I grew up with a different set of heroes than many of my friends.

Instead of professional athletes, musicians, or Hollywood celebrities, missionaries were the people I admired.

As a ministry family, we often hosted missionaries and evangelists in our home. The stories I heard during those visits — of adventures, sacrifices, and miracles — helped shape my faith.

As a child, these were the people I thought of when I heard the word “saints.”

The Old Testament sometimes refers to God’s people as “holy people” (e.g., Psalm 16:3), which can also be translated as “saints.”

Of course, when the New Testament speaks of “saints” in passages like 2 Corinthians 13:13 or Ephesians 1:1 (KJV), the entire Church is in view. (The NIV uses the phrases “God’s people” and “God’s holy people,” respectively.)

Many believers would feel uncomfortable being called a saint. We know we are imperfect, even as we trust that God is still working in us.

Yet that is exactly what it means to be God’s people. We are imperfect beings who are nevertheless maturing through a process we have labeled “sanctification.”

Biblically, sanctification refers to being set apart for God — becoming sacred or holy.

Historically, the Church has used the word “sanctification” to describe both the position of being “holy people” and the process by which God transforms our character to match our position.

In other words, to get a better grasp on “sanctification,” we must understand the meaning of “holiness.”

God Is Holy

Of all God’s attributes, holiness may be the most defining.

Holiness speaks to the incomprehensible uniqueness of God. He is different from us in ways no one else is.

God alone is uncreated (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1); eternal (1 Timothy 1:17); and perfect (2 Samuel 22:31).

When encountering God’s glory, people become even more aware that they are created, temporary, and imperfect (Isaiah 6:5; Matthew 17:6; Revelation 1:17).

There may be no better word to express this difference than “holy.” Even the heavenly beings continually declare that God is holy (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8).

While nothing in creation can be holy in itself, God can consecrate — or make sacred — people, places and objects (Exodus 3:5).

In the Old Testament, for example, consecration through divinely established rituals enabled priests to stand in God’s presence.

God consecrated or sanctified Israel for two reasons: so God’s presence could remain in Israel’s midst (Exodus 19:10–11; Joshua 3:5), and so the inhabitants could reflect God’s character to the world around them. Sanctification is about both the presence and representation of God.

Through His presence, God reveals His character as righteous and loving (Exodus 34:5–7). When the Lord commanded Israel to be holy (Leviticus 11:44–45; 19:2), it was a call to righteous living and love (Leviticus 19:3–37) for the sake of the world.

God set apart Israel, not because He loved them exclusively, but for the sake of all peoples.

The Lord sanctifies the Church, through the work of Jesus, for the same reasons — so His presence will be with us, and we can reflect Him back to the world.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed that God would sanctify His disciples by the truth of God’s Word (John 17:17) and talked about being set apart, in reference to the Cross, for their sanctification.

Hebrews 13:12 says Jesus “suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.”

The Church is repeatedly called God’s temple, the place where people may find God (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21–22).

As stones in that spiritual building, God’s people experience His presence and are called to exemplify it through our corporate worship, public witness, and personal walk (1 Peter 2:5,9–10).

Believers who are thus sanctified must still choose to live sanctified lives as a witness.

Warning the Corinthians against returning to their old way of living, the apostle Paul reminded them, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Paul told the believers in Rome, “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1).

To the Philippians, Paul wrote, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12–13).

Hebrews 10:10 summarizes the status of believers this way: “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

The author of Hebrews adds a word of warning, however:

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (verses 28–29).

This is why we are commanded to pursue the “holiness” without which “no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

Biblically,
sanctification refers
to being set apart
for God — becoming
sacred or holy.

Christians are not saints because we already live perfect lives, but because we already belong to Jesus. We should continually grow and mature through Christ, whose life serves as our standard, and the Spirit, who sanctifies us (1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 2:6).

In cooperation with God — who has given us His Son, Spirit, and means of grace — we become more like Jesus (Galatians 4:19).

We receive God’s righteousness by faith in Christ (Romans 3:22). But we live out that righteousness through identification with Jesus (Romans 6:4); reliance on God’s Spirit (Romans 8:3–6); application of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16); reception of godly discipline (Hebrews 12:10–11); confession of sin (1 John 1:9); and love for one another (1 John 4:11–21).

Ultimately, our sanctification as an accomplishment of Christ becomes the basis for our transformation by the Spirit, to the glory of God.

A History of Sanctification

From the beginning, the Church has agreed that believers should grow and mature in Christ. However, Christians have sometimes debated the process and possibilities of that growth in this life.

How do believers live in the world while remaining separate from the world — and without denying God’s good creation? What are the roles taken by God’s grace and human effort? To what extent can a believer experience transformation in this life?

