We are sanctified dispositionally by being in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 6:11 says, “But you were sanctified...in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Sanctification here is not the objective aspect which we receive positionally through the blood; it is the subjective aspect which we experience dispositionally in the name of the Lord.
In the New Testament, to be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be in His person, in an organic union with Him through faith; in reality, it is to be in Christ Himself. When we call on the Lord Jesus, we are in His name, in the living person of Christ. We have an organic union with Him, participating in His divine life and nature. Thus, we are sanctified dispositionally.
We are sanctified dispositionally also by being in the Spirit. According to 1 Corinthians 6:11, we have been sanctified not only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but also in the Spirit of God. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is His person, and His person is the Spirit. Hence, the Lord’s name and His Spirit are inseparable. When we call on the name of the Lord, the Lord reaches us as the Spirit. This Spirit is the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4). Therefore, when we are joined to the Lord, we experience the sanctifying work of the Spirit and receive the subjective sanctification in our disposition.
First Corinthians 1:30 says, “...Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God:...sanctification....” This indicates that sanctification is Christ. At the time of our believing, Christ enters into us to be our life. This life is holy, and it imparts His holy nature into us. Thus, we are sanctified and are able to live out a sanctified life.
In order to sanctify us, God has given us not only His life within but also the Bible without. The Bible is the Word of God, and the Word of God is the truth, which can sanctify us (John 17:17). Inwardly, the life of Christ imparts to us the holy nature and taste. Outwardly, the truth of the Bible becomes our sanctifying light and guidance. The inward life demands that we be holy; the outward truth teaches us to be sanctified. The holy nature within responds to the sanctifying light without, and the sanctifying guidance without stimulates the holy taste within. These two, one within and the other without, echo, cooperate with, and complement one another.
In order to make us holy, not only has God given us Christ to be the sanctifying life within and the Bible to be the sanctifying light without, but He has also given us the Holy Spirit to be the sanctifying power, so that by Him we may be sanctified (Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Thes. 2:13). The Holy Spirit not only increases the demands of the holy life within and intensifies the shining of the holy truth without, but He also becomes our power enabling us to answer the inward demands of the holy life and to obey the outward enlightening of the holy truth. Combined together like three strands of a string, these three—the life of Christ, the light of the Bible, and the power of the Holy Spirit—make it possible for us to live according to the divine nature, that is, in the divine nature, and thus become those who are sanctified.
Sanctification, or being made holy, means separation from what is ordinary or common. Holiness is the quality of God’s nature. The quality of God’s nature is not merely to be sinless, without any defilement, but it is even more to be different, distinct, from everything common. When God sanctifies us, He separates us not only from sin, but even more from the world, from worldliness, and from everything that is not of God or for God, that we may be separated unto God and correspond to the quality of God’s holy nature. To be holy, we must believe into Christ to participate in the fact that He has shed His blood to repurchase us that we may be sanctified. Furthermore, we must enter into Him and be joined to Him. Only then can we be holy as He is. Such sanctification is of two aspects, the positional aspect and the dispositional aspect. Positional sanctification is accomplished by Christ’s offering Himself as the one sacrifice and redeeming us by His own blood, thus forever sanctifying us unto God. It is also accomplished by God’s calling, which calls us out from among the worldly people, thus sanctifying us unto God Himself. Dispositional sanctification is through the Sanctifier, Christ. Through Him we who have been regenerated of God to become the many sons of God, having both the divine nature and the human nature as He does, receive the subjective, dispositional sanctification. By Christ as the sanctifying life, the Bible as the sanctifying light, and the Holy Spirit as the sanctifying power, we can live according to the divine nature, that is, in the divine nature, and thus become those who are sanctified.