Sanctification...it's NOT a Bad Word!

Sanctification. It is a word that often scares Lutherans, yet many Lutherans don't even know what it means! Sanctification is an event, not a process. We spent a few minutes discussing this as an aside during my theology class today. Usually, we look at sanctification as the process of becoming holy or righteous. In reality, the earliest church fathers and even Martin Luther understood the sanctification of Christians as ocurring in Holy Baptism.

To be sanctified is to be cleaned. In the Old Testament, Israel couldn't keep the spoils of a war victory until they were cleaned. Items would be run through fire to sanctify them. If they couldn't be put through fire (i.e., clothing), they would be run through water. Sound familiar?

When we're Baptized, we're sanctified and the new reality that Jesus ushered in is a reality in which we then participate. This new reality is one of blessing all people in the name of Jesus Christ and to live a life of forgiveness. Failure to forgive and to live in this new reality (sin) means that we are denying the power of God; that is, we essentially say that the sin of the other against us is more powerful than God's ability to forgive. If we don't forgive, we make the claim that God cannot forgive. Logically we know this to be untrue. Thus, to be baptized and to live a life wherein we do not forgive and live in the new reality, we are living in unrationality.

We're already sanctified and therefore free to live in that new reality. Or not. So, what are the consequences of deciding to not live in that new reality? Something to ponder...