Sanctification occurs only 5-10 times in the New Testament, while “sanctify” occurs 70 times in 65 verses in the KJV throughout the Bible.
Doesn’t sanctification require someone or something to be ‘sanctified?’
What is sanctification?
How is it different since Christ Jesus?
Sanctification in the Old Testament
Moses on Sinai
Exodus 19 NKJV excerpt
And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain..
‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,
… ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
Exodus 19:3-6 except NKJV
So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes.
קָדַשׁ qâdash,
to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):—appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self),
“Also let the priests who come near to Yahweh set H6942 themselves apart H6942 as H6942 holy H6942, lest Yahweh break out against them.”
And Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You [testified to] warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain, and set H6942 it apart H6942 as H6942 holy H6942.’”
Exodus 19:22-23 LSB – noting H6942 meaning Sanctify or Hallow
שְׁמֹות (Exodus) 19 :: Masoretic Text
19:22 וְגַם הַכֹּהֲנִים הַנִּגָּשִׁים אֶל־יְהוָה יִתְקַדָּשׁוּ פֶּן־יִפְרֹץ בָּהֶם יְהוָה׃
19:23 וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־יְהוָה לֹא־יוּכַל הָעָם לַעֲלֹת אֶל־הַר סִינָי כִּי־אַתָּה הַעֵדֹתָה בָּנוּ לֵאמֹר הַגְבֵּל אֶת־הָהָר וְקִדַּשְׁתּוֹ׃
Does this washing for holiness before God bring any sanctifying fear over you before facing the LORD your Maker?
An Old Testament Word
You may recognize the same word in a couple of important places in the Bible.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified H6942 it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it.
Genesis 2:3 LSB
זָכוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ׃
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep H6942 it holy H6942.
Exodus 20:8 WLC, LSB
AND perhaps like me, you recall a similar sanctification from the Word of the Gospels.
Pray then like this:
Matthew 6:9 RSV
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Sanctification then prepares unholy sinners to face the Most Holy.
Sanctification in the New Testament
The A.D. first century Greek verb Jesus and the Apostles use is hagiazō.
verb - From ἅγιος (G40) adjective (most holy thing, a saint)
- From hagos adjective (an awful thing) [cf ἁγνός (G53) adjective, properly, clean, i.e. (figuratively) innocent, modest, perfect:—chaste, clean, pure.
- to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow
- to separate from profane things and dedicate to God
- to purify
- to cleanse externally
- to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin
- to purify internally by renewing of the soul
The Apostle Paul, in referring to a long list of sins of the Corinthians writes:
And such were some of you; but you were washed,
but you were sanctified G37,
but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Therefore, dear chosen of Christ Jesus, do you see yourself as:
a most holy thing, a saint ?
The A.D. first century Greek adjective of the same root is hagios.
Are YOU a HOLY Saint of JESUS Christ, therefore sanctified to Him in your mortal AND eternal life?
Sanctified saints
“For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Hebrews 2:10-11 BSB
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17 CSB – Jesus’ prayer for disciples
Sanctification of children learning to walk in Christ
To the saints in Galatia:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 4:8-9 ESV
To the saint sitting with you in church:
In conclusion, the best way to examine some of the jargon of Scripture like anointed, consecrated, sanctified, justified and holiness is in prayerful time in the Bible itself.
How better to explain sanctification (or any ‘Christian’ jargon) to a new child of the faith with whom you worship than with Biblical text?
READ any of the links provided in the Scriptures above.
OR For more on the topic of Sanctification you may search it here on TalkofJESUS.com OR simply read the earlier post below with my closing thought.
Sanctification – a refining of our holiness in Christ
For this is the will of God, your sanctification.. For God did not call us to impurity,
but in sanctification.
Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man
but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
1 Thessalonians 4:3a, (3b-6 short list of our impurity) 7-8 LSB
~A.D. 51 – Paul writes to encourage the Thessalonian Church
A look back from 2025 CE to an earlier look at Sanctification
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