Made Perfect in Love: A Theological Understanding of Sanctification

By Jason Vickers

Something similar happens with the Bible and the elements in Holy Communion. We set apart certain books to be read in worship, and we consecrate bread and wine. The books of the Bible can be read by atheists or historians in the same way they would read or study other books. For believers, however, the Bible cannot be approached that way. It is Holy Scripture. Similarly, atheists can approach the Communion bread and wine as simply bread and wine. For believers, they are more than that—hence Holy Communion or Holy Eucharist. The books of the Bible and the elements of Communion have been set apart for God to use as he sees fit. We approach them accordingly.

We also consecrate persons, setting them apart for God’s use. This happens in ordination and in election to the episcopacy. Thus, we have special services in which we ordain people to holy orders.

The same can be said for the whole people of God. In 2 Corinthians 6:17, we are called to come out from the world and to be separate—separated unto God. Time and again, the Scriptures declare that we belong to God.

Sanctification as consecration for God’s use is not something we do on a whim. We consecrate things or people because we believe God has commanded us to do so. God directs Israel to consecrate the Sabbath as well as all firstborn males, both human and animal, as belonging to God. In other words, consecration is not something that merely reflects our personal opinions or tastes. It is a matter of obedience to God.

There is, however, a problem with thinking of sanctification strictly in terms of consecration. We should think—and think often—about sanctification as consecration. But consecration cannot carry all the freight in response to the divine commands, “Be holy, for I am holy,” and “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Why is consecration insufficient for understanding and responding to the call to holiness? How should—and should not—we think about holiness in connection with the commands to be holy and perfect as God is holy and perfect? And what is the importance of consecrated things for answering the call to holiness when holiness is understood in this other, non-consecratory way?

More Than Consecration

First, consecration for God’s use is not sufficient because we are called to emulate God’s holiness. God’s holiness is not a matter of consecration. God does not need to set himself apart for his own use.

The exception to this occurs in John 17:19, where Jesus sanctifies himself. This text arguably should be read in a consecratory way. The event takes place on the eve of Jesus’ arrest and eventual crucifixion. Thus, his act of self-sanctification can be viewed as an act of consecration for a specific purpose or use—namely, becoming a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Jesus himself tells us that he does this so that we might be sanctified.

But the sanctification that Jesus makes possible for us cannot be identical to Jesus’ self-sanctification. On the one hand, Jesus is not calling us to consecrate ourselves for use as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. On the other hand, Jesus himself does not need to be otherwise sanctified. He is, after all, without sin.

What Does It Mean to Emulate God’s Holiness?

This brings us to another meaning of holiness in connection with entire sanctification and specifically with the call to be holy. To put the issue in the form of a question: Just what are we being called to when we are called to emulate God’s holiness? To answer this question, we need to explore what it means to say that God is holy.

We have already ruled out a consecratory view of holiness, and we must now rule out a few other dimensions of God’s holiness—namely, majesty and glory, and mystery or transcendence.

In Scripture and Christian worship, God’s holiness is closely associated with his majesty and glory. In the Song of the Sea in Exodus, God is said to be “majestic in holiness.” In Christian worship, Isaiah’s thrice-holy is followed by the formula, “Heaven and earth are full of your glory.” Yet the call to be holy is not a call to be majestic or glorious. God is not saying, “Be glorious and majestic, for I am glorious and majestic.”

The same holds for God’s transcendence and mysteriousness. Holiness is a way of denoting the absolute difference between God and creation. To say that God is holy is to say that he is altogether different from all creaturely reality. Again, God is not calling us to be transcendent or mysterious.

What, then, is left? Throughout both Scripture and the Christian theological tradition, God’s holiness is intimately related to God’s love, goodness, and moral purity. In the simplest terms, God is love and not hate. He is good and not evil. He is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. These are the aspects of God’s holiness that Scripture says are possible for us humans.

Thus, we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. We are called to purify ourselves and to abstain from every form of evil. We are called to love the good. We are called to embody goodness, mercy, and love in all our relationships. We are called from darkness to light.

The biblical call to holiness is a call to be made perfect in love. It is a call to be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ. It is a call to moral purity, not as a basis for our acceptance, but as the promised fulfillment of God’s purpose for us from the beginning.

We were made by love, and we were made for love. We were made good, and we were made to be good and to love goodness. Entire sanctification is nothing more and nothing less than the realization of God’s creative purposes for our lives.

The Gift and Work of God

How do we answer the call to holiness? God and God alone is the source of all holiness. He is also the sole source of all goodness and love.

Holiness, or entire sanctification, cannot be purchased with money. It cannot be earned like a college degree. It can only be received as a gift. The transformation of our minds and hearts is something God does for us and in us.

But God has not left us simply to sit around waiting for the day when, while we are otherwise minding our own business, he will instantly make us perfect in love. Rather, God has blessed us with powerful provisions by which the Holy Spirit works to sanctify us—most notably the provisions of Word and sacrament.

Through the proclamation of the Word, the Holy Spirit awakens us to the terrifying reality of our sinfulness and waywardness, as well as to the amazing reality of God’s free grace and forgiveness available in Christ.

In Baptism, the Holy Spirit joins us to Christ, knitting us together with other believers in him. In Holy Communion, the Holy Spirit deepens our love for God and confers all the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice, including all theological and spiritual virtues.

Through Word and sacrament, the Holy Spirit forms the mind of Christ in us, inflames our hearts with love for God and neighbor, and enables us to join with other believers in attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Consecrated Means and Moral Transformation

The call to holiness, then, cannot be reduced to consecration for God’s use. Consecration is crucial, but the holiness to which we are being summoned has an unmistakable and irreducible moral dimension.

To make the point most forcefully, when Israel consecrates its livestock to God, the livestock do not undergo any metaphysical or moral change. The sheep do not glow.

And yet God works through consecrated means to bring about a deep and profound moral change in us. Through Word and sacrament, as well as other means of grace such as prayer and fasting, God confers saving and sanctifying grace upon our souls. In the words of the Collect for Purity, he cleanses the thoughts of our hearts, enabling us to perfectly love him and worthily magnify his holy name.

Speaking of magnifying God’s holy name, we should now recall those aspects of God’s holiness that we cannot emulate: majesty and glory, transcendence and mystery. These bear directly on human holiness.

To be made holy involves coming to know that we are not God—that, as creatures, we are made to worship God and enjoy him forever. In this life and in the life of the world to come, the entirely sanctified will behold the beauty of God’s holiness. In the words of Charles Wesley, we will be “lost in wonder, love, and praise.”

Jason Vickers is the Professor of Christian Theology and Holder of the Wesley Endowed Chair of Christian Theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas.