A Theology of Sanctification (Rom. 6:19-23)
Image from WikiMedia Commons What is sanctification? The Shorter Catechism defines it this way: “Sanctification is a work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness.” That definition defines sanctification in terms of renewal, the scope of which is the whole man, the shape of which is the image of God, and the sequence of which is one of increasing death to sin and growth in righteousness. This is exactly what the apostle Paul is talking about here in Romans 6. This is a chapter about the sanctification of those who have been saved from God’s wrath by God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The word sanctification itself does not occur in the KJV translation of Romans 6 (though it does in other versions; see the ESV, for example), but the word it translates as holiness in verses 19 and 22 is the Greek word hagiasmos which is translated in the KJV as...
