Gifts of Sanctification

Sanctification is the God-led process of becoming like Christ and is therefore inseparable from consecration. I am indebted to HealingModels.org for this model of consecration and have provided a link to it in the description below. It argues that the reason you are separated from God is because of sin, whether they are known, unknown, or have been there so long that they’ve become strongholds. The solution is to consecrate yourself from sin, which means to repent, forgive and renounce any sin in your life to open up a channel to God. The more sin you consecrate yourself of, the bigger and freer the channel to God.

Sanctification on the other hand is a broader term that includes the Word (John 17:17)

¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

and the Holy Spirit (1 Pet 1:2)

²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

as divine agents that cleanse the believer over time. Just attending church and passively listening to the preaching of the Word is sanctifying (John 15:3).

³Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

The Holy Spirit helps you understand the Word (John 14:26)

²⁶But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

and obey it (Ezek 36:27).

²⁷And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Consecration though, requires you to actively seek and destroy any sin that separates you from God, and so all consecration is a type of sanctification, but not vice versa.

Note that all these sanctifiers, the Word of God, understanding, preaching, church community, and conviction are all gifts from the Holy Spirit. You did not earn them, but God gave them to you for free. The question is whether you will receive these gifts and allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify you, or whether you will harden your heart and reject Him and His cleansing power.

If you feel distant from God, try viewing the spiritual disciplines such as Bible study and church fellowship as gifts to receive from the Holy Spirit as opposed to rituals to observe through your own effort to meet some kind of checklist. That would be turning sanctification by grace into sanctification by works, and that would be stealing the glory from God (Eph 2:8–9).

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Forgifted.org has a whole video on the connection between discipleship and consecration, so we won’t repeat it here and instead direct you to its link in the description below.

Gifts of Edification

The next set of gifts the Holy Spirit gives is for edification, or strengthening and growing the believer to become like Jesus. A parable will help explain the difference between sanctification and edification:

“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear” (Matt 13:3–9).

³And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, ⁶but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹He who has ears, let him hear.”

So for you to grow and produce spiritual fruit, the Holy Spirit needs to remove the rocks and thorns from your heart that choke out the seed. As discussed in the previous video, that process is called regeneration for pre-Christians, but is called sanctification for Christians. Both have sin, and it is the Holy Spirit who cleanses them from it. But simply removing the rocks and thorns will not cause a seed grow. You also need sunlight, water, and fertilizer. The Holy Spirit gives these gifts of edification to produce the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:23).

²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Universal Gifts for Personal Edification

We can divide gifts of edification into two classes: universal gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to all Christians, and particular gifts that He gives to individuals. There are too many universal gifts to describe in detail in one video, and so I will restrict this discussion to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in (Isa 11:2–3)

²And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. ³And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear

which are universally accepted by Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians:

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and fortitude,

the Spirit of knowledge and piety.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

Note the building blocks of classical education theory as modelled by Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. The Holy Spirit gives you the knowledge of God through the Word of God and through personal counsel. Jesus said, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26).

²⁶But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The word for “counselor” can also be translated as “teacher, advocate or comforter”, indicating that His teaching is of personal knowledge of God, not just facts about Him.

These are all gifts, but they are not effective unless they can be received. According to (1 Cor 2:14),

¹⁴The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

the ability to receive knowledge is called understanding, the second stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. The Holy Spirit gives understanding of God only to Christians. Wisdom is the correct application of knowledge to make right decisions. God promises that, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (Jas 1:5).

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

For example, Solomon threatened to cut the baby in half, and then gave him to the mother that objected (1 Kgs 3:24–28).

²⁴And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. ²⁵And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” ²⁷Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” ²⁸And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

The Holy Spirit guides (John 16:13)

¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

and leads (Gal 5:25)

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

you into all truth as you listen to His counsel before making decisions. Finally, God fills you, like Bezalel, “with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding and knowledge with all kinds of skills to create artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze” (Exod 35:31–32).

