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« Sanctification »

Date: _/_/09
Part 1

Sanctification

"But, as one who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, as it is
written: You'll be holy, because I am holy. "(1 Peter 2 / 5)

The word sanctification comes from the Greek word "hagiasmos" which means purity.
The bible mentions it so often and there is no mystery behind it. God our Father in His
holiness wants to have fellowship with His children and it is therefore a prerequisite that
the latter are also living in light and not in darkness.

John tells us in his epistle:

Is it possible for a Christian to live in holiness?

"By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? "(Romans 6/2)

"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin" (Romans 6/6)

"You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Romans
6/18)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!"(2 Corinthians 5/17)

In reading these verses we see that the Christian is given a new nature, he died to sin and
is no longer a slave. But a question arises, how is it possible that we still sin anyway? In
writing these lines I am myself aware that I do not live in this state because I still sin
against God. What God did is that He has freed from slavery and gave us the possibility
to have victory over our evil desires through Jesus Christ.

Paul also said: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its
evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but
rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and
offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness."(Romans 6/12,13)

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Why Paul says that sin no longer has power over us and afterwards we read that he urges
Christians not to live in sin? Is this a contradiction?
Of course not, the sacrifice of Jesus is perfect and we are truly freed from the slavery of
sin. What Paul wants to teach us is that we need go into this state of "death to oneself".
Jesus has overcome the devil and gave us the freedom and the possibility to die to
ourselves by identifying ourselves to His death.
It is therefore the duty of Christians to put off the old man and put on the new man.

"You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were
taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard
to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its
deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new
self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. "(Ephesians 4 / 20-24)

God wants us to be holy and He gave us the means to be like Him through Jesus. The
circumcision that Christ has done for us is in fact the destruction of the body of the old
man.
Jesus has done everything on the Cross and is it now the duty of Christians to enter this
freedom and live in holiness.

“For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete
through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. When
you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ
performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you
were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new
life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You
were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record
of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he
disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory
over them on the cross.” 1 (Colossians 2/9-15)

We must recognize that we cannot deal with our struggle against sin by our own strength
and that we need Jesus to have the victory. When I realised that all I needed to do was to
bury my old nature and depend on Christ, I saw more clearly that it is in Christ that
victory over sin is obtained and not by my own strength.
"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature (the responsibility of
the Christian): sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life
you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage,
malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you
have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is
being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator "(Colossians 3/5-10)
As we read previously, Paul uses the same phrase structure to urge Christians to enter
fully into this life of freedom that Jesus has acquired for us.

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Jesus himself declared :

"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for me will save it. "(Luke 9/23, 24)

We enter this state of "death to oneself" by refusing to submit our will to the desires of
the flesh by denying the "me". Jesus put to death our old nature and it is now our duty to
do make it become a reality in our life. If someone had the habit of robbing and stopped
to do so, he has made a reality in himself the death of this hand which was crucified 2000
years ago. And if he does it with all his members, it is the old man who dies entirely. It is
why we should not use our body to do evil things but should rather offer it as an
instrument for God’s glory. Jesus gives us through His death the opportunity to put to
death our old nature by identifying ourselves to His death.

"Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer
yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts
of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." (Romans 6 / 13)

“because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we
believe that we will also live with him” (Romans 6/7, 8)

The old man dies when we do not give him his food (lies, lust, pride ...) and it is our
responsibility to put off our old self and to live according to the Spirit so that the new
man takes over.
"in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not
live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according
to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live
in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind
of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace"(Romans
8/4-6)
When a Christian refuses to put to death his old nature and continually enjoys to satisfy
the desires of the flesh, the sin gradually destroy him and the result is spiritual death. This
person practice sin and becomes blind. Thus this person voluntarily sins with the
knowledge that what he is doing is wrong. This person does not want put to death the evil
desires he has and continues to live in sin.

"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he
cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." (1 John 3 / 9)

"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no
sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that
will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without
mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think
a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has
treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has

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insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will
repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."(Hebrews 10/26-30)

In the verses mentioned above, we read that the action of sinning was a continuous
process and a kind of life style. This person who finds himself in such a situation is still a
slave to sin.
Putting to death our old nature indirectly permits the new man to strengthen himself.
Being a slave to sin is the inability for man to resist the desires of his flesh. However,
sometimes we sin due to a weakness and this does not mean that we are a slave to this sin
which caused our fall.

