ALL OF ONE. Hebrews 2:11 We know our Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed of us because, in His humanity, He is of the same family as we are. He has sanctified us; we have the same Father. He has come down to where we are. He has experienced what we humans have, apart from sin. We were dead in the continual, active, developing state of misery and corruption that is spiritual death. We were dead while we walked in trespasses and sins to please our dying selves. We have been sanctified by faith in Him, His truth, and the Holy Spirit.
The One who sanctifies us is the Son of God, and those He sanctifies are the people of God. Both belong to God. In that way, they are one. The Son of God became human so He could sanctify God’s people. Believers are sanctified (made holy); they are cleansed, not just set apart. We are not morally fit by our nature to approach God, worship Him, and serve Him. God is separate (holy) from what is natural to sinful men. Idols, sinners, and sinful practices are not allowed in the presence of God.
However, believers in Christ are made holy inherently by God when they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. We are separated unto God by the Holy Spirit of God. Yet, we are told to “be holy” by obedience to Him and made fit for the privilege of being known as a Christian. We have been sanctified by the sacrifice of Christ “once for all,” not by any physical efforts or moral transformation. This is our “standing” in Christ.
Another aspect of sanctification is the act of pursuing holiness. This shows a desire for growth in holiness that moves us toward being “sanctified wholly,” with the spirit, soul, and body kept spiritually sound and blameless—something that is still being worked out. This is “the will of God, even your sanctification.” Holiness is not only physical, but a transformed mind is filled with things that are holy and of “good report.”
Sanctification includes purity before God, righteousness before the law, and blamelessness before the world. It becomes our personal ethic by which we grow into mature Christians who are transformed by the renewing of our minds and shaped into the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification is justification in action. We are justified when we are declared guiltless before God. Sanctification is the process by which God accomplishes His will through us and in us as we live for Him in this sinful world. We are justified by faith; we are sanctified by the power of grace being set in motion in our lives. Justification is because of the cross-work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification becomes real through the work of the Holy Spirit, making conformity to our Lord possible. It is not a gift like the miracle of being justified by His grace through faith.
Why was it necessary for the captain of our salvation to suffer? It was so that our Lord Jesus Christ and those who believe in Him would all belong to God. He is the firstborn Son, and He leads sons and daughters who are born again into God's family to glory with Him. He has given us eternal life, the same kind of life He has. Then He calls us brothers, a brotherly name that He is not ashamed of. In this verse, sanctification does not refer to cleansing because Christ does not need cleansing. Instead, it relates to our identity, as the Lord Jesus prayed in John 17:16 and John 17:21. We share the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, was buried, and rose again so that we might be part of God’s family.
We were dead in trespasses and sin, but the Lord Jesus Christ became our sanctification, where He “perfected forever them that are sanctified.” We are sanctified “through faith that is in Him” when He brought us into the presence of God. By the Word of God, His truth, and the Holy Spirit in us, we are continually sanctified through His “truth” unto obedience and cleansing by the blood of Christ.
When we worship God and find our joy in Him, it is not because we have been raised to His level, but because our Lord humbled Himself to ours, sharing flesh and blood as a real human. He experienced human joy and sorrow, hunger and thirst, physical and emotional pain, rejection, and heartbreak. We are all equal in our humanity, and because of His grace, we are now sons and daughters of God.