From the time we were called, the sanctifying Spirit started to work for God's "sonizing," for God's sonship. This sanctifying, this sonizing, is still going on. It has been going on for about twenty centuries, and it is still not finished. We are being sanctified from within every day. We are being sonized. Sanctification is not sinless perfection, nor is it merely a positional matter. It is something that goes on and on continually to sonize God's chosen people.

The word sonize was invented by us to describe the process of God's sanctifying work to make us His sons in a full way. We were forced to do this. As culture progresses, there is the need of additional vocabulary to describe new things. The word computer was not in the dictionary a number of years ago. Even the computer itself has its own language. All the modern sciences have invented new words to describe new discoveries. Webster's dictionary is always coming up with new editions to contain the new words added because of the need of the culture. The study of the Bible is the same. The church fathers came up with the terms Trinity and Triune God to describe the fact of the person of God revealed in the Bible. They found out that there was the need to invent these terms. It is the same with us today. We have seen some deeper aspects of the truths, and we did not have the expressions to utter what we had seen. Thus, we were forced to invent new words.

What is sanctification? Sanctification is God's sonizing. When you are sanctified, you are sonized. This is based upon Ephesians 1:4-5. It is even more strongly based upon Hebrews 2:10-11, which says, "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in leading many sons into glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One...." Verse 10 speaks of bringing many sons into glory, and verse 11 speaks of the Sanctifier and the ones being sanctified. This shows that sonship is greatly dependent upon sanctification. God brings His many sons into glory by Christ's sanctifying us dispositionally, beginning from our regeneration throughout the full course of our Christian life. Sanctification is still going on because we have not yet entered into glory in full. One day we will be fully in glory. That fullness of entering into glory will be the fullness of God's sanctification.

The first aspect of sanctification was the Spirit's seeking us to bring us back unto God. We became lost in sin, but God the Spirit came to seek us out, to bring us back to God. We were like the prodigal son in Luke 15. He became like a poor beggar, and his poor situation surely did not match his rich father and did not qualify him to enter his father's house. Thus, the father changed his clothing. To change his clothing is to redeem him. The father's clothing his son with the best robe and putting a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet signify God's redeeming.

Hebrews 13:12 says that we, the God-chosen people, were sanctified by the blood of Christ. Yes, the Spirit brought us back to God, but we were full of sins, so at that juncture, God applied Christ's redemption to us. Actually, Christ's redemption was accomplished already. This is signified by the fact that the robe for the prodigal son had already been made for him. The father told his slaves to bring out "the best robe" (Luke 15:22). The indicates a particular robe prepared for this particular purpose at this particular time. This shows that the redemption of Christ had already been prepared. When a sinner comes back to the Father through the Spirit's fine seeking, God the Father applies the redemption of Christ to him, and that is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ upon him (1 Pet. 1:2).

Now the sinner is not only back but also qualified to receive the top gift from God. This top gift is signified by the fattened calf. After the father put the best robe upon the returned prodigal, the father told the servants to kill the fattened calf for his son's supply and satisfaction. At the juncture we believed into Christ, God applied Christ's redemption upon us; at the same time God entered into us as the Spirit to regenerate us, to make us a new creation. But we need to realize that God's work to make us a new creation starts at our regeneration and is still going on in sanctification. From the time of our regeneration, the Triune God has continued His renewing work within us by sanctifying us dispositionally.