SANCTIFY, SANCTIFICATION
SANCTIFY, SANCTIFICATION 565
tian effort must be directed (3^- ^® 4"). He is the Son of the Father, whose presence in the world manifests the Father's love (S^* 49.10.14.16)^ and throu<;h whom believers may become possessed of tlie Fatlier ("2'-^ 4"). So He brings to men that eternal life which makes sin impossible (3'-' ')'") ; and He communicates to them that eternal love which is the very essence of goodness because it is the essence of God (4^-- '"). So intimate is this connexion between Christ and sanctifi cation, that the object of His manifestation is declared to be ' to take away sins ' (3'), and ' to destroy the works of the devil,' which are 'sins' (3'"'"). It is clear, therefore, tliat St. Joiin, as well as St. Peter, con- ceives Christ's redeeming work under the category of sanctification, and also conceives sancUtication as possible only tiirough faith in Christ. /both of them view sanctification as a state into which the believer is introduced by an initial act of faith in Christ, tiirough whom he is begotten of God (1 P 13. IB. 23 2:t. », 1 Jn i» 51) ; but it is also a state which has to be progressively realized by abiding union with Clirist (1 P P 2" 5'», 1 Jn V 2'- SV
(3) The teaching of St. Paul. — Tliis may be summed up under the chief categories used by St. Paul to describe Jesus Christ's relation to men.
(a) Jesus Christ as the second Adam. — St. Paul tliought of Adam as the pioneer of the race ; and he could not escape the responsibility of pioneers. The entire subsequent history of the race is influ- enced by the course taken by the first man. His sin caused a divergence from the path of rectitude, which grew wider as the race progressed, because the initial direction was wrong. Jesus Clirist was introduced into the world as a new pioneer. He was not an ordinary child of tiie race. He did not inherit the entail of bias to evil. ' The first man is of the eartii, earthy' (1 Co 15''''). He was the child of an animal ancestry, and was weighted by animal instincts : to him holiness was only a possi- bility. ' The second man is of heaven.' His ante- cedents were spiritual. With Him holiness was the instinct, .and evil was only a possibility. So He gave a new start in the direction of holiness. He stopped the race's drift from God, and He began a new movement Godward (Ro 5^'-^\ 1 Co IS-o--^- «-^9). Therefore all who become followers of Jesus Clirist are rescued from the fatal effects of Adam's sin. They are led into the right road and are under the direct influence of the Spirit of God (Ro 8'--'"). Thus they are being sanctified in accordance with the will of God, and will be brought at last to tiie perfect state He has designed for them (cf. Ro 5-'
8'", 1 Co lo^!'- 54)_
(b) A corollarjf from the previous thought is that men may be ' in Christ.' The second Adam is moi-e than a leader of a redeemed race. He is the Head of a new humanity, which secures its life from Him by vital communion with Him. He brought new spiritual energy into the world : this energy can be communicated to all who are united to Him by faith. The bonds between the first Adam and tlie race were physical and mechanical ; tiiose be- tween the second Adam and the race are spiritual and personal (cf. Jn 5-'-2«, 1 Co 15*^^ Eph 1«- ^s). This state of union between Christ and the believer is described by St. Paul under the piirase ' in Clirist ' ; and it is mentioned as a condition of sanctification (1 Co 1- 6"; cf. Ro 1"- ', Epli l'- •*• ''• "• 's 2'»-", Ph 11, Col P). The idea is the Master's (cf. ' I am the vine, ye are the branches,' Jn 15'') : He connected it witli sanctification (IS''"*). St. Paul emphasized this message. Thus we are ' complete in him' (Col 2'"). Every human being comes into the world as a possibility. A process of involution must go forward, by which the germinal life will absorb from its environment those elements that minister to its uevelopment. Our moral possibili-
ties can be realized only when we are ' in Christ,' The soul tliat lives without Him is stunted, or maimed, or becomes a moral freak. The soul that lives 'in him' becomes 'complete.' All the ful- ness that can realize our possibilities is gathered into Him (Col 2**). He is the way in which men must ' walk ' who would attain to holiness, the l)lant in which men must be ' rooted ' who would bear much fruit, the plan according to which men's lives must be ' built u\) ' if they are to become temples of God (Col 28- ^ l-'s, and cf. Jn IS^-'" 14«).
(r) Another category used by St. Paul is Jesus Christ's death and resurrection as the .wurce of the believer's rencival. This thought has affinities with the preceding one. But it shows, from another standpoint, how intimately the Apostle connects our sanctification with Christ. The teaching is developed in Ro 6 ; it occurs also in Ro 8'^ Gal 2^", 2 Co 51^- '5, Col 21-'- 1=* SI--". The believer is associated witli the Saviour in His death and resurrection. These crises are not only an ideal for tlie Christian, but also an experience which in some real spiritual sense he shares with his Lord. By them Jesus Christ became the Conqueror of sin and death. The believer identifies himself with Jesus Christ in the spiritual significance of these tremendous events : then he becomes ' dead unto sin and alive unto God,' though actually he is rather dying than dead to sin, and though the physical process of dissolution has still to be faced — but without its sting. This union with Christ secures the imi)art- ing of eternal life, and makes the believer a ' new creature ' (2 Co 5"), who is renewed in holiness. Such teaching harmonizes with the demand of Jesus for a new birth (Jn 3^).