What Is Sanctification?

Answ. Sanctification is the work of God’s
free grace, whereby we are renewed in the
whole man, after the image of God, and are
enabled more and more to die unto sin, and
live unto righteousness. -

O. What doth our sanctification generally include?

A. Our being made holy in nature, and separated from the world to the holy service of God, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27»

Qj, Are our justification and sanctification inseparably linked together? A. Yes; Isa. lxii. 12. 1 Pet. i. 2,

£). Wherein are justification and sanctification linked together? A. In God’s decree and promise, in the

offices of Christ, and end of his death, in the gospel-offer9 and the experience cf all believers, 1 Cor. i. 30.

Q Doth our sanctification depend on our justification and adoption? A. Yes as its root and spring.

Q. How doth sanctification depend on justificao.-i

A. It is the native fruit of the remova of our guilty and a necessary part of the happiness to which we are adjudged in justification, Acts xxvi, 18. Psalm cavi. 16,

Q. How doth sanctification depend on adoption?

A. It is the natural fruit of God being our Father and his holy Spirit dwelling in us, 1 Cor. vi. 11. 2 Cor, vi. 18. and vii. 1.

Q. Wherein doth justification and sanctification differ?

A. In their nature, order, matter, form, properties, subject, extent, ingredients, evidence, relation to sin, to the law, to God, to the offices of Christ, and their use to believers.

Q. How do they differ in their nature?

A. Justification changes our law state j sanctification changes our heart and life, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26, 27.

Q. How do they differ in their order? A. Justificai m is first $ and sanctification follows as the fruit of it.

Q. How do ihey differ in their matter?

A. The righteousness of Christ imputed is the matter of justification; but the grace of Christ implanted in our heart is the matter of sanctification, John i. 16, 29.

Q. How do they differ in their form?

A. Justification is an act; but sanctification is a work.

Q^ How do they differ in their properties?

A. Justification is constantly equal in all believers, and perfect at first but sanctification is unequal in different believers, and in the same believer at different times, and is never perfect in any till death, Rom. viii. 1. 1 John ii. 13.

£). How do they differ in their subject?

A. The righteousness of justification is subjectively in Christ, and on believers as a robe; but sanctification is in believers as a new nature, Rom. iii. 22. 2 Pet. i. 4.

O. Mow do they differ in their extent?

A. Though justification respects our whole person, yet it especially affects our conscience; but sanctification equally affects our whole man, Heb. ix 14. 1 Thess. v. 23.

Q. How do they differ in ‘heir ingredients? A. In

justification only the love of God is manifested* to us j but in sanctification our love to God is also manifested.

Q. How do they differ in their evidence?

A. Justification is in itself a most s< ret act y butsanctifiration is an evidence of our justification.

Q. How do they differ in their relation to sin?

A. Justification emjves the guilt pi sin; but sanctification rer loves the iilth of sin, Ezek xxxvi. 25, 26, 27.

Q. How do they differ in their relation to the law £

A. Justification free s us from the law as a covenant; sanctification conforms us to the law as a rule.

Q. How do they differ in their relation to God?

A. Justification instates us in God’s favour; sanctification conforms us to his image, Rom. viii. 1. and xii. 2.

Qj How do they differ in their relation to the offices of Christ? A. Justification is immediately founded on the righteousness of Christ as a priest; sanctification immediately flows from the subduing, ruling, and defending influence as Christ as a king, 2 Cor. v. 21. Psal. ex. 3.

Q. How do they differ in their use to believers £

A. Justification frees us from hell, and entitles us to heaven; sanctification makes us meet for heaven.

Q. Is it very dangerous to confound justification with sanctification? A. Yes; for it either tempts men

to turn the grace of God into sloth and licentiousness, or place their own holiness in the room of Christ’s righteousness; and it leads believers into the practical error of judging their state by their frame, Jude 4* Rom. x. 5*

Q. Whose work is our sanctification?

A. It is the work of God’s Spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 11.

Q. Is it not also the work of the Father and Son?

A. Yes y but they work it by the Spirit, Phil. ii. 13.

Q. Cannot believers who have received grace, sanctify themselves?

A. No; Without Christ they can do nothing.

Q. Do not believers good works deserve God’s Sanctis fying grace? A. No when we have done all, we

are but unprofitable servants, Luke xvii. 10.

Q; What then moves God to sanctify his people?

A. His own free grace, reigning through the righteousness of Christ, Titus iii. 5. Rom. v. 21.

Q. How may our sanctification be distinguished?

A. Into sanctification of nature, and sanctification of life, 2 Cor. vii. 1. Matth. v. 17. Ezek. xxxvi. 27.

Qj What is sanctification of nature? A. The renewing of our whole man after the image of God.

O. After what pattern is our whole man renewed in sanctification? A. After the image of God, Eph. iv.

Q. Whose image is defaced in out sanctification?

A. The image of the devil, and fallen Adam.

Q. Wherein doth the renewing of our whole man’ m sanctification, differ from the renewing of it in effectual calling?

A. In effectual calling the renewing is begun, and the new creation is begotten and born in us but in sanctification this renewing is carried on more and more, till our new nature become fully perfect, Prov. iv. IS.

O. What is the fruit of sanctification of nature?

A~ Sanctification of our life, Matt. v. 17. and vii. 17*.

