My Thoughts and Discoveries on
Sanctification
Sanctify:
- To make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate
- To purify or free from sin
- To impart religious sanction; to render legitimate or binding
- To entitle to reverence or respect
- To make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessing
Origin:
- from Late Latin sanctificare "to make holy," from sanctus "holy" + root of facere "to make"
- from Greek hagios. Hagios means being holy in the sense of superior moral qualities and possessing essential divine qualities in contrast with what is human.
I came across two talks on the
subject that I felt explained the topic best:
D. Todd Christofferson in the June 2001 Ensign: Justification and
Sanctification and David Bednar, April 2007 Conference: Ye Must Be Born
Again.
I have discovered there are two
states of sanctification. The first is
the process of sanctification one undergoes here in this mortal life and the
second is the state of sanctity or rather holiness that exists in the celestial
realm of God the Father. The process of
sanctification in this mortal life is ongoing.
It is neither a state that is immediately achieved nor one that will be
fully realized until the next life when we enter the presence of our Father in
the Celestial kingdom.
What is sanctification? Well the definition from the dictionary sums
it up very nicely and leaves little to be argued with. To make
holy, to set apart or make sacred. So the next question I had was: Where does
sanctification come from?
In Elder Christofferson’s talk he
discusses Justification and Sanctification.
“Justification and Sanctification are at the center of God’s gracious
plan of salvation and are the essence of our witness of the Lord Jesus
Christ…..Justification and Sanctification are the fruit of the Atonements
infinite virtue of mercy and grace.” So
where does sanctification come from? It
comes from the Atonement.
Moroni 10: 32-33
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected
in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves
of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then
is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ;
and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the
power of God.
33
And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his
power, then are ye sanctified in
Christ by the grace of God, through the
shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father
unto the remission of your sins, that ye
become holy, without spot.
Therefore, to be sanctified
through the blood of Christ is to become clean, pure and holy. Justification (which I am not covering here)
“removes the punishment for past sin” and “sanctification removes the stain or
effects of sin.” In essence washing a person white through the blood of Christ
and making them holy and pure.
D&C 76: 10-42
40 And this is the gospel, the glad tidings,
which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us—
41 That he came into the world, even Jesus,
to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;
Alma 13: 11-12
11 Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.
12
Now they, after being sanctified by
the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it
were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were
made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.
Hebrews 13:12
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate.
So now we understand where
sanctification comes from. The next
logical question I have is: how do I become sanctified, how do I access this
power? This is plainly and simply answered in:
3 Nephi 27:19-20
19 And no unclean thing can enter into his
kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have
washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of
all their sins, and their faithfulness
unto the end.
20
Now this is the commandment: Repent,
all ye ends of the earth, and come unto
me and be baptized in my name,
that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand
spotless before me at the last day.
Moses Chapter 6 Verse 66
And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying:
Thou art baptized with fire, and with
the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from
henceforth and forever;
John 3:3-5
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter
the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
So the foundation to
sanctification is the atonement, faith, repentance and baptism by water and by
the Holy Ghost. This is only the
beginning of the process to reaching the end state of full sanctification or
full holiness with the Father in the Celestial kingdom. As I mentioned earlier sanctification is not
a one time event. One simply cannot be
baptized or state that they are “born again” and expect to be sanctified on the
spot. Sanctification is “both a life
long process and a final state- a state of being pure, clean and holy and free
from sin.”
So what do I have to do in order
to maintain this process of sanctification after baptism?
In 2 Timothy 2:21, Paul compares
sanctification to the purifying of a vessel.
21 If a man therefore purge himself from
these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s
use, and prepared unto every good work.
To walk the path of
sanctification in this mortal life we must choose righteousness or rather be
born again. Going back a little to touch
on Justification, D. Todd Christofferson mentions this in his talk.
To be classed among the truly penitent,
random acts of obedience will not be adequate. We must properly enter into the
covenants and persist in keeping them to the point that our expectation of
salvation is affirmed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (see D&C 132:7, 19). It
is not simply the promise of obedience
in our contracts with Deity that brings grace, but the performance of our promises: “For not the hearers of the
law are just before God, but the doers
of the law shall be justified” (Rom. 2:13).
As I continued to read on the
subject of sanctification, I honestly began to feel a bit inadequate to the
task as I felt that sanctification was in reality perfection. Yes, sanctification and perfection are
closely linked. However, it is
impossible for me to achieve a state of perfection in this mortal life because
I will always sin at some point, so does that disqualify me from the path of
sanctification? No, it does not. Again Elder Chrisoffersons talk addressed this
seemingly glaring obstacle.
