The believers are not only cleansed by the blood of Jesus but also washed in the Spirit. First Corinthians 6:11 reveals that the believers are washed in the Spirit of our God. This washing is subjective, having been accomplished in the power and the realization of the Holy Spirit. To be washed in the Spirit is actually to experience the dispensing of the Spirit into us. The Spirit dispenses His element into us, and this dispensing of the Spirit is His washing. This washing is inward, subjective, and dispositional.
The believers experience God’s redemption continuously in the matter of sanctification. Romans 6:19 says, “Present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.” Sanctification involves not only a change in position, that is, a separation from a common, worldly position to a position for God, but also a transformation in disposition, that is, a transformation from the natural disposition to a spiritual one. Dispositional sanctification involves a long process, which begins with regeneration, passes through the entire Christian life, and reaches completion at the time of our maturity.
Romans 6:22 says, “Having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end, eternal life.” This verse speaks of dispositional sanctification in life. Sanctification brings in the riches of life, allowing us to enjoy the riches of God’s life.
The believers are sanctified in the Holy Spirit as the sanctifying power. First Corinthians 6:11 says that we are sanctified in the Spirit of our God. The Spirit works within the believers, sanctifying and separating us wholly for the will of God.
Second Thessalonians 2:13 says, “God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit.” God chose us unto salvation in sanctification, which is of the Spirit. In sanctification means that we are in the process of being sanctified. Day after day we are being sanctified in the Holy Spirit as the sanctifying power.
Romans 15:16 speaks of the believers “having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.” This is subjective dispositional sanctification. The Holy Spirit works continuously within us to sanctify us for God’s will, separating us unto God.
The believers are sanctified by Christ as the sanctifying life. First Corinthians 1:30 reveals that Christ has become sanctification to us from God. This indicates that the sanctifying life within us is Christ. He lives in us, sanctifying us continuously by His eternal life. By Christ being the sanctifying life, we are gradually being sanctified in our soul, that is, transformed in our mind, emotion, and will.
In His prayer in John 17:17 to the Father, the Lord Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” In verse 19 the Lord continued, “For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” These verses indicate that the believers are being sanctified in God’s word. This word is truth, which conveys the reality of the holiness of God the Father. The Father’s word carries the reality of the Father with it. Hence, His word as the truth, as the reality, works in the believers to sanctify them, separating them from anything worldly. His word works not only positionally but also dispositionally, separating the believers from the world and its usurpation unto God and His purpose. This is to be sanctified in God’s word. This kind of sanctification not only changes our position but also our disposition, that is, what we are inwardly.
This holiness does not directly denote God’s nature but rather an attribute of God’s nature. God’s nature is holy, and this holy nature is conveyed in His word, because God’s word transmits the holy nature of God the Father. When we have the word as God’s reality, this word sanctifies us subjectively. This subjective sanctification is in the Spirit as the sanctifying power, by Christ as the sanctifying life, and in the word as the reality of the holiness of God the Father. The word carries with it God’s holy nature and dispenses this nature into our whole being, sanctifying us subjectively.