Divine Call To Leadership Series

1. The word sanctified in Gr., is hagiazo, or hä-ge-ä'-zo, which means to make holy, i.e., to purify or consecrate; to venerate: —hallow, be holy, sanctify. What sanctifies or makes one holy? It is the word.

a. First, Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them through the truth: thy word is truth,” John 17:17. He prayed, Father, “Set them aside for thy work and service through the truth: thy word is truth.”

b. Further, He continues: “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth,” John 17:19. As Jesus was set apart to the service of the Father, we must be set apart for the service of Christ.

c. Next, Peter wrote: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready to answer every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear,” 1 Peter 3:15.

d. Finally, Paul wrote to Timothy: “If a man, therefore, purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work,” 2 Timothy 2:21. He speaks of departing from iniquity, and being a vessel of honor unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. All saints are spoken of as being sanctified unto God. Paul wrote to the Corinthians of their sanctification. Notice:

a. He wrote that the church at Corinth was “Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” 1 Corinthians 1:2. Paul used the same greeting to the other churches to which he had written. He called each assembly “saints” in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 1:1.

b. He wrote unto them: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God...And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

c. He continues: “For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which is God’s,” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. As church members, they were: “Purchase with the precious blood of Christ,” Acts 20:28.

d. He reminded the church at Ephesus: “Husbands love your wives... That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish,” Ephesians 5:25-27.

e. These saints have been sanctified (set apart) by the “washing of water by the word,” Ephesians 5:26. They are now sanctified unto the service of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. These verses bear some discussion by our ancient writers.

1) Matthew Henry wrote: “The apostle, having mentioned Christ's love to the church, enlarges upon it, assigning the reason why he gave himself for it, namely, that he might sanctify it in this world, and glorify it in the next: That he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water by the word (v. 26)—that he might endue all his members with a principle of holiness, and deliver them from the guilt, the pollution, and the dominion of sin. The instrumental means this is affected are the instituted sacraments, particularly the washing of baptism and the preaching and reception of the gospel,” Page 1252.