Sanctified in Christ

Arthur W. Pink was a pastor, itinerate Bible teacher, and author of numerous books. This is from the book Studies in the Scriptures:

"Christians are supernaturally and livingly incorporated with Christ. 'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 2:10); that new creation is accomplished in our union with His Person. This is our spiritual state: a 'new man' has been 'created in righteousness and true holiness' (Eph. 4:24), and this we are exhorted to 'put on' or make manifest. This is not all a matter of progress or attainment, but is true of every Christian the moment he is born again. The terms 'created in righteousness and true holiness' (our sanctification) describe what the 'new man' is in Christ. It is not simply something that we are to pursue, though that is true and is intimated in the 'put ye on'; but it is what all Christians actually are: their sanctification in Christ is an accomplished fact. It is just because Christians are 'saints' [that] they are to lead saintly lives.

"The believer begins his Christian life by having been perfectly sanctified in Christ. Just as both our standing and our state were radically affected by virtue of our union with the first Adam, so both our standing and state are completely changed by virtue of our union with the last Adam. As the believer has perfect standing in holiness before God because of his federal union with Christ, so his state is perfect before God because he is now vitally united to Christ: he is in Christ, and Christ is in him. By the regenerating operation of the Spirit we are 'joined unto the Lord' (1 Cor. 6:17). The moment they were born again, all Christians were sanctified in Christ with a sanctification to which no growth in grace, no attainments in holy living, can add one iota. Their sanctification, like their justification, is 'complete in him' (Col. 2:10). Christ Himself is their life, and He becomes such by a personal union to Himself that nothing can dissolve. From the moment of his new birth every child of God is a 'saint in Christ Jesus' (Rom. 1:7), one of the 'holy brethren' (Heb. 3:1); and it is just because they are such, they are called upon to live holy lives [i.e., consistent with their new nature]. O what cause we have to adore the grace, the wisdom, and the power of God! . . .

"When one is made alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit, he at once becomes separated from those who are dead in trespasses and sins; and therefore, this is another aspect of the 'sanctification of the Spirit' . . . It is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that constitutes a believer a holy person . . . Amazing, blessed, and glorious fact, the Holy Spirit indwells the regenerate so that their bodies become the temples of the living God! . . . This indwelling of the Spirit is, in the order of God, subsequent to and in consequence of our being sanctified by the blood of Jesus; for it is obvious that God could not 'dwell' in those who were standing under the imputation of their guilt. The Holy Spirit, therefore, from the very fact of making our bodies His temple, attests and evidences the completeness and perpetuity of the sanctification that is ours by the sacrifice of Christ . . .

"'Sanctification of the Spirit' (2 Th. 2:13) is a comprehensive expression that has a fourfold significance at least. First, it points to that supernatural operation of the Spirit whereby a sinner is 'created in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 2:10), made vitally one with Him, and thereby a partaker of His holiness. Second, it tells of the vital change that this produces in his relation to the ungodly. Having been quickened into newness of life, he is at once separated from those who are dead in sins, so that his standing and state to Satan, sin, and the world are no longer [in] common with them. Third, it speaks of the Spirit Himself taking up His abode in the quickened soul, thereby rendering him personally holy. Fourth, it refers to His bringing the heart into conformity with the Divine Law with all that that connotes . . .

"It is on the ground of Christ's work that the Spirit comes to us . . . Yet let it be pointed out that the blessed Spirit does not allow our hearts to remain in the awful condition in which He first finds them . . . In Titus 3:5, we read, 'According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.' All that is comprehended in this 'washing' we may not be able to say, but it certainly includes the casting away of all idols out of our heart to such an extent that God now occupies the throne of it.

"By this 'washing of regeneration,' the soul is so cleansed from its native pollution that sin is no longer loved, but loathed; the Divine Law is no longer hated, but delighted in; and the affections are raised from things below unto things above . . . Though this 'renewing' falls far short of what will take place in the saint at his glorification, yet it is a very real and radical experience. A great change and renovation is made in the soul, which has a beneficial effect upon all of its faculties. This 'renewing of the Holy Spirit' has in it a transforming power [actually, it is the Person Himself: the Holy Spirit, or 'Christ the power of God', 1 Co. 1:24], so that the heart and mind are brought into an obedient frame toward God.

"The soul is now able to discern that God's will is the most 'good and acceptable and perfect' (Rom. 12:2) of all, and there is a deep desire and a sincere effort made to become conformed thereto. But let it be carefully noted that the present and not the past tense is employed in Titus 3:5--not ye were washed and renewed, but a 'washing' and 'renewing': it is a continual work of the Spirit . . . [Perhaps, but the literal translation of 1 Cor. 6:11 is clearly past tense (not present tense as the King James Version translates it): 'And these things some were; but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of the God of us.']

"The believer has already been perfectly sanctified in the decree and purpose of the Father. Christ has wrought out for him that which, when reckoned to his account, perfectly fits him for the course of God's temple above. The moment he is quickened by the Spirit, he is created in Christ and therefore 'sanctified in Christ': thus, both his standing and state are holy in God's sight. Furthermore, the Spirit's indwelling him, making his body His temple, constitutes him personally holy . . . It is of the very first importance that the Christian should be thoroughly clear upon this point.

