by what Peter meant here in His words about Noah. They’ve wondered if Jesus during His time in the tomb went to a place where the dead from the Old Testament were waiting for them. This medieval idea was called “the harrowing of hell.” But there is a straightforward explanation of what Peter meant here. He’s saying that the Spirit of Christ preached through Noah to those who were finally disobedient when they were alive at the time of the flood. But Peter’s point is that Noah and his family obeyed God even when it was difficult to do so, and they were then vindicated.

This is the biblical pattern. Suffering, then glory. The cross, and then the crown. Is this the pattern of your life? Are you willing to follow Christ as Lord? If not, then how do you follow Him?