None of us, of course, is perfectly
obedient, and thus we rely on our baptismal covenant to bring a remission of
sins after baptism just as it has done for our lives before baptism. We rely on
repentance to reinvigorate that covenant, to bring the Holy Spirit and, with
it, atoning grace. The process of
cleansing and sanctifying through the baptisms of water and of the Holy Ghost
can be continued weekly as we worthily partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper. The tokens of the Atonement, the bread and water, become symbolic
cleansing agents and the sign of our renewed covenant, similar to the symbolism
of the water in which we were immersed at baptism. It is as if we were being
baptized afresh and the door once again opened for the Holy Spirit to enter,
“that [we] may always have his Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C
20:77). Thus, we need not fear judgment. Having our sins remitted or
pardoned and our garments spotless through the blood of Christ, we can imagine
we hear the voice of the Lord in the Day of Judgment saying, “Come unto me ye
blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the
face of the earth” (Alma 5:16).
He goes on to mention “Perfection
is not a prerequisite for justification and sanctification. It is just the opposite. Justification (being pardoned) and
sanctification (being purified) are the prerequisites for perfection. We only become perfect “in Christ” (see Moro.
10:32), not independently of Him. Thus, what is required of us in order to
obtain mercy in the day of judgment is simple diligence. As the Prophet Joseph
Smith counseled from the dank prison of Liberty, Missouri: “Let us cheerfully
do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the
utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed”
(D&C 123:17; see also Mosiah 4:27).”
I don’t believe that this process
can be summed up better than by how Bruce R. Mckonie described.
“Everyone in the Church who is on the
straight and narrow path, who is striving and struggling and desiring to do
what is right, though far from perfect in this life; if he passes out of this
life while he’s on the straight and narrow, he’s going to go on to eternal
reward in his Father’s kingdom.
“We don’t need to get a complex or get a
feeling that you have to be perfect to be saved. … The way it operates is this:
you get on the path that’s named the ‘straight and narrow.’ You do it by
entering the gate of repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow path leads
from the gate of repentance and baptism, a very great distance, to a reward
that’s called eternal life. … Now is the time and the day of your salvation, so
if you’re working zealously in this life—though you haven’t fully overcome the
world and you haven’t done all you hoped you might do—you’re still going to be
saved” (“The Probationary Test of Mortality,” Salt Lake Institute of Religion
devotional, 10 Jan. 1982, 12).
Remember that the Saviors power
to sanctify us is commemorated in the ordinance of the sacrament. Just a side note, the English word sacrament
literally means “to make holy” or “to consecrate”.
To sum up so far: Sanctification is to become holy and
pure. This is done through baptism,
repentance, diligence and maintaining access to the power of the atonement and
sanctification through partaking of the sacrament.
Now I will take a look at how
once I am on the straight and narrow, how I can continue to be sanctified in
this life, or literally set apart in this life?
This requires a mighty change
of heart. The following section I will
use several quotes and thoughts from David Bednar’s conference address. To begin I use this from his talk:
The Lord’s authorized servants repeatedly
teach that one of the principal purposes of our mortal existence is to be
spiritually changed and transformed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Alma declared:
“Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and
women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen
state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his
sons and daughters;
“And thus they become new creatures; and
unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God”
(Mosiah 27:25–26).
We are instructed over and over
in the scriptures to change our state.
Moroni 10:32
32 Yea, come
unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness;
and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your
might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his
grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in
Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new.
Mosiah 3:19
19 For the natural man is an enemy to God,
and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he
yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement
of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble,
patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit
to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Mosiah 5:2
2 And they all cried with one voice, saying:
Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know
of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which
has wrought a mighty change in us,
or in our hearts, that we have no more
disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
Elder Bednar notes: “Please note
that the conversion described in these verses is mighty, not minor—a spiritual
rebirth and fundamental change of what we feel and desire, what we think and
do, and what we are. Indeed, the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails
a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible through our
reliance upon “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi
2:8). As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changed—to be
spiritually reborn.”
The steps to being spiritually
reborn or rather the process of sanctification in this mortal life are:
Immersing and Saturating and Purifying and Sealing.
Immersing and Saturating: We become born again or sanctified through
saturating ourselves in the gospel and absorbing the doctrine and abiding by
the covenants we have made. Again borrowing from Elder Bednar:
As we honor
and “observe the covenants” (D&C 42:13) into which we have entered, as
we “feast upon the words of Christ”
(2 Nephi 32:3), as we “pray unto the
Father with all the energy of heart” (Moroni
7:48), and as we “serve [God] with
all [of our] heart, might, mind and strength” (D&C 4:2), then:
“Because of the covenant which ye have made
ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for
behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on
his name; therefore, ye are born of
him and have become his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7).
