What Is Your Responsibility in Sanctification?

Editor’s Note: Throughout this post, any emphasis appearing in Scripture quotations has been added by the author.

The clock may say zero, but the game goes on. If you’re a soccer fan, you know that a game isn’t over until the referees blow their whistles. Unlike basketball in which the play-clock stops when the ball goes out of bounds or for substitutions or other stoppages of play, in soccer, the play-clock never stops. 

However, the referees keep track of the stoppage time and add the lost seconds or minutes onto the end of the time allotted for the half. For this reason, a fan may feel like he never quite knows how much time is left. Once the clock hits zero, the players are living in “the gap”—the period of time before the ref sounds the end of the game.¹

As believers, we’re living in a gap as well. For us, though, the gap is the time between our salvation (justification) and our death or the return of Christ. In soccer, the gap is called stoppage time. For the Christian, it’s called sanctification. This theological term simply means becoming progressively more holy. 

The million-dollar question about sanctification is this: whose job is it to make us more holy? Ours or God’s? 

God Does the Work

The New Testament leaves no doubt that sanctification is a work of God Himself. Check out these verses: 

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:13)

Clearly, we have a preponderance of evidence on the side of God’s work in sanctification. He is the one who does it. Question answered. 

Not so fast. 

We Do the Work

The New Testament just as clearly states that we are responsible for our own sanctification. We can pile the evidence high on this side as well: 

Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. (1 Peter 1:14–16)

But have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7)

So, it seems that we’re left with a bit of a head-scratcher. Yes, God does the work of making us holy, but we also have responsibility in the equation. God’s work gives us hope that we won’t mess it up too badly, and our carrying out our responsibility keeps us from apathy and laziness. 

According to 2 Corinthians 7:1, this responsibility can be broken down into four categories. 

So then, dear friends, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

1. Cling to the promises.

Paul begins this brief exhortation to spiritual growth with an assumption: “since we have these promises.” The promises to which he’s referring can be found in the final verses of the preceding chapter in which he reminds them of the New Covenant promises given to Old Testament Israel. Simply put, the promises are these: 

• God’s presence with His people.
• God’s choosing them to be His people.
• God’s separating them from the wicked nations.
• God’s welcoming them as His children.

Each of these promises finds its fulfillment in the gospel. So, we could say that Paul is reminding the Corinthians of their identity in Christ. We’re called to grasp that identity tightly and to allow it to fuel our sanctification. This isn’t about putting in the right amount of effort to get results; it’s about recognizing that Christ has already done it all, paid it all, and finished all the work. My responsibility in sanctification is putting those gospel promises to work in my everyday life. 

2. Cleanse yourself.

This is likely what you first thought of in consideration of what it means to grow in holiness. While we have been made positionally holy in Christ Jesus, we become soiled practically in our everyday lives. Believers are called to take off their sinful lusts, habits, and ways of life like a set of grubby clothes (Eph. 4:22–23). 

However, while we must distance ourselves from besetting sins (Heb. 12:1), we also must realizethat the goal is not behavior modification. We’re called to heart change, not merely lifestyle change. You can’t lop off a rotten fruit and expect the nature of the rotten tree to change.

That’s why when telling believers to “take off” the sinful way of life, Paul also tells the Ephesians to renew their minds. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul uses a different term. Instead of referring to renewing your mind, he says to be cleansed in “spirit.” This is a call to be changed from the inside out. 

3. Fear God. 

If you dive into the context of 2 Corinthians 7:1, you’ll realize that Paul has spent quite a bit of time talking about the eternal versus the temporal. He’s trying to set the Corinthians’ eyes on what will last, and he reminds them that though they’re believers in Christ, they still have a judgment seat to face (2 Cor. 5:10). At this judgment, the Lord will evaluate the works of believers, rewarding the good and repaying the evil. 

Scary thought, right? 

Though we get to approach God as our heavenly Father, Paul wants to remind his readers that He is also their Judge. What we do in our “gap time” matters and can have eternal significance. This should lead us to fear the One who will weigh all of our works in the balance. 

4. Keep pursuing holiness.

Paul gives a clear end goal for this pursuit: holiness. That’s it. Nothing less. We must not stop until we’ve reached our goal. We keep on clinging to the promises, cleansing ourselves and renewing our minds and fearing God. Over and over again, we repent, turn back to Christ, cast off sin, remind ourselves of truth, and seek to get to know our great and awesome God. 

Living Faithfully in the Gap

Friend, we live in the gap. We’re saved by grace through faith alone. Nothing can change that. Though we’re true citizens of heaven, we haven’t made it to our new home yet. While we wait for our citizenship to be fully realized, we allow God to accomplish His work of sanctification in us. However, we also wholeheartedly pursue holiness as well. It’s not either/or; it’s both/and.

Just as Paul instructed the Corinthians, we must cling to gospel promises, seek inside-out change, grow in the fear of the Lord, and keep on persevering until holiness is finally and fully perfected in us. 

¹ To give credit where it is due, I first read this excellent analogy in Tony Reinke’s book 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You.