"We do not become saints by holy actions--that is the fundamental error of all false religions. No, we must first be saints before there can be any holy actions, as the fountain must be pure before its stream can be, the tree good if its fruit is to be wholesome . . . God first sets our hearts at rest before He bids our hands engage in His service. He gives life that we may be capacitated to render love. He creates in us a sanctified nature that there may be sanctified conduct. God presents us spotless in the Holiest of all according to the blood of sprinkling that, coming forth with a conscience purged from dead works, we may seek to please and glorify Him.

"It is the creating of this holy nature within us that we must next consider . . . It is something entirely new: a new creation, a new heart, a new spirit, a new man, the conforming of us to another image, even to that of the last Adam, the Son of God. It is the impartation of a holy principle, implanted in the midst of corruption, like a lovely rosebush growing out of a dung-heap. It is the carrying forward of that 'good work' begun in us at regeneration (Phi. 1:6). It is called by many names, such as 'the inward man' (2 Cor. 4:16) and 'the hidden man of the heart' (1 Pe. 3:4), not only because it has its residence in the soul, but because our fellows can see it not. It is designated 'seed' (1 Jo. 3:9) and 'spirit' (Joh. 3:6) because it is wrought in us by the Spirit of God.

"It is by the reception of this holy principle of nature that the believer is freed from the domination of sin and brought into the liberty of righteousness, though not until death is he delivered from the plague and presence of sin. At their justification, believers obtain a relative or judicial sanctification that provides for them a perfect standing before God, by which they receive proof of their covenant relationship with Him that they are His peculiar people . . . But more, they are also inherently sanctified in their persons by a gracious work of the Spirit within their souls. They are 'renewed' throughout the whole of their beings; for as the poison of sin was diffused throughout the entire man, so is grace . . .

"But we must now turn to the most important aspect . . . of the nature of this principle of holiness whereby the Spirit sanctifies us inherently. Our experimental sanctification consists in our hearts being conformed to the Divine Law. This should be so obvious that no labored argument should be required to establish the fact. As all sin is a transgression of the Law (1 Jo. 3:4), so all holiness must be a fulfilling of the Law. The natural man is not subject to the Law, neither indeed can he be (Rom. 8:7). Why? Because he is devoid of that principle from which acceptable obedience to the Law can proceed. The great requirement of the Law is love: love to God and love to our neighbor. But regarding the unregenerate, it is written, 'Ye have not the love of God in you' (Joh. 5:42). Hence it is that God's promise to His elect is 'the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart' (Deu. 30:6)--for 'love is the fulfilling of the law' (Rom. 13:10).

"This is the grand promise of the Covenant: 'I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts' (Heb. 8:10); and again, 'I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes' (Eze. 36:27) . . . When Christ comes to His people He finds them entirely destitute of holiness and of every desire after it; but He does not leave them in that awful condition. No, He sends forth the Holy Spirit, communicates to them a sincere love for God, and imparts to them a principle or 'nature' [actually a participation in His nature through a Person, the indwelling Spirit of the Lord Jesus] which delights in His ways. 'They that are in the flesh cannot please God' (Rom. 8:8). Why? Because any work to be pleasing to Him must proceed from a right principle (love to Him), be performed by a right rule (His Law, or revealed will), and have a right end in view (His glory); and this is only made possible by the sanctification of the Spirit.

"Experimental holiness is conformity of heart and life to the Divine Law. The Law of God is 'holy, and just, and good' (Rom. 7:12), and therefore does it require inward righteousness or conformity as well as outward. This requirement is fully met by the wondrous and gracious provision that God has made for His people. Here again we may behold the striking and blessed cooperation between the Eternal Three. The Father, as the King and Judge of all, gave the Law. The Son, as our Surety, fulfilled the Law. The Spirit is given to work in us conformity to the Law: first, by imparting a nature that loves it: second, by instructing and giving us a knowledge of its extensive requirements; third, by producing in us strivings after obedience to its precepts. Not only is the perfect obedience of Christ imputed to His people, but also a nature [Christ's own self] that delights in the Law is imparted to them.

". . . We must distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the principle of holiness that He imparts at regeneration: the Creator and the nature He creates must not be confounded. It is by His indwelling the Christian that He sustains and develops, continues and perfects, this good work that He has begun in us. He takes possession of the soul to strengthen and direct its faculties. It is from the principle of holiness that He has communicated to us that there proceeds the fruits of holiness--sanctified desires, actions, and works. Yet that new principle or nature has no strength of its own: only as it is daily renewed, empowered, controlled, and directed by its Giver, do we act 'as becometh holiness.'

". . . The fruit of the Spirit's sanctification of us experimentally appears in our separation from evil and the world . . . Every new act of faith upon the cleansing blood of Christ carries forward the work of experimental sanctification to a further degree . . . Thank God, one day Christ will 'present to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing' (Eph. 5:27)."