Sanctification and separation

 Tom and Susie illustrate a much larger problem in the Church today.  There is extreme confusion over the doctrines of sanctification and separation.  Some abuse the doctrine of separation and try to become complete isolationists.  Being set apart from every aspect of the world becomes more important than teaching Christians to walk with Jesus Christ.  Others completely neglect the doctrine of separation.  This is done either out of ignorance or out of a desire to express an incorrect understanding of love.  Sanctification and separation are related doctrines in Scripture and it is for the well-being of the Body of Christ that we seek to set these doctrines in their proper scriptural meaning and order.  A biblical understanding of sanctification should lead to a proper understanding and application of separation for the individual believer and for the Church itself.  Our focus on these doctrines will be specific to the Church Age.  First, we will examine the doctrine of sanctification.  From this, we will see that it should lead each believer to apply the principals of separation personally and in the Church today.  Furthermore, there are reasons why some people today do not hold to the doctrine of separation, which we will investigate.  Finally, we will see how these essential doctrines impact our walk with Jesus Christ.

Sanctification

Before we can address the confusion regarding the doctrine of separation we need to make sure our foundation is firm.  In this case, our foundation is the doctrine of sanctification.  “The word sanctify basically means to set apart. It has the same root as the words saint and holy.”^[2] The three aspects of sanctification include, positional which is the same as justification, progressive which refers to Christian growth or the spiritual maturity process, and perfect which is the same as glorification.  God has already set apart His Church positionally in Christ.  Our concern for this discussion is in regard to progressive sanctification.

The commands and exhortations in the Word of God to be holy, or to live holy, all deal with our progressive sanctification.  To live holy should be the desire of every believer.  Here is where we need to be careful.  Does this mean God wants us to follow a list of rules?  Or, does the Lord have something else in mind?  These questions underscore the importance of understanding what God expects from us now that we are saved.

One key component of our progressive sanctification is that our growth in Christ must be based on truth, not on man’s version of truth but the truth of God’s Word.  In His prayer to God the Father Jesus stated, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).^[3] Left on our own, there is no way for us to be able to know how God expects us to live.  This is where the written revelation of God comes in.  Out of His love, God wrote it all down for us.  The Apostle Paul instructs us, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what isthat good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2).  Instead of allowing ourselves to be molded by the world we are to be transformed by the truth of God’s Word.  Remember, progressive sanctification, “involves separation unto God from the world, the evil one who controls it, and the lies that He promotes that the world believes.”^[4] The only way to know God’s truth is by renewing our minds with His Word.

Another key component in our progressive sanctification is our relationship with the Spirit of God.  We know that every believer in Christ, living in the Church Age, is indwelt by the Spirit of God.  For this reason, Paul could say, “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5).  Furthermore, we read, “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9).  This undoubtedly teaches us that the Spirit of God indwells every believer at the moment we are converted; otherwise this statement from Paul could not be true.

Considerable confusion surrounds the doctrine of the filling of the Spirit.  A typical (and wrong) understanding is that we can have less or more of the Holy Spirit in us (almost like having more or less water in a glass).  A central passage on the filling of the Spirit is found in Ephesians where Paul explains, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).  The wording does not mean getting more of the Spirit, but rather it is a command to let the Spirit of God have control in your life.  Paul was teaching that instead of being controlled by alcohol we should submit or yield ourselves to the Spirit of God.  “It amounts to letting the Holy Spirit who indwells us control us completely.”^[5]This is a repeated action in the life of the believer as you obey and yield to the Holy Spirit in your daily life.  This is why the Apostle Paul wrote, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

Motivation

Now that we have a clear understanding of sanctification, we need to take one more step before we can move any further in our discussion of how sanctification relates to separation.  We need to take a closer look at our motivations for serving the Lord.  Most Christians recognize the words of Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”  Some think that this means our relationship with God is only based on fear.  Tom Constable sets us in the right direction, “‘Fear’ includes not only a correct way of thinking about God but a correct relationship with Yahweh. It is an affectionate reverence that results in humbly bowing to the Father’s will. It is a desire not to sin against Him because His wrath is so awful and His love is so awesome.”^[6] Believers in Christ must remember that we have been adopted into the family of God.  With a profound proclamation of truth John records, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).  The Apostle Paul told the churches of Galatia, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Gal. 4:6).  The Spirit of God makes it possible for us to have an intimate relationship with the Father.

