The Puritan Idea of Sanctification
Sanctification can scarcely be overemphasized today, for many people want Christ’s salvation but show no interest in His call to pursue holiness. Whether in Jesus’ day, in Puritan times, or in our own time, many souls are blind to the need for sanctification. Nonetheless, Scripture declares that without holiness, “no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Many assume that justification by faith in Christ does away with the need to be sanctified. Of such persons Owen wrote, “There is no imagination wherewith man is besotted more foolish, none so pernicious, as this, that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy, in this life, should afterwards be taken into that state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God.”
Many people erroneously believe that sanctification leads to justification, that we can make ourselves acceptable to God by our own efforts to obey Him. Or, that justification is by faith alone, but sanctification is all about trying to please God by obeying His commands. We must realize that sanctification flows from justification, but that both are a work of grace. To paraphrase Calvin, to have Christ is to have all of Christ—His justifying grace as well as His sanctifying grace (cf. 1 Cor. 1:30), lest we rend Christ in two.
The classic Puritan definition of sanctification is stated in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 35: “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” In other words, sanctification is a lifelong process of becoming conformed to the image of Christ, as God’s grace works in us.
Question 36 asks, “What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?” and the answer follows: “The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end” (emphasis added). Living a life of holiness helps us more and more to delight in and relish peace with God. It gives us confidence, joy, and perseverance. How comforting it is to know that God has so ordered it that holiness allows us to taste these benefits. For joy in Christ, peace with God, and assurance of His love, we should actively pursue a life of holiness. When considering the Puritan doctrine of sanctification, we must keep the following truths in mind.
Sanctification Is Rooted in the Nature of God
The Puritans view holiness as God’s crowning attribute, which sheds light on all of His other attributes. Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) asserted that “holiness is in a peculiar manner the beauty of the divine nature.… This renders all his other attributes glorious and lovely. ’Tis the glory of God’s wisdom, that ’tis a holy wisdom, and not a wicked subtlety and craftiness. This makes his majesty lovely, and not merely dreadful and horrible, that it is a holy majesty.”
In God’s holiness, we see two important truths. First, God is separate from His creation and especially from evil. His holiness sets Him above all things. He is the first and final source of all holiness. Second, because God is holy, His creatures cannot approach Him in their unholy state, unaided by sacrifice (Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:22). In the power of Christ’s blameless life and perfect sacrifice, sinners who trust in Him can now draw near to this holy God. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Through His own sacrifice, Christ takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us into the presence of His Father (1 Peter 3:18).
Sanctification Magnifies God’s Holiness
Those who have a weak view of God’s holiness are prone to fashion God after their own image. We must return to the biblical view of God’s holiness. We must remember Isaiah’s vision of God on His throne, surrounded by seraphim who call to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” (Isa. 6:3). Stephen Charnock (1628–1680) wrote, “Holiness is the life of God; it endures as long as his life; he must be eternally averse from sin, he can live no longer than he lives in the hatred and loathing of it.”
Though believers are in a state of perfect holiness before God, they are not yet in a condition of perfect holiness. They are still sinners who wrestle with their old natures. Paul prayed that the Thessalonians may be wholly sanctified, meaning that sanctification has begun in the believing Thessalonians but still needs to progress to completion (1 Thess. 5:23). Do not say, “I’m only human.” God created man in His perfect image and intends to renew that whole image. “Let us labor after a conformity to God in this perfection,” Charnock said. “A short line may be as straight as another,” even if it does not have “the immense length of it.” We are called to be “short lines” as straight as God though infinitely smaller.
If we are true believers, we must cultivate holiness in Christ’s strength (Eph. 1:4). Through Christ, God makes us holy and calls us to pursue holiness in daily life (Phil. 3:12). Do not be deceived; without holiness, no one shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). The battle for holiness, therefore, is always a major part of a believer’s life, for God says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
Sanctification Is Comprehensive and Moral
The Puritans viewed sanctification as comprehensive, or universal. They said that all things are meant to be sanctified (cf. 1 Tim. 4:4–5). Holiness should be evident in our lives alone with God, the confidentiality of our homes, the competitiveness of our work, the pleasures of social friendship, and the diligence of our Lord’s Day worship. All times and all things (except what is sinful) are meant for holiness, both externally and internally. As Boston said, “Holiness … is a constellation of graces.” Watson wrote, “Repentance works a change in the whole man; as wine put into a glass where water is, the wine runs into every part of the water, and changeth its colour and taste.”
Sanctification is also moral. Sanctification propels the believer toward moral excellence and practical righteousness. As question 36 of the Shorter Catechism shows, the Puritans stressed that you cannot expect God’s Holy Spirit to give you strong, joyful assurance unless you strive on a daily basis to live a holy life.
Sanctification Is a Progressive Battle
The Puritans saw this laboring for sanctification as a spiritual warfare (Rom. 7:14–25). William Gurnall (1616–1679) said the conflict between the saints and Satan’s forces was a war that made all the bloody battles of mankind look like “sport and child’s play.” Obeying the Ten Commandments is not as easy as some think because it involves motives of the inward attitude as well as the outward act. Sanctification is the Spirit’s warring against the flesh. It is a spiritual necessity, lest sin kill the believer. The Puritans said that we must battle for holiness in Christ’s strength every step of the way, or we will fail in the attempt (Eph. 6:10–12). Boston wrote, “It is a difficult fight; but faith will help you out in it, as difficult as it is.… The blood of Christ is of infinite value, the Spirit of Christ of infinite efficacy, and faith must rely on these.” The believer cannot afford to stand still, said Andrew Gray, for, “he is like the morning sun, ‘that shineth more and more unto the perfect day’ (Prov. 4:18). He grows in grace until he attains the height in eternal glory.”
Sanctification Involves Both Repentance and Righteousness
Repentance is turning from sin, the Puritans asserted. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God, with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience” (Q. 87). It is a daily work of faith (Isa. 1:16–17). However, repentance is more than remorse. While true repentance may start there, remorse alone will not change a life. Repentance is essentially a changed life. True repentance is more than being sorry; it is turning away from sin to righteousness. We turn from death to life. In and through Christ, we turn from evil deeds to righteous ones.
Sanctification Must Be Seen in a Covenantal Context
To be sanctified is to receive covenant blessing from a covenant God who has brought us to new birth to bring us to glory, the Puritans said. After writing that the covenant of grace brings the benefits of having God as our God and the forgiveness of sin, Peter Bulkeley (1583–1659) wrote, “The third benefit of the covenant, is the renewing and sanctifying of our natures, by the graces of the Spirit.” He represented the Lord as saying to His covenant people, “I will renew, alter and change that sinful and wicked nature that is in you, I will make your heart a new heart, so as you shall be enabled to do my will, and walk in my ways. I will sanctify you to be an holy and precious people to my self.”
Sanctification is rooted in God’s covenant with believers in Christ. Thus, according to the promise of the covenant, the believer is the object of God’s sanctifying work in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Our covenantal relationship with God includes both promises made to the believer and obligations imposed on the believer. It is the work of the Spirit to regenerate us, but it is our calling to bring forth the fruits of regeneration in our lives. We must be conformed into Christ’s image within the context of the covenant of grace that God makes with His people.
Beeke, J. R., & Jones, M. (2012). A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life. Reformation Heritage Books.
