Sanctification

Posted on July 29, 2026July 29, 2026 by christianwordsblog

MIND (set)

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)

Having expounded on the doctrines of justification, sanctification and glorification, the apostle Paul now reaches a wonderful conclusion: for all who submit themselves to the authority of Jesus, there is no punishment, having been freed from prison of sin and death, which is the inevitable and inescapable fate of all humanity without divine intervention.

This means a new mindset, one that seeks to please Jesus as opposed to one set on self-gratification. Paul’s Greek employs one noun, φρόνημα (phronéma) to cover the composite ‘mind-set’ of the translation (ESV) and it literally means being governed from within, impelled by personal insight, or more colloquially ‘going with your gut’.

Posted on November 1, 2023November 2, 2023 by christianwordsblog

SINNER

^‘I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ (Luke 5:32)

Challenged as to why Jesus associates with sinners, Jesus’ reply no doubt stunned the Pharisees who studiously upheld the Law of Moses and thought themselves ‘righteous’, that is, in a place of right standing with God.

The word that translates ‘sinners’ is the Greek adjective (substantival – acting as a noun) ἁμαρτωλός hamartólos, literally ‘falling well-wide of the target’, but here stands for the most blatant and inveterate of transgressors.

Who is Jesus speaking about? Every single human being that ever lived apart from himself.

Posted on July 29, 2022July 29, 2022 by christianwordsblog

STRONGHOLD

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Paul identifies ‘strongholds’ – the Greek is ὀχύρωμα ochuróma, literally ‘fortress’ – which means conceptually and in context, ‘a place of refuge from reality’; in other words, Paul is speaking about inner desires, wishes, dreams and fantasies, alongside any other idolatrous and rebellious notions to which the follower of Christ may cleave. These are inner and personal fastnesses that resist the Holy Spirit, and he says that the individual is to seek them out in themselves and tear them down.

Posted on April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 by christianwordsblog

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:15-19)

In his final, extended prayer for his disciples, Jesus asks his Heavenly Father to sanctify them. The complexity of this prayer is revealed by understanding that ‘sanctify’ translates the Greek verb ἁγιάζω (hagiazó), which means ‘to make holy’ but also has the plainer meaning ‘to set apart’.