Is sanctification an event, a process, or both?

[glad4mercy]

Do you hold that sanctification is an event, a process, or both? Please explain and use scriptures to support you position.

[John 8:32]

Do you hold that sanctification is an event, a process, or both? Please explain and use scriptures to support you position.

Not exactly sure what you are looking for. The word sanctification means set apart for Holy use. We are to be set apart for Holy use. To call it a one time event would be equivalent to me of something very much akin to OSAS, therefore to me, it is a process.

[Nobunaga]

It's always good to define the term ... But i go for both as we are set apart at conversion ...born again or alive to God and then continue on to manifest the fruit of the spirit, figs dont suddenly appear on a tree they come with time and nourishment. I think we also grow in grace by the Holy Spirit working in us producing fruit worthy of our calling, we also grow as we renew our minds by the word of God and the Spirit revealing truth to us.

[John 8:32]

The truth can sanctify us...

Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

We may be sanctified by the Holy Spirit...

Rom 15:16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Sanctified by Jesus Christ...

1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

Sanctified by Christ's blood...

Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Sanctified by the Father...

Jud 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

We, ourselves, can even sanctify others...

1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

Food can even be sanctified, by the Bible and prayer...

1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

I did not realize how much the word sanctification took in until I started reading about it.

[glad4mercy]

Not exactly sure what you are looking for. The word sanctification means set apart for Holy use. We are to be set apart for Holy use. To call it a one time event would be equivalent to me of something very much akin to OSAS, therefore to me, it is a process.

Yet would you agree that there is an initial sanctification, in which we are made holy in standing before God, and also a progressive sanctification in which the reality of that holiness becomes more and more evident in our actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives?

[glad4mercy]

It's always good to define the term ... But i go for both as we are set apart at conversion ...born again or alive to God and then continue on to manifest the fruit of the spirit, figs dont suddenly appear on a tree they come with time and nourishment. I think we also grow in grace by the Holy Spirit working in us producing fruit worthy of our calling, we also grow as we renew our minds by the word of God and the Spirit revealing truth to us.

I fully agree with this post.

Yet a good question would be that as we grow in grace and knowledge is it a progressive sanctification, or are we just growing in our walk and appropriating the sanctification that God had already provided in Christ Jesus? Or are they the same thing?

[John 8:32]

Yet would you agree that there is an initial sanctification, in which we are made holy in standing before God, and also a progressive sanctification in which the reality of that holiness becomes more and more evident in our actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives?

There is an initial sanctification, but it is not permanent. Again, it would be a type of OSAS. So even though there is an initializing event, it still must be a process.

[Noeb]

Not exactly sure what you are looking for. The word sanctification means set apart for Holy use. We are to be set apart for Holy use. To call it a one time event would be equivalent to me of something very much akin to OSAS, therefore to me, it is a process.

How many times were the tools of the temple sanctified?

[glad4mercy]

There is an initial sanctification, but it is not permanent. Again, it would be a type of OSAS. So even though there is an initializing event, it still must be a process.

I agree with most of this, but I would qualify the "not permanent" part by saying that the initial sanctification is permanent if we continue in Christ. I am not OSAS either, though I do believe in conditional security, ( God is able to and will keep us from falling if we abide in Him). I also do not believe that we fall in and out of being set apart for God, but we need to keep our garments clean. Paul exhorted the Corinthians, ( and us), to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. ( 2 Corinthians 7:1)

[John 8:32]

How many times were the tools of the temple sanctified?

Could the Temple and the furniture of the temple become sullied? That is exaclty what happened in 168 BC and it had to be cleansed and purified again.

[Noeb]

There is an initial sanctification, but it is not permanent. Again, it would be a type of OSAS. So even though there is an initializing event, it still must be a process.

Why would sanctification by the Spirit in Christ not be permanen as long as we continue in Christ? Is justification permanent as long as we continue in Christ? I'm not OSAS either.

[Noeb]

Could the Temple and the furniture of the temple become sullied? That is exaclty what happened in 168 BC and it had to be cleansed and purified again.

That's not what we are talking about here.

[John 8:32]

That's not what we are talking about here.

Sure it is, we are talking about sanctification. Setting apart for Holy use. That is what was done to the temple furniture. If it was sullied, it had to be cleansed and sanctified again. Same with us.

[John 8:32]

Why would sanctification by the Spirit in Christ not be permanen as long as we continue in Christ? Is justification permanent as long as we continue in Christ? I'm not OSAS either.

Point made, it is conditional, therefore it must be a process. It is not unconditional, one can become spotted by the world...

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

[episkopos]

Both:

It is instantaneous: When one is filled with the Spirit there is no more room for anything else so that person is sanctified at that time. This will happen in a instant. The problem is that we as vessels tend to be leaky. So to shore up the leaks we need to develop a godly character and carry our vessels with the appropriate honour that is required to be able to hold the grace of God. .


It is a process: When we learn to become more dependent on Christ...we learn to hold on to sanctification longer....even indefinitely to some degree. It is like the leaks happen further up the vessel so that not ALL the grace leaks out. So that process of a deeper character causes us to carry the holiness of God in Christ for a longer distance and even to a certain extent permanently. If we read 2 Peter 1 we see what we are to add to our faith so that we never stumble.

The whole process involves us learning love.