In 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and 14 we see that salvation in sanctification of the Spirit is unto the obtaining of the glory of Christ to express God. Sanctification of the Spirit is the divine transformation. By this we are thoroughly saved from all old and negative things and made a new creation to obtain the Lord’s glory.

First Peter 1:2 speaks of “the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Sanctification of the Spirit here is not the sanctification which is after justification through the redemption of Christ, as revealed in Romans 6:19, 22; 15:16. Here sanctification of the Spirit is before the obedience of faith in Christ’s redemption, that is, before justification through Christ’s redemption (1 Cor. 6:11), indicating that the believers’ obedience unto faith in Christ results from the Spirit’s sanctifying work.

Concerning the sanctification of the Spirit, there are two aspects. The first aspect of this sanctification precedes justification and carries out God’s choice, His selection, and brings the chosen ones to the obedience and sprinkling of the blood for their justification. Thus, this aspect of the Spirit’s initial sanctification is before justification through the redemption of Christ. Then, following justification, the Spirit continues to work to sanctify us dispositionally. The sequence is this: God’s selection, the Spirit’s sanctification, justification, and then subjective sanctification. Before we can have subjective sanctification of the Spirit, we must have the first aspect of the Spirit’s sanctification, the sanctifying work that takes place before God’s justification.

In eternity past God, according to His foreknowledge, chose us. He selected us and made a decision to gain us. Then in time the Spirit came to us to sanctify us, to set us apart from the world, so that we would obey Christ’s redemption. The Spirit came to separate us for the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. When we obey, the blood sprinkles us. It is the sanctifying Spirit who separates us from the world unto the obedience of Christ’s blood. First we repent and believe, and then we obey what Christ has done on the cross. Following this, we receive the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. This is the sanctifying work of the Spirit following God’s selection to carry out God’s choice and to bring us to Christ’s redemption.

The sanctifying work of the Spirit began before God’s justification and continues afterward. Before justification, we were separated unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. After justification we are sanctified continually, subjectively, dispositionally. In 1 Peter 1:2 we have the first, initial aspect; in Romans 6:19 and 22, the second, continual aspect; and in 2 Thessalonians 2:13, the all-inclusive sanctification of the Spirit. The goal of this sanctification is to carry out God’s full salvation.

The New Testament indicates that the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit began even before our repentance. Actually, without the Spirit’s work in sanctification, no sinners would repent. This is portrayed by the three parables in Luke 15. In the second parable the woman, signifying the Holy Spirit, enlightens the house to seek the lost coin. In the third parable the prodigal son eventually comes to himself, that is, wakes up, and decides to return to his father. The waking up of the prodigal son in the third parable is the result of the searching of the woman in the second parable. This indicates that apart from the Spirit’s searching and enlightening us, we would never wake up and repent. This is the reason that in 1 Peter 1:2 the sanctification of the Spirit comes before the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Without the searching of the Spirit in His sanctifying work, we could not repent and return to God. Therefore, even before we believed and repented, the Spirit did His sanctifying work to separate us to God and to bring us to repentance.

We were chosen by God the Father in eternity past. This was done according to the Father’s foreknowledge, and it is carried out in time in the initial sanctification of the Spirit. All believers were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, and unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. The divine foreknowledge was exercised, and the sanctification of the Spirit followed unto the obedience of faith in Christ. Our believing in Christ, therefore, results from the Spirit’s sanctifying work. We were sanctified, separated, by the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. This means that the result of the Spirit’s sanctification is our participating in the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sanctification brought us to the sprinkling of the blood shed by the Savior on the cross and separated us unto this divine provision. Now we are redeemed ones. We were chosen by God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, and sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The sanctifying work of the Spirit is also a matter of the divine dispensing. When we heard the gospel, the Spirit began to sanctify us by dispensing the Triune God into our being. Through this dispensing we repented and believed in the Lord Jesus. From that time onward, the Spirit has been separating us and saturating us by dispensing the Triune God into us.

As the Spirit sanctifies us, He imparts God’s life into us. When we were saved and regenerated, we received God’s life. However, this does not mean that we received God’s life in a total sense. Although we have received God’s life, we still need more impartation of God’s life into us each day. This is a gradual process that goes on during our entire life. No matter how experienced we may be in the spiritual life, this process of life imparting must still go on within us. As the Spirit carries out His sanctifying work, He imparts more of God’s life into us. This imparting of life always accompanies the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Without His work of sanctification, He could not impart God’s life into us. Life imparting is always included within the Spirit’s sanctifying work. The extent to which the impartation of life will proceed depends on the degree He is able to sanctify us. The impartation of life is always the issue of sanctification. Thus, life imparting and sanctifying work together. As the Spirit sanctifies us, He gives us life.
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