Now we come to dispositional sanctification, which comes after justification (Rom. 6:19, 22). This is sanctification not merely in our position, but also in our disposition. Hence, it is deeper and more subjective than positional sanctification.
In subjective sanctification we are saturated with God dispositionally. Separation can take place rather easily and in a very short time. But to be saturated dispositionally takes a long time. If we are faithful to the Lord, we shall be saturated with the nature of God day after day. God intends to saturate us with Himself, and we need to soak up God in our being. This requires time. This is the process of being made holy.
God has chosen us for the purpose of saturating us with Himself; He wants to work Himself into our being. Then we shall be holy, just as He is. At present, we are all in the process of saturation. I have been in this process more than fifty years, and I am still in it, still soaking up God day by day. Sometimes my wife or the brothers and sisters help me to soak Him up. They help me to be willing for this, even when in myself I am not willing. Thus, whether I am willing or unwilling, the Lord causes me to be saturated with Him and to soak Him up. Many of us who were in Christianity for years can testify that while we were there we did not undergo very much of this saturation. But since we came into the church life, we have been more and more soaked with God. The church life is a life of soaking up God. Whether we are willing or unwilling, we are being soaked with the divine element.
I do not care for outward correction; it means nothing. Being saturated with God and being soaked with Him, however, mean a great deal. In the church life, have you been corrected or saturated? Many of us in the church life have been saturated with God. I do not appreciate self-correction. Suppose someone is proud and adjusts himself to be humble. This means nothing. The only thing that matters is that we are saturated with God. What a joy it is for me to see that many brothers and sisters have been saturated with God, that they have soaked up so much of Him into their being! This is the holiness, the sanctification, revealed in the Bible.
We all have been chosen to be holy in this way. Firstly, we are separated unto God; secondly, we are saturated with God; eventually we become one with God. One day, we shall be just like Him. That will mark the completion of our sanctification, the process that begins with separation, continues with saturation, and is completed with the full redemption of our body. At that time, from within to without, we shall be the same as He is. We shall be holy. It is for this purpose that we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world.
Dispositional sanctification firstly transforms our soul by saturating every part of our inward being with the holy element of God (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2).
Eventually, dispositional sanctification will transfigure our body into one as glorious as Christ’s (Phil. 3:21). This means that God’s holy element will saturate our body so that our body may be redeemed (Rom. 8:23).
Through dispositional sanctification, all the saints will consummately be the holy city, permeated with the holy God (Rev. 21:2, 10).
Verse 4 also says that we were chosen in Him to be without blemish. A blemish is like a foreign particle in a precious gem. God’s chosen ones should be saturated only with God Himself and have no foreign particles, such as the fallen natural human element, the flesh, the self, or worldly things. This is to be without blemish, to be without any mixture, to have no element other than God’s holy nature. After being thoroughly washed by the water in the Word, the church will be sanctified in this way (5:26-27).
Today, we still have a great deal of mixture. Many foreign particles, such as the flesh, the self, and the natural life, are still in us. But we are gradually being transformed. Therefore, eventually we shall be so holy and so pure that we shall be without blemish, without any foreign particles, having only the divine element.
We shall be holy and without blemish before Him. “Before Him” means to be holy and without blemish in the eyes of God according to His divine standard. This qualifies us to remain in and enjoy His presence. We shall be holy and without blemish, not according to our standard or in our eyes, but according to His standard and in His eyes.
Finally, we shall be holy and without blemish before Him in love. Love here refers to the love with which God loves His chosen ones and with which His chosen ones love Him. It is in this love, in such a love, that God’s chosen ones become holy and without blemish before Him. Firstly, God loved us. Then this divine love inspires us to love Him in return. In such a condition and atmosphere of love, we are saturated with God to be holy and without blemish as He is. In this love, a mutual love, God loves us, and we return this love to Him. It is in this kind of condition that we are being transformed. Under such a condition we are being saturated with God.
I hope that we can see that the holiness revealed in the Bible is absolutely different from that found in today’s teachings concerning self-correction and improvement of behavior. Firstly, we are separated unto God and then we are continually saturated with God until all the mixture in us is swallowed up by the divine nature. When this takes place in full, we shall be wholly sanctified, transformed, and conformed to the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Then we shall be completely holy.