Sanctification

by Brett Hartmann

For the most part Lutherans are good with the justification preaching. Lutherans stress that we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The verse we often point to is written by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2: 8). Justification means we are made righteous before God, and it is his doing.

Lutherans tend to put less emphasis on sanctification. Sanctification is the process of being made holy. I do not want to blame Lutherans specifically. We simply stress justification more heavily than sanctification. But the two go hand in hand.

After being justified before God, Christians should not simply stop being Christian. We should continue to be transformed. Grace is not cheap. If we continue to wade around in our sin after being justified, we trample on God’s grace. Remember, “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6: 20). God’s grace will not simply stop at justification. It keeps working. It has a transforming element known as sanctification.

In C.S. Lewis’ book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the series The Chronicles of Narnia, Eustace Scrubb experiences sanctification. Eustace wonders away from the group and discovers a dead dragon’s cave. In this cave, Eustace finds gold. Enticed by greed he puts on a gold bracelet. When he wakes up the next day, Eustace has become a dragon, representative of his greed which wants to protect what it has, and yet isolates him from everyone else.

The next day Eustace sees his image in the lake and realizes what a monster he has become. Feeling remorseful, Eustace tries to remove the bracelet, but it has become lodged to his swollen dragon wrist. The only way to get it off is to peel back the layers of scaly dragon skin. Eustace starts the painful process tearing away skin little by little but seems to be making little headway. When Aslan appears (the lion representing Christ in the novels), he tells Eustace that he must remove the skin. Eustace is hesitant because the lion is a very intimidating creature. He could harm Eustace. Eventually Eustace consents, and Aslan punctures deep into his skin, removing the dragon façade entirely.

Eustace has been sanctified. Why is this a good image of sanctification? Because sanctification is the process of being made holy. Usually it is a painful process. This is why the Bible often talks about gold being refined by fire. After being refined, gold is even more pure—more like exactly what it is supposed to be. It is a painful process, but it is necessary to be made holy to enter into Heaven’s gates.

As Christians we must practice sanctification daily. God’s grace allows us to become more holy. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes we have to give up the gold that we think is ours. Sometimes we have to humble ourselves and submit to the will of God. We must let God be the surgeon. He operates on us to remove our imperfections. This process is painful. In the end it will make sense. But in the moment it can feel miserable.

Despite our inklings to turn back or to dodge sanctification, we must move forward. As the hymn “Just as I am, without One Plea” says,

“Just as I am, though tossed about,

With many a conflict, many a doubt,

fightings and fears, within, without,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

Sanctification is done by God, but it requires our involvement. Or at the very least, it involves our consent. So we move on, allowing the Divine surgeon to make us more holy each day.

(For another good sanctification story, see Isaiah 6)