Healthy Christian Spirituality Amidst the Pandemic

“Sanctification” comes from the Greek word hagiasmos, meaning “holiness” or “a separation.” As such, to sanctify means to be set apart for a specific purpose, and thus the theological interpretation of sanctification typically refers to the process of being set apart further and further from the world and of being made more and more holy.

It should, however, be noted that some literatures do confusingly refer to sanctification as an event – rather than a process. An example of this interpretation of sanctification as an occurrence can be seen from verses such as Hebrews 10:10, which the ESV and NIV translations notably vary.

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV)

Hebrews 10:10 (NIV)

For the purpose of this article, it would be more accurate to refer to this one-off event version of sanctification as justification, and retain the meaning of sanctification as referring to a process. Consequently then, to refer to sanctification as an end goal or destination would be inaccurate, rather it should be seen as a progression and a journey. In the same way, “travel” refers to the state of continual movement, likewise sanctification refers to the state of continual pursuit of holiness. But unlike travelling where we can expect to arrive at a destination and therefore conclude the travelling process, it is generally agreed that with sanctification, we would only conclude the sanctification process in heaven. As it would be impossible for humanity to live lives completely devoid of sin whilst on earth (only Jesus was able to do that), it would likewise be impossible to be completely sanctified whilst on earth.

The key idea is this: that sanctification is a journey to holiness, and it being a journey which will only end in heaven means that we will never be able to achieve complete holiness whist we are on earth. It follows then that whilst we continue on this pursuit of holiness on earth, we will inevitably continue to sin – this raises the fundamental question: can we then continue to freely sin whilst on this pursuit of sanctification and still be assured of our salvation?

Sanctification is Not Hyper-Grace

Lest we come to the erroneous conclusion that being on the journey of sanctification allows us a ticket to freely sin whilst our salvation remains secured, let us be mindful of the different mindsets these two positions are based on. With hyper-grace and antinomianism, the mindset taken is that as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary, God’s laws no longer apply and salvation is assured regardless of how we live our lives. This is radically different with sanctification where the mindset taken is based on a repentant heart that continually seeks to be more and more holy despite the fact that he continues to sin out of his imperfection. Sins committed by antinominalist and hyper-grace proponents tend to be committed in a carefree manner and carelessly as they do not believe that God’s laws apply to them, and therefore they do not see the need to turn away from sin. Conversely, Christians who are repentant would endeavour to turn away from sin and would confess their sins, those they had failed to avoid, in a posture of submission to God. Notwithstanding their imperfections, Christians would endeavour to avoid sin in their quest to improve themselves to become more and more godly and holy.

The differentiating element here is as intrinsic as it is personal. On the outward, two sinners may look the same but inherently, the weather in their hearts will be immensely different - and it is this difference which will determine whether the sinner’s salvation can be “lost”.

Leviticus 5:5

Our Salvation Hinges on Repentance

Given that God’s promise and grace are reliable, permanent and unwavering, then the only potentially wavering element which may risk us “losing” our salvation is on us – that is, our state of repentance. Where repentance means changing our minds about God (i.e. accept Christ as Lord and Saviour) then its antonym is apostasy (i.e. turning away from and rejecting Christ).

It is generally agreed by most Christian schools that apostasy is not possible, as they argue that repentance only works in one direction (from being faithless in Christ to being faithful in Christ) and it is not possible to un-repent or to undo one’s repentance. The idea behind this is the belief that when a person becomes a Christian, he would be spiritually reborn as a new person (especially if he has been baptised) and hence it would not be possible be un-born.

Perseverance of the Saints

This is in line with the Perseverance of the Saints doctrine which states that if a person were to turn away from Christ, that means that he was never truly repentant and thus had never truly accepted Christ into his life. This means that when a Christian is said to have turned away from God and rejected Christ, it would not be an over-stretch to consider such persons as “fake” Christians to begin with. Although they may have had gone through the motions of faith like attending church service and worship, serving in

In its simplest form, the Perseverance of the Saints doctrine ascribes to the notion that, once a person has been saved, he will always be saved as, at the point of repentance and justification, he had been marked by the seal of the Holy Spirit. Once received, this mark is permanent and guarantees our salvation. And if he had changed his stand from being faithful to being faithless, then we can be assured that he never received the Holy Spirit within him.

To any human observer, the difference between a true Christian and a “fake” Christian may be indistinguishable. A good analogy of this was given by Jesus Himself when He expounded on the Parable of the Weeds. In this parable we see how unbeknownst to the farmer, an enemy had sowed weeds alongside the farmer’s wheat. In their early stages of growth, both the wheat and weed showed no difference. It was only when the wheat started to bear fruit but the weeds did not that they were detected. In the same way, “fake” Christians who have not truly repented would never be able to bear fruit from sanctification.

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

1 John 2:19

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you

Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when

also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Matthew 13:24–30

Can a Christian Lose His Salvation?

Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer to the question of whether a Christian can lose his salvation. Rather the answer is “it depends”, and it depends on how we define “Christian” in this statement. If we define a Christian as someone who has uttered the sinner’s prayer or has been raised in a Christian family and observes Christian traditions and regulations, or someone who embraces the cross or crucifix and endeavours to live an ethical and moral life, technically we are not wrong – but we are not completely right either. Each of these are notably important and indicative of someone who is walking right with God, but they are not conclusive of whether the person is truly a Christian. But, as discussed above, if we employ the Perseverance of the Saints doctrine then no, it would not be possible for a “real” Christian to lose his salvation.

The true mark of Christianity in a person is much less tangible and has less to do with his outward appearance and more to do with his heart. The more accurate definition of a Christian then is someone who has chosen to accept Jesus as his Lord and Saviour; in other words, someone who has changed his mind about Jesus and has chosen to invest his faith in Him. A simpler way of expressing this is – a Christian is someone who has repented. To him who has repented (that is, true repentance), then he is assured of salvation and God promises that he shall not perish but have eternal life.

Towards that end, we can be assured of God’s promise to all those who believe in Him, to all who are “real” Christians, that His promise of salvation will not waver. His promise is good and insofar as we remain faithful and repentant, we can be assured that notwithstanding our failures and sins, our salvation is assured and will never be lost.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39