Sanctification unto New Jerusalem

The epistles are written “to the churches, the saints.” First Corinthians is “to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints.”

Paul tells us that the Corinthians “have been sanctified*” but many behaviors touched in this epistle do not seem holy* and certainly do not correspond to “the holy city, New Jerusalem,” “pure,” “clear” (Rev. 21:2, 18). How can this be? The answer is that sanctification has both an aspect of position and an aspect related to condition.

An illustration: it is easy to travel to a foreign nation; that is a change of position. But many years are needed to bring the language and culture of that nation into the traveler for a change in condition.

The Corinthians had believed into Christ and were “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” This was their position and the position of every believer in Christ. Yet we all need much more of the Triune God’s sanctifying work in us to make our entire inner condition holy.

This sanctifying process is seen in “He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word” (Eph. 5:26), “the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly” (1 Thes. 5:23), “sanctification of the Spirit” (2 Thes. 2:13), and “He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 2:11).

This experiential sanctification process will perfect us for the holy New Jerusalem.
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Three Stages of Sanctification to the Holy City, New Jerusalem, (2), (3)

* Although the English words holy (from an Anglo-Saxon root) and sanctify (from a Latin root) seem very different, they are translations of closely related New Testament Greek words.

Posted by Don on August 4, 2025

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2025/08/04/sanctification-unto-new-jerusalem/