Progressive Sanctification

In the order of salvation, once we are united to Christ by faith, we receive the blessings of justification and definitive sanctification. In justification, we receive the forgiveness of our sins and are declared righteous in Christ based on His merit, and in definitive sanctification, we are set apart as God’s holy people (Rom. 4; Col. 3:12). Yet the benefits of salvation do not end there, for we also enjoy a second aspect of the Lord’s sanctification. Theologians commonly refer to this as progressive sanctification.

Progressive sanctification is one way that the Lord deals with the ontological consequences of our sin, the effects of sin on our being or our nature. Recall that sin penetrates to the very center of our natures, corrupting our hearts, bodies, souls, and minds (Gen. 2:16–17; 6:3; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 1:18; 3:9–20). Our Lord must purify our natures of this corruption in order for us to trust in Him and to be fit to see Him face-to-face. God decisively and permanently initiates this cleansing in regeneration when He gives us new hearts able to believe in Him (Ezek. 36:22–28; John 3:1–8). In our regeneration, however, God does not immediately remove all the effects or presence of sin. That will not happen until our glorification. Thus, believers have remaining sin to deal with, fallenness that wants to rise up again and again to draw us into transgression (Rom. 7:7–25). In our progressive sanctification, we war against this fallen­ness and are gradually made holy in our practice.

Westminster Confession of Faith 13.1 explains progressive sanctification thus: The redeemed “are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them: the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified; and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” This summary reflects texts such as 1 Peter 1:13–25, which teaches the balance between the Lord’s work and our response in sanctification. Unlike in our regeneration, wherein only the Lord is active, in progressive sanctification both God and man are active. We are not equal partners, for God decisively empowers us through the saving work of Christ mediated to us through His Word and Spirit. Nevertheless, we do strive as a result to practice true holiness (Phil. 2:12–13).