³¹and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, ³²to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze

Collectively, these universal gifts means that Christians have everything they need for a complete spiritual education. It’s not a matter of cost or earning a degree or status; it’s purely a gift, or if you rather, a grace of the Holy Spirit. In Protestant theology, it’s called “the priesthood of all believers”. The last three gifts are fear of the Lord, piety, and fortitude.

(Prov 9:10)

¹⁰The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”. God instills fear, or awe of Him, and that leads to fervent worship of Him, also called piety. But that’s only the beginning of wisdom, the Old Testament revelation as the fearsome God. Jesus introduced God as the loving Father by being His Son and revealing the heart of the Father through parables like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32).

¹¹And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹²And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. ¹³Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. ¹⁴And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. ²⁵“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, ²⁹but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

But it is the “Spirit himself who bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Rom 8:16)

¹⁶The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God

that allows our hearts to feel the love of God, not just read about it.

It’s one thing for the mind to be convinced that “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son” (John 3:16),

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

but it’s quite another for your heart to feel that God loves you as His beloved child. Wisdom begins with fear and ends with love. A mature Christian both fears and loves God, and both are the work of the Spirit.

That leads us to the last gift, fortitude, which is the inner strength to endure. It’s also known as the gift of courage. It’s based on the secure knowledge that no matter what happens and who disapproves of you, your Heavenly Father still loves you and is proud of you. By the way, He’s also bigger and more fearsome than any other father. A reminder of that truth is comforting. “The Counselor”, or sometimes translated “The Comforter”, is one of the primary titles and roles of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).

²⁶But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness (Rom 8:26)

²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

and is the spirit of “power, love, and a sound mind” (2 Tim 1:7).

⁷for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

There’s lots of stories where the Holy Spirit gives courage. For example, after being released from prison (Acts 4:23),

²³When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

Peter and John prayed for courage (Acts 4:29),

²⁹And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness

and “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31),

³¹And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

and continued to preach the gospel. So in summary, the Holy Spirit gives universal gifts of edification to all Christians to grow them in the knowledge, wisdom and character of Christ.

Particular Gifts for Edification of the Church

The Holy Spirit also gives particular gifts for the “edification of the church” (1 Cor 14:4–5),

⁴The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

meaning that your particular spiritual gift is not primarily for your benefit, but for the benefit of the Church. A common reading of 1 Cor 12 is to go through its two gift lists, plus the ones in Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Peter, to determine which one you have, like being an evangelist. But if you hoard that gift for personal edification rather than regifting it to others, then you’ve missed the point of spiritual gifts: to foster love. “You’re gifted to give, not gifted to hoard.” Forgifted.org has a whole video expositing 1 Cor 12 as a gift economy of love, so we won’t repeat it here and instead direct you to its link in the description below.

Gifts of Proclamation

The final set of gifts that we’ll cover in this video are gifts of proclamation. I’ve already mentioned the universal gift of courage and the particular gift of the evangelist, and both are obviously useful for proclamation. But the Holy Spirit and His gifts are not just useful for proclamation, but necessary. Jesus ordered the apostles not to depart from Jerusalem, “but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’” (Acts 1:4–5).

⁴And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

For “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

There are different views as to what exactly is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and when it happens (ie: at Pentecost for the disciples, and at conversion for all subsequent Christians), or whether it is a subsequent event to conversion evidenced by exercising a spiritual gift, like speaking in tongues. The debate has been sharp enough that it has split the Church into multiple denominations. But that misses the point of the spiritual gifts in the first place: the Holy Spirit gives us gifts not to divide us, but to edify the Church to where we can be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. The Greek word for witness is “martus” from which we get the word “martyr”. That type of courage, that type of proclamation, comes from the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, the Holy Spirit gives Christians gifts of sanctification, edification, and proclamation. He cleanses us from sin, grows us to maturity, and then empowers us to evangelize others to start the cycle again. None of this is possible through our own strength, but all of it by God’s gifts, called “grace”. Sanctification is by grace, edification is by grace, and proclamation is by grace. The Holy Spirit is the Gracious Giver. Will you receive His gifts, His grace today? Then do so to glorify the Father through faith in the Son, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, amen.