First, then, let us consider what Sanctification is.
1. In the first place let me make it clear that, _Sanctification is not
the "Baptism with the Holy Spirit."_ The two are constantly confused.
There is an intimate relation between the two, but they are not at
all one and the same thing; and only confusion and misconception can
arise from confounding two experiences which God keeps separate.
That Sanctification is not the baptism with the Holy Spirit and that
the baptism with the Holy Spirit is not Sanctification, will become
clear as we proceed and find out from a study of the Bible just what
Sanctification is.
2. In the second place, let me say that _Sanctification is not the
eradication of the carnal nature_. We will see this when we come to
examine God's definition of Sanctification; for God has very clearly
defined what Sanctification is and when it takes place. Those who
teach "the eradication of the carnal nature" are grasping after a
great and precious truth, but they have expressed that truth in a very
inaccurate, unfortunate, and unscriptural way, and this way of stating
it leads to grave misapprehensions and errors and abuses. The whole
controversy about "the eradication of the carnal nature" arises from
a misapprehension and from using terms for which there is no warrant
in the Bible. The Bible nowhere speaks about "the carnal nature," and
so certainly not about "the eradication of the carnal nature." There
is such a thing as a carnal nature, but it is not a material thing,
not a substance, not a something that can be eradicated as you pull a
tooth or remove the vermiform appendix. "A carnal nature" is a nature
controlled by the flesh. Certainly it is a believer's privilege not to
have his nature governed by the flesh. Our nature should be and may
be under the control of the Holy Spirit, and then it is not a carnal
nature; but one nature has not been eradicated and another nature put
in its place, but our nature is taken out from under the control of
the flesh and put under the control of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore,
while it is our privilege to have our nature under the control of the
Holy Spirit and delivered from the control of the flesh, _we still
have "the flesh,"_ and shall have the flesh as long as we are in this
body. But if we "walk by the Spirit" we do not "fulfil the lusts of
the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). The 8th chapter of Romans describes the life
of victory, just as the 7th chapter, 9-24 verse describes the life of
defeat, when men are "_carnal_, sold under sin," but it is in the 8th
chapter where life "in the Spirit" is described (Rom. 8:9) that we are
told that we _still have_ the flesh, _but that it is our privilege not_
to "live _after the flesh_," but "by the Spirit," to "put to death the
deeds of the body." So we see that the body is there, but in the power
of the Spirit we do, day by day and (if we live up to our privilege)
every day and every hour and every minute, continuously "put to death
the deeds of the body."
3. So much as to what Sanctification is not. We will see exactly what
it is if we look at God's definition of Sanctification. We shall find
that the word Sanctification is used in the Bible in a two-fold sense.
(1) The first meaning of Sanctification we will find in Lev. 8:10-12,
+"And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and
all that was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof
upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its
vessels, and the laver and its base, to sanctify them. And he poured
of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head and anointed him to sanctify
him."+ Now it is perfectly clear in this passage that to _sanctify
means to separate or set apart for God, and that Sanctification is
the process of setting apart or state of being set apart for God_.
The word Sanctify is used in this sense over and over again. Another
illustration is Lev. 27:14, 17. +"And when a man shall sanctify his
house to be holy unto God, then the priest shall estimate it, whether
it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand
. . . and if a man shall sanctify unto Jehovah part of a field of his
possession, then the estimation shall be according to the sowing
thereof."+ Here again it is plain that to sanctify means to separate
or set apart for God, and that Sanctification is the process of setting
apart or state of being set apart for God. Still another illustration
of this same use of the word sanctify is found in Num. 8:17, +"For
all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and
beast: on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt
I sanctified them for myself."+ This, of course, does not mean that
God, at the time that He smote the firstborn in Egypt, eradicated the
carnal nature from the first-born of Israel. It does mean that _He
set apart all the first-born to be peculiarly His own_. Another very
suggestive illustration of the same usage of the word is found in the
case of Jeremiah as stated by himself in Jer. 1:4, 5, +"Now the word
of Jehovah came unto me saying, before I formed thee in the belly I
knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee: I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations."+ This
plainly means that before his birth God _set Jeremiah apart for
Himself_. There would still be much imperfection and infirmity in
him, but he was set apart for God. Another suggestive illustration
of the same use of the word Sanctify is found in Matt. 23:27, in the
words of our Lord Jesus Himself: +"Ye fools and blind; for which is
greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold?"+
But perhaps the most striking illustration of all is in what our Lord
says about His own sanctification in John 17:19, +"And for their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in
truth."+ Here the plain meaning is that our Lord Jesus set Himself
apart for this work for God and He did it in order that believers might
be set apart for God "in truth," or "in the truth." This is the most
frequent use of the word sanctify. There are numerous illustrations of
it in the Bible. So _to sanctify means to separate or set apart for
God; and Sanctification is the process of setting apart or the state of
being set apart for God_. This is the primary meaning of the words.
(2) But the word as used in the Bible has also a secondary
signification closely related to this primary meaning. An illustration
of this secondary meaning will be found in II Chron. 29:5, +"Hear me,
ye Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah,
the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the
holy place."+ Bearing in mind the "parallelism" which is the chief
characteristic of Hebrew poetry, it is plain that to sanctify here is
synonymous with the +"Carry forth the filthiness out of the holy
places"+ found in the last part of the verse. So _to sanctify_ here
_means to separate from ceremonial or moral defilement, to cleanse;
and Sanctification is the process of separating, or state of being
separated from ceremonial or moral defilement_. The same use of the
word is found in Lev. 11:44, +"For I am Jehovah thy God: sanctify
yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye
defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that moveth upon
the earth."+ Here again it is clear that "sanctify yourselves" is
synonymous with "be ye holy" and is contrasted with "defile yourselves"
and means to separate from ceremonial or moral defilement, to cleanse;
and Sanctification is the process of separating or state of being
separated from ceremonial or moral defilement. The same meaning of
sanctification is found in the New Testament in I Thess. 5:23, +"And
the God of Peace, Himself sanctify you wholly and may your Spirit and
soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ."+ Here we see the close relation between
entire sanctification and _preserving wholly, without blame_, and to
sanctify here clearly means to separate from moral defilement, and
sanctification here again is the process of separating or state of
being separated from moral defilement. The same thing is evident from
the 4th chapter of this same epistle in the 7th verse (I Thess. 4:7),
+"For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification."+
Our "Sanctification" is here set in direct contrast with "uncleanness,"
and hence it is evident that sanctification here means the state of
being separated from all moral defilement. The same thing is evident
from the 3rd verse of this same chapter, +"For this is the will of
God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication."+
Here again it is evident that Sanctification means separation from
impurity or moral defilement. The two meanings, then, of Sanctification
are: the process of separating or setting apart, or state of being
separated or set apart, for God; and the process of separating or state
of being separated from ceremonial or moral defilement. These two
meanings of the word are closely allied—one cannot be truly separated
to God without being separated from sin.