The sanctification that we obtain in God’s salvation may be divided into two aspects—positional and experiential. Positional sanctification is the fact of sanctification that we obtained in Christ when we believed. Although we may not have the experience of sanctification, we obtained the fact of sanctification in Christ when we believed; that is, we gained the position of sanctification.
1. “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:14, see also v. 10).
When Christ gave His body on the cross as a sin offering to redeem us and to sanctify us, He sanctified us forever. Since we now share in Christ, we also share in His eternal redemption. According to this eternal redemption, we are separated and sanctified forever.
2. “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood” (Heb. 13:12).
The Lord purchased us by His own blood so that we might be sanctified, distinct from worldly people. When we go to shop for a piece of clothing, the moment we pay for a certain item, it becomes separated from all the others. When we were redeemed by the Lord’s blood, we immediately obtained the fact of sanctification, the position of sanctification. In God’s eyes we were separated to be sanctified unto Him.
3. “Sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18).
The Lord offered Himself for our sins and shed His blood for our redemption; these are facts that the Lord accomplished for our sanctification. To partake of these facts, we must believe in Him and be joined to Him by faith. Once we believe in Him and become one with Him by faith, we become holy through His redemption and shed blood, thereby possessing both the fact and the position of sanctification.
4. “But you were sanctified...in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
Once we believe in the Lord, His name enables us to share in His accomplishments, that is, His sanctifying redemption. The Spirit of God then sanctifies us based on this redemption.
5. “Sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:2).
Once we are joined to the Lord by faith, we are in Christ. Once we are in Christ, we are sanctified. We obtain the fact of sanctification—the position of sanctification—in Christ. It is in Christ that God acknowledges us as being sanctified.
6. “Called saints” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2).
Our being saved is our being called by God. God’s calling calls us out from the world to Himself. Thus, once we are called and saved, we are sanctified and become saints. In the Bible saints are those who have been separated unto God. A called and saved person is a separated and sanctified person in the eyes of God. Not only were Paul and Peter saints, but all of us who have been saved are saints because we have been called to be holy unto God.
7. “God’s chosen ones, holy” (Col. 3:12).
In God’s eyes, God’s chosen ones are holy because He has separated His elect to be sanctified to Himself.
8. “The new man, which was created according to God in...holiness of the reality” (Eph. 4:24).
At the time we were saved, we obtained a new life within. This new life makes us a new man, which was created in holiness of the reality according to God, that is, according to God’s holy nature. The new man possesses God’s holy nature and can understand God’s holy truth. We obtained all this upon our salvation. When we were saved, we acquired the fact of sanctification in Christ. On the one hand, this fact gives us the position and ground of sanctification before God. On the other hand, it supplies us with a holy life and holy nature that we may have a holy essence—holiness itself—and ability. Thus, it enables us to desire holiness, to understand holy matters, that is, the reality of holiness, and to live in the reality of holiness. The position of sanctification and the life of sanctification—the seed of sanctification—were obtained by us once we gained our place in Christ.