Two of the most important words in the Christian vocabulary are used constantly and understood rarely. Justification and sanctification — ask most believers to define either one in plain English and you'll get a blank stare or a confident answer that's half-right. Getting these wrong doesn't just produce theological confusion. It produces people who don't know whether they're accepted by God, and people who don't know whether they're expected to grow.

Last time we laid out the full scope of salvation — past, present, and future. Now we go deeper into two of the most foundational components: what justification accomplishes for your standing before God and what sanctification accomplishes in your day-to-day character.

Let's be honest — sanctification is one of those Bible topics that gets people tangled up! The Christian world is pretty divided on it, and that's exactly why every thoughtful believer should dig into Scripture with an open mind. So here's my invitation to you: set aside any preconceptions you might have and let's honestly examine what the Bible actually says. What follows comes from looking at over 25,000 separate statements in Scripture.

1. The Fact and Usage of the Doctrine of Sanctification

Sanctification is definitely taught in Scripture — there's no question about that. The word "sanctification" itself only appears five times, but "sanctified" shows up 62 times, "sanctify" appears 70 times, and "sanctifieth" is used four times. That's 141 occurrences total — 110 in the Old Testament and 31 in the New Testament.

Here's something interesting: this doctrine is mentioned about four times more often in the Old Testament than in the New. The same pattern holds for related words like "holy," "holiness," "clean," and "pure."

2. The Different Material or Inanimate Things Sanctified

Here's where things get really interesting. When you look at everything the Bible calls "sanctified," you quickly realize this can't just be about removing sin from people. Think about it — how do you remove sin from a building or a piece of bread?

Scripture tells us these things were sanctified:

• "The seventh day" Genesis 2:3
• "The tabernacle and its furniture" Exodus 29:43-30:29Leviticus 8:10-15
• "The priest's garments" Leviticus 8:30
• "Houses, fields and other property" Leviticus 27:9-29
• "Bread" 1 Samuel 21:5
• "The temple of Solomon and its furniture" 2 Chronicles 7:16-292 Chronicles 29:17-19
• "The gates of Jerusalem" Nehemiah 3:1
• "Mt. Sinai" Exodus 19:23
• "The offerings" Exodus 29:27
• "God's name" Isaiah 29:23Ezekiel 36:23
• "Daily food" 1 Timothy 4:5
• "Herod's temple" Matthew 23:17

In every one of these passages, the idea isn't about removing some "old man" or dealing with sin. It's about setting something apart for sacred purposes — taking it from ordinary use and dedicating it to God.

3. Examples of Persons Sanctified

The different people who were sanctified in both Testaments make the same point even clearer. Sanctification wasn't primarily about extracting an "old man" or sin from someone. It was about "setting apart to a sacred purpose or work," "hallowing," "holding as sacred," and "consecrating to accomplish the divine will." If cleansing from sin was necessary for any person being sanctified, that was just a secondary part of the main purpose.

Look at this list:

• "Israel as a nation" Exodus 19:14-15
• "Individuals and families" 1 Samuel 16:5
• "Heathen soldiers" Isaiah 13:3, 17
• "Prophets" Jeremiah 1:5
• "Priests" Leviticus 8:30
• "The first-born of Israel" Exodus 13:2Numbers 8:17Deuteronomy 15:19
• "Unsaved companions" 1 Corinthians 7:14
• "Christ and the disciples" John 10:36John 17:17-19
• "God the Father" Leviticus 10:3Numbers 20:13Isaiah 5:16Ezekiel 20:41Ezekiel 28:22, 25Ezekiel 36:23Ezekiel 38:16Ezekiel 39:27

Now think about this: those heathen soldiers were never cleansed from sin as far as we know — they were simply set apart as God's instrument for disciplining Babylon. Jeremiah was sanctified before he was even born in sin. Both Christ and God the Father were sanctified, yet neither of them had any sin in them!

This shows us clearly that people can be sanctified without sin being part of the picture at all. John the Baptist was sanctified before birth because he was filled with the Spirit from that moment Luke 1:15. And here's an important principle: one must be sanctified before being filled with the Spirit John 14:17.