There are many other reasons provided in Scripture that are motivations for us to follow Jesus Christ.  In 1 John 4 we read two interesting statements, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).  God demonstrated the supreme example of love when He sent His Son to die in our place.  There is a strong focus in this chapter on the love of God in the life of the believer.  In verse 17 John raised the issue of the Judgment Seat of Christ.  In regard to the Judgment Seat of Christ John said in verse 18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).  This means:

If a believer looks forward with trepidation to the judgment seat of Christ, it is because God’s love has not yet reached completeness in Him. The words here rendered perfect are no different in force from the idea of “completeness” expressed in 2:5 and 4:12. The matured experience of God’s love (reached in the act of loving one another) is incompatible with fear and expels fear from the heart.^[7]

Another way of saying it would be that a mature understanding of the love of God (demonstrated in loving one another) removes fear of God’s judgment.^[8] Love is a proper motivation for serving God.  In fact, John goes on to tell us, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

In the same letter, John mentioned another motivation for serving our Lord.  In the second chapter we read, “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28).  Abiding in Christ means that we will not have to be ashamed when our Lord returns for us.

Furthermore, let it be noted that we, “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).  As believers our trust (faith) in God should lead us to obedience.  Many have this backwards and make the outward obedience the focus for the believer in Christ.  The goal for every believer should be walking in faith and this trust in the Lord produces obedience to God.  This is why Paul wrote, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7).  This is exactly what Paul was getting at in Romans, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Rom. 1:17).  Paul himself was a great example of living out the Christian life by faith.  To the churches of Galatia he proclaimed, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith [emphasis added] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).  The faith that God is looking for in our progressive sanctification is trust in Him and His Word.  Proverbs teaches us, “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (Prov. 30:5).

The point is to recognize that in Scripture there are many reasons given for why we should serve the Lord.  We should serve God because we have a healthy reverence for who He is.  No believer should want to be ashamed when the Lord returns.  His love for us should manifest a passionate love for Him and His people.  Our adoption into God’s family should make us want to live like a member of the family.  Our trust (faith) in God should lead to obedience.  All of these reasons should be some of the scriptural motivations for us to obey the Word of God, including the commands in Scripture regarding the doctrine of separation.  It is not about a legalistic attitude of enforcing the rules of men but rather about a loving relationship with our Creator and our desire to obey Him.  Counterfeit motives for serving the Lord focus on trust in oneself, but Christ is calling us to live by faith with trust in Him.  This is why Jesus could proclaim to the first century Jews, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).  In this same line of thinking the Apostle John testified, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

Separation

Let us take a more in-depth look at the doctrine of separation.  As believers walk by faith they should see in Scripture the clear commands to be separate from the world.  For Church Age saints we are to be separate from the lost, separate from those with doctrines contrary to Christ, and separate from fellow believers that are walking disorderly.

In a stunning passage of Scripture the Apostle Paul proclaimed to the church at Corinth:

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And  what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:14-18).

A detailed exposition of this passage is beyond the scope of this article.  However, we can make certain observations.  Constable comments, “Paul commanded that Christians form no binding interpersonal relationships with non-Christians.”^[9]When looking at this passage we must consider the situation in Corinth:

As this relates to Corinth, history reveals that the Corinthians were notorious for their associationalism. They had guilds, societies, or associations for practically everything. Every society had its own idol or protective deity. To fail to do obeisance to this idol would be to anger the god and bring its wrath down on the guild. Thus, the Corinthians tried to go along with this idol even though they did not believe in it.^[10]

As believers we must remember that we belong to Christ.  This relationship and union we have with Christ is central to our faith.  The Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ.  Recognizing that God is dwelling in us means we must be careful that we do not become unequally yoked with the false religions of the world.  It is not a call to isolationism, but rather it is an exhortation to not compromise our faith.  C. K. Barrett captures it well, “You must not get into double harness with unbelievers.”^[11] The idea is of not putting yourself into a harness with an uneven team.

Paul has in mind an alliance with spiritual opposites, and the image of harnessing oneself to someone who is spiritually incompatible evokes images of spiritual disaster. Those who bear Christ’s yoke (Matt. 11:30) cannot share it with others who deny Christ. Those who harness themselves together with unbelievers will soon find themselves plowing Satan’s fields. One can only be a true yokefellow (Phil 4:3) with a fellow Christian.^[12]

We see this same teaching in several other places in the New Testament.  To the church at Ephesus Paul warned, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Eph. 5:8-11).In the next verse, Paul proclaimed that it is even shameful to speak of the things done by the lost.  As believers we are supposed to reflect the light of Jesus Christ.  It would be helpful to remember the warning from James, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

We must also recognize that the Scripture warns us to separate from those who are propagating doctrine that is contrary to Christ.  Remarkably, this can even take place in the Church.  Jude found it necessary to warn:

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4).

The context of Jude is clear that these men were ungodly; they were unbelievers that had infiltrated the Church.

Paul also warned of this problem in several places.  When Paul met the elders of the church of Ephesus at Miletus he cautioned them, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-30).  Again, to the church at Rome, Paul proclaimed, “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them [emphasis added]. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom. 16:17-18).