Early Church leaders emphasized the ethical maturity of believers as a defense for Christianity in the pagan world. They went to great lengths to ensure new converts understood how a commitment to Christ would change lives, livelihoods, and social standing.

Some churches eventually required new believers to learn Christian ethics before baptizing them in water.

The threat of martyrdom was one reason for this emphasis. Facing the possibility of death for their faith, converts learned to live for Christ by “dying” to the things of the world.

Unfortunately, a desire for moral living can also lead to an unhealthy preoccupation with worldliness. When worldliness is confused with pleasure or happiness, Christian growth can be defined more by what someone abstains from doing than who they are becoming in Christ.

For example, many early Christians viewed the celibate life as a higher calling than family life.

After the Roman legalization of Christianity, voluntary celibacy replaced martyrdom as a show of faith. Some leaders viewed marriage as an obstacle to Christian maturity.

Some went even further to distinguish themselves as believers. Confusing worldliness and pleasure with physical relief, they denied their body’s needs. Some misguided attempts at growing in holiness included extreme fasting, sleep deprivation, and other feats of physical endurance.

The Church eventually rejected those actions as another form of overindulgence. Yet Church leaders continued upholding celibacy for clergy and members of monastic orders as offering more time and space for the pursuit of holiness.

Early Protestants critiqued celibacy as a standard for holiness, arguing it made a pursuit of holiness less available to everyday believers.

Protestants also challenged the prevalent understanding of justification as a simultaneous dispensation of grace and transformation toward righteous living.

According to the Catholic view, holy living was evidence of justification. Protestants understood justification as an objective act of God, received by faith, with righteousness instantly “imputed” to believers, regardless of their behavior.

In other words, it’s as if Christ credits His righteousness to believers before they live any differently. This distinguishes salvation as an act of God from good works as an act of human beings.

Protestants separated justification from sanctification as unique stages in a believer’s life. They saw justification as the objective application of Christ’s righteousness, and sanctification as the process of growing into that righteousness.

Still, Protestants sought to avoid returning to a works-based form of righteousness. While they taught the logical priority of justification before sanctification, they also understood sanctification as a position one receives at the moment of justification. Thus, sanctification described both a position and a process.

Many Protestants stressed the impossibility of attaining moral perfection in this life. With sin looming as a constant threat, believers remain dependent on the Spirit to help them in the ongoing spiritual war against sin.

John Wesley, however, believed Christians could reach a state of perfection through sanctification.

Emphasizing Paul’s prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that God would sanctify believers wholly, Wesley taught a doctrine of “Christian perfection.” In this view, God’s love (rather than sin) motivates all the believer’s thoughts and actions.

The Christian might still make mistakes, act in ignorance, or face temptation. But Christian perfection — or entire sanctification — meant believers could live a life of no voluntary sin.

Wesley saw growth toward entire sanctification as a process that might take a lifetime for many to achieve. Those who attained it would still need to grow in their knowledge and love of God.

Some of Wesley’s theological heirs further developed this teaching. That led to the 19th-century Wesleyan Holiness Movement, with its emphasis on entire sanctification as a “second work of grace” available to every believer following conversion.

Various Holiness movements debated whether this step happened immediately or over time.

The English Keswick Movement proposed a multistep process to victorious living, ending with a call for Spirit empowerment and Spirit baptism.

Such language helped pave the way for the Pentecostal Movement.

Early Pentecostalism developed out of a Holiness heritage that included the language and teaching of entire sanctification.

The prevailing view around the time of the Azusa Street Revival was that two works of grace were necessary prior to baptism in the Holy Spirit: conversion and entire sanctification.

These Pentecostals maintained that God would not empower without first purifying our souls by entire sanctification.

One early Pentecostal leader, William Durham, challenged this notion in 1910, arguing that Christ’s atonement is equally sufficient for justification and sanctification. Believers need only to grow into the sanctification that is already theirs in Christ, who accomplished everything in the “finished work” of the Cross.

In Durham’s view, there is no need to wait for a second experience before becoming eligible for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Durham warned that looking for a second experience led to legalism. Many people remained spiritually insecure rather than trusting in Christ’s work.

Justification and sanctification occur at once when a person trusts in Jesus and identifies with Christ, Durham said.

Durham’s “finished work” theology divided Pentecostals. Those siding with Durham adopted a fourfold full-gospel model (Jesus as Savior, Spirit Baptizer, Healer, and Soon-Coming King) — rather than a fivefold expression that included “Jesus as Sanctifier,” indicating a separate stage.

Followers of the fivefold and fourfold models became known as Wesleyan Holiness and Finished Work Pentecostals, respectively.

