First Corinthians is a book full of the riches of Christ. The essential and underlying thought of this book is that we should enjoy Christ (10:3-4).
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul says, “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours.” This verse presents Christ as the Sanctifier and the portion of all the saints. First, Christ came to sanctify us; then He, the Sanctifier, became our eternal portion for our enjoyment.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul speaks of those who have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” To be sanctified in Christ Jesus is to be sanctified in the element and sphere of Christ. Christ is the element and sphere that separated us, made us holy, unto God when we believed into Him, that is, when we were brought into an organic union with Him through our faith in Him.
To be sanctified in Christ means that first we are put into Christ. Christ is a holy sphere, a sphere of holiness. Not only is Christ holy—Christ Himself is holiness. Holiness is actually God Himself, and God is embodied in Christ. Therefore, Christ is our holiness. Because God has put us into Christ (v. 30), we have been put into the sphere of holiness. Now that we are in Christ as the sphere of holiness, we are sanctified. Furthermore, since to be sanctified is to be made holy, to be sanctified in Christ Jesus is to be made holy in Him.
As the Sanctifier, Christ sanctifies us in two aspects, positionally and dispositionally. The former is objective, whereas the latter is subjective. Christ has sanctified us positionally through His own blood (Heb. 13:12). We were once fallen sinners who belonged to the world and to many things other than God. Then Christ redeemed us with His blood; simultaneously, His redeeming blood sanctified us, separated us, and set us apart unto God, making us holy positionally. Consequently, we now belong to God. In other words, our original position was worldly and not at all for God, but when we were separated unto God through Christ’s redeeming blood, our position was changed, and as a result, we became holy. Through His redeeming blood, Christ has sanctified us, setting us apart unto God for the fulfillment of His purpose. This is the objective aspect of Christ’s sanctification.
While sanctification is a positional matter and thereby involves separation from a worldly position to a position for God, sanctification is also a dispositional matter (1 Cor. 6:11). This means that sanctification is not only a change of position but also a change of disposition. It is through dispositional sanctification that the believers are being transformed from a natural disposition to a spiritual one. Although the blood of Christ separates us unto God positionally, it cannot accomplish anything in us with respect to the inner life. Hence, it can sanctify us only positionally but not dispositionally. The dispositional sanctification comes out of Christ as the eternal life within us. Christ has the divine life, and He is the divine life imparted to us. Within the divine life, there is the element, the essence, of holiness. This essence of holiness sanctifies us subjectively, that is, dispositionally; it transforms us, changing our disposition and our nature. This process is not sanctification of our position, but that of our disposition—sanctification that transforms our inner being. If we see this, we will realize that we must experience Christ as the Sanctifier both positionally and dispositionally.