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Page 200
Sanctification
Sanday
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 200
the whole conception. While the term formerly
denoted justification by faith and grace alone,
rationalism understood by it the inner disposition
which is to make man pleasing to God. Consequently the rationalists laid stress upon sanctification in the sense of man's efforts for his own moral
perfection. In opposition to this tendency Schleiermacher once more emphasized faith as the truly
religious attitude toward God and his revelation,
as the condition of heart which is satisfied and feels
itself strong in communion with Christ. This condition was developed by the following theologians into
the germ of a new life on the basis of which man is
justified. Accordingly, the subjective faith of man
effects sanctification and lies at the basis of divine
justification. This teaching was far removed
from the doctrine of the Reformers. Ritschl and
his school, however, returned to the latter, especially
to that of Luther, by making sanctification dependent upon the justification of God. But according
to Ritschl, man is justified only as a member of the
Church, his act of conformity to which, and hence
to the motives and purposes of God, constitutes the
faith which justifies him. Thus here, too, sanctification, conceived as separation from sin, which takes
form and accomplishes itself, is made within man
and is the basis of justification.
In the Reformed Church and theology sanctification comes into the doctrine of perseverance. Man
is justified, indeed, freely by grace; but the justified
must perform good works, which he is enabled to do
by a second act of grace, inseparably connected
with justification. This is regeneraThe tion, which sanctifies him. By this
Reformed regeneration or sanctification, how-
View. ever, man does not attain full per
fection. His whole consolation rests
upon the fact of justification. Sanctification is
necessary for the elect and justified, in order to
preserve the grace of their justification, and thus
it follows justification with an inner divine necessity.
Here also, as in Lutheran theology after Luther,
sanctification is considered a special work of the
Holy Spirit, following justification and conditioned
by it. The distinction between the two is hardly
more than a technical and controversial one.
Owing to influences from England and America,
especially from the Methodists, Baptists, and Salvation Army and.the doctrine of Pearsall Smith, a
new doctrine of sanctification has become current,
according to which it is not only different from, but
even more important than, justification. It is considered as that act of divine grace in which the real
tendency of divine revelation finds its fullest expression, while justification is secondary to it.
Upon examination the view of the Lutheran as well
as of the Reformed theologians, that sanctification
is a special process to be distinguished from
justification and following it, is seen to be un
acriptural. Just as little authority in Scripture can
be found for the view of the Pietists,
Conclasian. of the modern dogmaticians (including
Ritschl), and still less for that of the
"practical" tendency in church life, according to
which sanctification is the chief purpose of the
divine plan of salvation. Formal scriptural au-
thority can be found only for the view of Luther and
that of the medieval or Roman theology, which
designate the whole process of conveying salvation
to man as sanctification. Of these two, again,
Luther's alone is scriptural in so far as he looks upon
this bestowal of salvation as the effect of faith.
Bestowal of salvation is sanctification, because it
delivers man from sin and brings him into com
munion with the God of redemption. It is to be
distinguished, though not separated, from the
divine sentence of justification, since it is that effect
of the grace of God on man which makes him
capable of faith and preserves it, which brings him
into communion with God and preserves him in it;
it is therefore not a single isolated operation but
a continuous one. The scriptural term hagiasmos
denotes the condition of being sanctified, the action
performed on the object as a condition proceeding
from and effected by the Holy Ghost who bestows
salvation (I Peter i.2; cf. II Thess. ii. 13; I Thess.
iv. 7). If it be asked what is the relation of sancti
fication to the actuality of Christian life, it appears
that man stands by faith in communion with God,
and is thus placed in a position from which he is not
only able but obliged to resist sin and fulfil the will
of God out of love. The bestowal of grace, forgive
ness, in a word justification, is actually sanctifica
tion; for there is no mightier deliverance from sin
than that which is worked by the bestowal of
grace or forgiveness, or by faith in the operation of
its power. "Christ in us" is nothing else than
"Christ for us," realized and held fast in faith.
Such action as makes man a partaker of sanctifica
tion is precisely the same action as that by which he
is made a partaker of justification; it is clear, accord
ingly, that in view of the position and meaning of
the latter in the scheme of Christian doctrine, the
term sanctification is non-essential, if not super
fluous. (H. T.
CREMERt.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The subject is generally treated in the works
on systematic theology (see under the article
DOGMA,
DoGmATIcs),
while treatises on the Holy Spirit (q.v.)
necessarily deal with the topic; another class of works to
be used for the Biblical side is that on
BIBLICAL THEOIr
oeY, especially
w.
Beyschlag's N. T.
Theology,
Edin
burgh, 1896. Consult further: Walter Marshall,
Gospel
Mystery of Sanctification,
London, 1692, often reprinted,
e.g., Edinburgh, 1887 (a classic); E. G. Marsh,
The Chris
tian Doctrine of San "*ation,
London, 1848; J. Q. Adams,
Sanctification,
new ed., New York, 1863; G. Junkin, A
Treatise on Sanctification,
Philadelphia, 1864; W. E.
Boardman,
The " Higher Life " Sanctification Tried by the
Word of God,
Philadelphia, 1877; J. A. Beet,
Holiness as
Understood by the Writers of the Bible,
London, 1880;
J. Hartley,
Chapters on Holiness,
London, 1883; J. H.
Collins,
Sanctification, what it is, when it is, how it is,
Nashville, 1885; A. Murray,
Holy in Christ,
New York,
1888; J. Fraser. A
Treatise on Sanctification,
London,
1897; E. Hoare,
Sanctification,
5th ed., ib., 1898; P.
T. Forsyth,
Christian Perfection,
New York, 1899; H.
W. Webb-Peploe,
Calls to Holiness,
London, 1900; A.
Kuyper,
The Work of the Holy Spirit,
New York, 1902;
W. R. Inge,
Faith and Knowledge,
Edinburgh, 1904;
H. C. G. Moule,
Holiness by Faith,
London, 1906; A. B.
0. Wilberforce,
Sanctification by the Truth,
London, 1906;
E. Tobae,
Le Problpme de la justification dans S. Paul,
Louvain, 1908;
DB, iv.
391-395;
DCG, ii.
561-566 (adds
a bibliography of distinct homiletical value); Vigouroua,
Dictionnaire,
fase. xasv. 1443-44.
SANCTIS, sdncrtis, LUIGI DE: Italian Protestant; b. at Rome Dec. 31, 1808; d. at Florence
Dec. 31, 1869. Of his youth little is known, but