Paul also says:

"But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a
brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a
swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those
outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.
"Expel the wicked man from among you."(1 Corinthians 5/11-13)

Paul speaks of those Christians who have heard the word of God and who have accepted
Christ as their Lord. The problem with these Christians is that they started to live as they
wished and finally started to take pleasure in their sins. We can no longer consider them
Christians if they continue to bear bad fruits. There’re on the brink of being cut off from
the Vine and in danger of being cursed.

“But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed.
In the end it will be burned.” (Hebrews 6/8)

However, a Christian who lives by the Spirit accepts that he cannot get out of his state of
sin by his own strength and his first reaction is to look to Christ for the victory over sin.
Therefore, this Christian humbles and identifies himself with Christ by crucifying the
flesh. He becomes really free because he puts to death the old man and he recognizes that
it is by grace that he gets this freedom. He knows that everything has already been
accomplished at the Cross and all he needs to do is to take hold of this victorious life by
living under grace and putting off continuously the old self.

"because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of
sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the
sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin
offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements
of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but
according to the Spirit.. "(Romans 8/2-4)

Let us therefore reject everything that hinders our spiritual walk because Jesus has
accomplished everything once for all. Let us enter this state of dead to the self by
identifying ourselves our Savior who was crucified 2000 years ago for our sins! Let us

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run towards perfection by crucifying the flesh and make room for the fruits of the Spirit.
By doing so, we will also be able to say like Paul that it is no him (the me) who lives but
Christ in him. "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the
sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit
what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do
not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of
the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who
live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against
such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful
nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with
the Spirit."(Galatians 5/16-25)
Evidently, there is a fight which happens within because the flesh naturally resists but if
we submit ourselves to God and are led by the Holy Spirit, we will little by little resemble
more and more the Lord Jesus. Paul also makes a fabulous contrast between a Christian
who lives under the law (Chapter 7) i.e. by his own strength and a free Christian who
lives by the Spirit (Chapter 8). In Chapter 7 we see a Christian who has the will to do
what is good with all his heart, he wants to get out of sin and please God but he struggles
and never succeeds. He falls again and again and he wants by himself to get out but
without success. He knows the will of God, he knows the law, he has been regenerated
but is never able to have victory over the flesh. Even when willing to get out, he is not
able because he lives by his own strength and law and not according to the law of the
Spirit. What he ignores is that his strength is just weakness against the flesh. It is the
Lord's help that he needs to resist the desires of the flesh. By living by his own strength,
this Christian always feels guilty because he knows that what he is doing is wrong and is
not able to get out. This Christian is anguished, he does what he does not want. He feels
guilty because he lives under a law and feels condemned. This Christian feels miserable
and finally realizes that he can never escape by any means and says: -"What a wretched
man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?». To end this chapter, Paul
weights all his struggles against the grace and love of Christ and can only show his
gratitude to his Savior who gives him the victory by proclaiming: "Thanks be to God—
through Jesus Christ our Lord!".

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and
death."(Romans 8/1, 2)

As reiterated previously, we enter this ‘state of dead to ourselves’ by identifying

"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude,
because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live
the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you

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have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in
debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. "(1 Peter 4/1-3)

Jesus gave us the example to follow; he stripped himself of his glory and was tempted
like us without committing any sin.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but
we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let
us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help us in our time of need. "(Hebrews 4/15-16)

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death
on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not
only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling... "(Philippians 2/5-12)

Jesus gave us a striking example to follow, he the Son of God humbled himself and
stripped himself of his glory to fulfill the will of His Father. He died for sinners to obey
God, how much more must should we get rid of our pride and evil desires to obey the
Lord almighty. Jesus suffered physically by the blows he received and also suffered
morally through the insults he received. Jesus probably had also to undergo a hard
separation (Matthew 27/46) with His father when he took our sins on him being himself
the atoning sacrifice (Romans 3/25).
"During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud
cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of
his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he
suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who
obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of
Melchizedek."(Hebrews 5/7-10)
Knowing beforehand that he was himself the sacrifice and that the crucial moment was
approaching he was in agony in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22/44) and continued
nevertheless to obey His Father's and for us. Even as the Son of God he obeyed till His
death on the cross. Jesus showed us the perfect way to follow- it is that of obedience to
him by crucifying the “me” and absolute surrender to His will. Are we ready to die to
oneself for the sake of obedience to the Father?