We also see a strong warning on this subject in 1 Timothy 6:3-5:

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.From such withdraw yourself (1 Tim. 6:3–5, emphasis added).

Paul and Jude were not alone with their warnings about keeping fellowship with those that proclaimed doctrines contrary to Christ.  The Apostle John wrote of the problem, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (2 John 9-11, emphasis added).  The particular doctrine that John was referring to is found in 2 John 7.  Men were apparently denying that Jesus had come in the flesh.  His teaching was that Christians should refuse to support false teachers when they come into a community.  We should be careful to not endorse the false teachers in any way.  Those who denied that Christ had come in the flesh were to be considered as unbelievers.

We also find in Scripture warnings about fellowshipping with other believers who are not walking with the Lord.  Most notably, we turn our attention to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.  We read in verse 6, “But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly[emphasis added] and not according to the tradition which he received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6).  This was a command to the entire church at Thessalonica.  Constable instructs:

This was a command given with the full authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. The faithful majority in the church were to separate, probably individually and socially, from the unruly to alert the offenders to the fact that their behavior was not acceptable. The desired result was that they would repent. Paul had earlier warned those who were idle (1 Thess. 5:14), but evidently they had not responded. Now firmer measures were necessary (cf. Matt. 18:15–17). The offenders constituted a minority who lived undisciplined lives contrary to the teaching and example of the missionaries.^[13]

We see a similar situation in 1 Corinthians 5.  There we read of gross immorality that was being tolerated in the church at Corinth.  This time Paul firmly warned, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:4-5).  Hopefully this would cause the offending person to repent and return to fellowship with both the Lord and His Church.  It is vital to remember, “All church discipline has restoration as its ultimate goal.”^[14]

According to Eph. 1:4-5, God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

In eternity past, God chose us to be holy. In eternity future, as Rev. 21:2shows, the New Jerusalem will be called, the holy city.

So God chose us to be holy in eternity past, and in eternity future we will be the holy city.

In between the eternity past and the eternity future we need to go through the process of being sanctified to become fully holy in our spirit, soul, and body, that is, for us become the same as God is in nature.

We were chosen in Christ to be holy in eternity past, we are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be holy in this age, and we will be consummated to be the holy city in the next age and for eternity future.

Today we are in the process of being sanctified; on one hand sanctification involves our being positionally separated unto God from anything common, and on the other hand, it involves the matter of being saturated with God, occupied with God, and possessed by God to be as holy as He is holy.

God’s will for us is our sanctification; He wants us to be dispositionally sanctified, that is, made holy in our very disposition, so that we may be saturated with the Holy One with His holy element in our entire tripartite being.

In the New Testament where it says “Holy Spirit” a number of time in Greek the expression is, “The Spirit, the Holy”; this is very impressive, for it shows us that the Spirit is the holy, and Christ as the life-giving Spirit – the Holy Spirit – is saturating us with Himself as the holy to make us the holy city!

Holy means that you are different and distinct from everything that is common; God is the holy One, so He is distinct from everything that is common.

To be separated unto God positionally is by the blood of Christ; this is positional sanctification by the judicial redemption; to be saturated with God dispositionally as the Holy One is God’s organic salvation.

Sanctification therefore encompasses God’s complete salvation, including God’s judicial redemption and His organic salvation.

In 1 Pet. 1:15-16 we are told that we ourselves should be holy in all our manner of life; we can be holy because God is holy.

In our living, we can be holy, because God is holy; He wants us to be exactly the same as He is in His nature, His duplication in the universe.

The Will of God is our Sanctification, for us to be Separated unto God and Saturated with God as the Holy One

According to 1 Thes. 4:3a, the will of God is our sanctification; for us to be sanctified is for us to be made holy, which is to be separated unto God and saturated with God as the Holy One (see 1 Pet. 1:15-16; Eph. 1:4-5; 5:25-27).

God is the Holy One; He is the One who is different, distinct, from everything that is common.

God’s will is that we all as His redeemed people would live a life of holiness according to His holy nature, a life wholly separated unto Him from anything other than Him; for this, He is sanctifying us wholly – spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23).

On one hand to be made holy is to be separated unto God to be distinct and different from everything that is common.

Only God is different, distinct from all things, and He chose us to be holy (Eph. 1:4-5).

God chose us to be holy, and He makes us holy by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being, so that our whole being may be saturated, permeated, and filled with His holy nature.

For us as God’s chosen people to be holy is to partake of God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and to have our whole being permeated with God Himself as the holy One.

In ourselves we are common and even sinful, but when we partake of His holy nature and we are saturated with His holy element, we become holy even as God is holy!

The will of God is our sanctification; therefore, we need to abstain from sin. The will of God is that we would be sanctified, kept, preserved, and guarded in sanctification.

