05/07/2019
root is found in the Old Testament in the Hebrew verb קרשׁ , ḳādhash , in the New Testament in the Greek verb ἀγιάζω , hagoázō . The noun "sanctification" ( ἁγιασμός , hagiasmós ) does not occur in the Old Testament and is found but 10 times in the New Testament, but the roots noted above appear in a group of important words which are of very frequent occurrence. These words are "holy," "hallow," "hallowed," "holiness," "consecrate," "saint," "sanctify," "sanctification." It must be borne in mind that these words are all translations of the same root, and that therefore no one of them can be treated adequately without reference to the others. All have undergone a certain development. Broadly stated, this has been from the formal, or ritual, to the ethical, and these different meanings must be carefully distinguished.
I. The Formal Sense.
By sanctification is ordinarily meant that hallowing of the Christian believer by which he is freed from sin and enabled to realize the will of God in his life. This is not, however, the first or common meaning in the Scriptures. To sanctify means commonly to make holy, that is, to separate from the world and consecrate to God.
1. In the Old Testament:
To understand this primary meaning we must go back to the word "holy" in the Old Testament. That is holy which belongs to Yahweh. There is nothing implied here as to moral character. It may refer to days and seasons, to places, to objects used for worship, or to persons. Exactly the same usage is shown with the word "sanctify." To sanctify anything is to declare it as belonging to God. "Sanctify unto me all the first-born ... it is mine" (Exodus 13:2; compare Numbers 3:13; Numbers 8:17 ). It applies thus to all that is connected with worship, to the Levites (Numbers 3:12 ), the priests and the tent of meeting (Exodus 29:44 ), the altar and all that touches it (Exodus 29:36 f), and the offering ( Exodus 29:27; compare 2 Macc 2:18; Ecclesiasticus 7:31). The feast and holy d