The Assemblies of God represents the largest grouping of Finished Work Pentecostals in the U.S. Not all who joined the AG rejected “entire sanctification,” but the Fellowship welcomed those who did take such a stand.

Believers need only
to grow into the sanctification that is already theirs in Christ, who accomplished everything in the “finished work” of
the Cross.

In fact, “The Finished Work of Calvary” was the title of Mack M. Pinson’s keynote sermon during the founding General Council in 1914.

It might be surprising that in the 1916 Statement of Fundamental Truths, then-Article 7 was titled “Entire Sanctification, the Goal of All Believers.”

However, this was common language within the Pentecostal movement. Further, the Fundamental Truth on “Entire Sanctification” did not identify this process as a second work of grace, but as the ongoing pursuit of all believers.

Article 7 ended with this sentence: “Entire sanctification is the will of God for all believers, and should be earnestly pursued by walking in obedience to God’s Word.”

In 1927, this became Article 9, with the shorter title “Entire Sanctification.”

A 1961 update further shortened the title to “Sanctification” and brought the article’s language into its current form.

From the beginning, the AG upheld sanctification as a truth accomplished in the work of salvation that becomes a lived reality for the believer who progresses in Christ.

The main emphasis of Article 9 has always been on sanctification being “realized” in the believer’s life.

Reality of Sanctification

Three critical words for understanding sanctification in Article 9 are “holiness,” “identification,” and “separation.”

When teaching on sanctification, I emphasize these terms, forming the acronym HIS to help people remember. Sanctification should lead to living as fully “HIS” (God’s) over the course of our lives.

We are set apart to reflect God’s holiness, based on our identification with Christ, who separates us for a divine purpose in this world. In all of this, we remain fully dependent on God’s Spirit, who matures us.

Every version of the AG Statement of Fundamental Truths has emphasized the Christian’s call to holiness as a key to understanding sanctification.

The first reason for this calling is God’s presence. Hebrews says, “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” (12:14).

Because holiness belongs entirely to God, He alone can make us holy. Through Christ’s work and the Spirit’s power, we can experience sanctification that is already ours.

The call to holiness is also part of God’s command to represent Him in this world.

God told Israel to be holy because He is holy (Leviticus 11:44–45; 19:2). This meant imitating God rather than the nations around them.

In the New Testament, the apostle Peter applied this to the Church (1 Peter 1:15-16) because Christians are people of God and should live accordingly.

Sanctification is vital for the Church’s witness. A Christian’s holiness depends on cooperation with the One who sanctifies.

Article 9 defines sanctification as an “act of separation.” Because we are set apart for God’s purpose, it’s important to understand sanctification first in terms of what we are set apart for, not what we are set apart from.

God sets us apart for the sake of His presence, and so we can be present in the world to represent Him. That is our “dedication unto God,” as Article 9 puts it.

Because we are set apart for God, our sanctification must also involve separation from evil.

However, we must be careful to define evil biblically rather than letting culture dictate the narrative. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

For example, our culture tends to divide people into us-versus-them categories, pressuring us to choose sides when neither side fully represents the way of Jesus.

If we define sanctification based on the limiting ways of the world, we allow the world to limit our representation of Jesus. When Christians become known more for what they are against than what they affirm, people will miss the good news of the gospel.

We cannot conceive of sanctification as a “dedication unto God” without understanding who we are becoming in Christ and how we are living out Christ’s character in this world.

Sanctification involves identification with Jesus. Article 9 clarifies that sanctification is “realized” through this identification with Christ. It happens as we experience what is already true spiritually.

Because Christ identified with us at the Cross, we are already forgiven, justified and sanctified. By identifying with Christ in His death and resurrection, we realize that sanctification.

In the language of Article 9, this calls for both “recognizing” identification has occurred — including during water baptism (Romans 6) — and “reckoning,” or counting on, that identification daily.

What happened when we first identified with Christ is still true. Our life is hidden with Christ, and it is now Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3–4). Only by faith in this reality can we live as Christians.

Furthermore, only through the Holy Spirit are faith and obedience possible. God’s Spirit is the Agent of our sanctification (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2).

Therefore, we must daily offer the Spirit all of our faculties and abilities (Romans 8:4–14).

Our sanctification is fully dependent on the Father (for holiness belongs to God), the Son (whose sacrifice sets us apart), and the Holy Spirit (who is at work through us).

The same Spirit who calls us to Christ and empowers us to serve also transforms us to reflect Christ more and more. Each of these aspects of Christian living is part of sanctification, or being set apart for God.

Christlikeness serves as evidence that the Spirit is at work in us. Just as fruit is consistent with the tree on which it grows, “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” are consistent with Christ’s character forming in us (Galatians 5:22–23).

