1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you. – 1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV
The believer’s sanctification might be called a family affair, involving each member of the Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. First, it is God the Father who decreed from eternity past to set apart a people for Himself.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. – Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT
God did not have to extend the gift of holiness to anyone. Yet He did. Because He is omniscient and operates outside the bounds of time and space, God knew in advance that mankind was going to sin. And from the very beginning He had a plan in place to provide a means of restoring holiness to those who had inherited the sin and condemnation brought upon them by Adam’s transgression.
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. – Romans 5:12 NLT
But Jesus had a solution in place before the first sin was committed. He had already planned to send His Son into the world as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind. And Jesus, in taking on human flesh and living in perfect obedience to God’s law and in total submission to God’s will, gave His life as an atonement for the sins of man. In doing so, He satisfied the just demands of God and provided His righteousness for those who had no righteousness of their own.
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. – Romans 3:21-24 NLT
I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. – Philippians 3:9 NLT
It was God who set us apart for a life of holiness. It was His Son who gave His life so that we might have the righteousness necessary to enter into God’s presence. But it is the Spirit of God who secures our sanctification. Without the Spirit’s indwelling presence, there is no sanctification. Paul put it rather bluntly when he wrote: “You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)” (Romans 8:9 NLT).
In essence, there is a three-part strategy to our sanctification. In the Old Testament, a person or thing was set apart or sanctified for divine use. The people of Israel were consecrated by God as His chosen people. They were no better than anyone else. They had no inherent value that qualified them for their unique relationship with God. He sovereignly deemed them to be His own and set them apart for His use and glory. But what God sets apart for His use must be cleansed and purified before it can perform its divinely ordained responsibility. So, God provided a means by which the people of Israel could receive cleansing from their sins. He gave them the sacrificial system and commanded that they use it to purify themselves from the inevitable sins they would commit. Even the priests had to be cleansed from their impurities before they could serve as mediators for the people of God. And it’s interesting to note how much emphasis God put on the adornment of those things He set apart for His use. The decorations of the tabernacle and temple were rich and luxurient, reflecting the glory of God. The priestly garments were made of the finest fabric and adorned with priceless jewels, signifying the invaluable role these men were to play in leading the people of God in their worship of Him.
So, we see the biblical model of sanctification as including the setting apart, the cleansing, and the adorning of those things belonging to God. And the same is true in the sanctification of His saints. We have been set apart by God, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and adorned with the Spirit of God. And it is the Spirit that makes it possible for us to produce the fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11) or, as Paul refers to it in Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit.
In a sense, when God places His Spirit within the life of the believer, He adorns them with the divine capacity to produce, for the first time in their lives, the fruit of righteousness. Before the Spirit’s arrival into the life of the believer, they were incapable of producing anything remotely righteous because, as Isaiah declared, all their “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6 ESV). Their sanctification had been preordained by God and their justification or right standing before God had been made possible by the blood of Christ. But it was the regenerating work of the Spirit of God that provided the capacity to recognize and receive the free gift of salvation offered to us by God through Christ.
When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. – Titus 3:4-7 NLT
Jesus Himself said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (John 6:63 ESV). And He told the Pharisee, Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6 ESV).
And Paul reminded the believers living in Rome that they had received a new capacity to live righteous and godly lives because of the presence of the Spirit within them.
But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. – Romans 7:6 NLT
As believers, we have been adorned by God with His Spirit. There is a picture of this adorning or anointing foreshadowed in the Old Testament when God prescribed for Moses the necessary steps in preparing the tabernacle and the priests for His service. He commanded Moses:
“Like a skilled incense maker, blend these ingredients to make a holy anointing oil. Use this sacred oil to anoint the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and all its accessories, the incense altar, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the washbasin with its stand. Consecrate them to make them absolutely holy. After this, whatever touches them will also become holy.
“Anoint Aaron and his sons also, consecrating them to serve me as priests. And say to the people of Israel, ‘This holy anointing oil is reserved for me from generation to generation. It must never be used to anoint anyone else, and you must never make any blend like it for yourselves. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy. Anyone who makes a blend like it or anoints someone other than a priest will be cut off from the community.’” – Exodus 30:25-33 NLT
The anointing oil, which was considered holy by God, having been set apart for a specific use, was poured on the various elements found in the temple. It was also poured over the heads of Aaron and his fellow priests. And in one of his psalms, David describes this anointing oil as being “poured over Aaron’s head” and being of such quantity that it “ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe” (Psalm 133:2 NLT). Aaron was absolutely saturated by the oil, as it touched every part of his person and covered him with its aromatic fragrance. Aaron’s anointing was visible and undeniable. And so is ours.
The presence of God’s Spirit within us sanctifies us and sets us apart as His own. But His presence is noticeable and transformative. Because of the Spirit’s presence within us, our lives are able to display the fruit of righteousness through us. And Paul reminds us that “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God” (2 Corinthians 2:15 NLT). But our Spirit-adorned lives impact others as well. Paul goes on to say, “To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume” (2 Corinthians 2:16 NLT). All because of the sanctifying presence of the Spirit of God.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