God chose us in Christ to be holy in love; these two words “in love” are used repeatedly in the book of Ephesians, showing us that when God chose us in eternity past He chose us in an atmosphere of love, in a condition of love, and He wants us to love Him in return.

We love because He first loved us; He loved us, He infused us with Himself as love, and with Himself as love we love Him, we return His love back to Him, and with Him as love we love all the brothers and sisters.

In Eph. 5:25-27 we see the whole span of God’s complete salvation: in v. 25Christ in the past as our Redeemer accomplished judicial redemption for us by giving Himself up for us on the cross; in v. 26 Christ in the present functions as the life-giving Spirit to carry out His organic salvation (which is our sanctification); in v. 27 Christ in the future will present the church to Himself glorious.

Christ offered Himself up on the cross for our judicial redemption, and today He is beautifying us to make us the bride of Christ. We are being beautified with God’s holy nature, with God as the Holy One.

We are now in a sanctifying process, a washing process; every day we are being washed metabolically with the water in the Word so that our natural, old element would be gradually discharged, and the new element of Christ as the Holy One is imparted into our being.

For us to be sanctified, we need the washing of the water in the word today; the word here is not “logos” – the written, constant word of the Bible, but “rhema”, God’s present, living, instant, up-to-date word.

We need God to speak to us not just in a corporate way but also personally, instantly, in a living and personal way.

As the Lord speaks to us in His word, we are washed metabolically with the living water, which is the flowing life of the Triune God.

May today we as we hear His voice do not harden our hearts, as the Israelites did, but allow the Lord to wash us, cleanse us, remove anything old and natural from us, and add His new and holy element to our being to sanctify us!

We need to love the Lord, be in His word every day, pray-read His word by praying the word back to Him, and read the word in an atmosphere of prayer, so that something would wash us metabolically to add God in Christ as the Spirit into us as the Holy One, thus making us holy even as He is holy.

Lord Jesus, open our ears to hear Your voice, and may our heart be fully soft toward You so that You may sanctify our heart by saturating it and permeating it with Yourself until You possess our heart! Amen, Lord, we do not want to harden our heart as we come to Your word; rather, we open to You, we open to Your cleansing and washing by the water in the Word, so that You may sanctify us. Thank You Lord that God’s will is our sanctification; we open to Your sanctifying work today! Make us holy even as You are holy: add Yourself as the Holy One to our being for our sanctification!

Christ as the Captain of our Salvation is Leading many sons into Glory by Sanctifying them: Sanctification is for Sonship

If we put together Eph. 1:4-5 and Heb. 2:10-11 we will see that sanctification is for sonship; actually, we can say that sanctification is God’s “sonizing” us to make us His many sons in full.

We were chosen in eternity past to be holy unto sonship (Eph. 1:4-5; Rev. 21:2, 9-11).

Our being chosen to be holy issues in sonship, results in sonship, and is for sonship; therefore, God’s sanctifying us is actually His sonizing us, making us His sons in full.

For us to be sonized is for us to become sons of God in our spirit, in our soul, and eventually in our mortal body, until the whole universe knows that we are sons of God, the manifestation of God.

The resurrected Christ is the Author of our salvation; He initiated our salvation, He brought salvation to us, and He is sanctifying us.

He is the Captain of our salvation, leading many sons into glory by sanctifying them (Heb. 2:10-11).

Christ is the Captain of our salvation, and He leads us and all the sons of God into glory.

Even now, He is leading us into glory by transforming us from one degree of glory to another degree of glory until we are fully glorified!

How does Christ as the Captain of our salvation lead us into glory? In Heb. 2:10-11 it says that both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Christ as the Spirit is the One who sanctifies us, and we are the ones being sanctified; as we are being sanctified, we are being sonized, that is, we are led into glory as God’s many sons.

Hallelujah, Christ is leading us into glory to be sons of God in full by sanctifying us! It was fitting for Him – for whom are all things and through whom are all things – in leading many sons into glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings; this One leads us into glory by sanctifying us!

Jesus as the Pioneer, the Forerunner, took the lead to enter into glory, and we, His followers, are taking the same way to be brought into the same glory, which was ordained by God for us (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Thes. 2:12).

Christ cut the way and we are now taking the way; He is not only our Savior to save us from our fallen state, but He is also the Captain of our salvation leading us as the many sons of God into glory! Hallelujah!

The will of God is our sanctification, and by being sanctified we are brought into glory as God’s many sons!

Hallelujah, our Lord Jesus is the Captain of our salvation leading us as His many sons into glory by sanctifying us! Amen, Lord, both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which cause Christ is not ashamed to call us His brothers! Thank You Lord Jesus for leading us into glory to be the sons of God in full by sanctifying us day by day! We open to Your sanctifying work. We want to cooperate with Your sanctification day by day. Sanctify us daily, Lord, until we are glorified sons of God for the glorious manifestation of our heavenly Father!