Why pursue holiness if already sanctified?
Question 7085
The question arises naturally for anyone who takes the New Testament seriously. Paul can write to the Corinthians and call them “those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and yet the same letter spends considerable energy addressing a congregation with serious moral and relational problems. If they are already sanctified, what is the point of correcting them? And if correction is still necessary, in what sense are they sanctified at all? The answer lies in recognising that Scripture uses the term in more than one way, and that these two uses are not in tension; they are complementary.
Two Uses of Sanctification in Scripture
The word “sanctify” (Greek hagiazō) and its related noun (hagiasmos) come from the same root as the word for “holy” (hagios). At its core, it means to be set apart, to be consecrated for God’s purposes. But Scripture uses this concept in ways that must not be collapsed together.
Positional sanctification is the status every believer receives at the moment of conversion. Hebrews 10:10 states that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The verb is in the perfect tense, indicating a completed action with ongoing effect: we have been sanctified and remain so. This is not an achievement of the believer; it is the standing conferred by the finished work of Christ. The Corinthians Paul addresses as “sanctified” were set apart for God through their union with Christ, regardless of the state of their behaviour at the time of writing.
Progressive sanctification is something different: the actual transformation of character and conduct that follows conversion, as the believer increasingly reflects the holiness that is already theirs by position. This is an ongoing process, never complete in this life, requiring genuine effort and co-operation with the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 12:14 commands it directly: “strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” This is addressed to people who are already believers, who already have a standing before God, and they are still commanded to pursue holiness actively.
The Logic of Romans 6
Paul addresses exactly this tension in Romans 6. He has just finished explaining the superabundance of grace in Romans 5, and he anticipates the obvious misreading: “shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound?” His answer is a sharp “By no means!” followed not by a moral lecture but by a theological argument. The believer died to sin at conversion. This is not a command to obey but a fact to be reckoned with: “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).
The pursuit of holiness is not an attempt to earn a status we do not yet possess; it is the appropriate expression of a status we already possess. Paul’s command in Romans 6:13 is to “present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.” The basis for the command is the reality that precedes it: because you are what you are in Christ, live accordingly.
This is why the question “why pursue holiness if already sanctified?” contains a slight misframing. The positional sanctification is not a reason to stop pursuing holiness; it is the foundation on which the pursuit becomes meaningful. We do not pursue holiness to become what we are not yet; we pursue it because of what we already are.
The Role of the Spirit
Progressive sanctification is not a project of sheer willpower. Romans 8:13 speaks of putting to death the deeds of the body “by the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16 promises that if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The ongoing filling of the Spirit described in Ephesians 5:18 is precisely the means by which sanctification advances: being continually yielded to the Spirit’s direction rather than to the impulses of the flesh.
At the same time, this is a genuine co-operation. The commands to mortify sin, to put off the old self and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22-24), to discipline the body (1 Corinthians 9:27), all presuppose genuine human agency. The believer is not passive in sanctification. The Spirit’s enabling is real, but it is engaged through deliberate choices, deliberate prayer, deliberate rejection of temptation. God works in the believer “to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13), and the following verse commands the believer to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Both the divine initiative and the human response are present simultaneously, and neither cancels the other.
What This Is Not About
Progressive sanctification does not affect the believer’s standing before God. Justification is not improved by growth in holiness, nor is it endangered by failure. The justified standing before God is grounded in Christ’s righteousness, not the believer’s spiritual progress. Fellowship with God can be disrupted by unconfessed sin and is restored through confession (1 John 1:9), but the foundational relationship is not at stake in either direction.
The goal of sanctification is not to achieve a morality threshold that satisfies God. It is the transformation of the whole person, by the Spirit, into increasing conformity with Christ, for the glory of God and the genuine good of others.
So, now what?
The believer who genuinely understands their positional sanctification does not use it as a reason to coast. Understanding what you are in Christ is the most powerful motivating framework there is for the pursuit of holiness, because it means you are becoming what you already are, not trying to become what you have no grounds to expect. Hebrews 12:1 calls it running “with endurance the race that is set before us.” The race was set before you when you believed; the running is what the rest of your Christian life looks like.
“For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7