Q. What do you mean by sanctification of life?

A. Our being enabled more and more to die unto siny and live unto righteousness, Rom. vi. 11. and viii. 13.

Q. Wherein do sanctification of nature and life differ?

A. The Jirst strengthens us in holy and gracious dispositions •, but in the last we exert that strength in holy thoughts, words, and actions, Matth. xit. 35,

Q. What are the parts of sanctification of life

A. Our dying to sin, and living to’ righteousness.

Q. What is meant by our dying to sin? A. Our

ceasing more and more from the love and practice of it.

Q. Do not the remains of sin- in our whole man oppose this death? A. Yes; most vigorously, Ron., vii. 2 3».

Q. How do they oppose it? A. By secret lusting,

and violent fighting against grace in our heart, Gal. v. 17.

Q^ Doth indwelling sin ever prevail against our grace?

A. Yes very often, and very far, Rom. vii. 19, 23.

Q. How far may indwelling sin prevail against our grace? A. So far as to bring it to the brink of destruction, and keep it long so, Rom. vii. 23.

Q. Can indwelling sin utterly destroy our grace?

A. No *, however small and weak it be, Job xvii. 9.

£. Why so?

A. Not because our grace itself is stronger than sin; but because God is the strength of our grace.

Q. If God be the strength of our grace, how can sin ever prevail against it? A. God often hides himself jand we neglect to improve his strength for subduing sin.

Q. Whether doth sin or grace prevail at last?

A. Always grace, Rom. viii. 13, 37. Prov. iv. 18.

Q. Who assists sin in its opposition to implanted grace?

A. Satan and the world, Eph. vi. 12. 1 John V. 4.

(£. Who assists our new nature or grace in its exercise?

A. The Spirit of God, by whom we mortify and kill the deeds of out bodyy or remainders of lust, Rom. viii. 13.

Q. May there not be an inward struggle with sin, where there is no real grace? A. Yes •, it is often so.

Q. Wherein doth this differ from the struggle between sin and grace in believers? A. In unbelievers the

struggle about sin is only between the mind or conscience, and the will and affections -, but in believers the inclination to good in the will and affections strives against the inclination to evil in the same faculties.

Q. What is meant by our living to righteousness?

A. Our becoming more in love with it, and moreeon= stant and active in the practice of it, Job xvii. 9.

Q. To what righteousness do believers live?

A. To a continued obedience to all God’s commands.

Q. In what manner do we die to sin and live to righteousness? A. By degrees, or more and more.

Q. Can we die to sin or live to righteousness of ourselves? A. No; the Spirit of God must enable us to do it, Ezek. xxxvii. 27. John xv. 5.

Q. How doth the Spirit enable us to die to sin, and live to righteousness?

A. By conveying new strength through the promise into cur heart, and by stirring us up to the study of more holiness, 2 Cor. vii. 1. Rom. viii. 13.

Q. Is the work of our sanctification often interrupted?

A. Yes, in our apprehension; but God still carries on his work, even by means of the prevalency of sin.

Q. When is our sanctification in heart and life completed? A. At death, Heb. xii. 23. Eph. v. 27.

Qj Why doth God suffer sin to remain in his people till death?

A. To shew the riches of his grace in pardoning so much sin •, to try and exercise their grace; to render heaven more sweet -7 and that sin may die in them in a lingering manner, as Christ did, Rom. v. 20, 21.

Q. From what about Christ doth our sanctification flow?

A. From his death and resurrection, Rom. vi. 4. Q. Ho v doth it flow from his death?

A. His death purchased it j and, when applied to our conscience, frees us from the curse of the law, which is the strength of sin, and stirs us up to the love of Godp 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.

Q. How doth it flow from his resurrection?

A. In his resurrection he took possession of spiritual life for his people, to be bestowed on them, Rom. vi. 4, 5, 6.

Q. What is the instrument of our sanctification?

A. Faith in Christ Jesus. Acts xxvi. 18.

Q. How doth faith sanctify us? A. By receiving

the comfort and cleansing virtue of the promises into our hearts, 2 Cor. vii. 1. John xv. 4. and xvii. 17.

Q. What is the only rule of our sanctification?

A. The holy law of God, Psalm cxix. 1, 9.

Q. What pattern must we study to imitate in our sanctification? A. The example of God and Christ.

Q. Why is our sanctification necessary? A. Not to be a condition of our salvation; but to evidence our faith and union to Christ, glorify God, adorn our profession, promote our peace of conscience, make us meet for heaven, gain others to Christ, &.c. Matth. v. 17.

Q. What are the chief motives to sanctification?

A. The holiness, command, and love of God $ Christ’s dying to save and sanctify us; and the great dignity of holiness, 1 Pet. i. 16. 1 John iv. 19. Titus ii. 14.

Q. Is sanctification a great privilege, as well as duty?

A. Yes; it is a great duty as required from us by the law ‘y and a rich privilege as promised in the gospel, and produced in us by the Holy Spirit, Phil. ii. 12, 13.

Q. How prove you that sanctification is a most excellent privilege and duty? A. It is the end of Christ’s offices, death, and exaltation; and of our election, effectual calling, justification, and adoption *, and of all the work of the Spirit •, and of all the precepts, promises, and providences of God, Titus ii. 14. Heb. ii. 10, 11, &c.

Q. What are some marks of our sanctification?

A. A deep sense of our vileness, a love to God’s law, and an earnest desire after growth in grace, Job xl. &c.

Q. How should we study sanctification? A. By making sure our union to Christ; by watchfulness against sin j and a believing attendance on God’s ordinances, in order to gain more near communion with Christ.