Spiritual fruit is not the result of Spirit baptism, but of the Spirit’s transforming work that begins at conversion.

Without the ongoing development of spiritual fruit, we will not reach our potential in Christ. The gifts of the Spirit are most effective among people who are loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.

Because holiness belongs entirely to
God, He alone can
make us holy.

At the end of the day, a truly sanctified person is one who reflects Christ’s love. Jesus said the world would recognize that we are His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35).

Paul warned that spiritual gifts and works ring hollow in the absence of love (1 Corinthians 13:1–8).

Further, John said a lack of love reveals ignorance of God (1 John 4:7–8).

Love remains the ultimate test of discipleship and the result of sanctification. Without love, what we reflect back to this world will be something less than God’s holiness.

Pastoral Practice

Understanding the doctrine of sanctification is fundamental to pastoral practice. It teaches us about discipleship, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the work of Jesus.

Discipleship should lead us deeper into the way of Christ, as people who have been set apart for Him.

In separating us for God’s purposes, sanctification keeps discipleship focused on Jesus rather than culture (including church culture).

It is possible to disciple people only to make them a better fit within our church. A congregation in which everyone uses the same lingo, avoids the same things, and holds the same political opinions may still not bear witness to Jesus.

By pointing to the atonement, sanctification keeps discipleship focused on grace rather than works. This can inoculate believers against the common misconception that we come to Jesus by grace but remain in Him only because of our work.

There simply is no point in our Christian maturity where we can say we have earned our salvation. The grace that brought us to Christ is the same grace that keeps us growing in Him.

The doctrine of sanctification provides a clear picture of discipleship as an ongoing victory over sin.

Christians should know they can overcome habitual sins and behavior patterns. If pastors fail to teach that such victory is available, congregants may doubt they can experience true freedom in Christ.

Victorious living does not mean Christians will no longer experience temptation. Rather, it means we can continually resist a return to those sins that once defined us.

Of course, we never stop maturing in Christ. Even as believers experience life change, the Holy Spirit reveals new opportunities for growth.

While identifying with Christ, we also understand that Christ is still at work in us as disciples.

Ultimately, we live sanctified lives not by avoiding sin, but through habitual expressions of godly love.

Christian discipleship is not a private relationship with God that excludes everyone else. It is a personal relationship with Jesus that forms His character in us and brings us into right relationship with others.

The more I grow in Christ, the more I love those whom Christ also loves.

Sanctification also shapes our view of the Holy Spirit’s ministry.

The Lord sanctifies us through and through in our worship, our witness, and our walk.

God sanctified Israel’s worship leaders and sacrificial elements so the people could approach Him.

Similarly, the Holy Spirit helps us worship together as a spiritually gifted community in Christ.

A doctrine of sanctification should include teaching about spiritual gifts. The Spirit distributes gifts, as He desires, so that the whole community may come together to worship God and proclaim His truth.

Our worship declares who God is to those who need to hear, including non-Christians. Therefore, the exercise of gifts must be clear and orderly (1 Corinthians 12–14).

As God sanctified Israel to represent Him to other nations, the Holy Spirit empowers us for bearing witness to Christ in our communities and around the world (Acts 1–2).

Spirit empowerment belongs to the doctrine of sanctification since God sets us apart to share the gospel with all nations.

Signs and wonders, and suffering without compromise, are works of the Spirit that testify to the reality of Christ’s presence through our lives (2 Corinthians 3:17–4:9).

While God called Israel to be holy by walking in righteousness and love, the Holy Spirit transforms us so that we reflect the character of Jesus.

A doctrine of sanctification should also include teaching about the fruit of the Spirit.

Christians ultimately realize our sanctification as we love like Jesus. We cannot love that way without depending on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us daily.

We need the Holy Spirit because the world needs to see Jesus. The world needs Jesus because God desires a creation fully transformed for His presence (Revelation 21:22–23).

Sanctification also belongs to the work of Jesus. Though the Assemblies of God does not teach a doctrine of “entire sanctification,” we still look to Jesus for both fact and realization of our sanctification.

The Holy Spirit’s role in the process of discipleship remains focused on the person of Jesus, through whom we have everything we need to become what God desires.

As a child, I was surrounded by contemporary heroes of the faith who overcame great obstacles to further the work of God’s kingdom. Yet what most impressed me was not what they had done, but who they were and how they treated me.

I felt like I was growing closer to Jesus by being around people who were more mature in their faith, particularly in their love.

What I came to realize was that everything I admired about these individuals had to do with how they reflected the image of Christ.

They weren’t heroes because of their accomplishments. Rather, they were saints because of Christ’s accomplishment. So are all of us who trust in Christ!

This article appears in the Winter 2025 issue of Influence magazine.