The spiritual rebirth described in this
verse typically does not occur quickly or all at once; it is an ongoing
process—not a single event. Line upon line and precept upon precept, gradually
and almost imperceptibly, our motives,
our thoughts, our words, and our deeds become aligned with the will of God.
This phase of the transformation process requires time, persistence, and
patience.
I love how Elder Bednar stated in
the last paragraph that this process is slow; it will not occur all at
once. It is important to note that in
order to obtain sanctification we must be “continuously immersed in and
saturated with the truth and the light of the Savior’s gospel” A mighty change of heart, changing into a new
creature, setting yourself apart unto holiness cannot be done through only
“partial participation” in His gospel. In order to reach the state of final
sanctification these practices mentioned above of repentance, diligence and
renewing our covenants must be done daily and in respect to the sacrament,
weekly. Or as Eldner Bednar puts it
concisely: fidelity to covenants,
constancy of commitment, and offering our whole soul unto God are required if
we are to receive the blessings of eternity.
Omni 1:26
26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that
ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his
salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him,
and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord
liveth ye will be saved.
Purifying and Sealing:
As you progress along the
straight and narrow and the path of sanctification the result will be a
purifying of your soul.
Alma 13:12
12 Now they, after being sanctified by the
Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before
God, could not look upon sin save it
were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were
made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.
Alma 19:33
33 And it came to pass that when Ammon arose
he also administered unto them, and also did all the servants of Lamoni; and
they did all declare unto the people the selfsame thing—that their hearts had been changed; that they
had no more desire to do evil.
Helaman 3:35
Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and
did wax stronger and stronger in
their humility, and firmer and firmer in
the faith of Christ, unto the filling
their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which
sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God”
As I personally have progressed back into the gospel I have
found this occurring within me. I do not
want to sound boastful, that is not my intention. I merely state this to show that this process
of sanctification is real in the way that it is described in the
scriptures. When I started meeting with
the missionaries I did not want to give up a lot of my vices. I did not want to give up drinking or going
out with my friends. I did not want to
give up my Sunday which was a day of recreation for me. I did not want to give up my gutter humor. These were things I actually nearly traded
for the restored gospel. It sounds crazy
to me now to think that, for as I progressed more and more into studying the
gospel I felt a mighty hunger come upon me to hear more and more of the word,
it got to the point that all I wanted to do was be surrounded by the gospel of
Jesus Christ. In turn those things I
mentioned and others that I have not, lessened and some diminished all
together. I testify that honestly and
humbly saturating yourself with the gospel will result in the sealing of a
change of heart upon you. This does not
mean that I still do not err, but as mentioned above when I do find myself
heading off the path by a poor choice I must then follow the steps of
sanctification: repentance, diligence and renewing my covenant through the
sacrament.
Elder Bednar explained at the end of his talk regarding the
sealing process of sanctification.
The
word sealing in my message
today does not refer exclusively to the ordinance of eternal marriage performed
in the house of the Lord. Rather, I am using this particular word as explained
in the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“This
is the testimony of the gospel of Christ concerning them who shall come forth
in the resurrection of the just—
“They
are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were
baptized after the manner of his
burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the
commandment which he has given—
“That
by keeping the commandments they
might be washed and cleansed from all
their sins, and receive the Holy
Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;
“And
who overcome by faith, and are sealed
by the Holy Spirit of promise, which
the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true” (vv. 50–53).
He goes on:
The
Holy Spirit of Promise is the ratifying power of the Holy Ghost. When sealed by
the Holy Spirit of Promise, an ordinance, vow, or covenant is binding on earth
and in heaven. (See D&C 132:7.) Receiving this “stamp of approval” from the
Holy Ghost is the result of faithfulness, integrity, and steadfastness in
honoring gospel covenants “in [the] process of time” (Moses 7:21). However,
this sealing can be forfeited through unrighteousness and transgression.
Purifying and sealing by the Holy Spirit of
Promise constitute the culminating steps in the process of being born again.
In my study of sanctification what I have learned is that
is not perfection in this life, but rather the steps necessary to be able to
abide in the perfect state in the next life with our Father. Sanctification is setting apart your life
unto holiness. This is achieved through
the Atonement of Jesus Christ and through baptism by water and the Holy
Ghost. Through immersing yourself
diligently in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through having faith, repenting when necessary and partaking of the
sacrament and renewing your covenants with the Father. It is a life long
process that will require one to make adjustments and correct their behavior
along the way; however, the reward for walking this path is far greater than we
can possibly imagine. Quoting from Elder
Christofferson. “It will seem natural for those who have been sanctified to
enter into the rest or kingdom
of God, for they will
have become like him.”
1 John 3:2
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;
for we shall see him as he is.
Moroni 7:48
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto
the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love,
which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus
Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.
Amen.
