Believers are also sanctified through their perfecting holiness. In 2 Corinthians 7:1 Paul says, “Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Holiness is separation unto God from all things other than Him. To perfect holiness is to make this separation full and perfect, to have our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—fully and perfectly separated, sanctified unto God (1 Thes. 5:23).
Holy means not only sanctified, separated unto God, but also different, distinct, from everything that is common. Only God is different, distinct, from all things. Hence, He is holy. According to Ephesians 1:4, He chose us that we should be holy. The way He makes us holy is by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being, that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature.
Finally, the sanctification of the believers is for them to be wholly sanctified in spirit, soul, and body. First Thessalonians 5:23 says, “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” To sanctify means “to set apart, separate unto God, from things common or profane.” Wholly means “entirely, thoroughly, to the consummation.” God sanctifies us wholly so that no part of our being, either our spirit or soul or body, will be left common or profane. God sanctifies us, first, by taking possession of our spirit through regeneration (John 3:5-6); second, by spreading Himself as the life-giving Spirit from our spirit into our soul to saturate and transform our soul (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18); and third, by enlivening our mortal body through our soul (Rom. 8:11, 13) and transfiguring our body by His life power (Phil. 3:21). Consummately, we will be as holy as God and as holy as the New Jerusalem.
After the believers are regenerated, they still need to experience God’s redemption continuously in being forgiven, cleansed, and sanctified. These experiences are related to the cycle of our spiritual life. This cycle is formed with the eternal life, the fellowship of the eternal life, the divine light, and the blood of Jesus the Son of God and brings us onward in the growth of the divine life until we reach the maturity in life.
As long as we live on this earth of the old creation, every instant we need God’s forgiveness. Not only so, after our regeneration we can still commit sin, thus interrupting our fellowship with God. Hence, we still need to take Christ as our sin offering for the sin in our nature and also take Christ as our trespass offering for the sins in our conduct. By confessing our sins, we can restore our fellowship with God and experience God’s redemption in being forgiven of our sins. This is because God must forgive us according to His faithfulness in His word and His righteousness in the blood of His Son Jesus.
The sins that we commit after being regenerated also stain our already purged conscience. Because of our sins, we need God’s forgiveness, and the stain from sins needs God’s cleansing in order for us to enjoy Him with a conscience void of offense. This cleansing is through the blood of Jesus His Son, the blood of a wonderful person, who has both humanity and divinity, qualifying Him to shed His blood for our redemption and guaranteeing the efficacious power of this redeeming blood. We are also cleansed in the Spirit, the Spirit that is dispensed into us, cleansing us inwardly, subjectively, and dispositionally.
Then we need to be sanctified to enjoy the riches of God; we are subjectively sanctified in the Holy Spirit as the sanctifying power, by Christ as the sanctifying life, and in God’s word of truth, which conveys the reality of the holiness of God the Father. This sanctification is also through the discipline of the Father for us to partake of His holiness, through our pursuit of holiness, through our perfecting holiness, and being wholly sanctified in spirit, soul, and body, thus making us holy. Ultimately, we will be as holy as God is holy and as holy as the New Jerusalem.