5:17). 15 When a person is regenerated or born again, that person also is sanctified. Sanctify means “to make holy.” 16 This doctrine is closely related to the doctrine of justification. God justifies or declares a person to be holy. Justification is something that God has already done for the believer. Sanctification is what God continues to do throughout ab bbelievers life. God sanctifies or makes a person holy—he sets them apart for righteous service. So a sanctified person is set apart to serve God. As one learns God’s word and serves God, he matures in the faith.Therefore, sanctification is a lifelong process. A Christian is to become more faithful and more loving throughout life (see 1 Thess. 3:12, 13). Although believers won’t achieve perfection in this life, perfection is the goal (see Matt. 5:48). God is the one who sanctifies, but the believer must obey God in order to grow in faith (see John 17:17-19; Phil. 2:12,13). After we are saved, we are called to become Christlike. We are to grow in our knowledge of Scripture (Hebrews 5:12-14). And we should obey the moral law given throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Christian life always involves a struggle to turn away from sin (see Romans 7:15-25). But we Christians can rejoice in knowing that we are free from condemnation (see Romans 8:1-3). The process of sanctification is completed when a believer is glorified—going to be with the Lord and later receiving anew body. Sob glorificationb occurs after one’s earthly life (see 1 Cor. 15:52). In this life, we are never completely sinless. So God sanctifies us— making us holy and forgiving our sin. In the life to come, we will be without sin. 10 Alan B. Stringfellow, Through The Bible in One Year, Vol. 3 Great Truths of the Bible, 95.
