Chapter 8 - The Science (Self-Evident Truth) of Sanctification

There have been many articles, assertions, and explanations on what sanctification is, what it is not, how to achieve it, and how it manifests itself in the life of the believer. Some have been helpful and some have not. Although I’m not trying to make light of these noble attempts to explain what seems to be a complicated subject to many believers, I think we need fewer articulated theses and more practical applications to help us not only to understand, but also to make the kinds of decisions that foster and nurture the sanctifying process. One definition of sanctification that I think most of us are comfortable with is being set apart for a sacred purpose. An additional definition that I like is to make productive of, or conducive to, spiritual blessing. So, regardless of what definition best agrees with you, the critical question is, how is it that we become truly sanctified?

Many of us who are initiated into gospel rhetoric are familiar with the dogma that it is the righteousness of Christ that sanctifies us by faith.  But the question that may accompany that understanding is how does the righteousness of Christ sanctify us? What is the methodology? And then, is it even ok for believers to pose such questions? Does it mean we lack faith because we want to understand the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the sanctification process and how it actually transforms us? With Romans 1:20 yet again as our benchmark of understanding, let’s proceed with how I believe sanctification really works.

First, the physical birth process is an object lesson to give us insight into the spiritual birth process. The beneficial spiritual components of the physical birth process of humanity were made null and void because of Adam’s disobedience which has resulted in all of humanity being conceived in sin and made in the likeness of Adam’s fallen state. This means mankind does not have the opportunity to be conceived, naturally, in the image of God.

Obviously, birth follows conception. So if we are born in sin, it is because we are first conceived in sin. Our minds in this respect should not be limited to a biological/physical expression of conception but should expand to include the conception of the spirit. If you recall, in the chapter The Science of Nature we looked at the human reproductive process as an expression of the mind of God and that the Creator intended the products of that process, humans, to also be a reflection of His mind as well. Obviously and unfortunately the opposite of God’s intent has occurred. Satan’s influence has stained the human reproductive process and has made humanity the reflection of his own mind instead of the Creator’s.

Therefore, as sons and daughters of Adam, we are, and continue to be, the spiritual product and proliferating agent of the mind of God’s enemy. However, God wants to conceive us anew. This desire of God is the basis of the new birth process. This spiritual conception is what it means to be born again, and there is no sanctification without first being born again. Let me expound upon this idea little more.

Just as the ovum, though substantial, does not contain any actual life until it is fertilized by the sperm, human beings though alive, are also just substantive material because of our God-divorced state. Our existence is ‘lifeless’ until God’s seed fertilizes us into ‘spiritual’ life. We are like Adam in the first stage of his creation, having form but missing the infusion of God’s essential nature. This dynamic is the essence of Christ’s conversation with Nicodemus as outlined in John 3:3–10 which says, “(3) Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see (comprehend) the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? (5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. (8) The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. (9) Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? (10) Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?”

Nicodemus was in the ball park with his question but just couldn’t transition his mind completely out of the natural and into the spiritual aspect of what Christ was communicating to him. Jesus was surprised to see that Nicodemus did not recognize the parallel between the spiritual and natural birth processes but verse six of the passage is where Christ stresses the connection to Nicodemus.

Second, as challenging as true sanctification can be, we make it so much more difficult because of our misunderstanding of what the true aim of the process really is. We mistakenly believe that the scope of sanctification solely encompasses our behavior. So when we successfully mask our true selves in a cloak of upstanding behavior which we are very careful and especially diligent to manifest in front of others, we believe, to our own detriment that our modified behavior means we’re on our way to inheriting eternal life. Ironically, that same behavior often becomes less disciplined when there is no audience present. In the privacy of our own homes, or in the relative privacy of our own minds, where sanctification is truly measured, we subconsciously and sometimes even consciously become lax because we have been trained to measure sanctification solely in terms of outward behavior.

The true struggle of sanctification is in making and then abiding in the decision to relinquish our naturally inherited spiritual, mental, and social attributes and to nurture the divine nature and attributes provided for us through the death and resurrection of the Son of God. As we examined in the book’s introduction, behavior follows nature. The nature of a thing is derived from the life which produced that thing. That is the way life works. So, to be truly sanctified in our behavior, we first need to have sanctified natures. To have sanctified natures, we need a sanctified source. That source is God, and the link between the source and us is Christ.

So, if we want to understand how to have a thriving spiritual life, we need to examine or rather, re-examine how physical life is able to thrive. The same dynamics that foster physical development are necessary for spiritual development. We are conceived, we are born, we are infants, we are adolescents, and we become mature and ideally, continue to mature. With that in mind, I have decided to break our sanctification discussion down into seven divisions of life development which are: Introduction, Relationship/Intercourse, Conception, Birth, Infancy, Childhood, and Maturity.   We’ll discuss those natural stages and their corresponding spiritual realities ...