“Many people in relatively orthodox churches are confused about sanctification,” wrote John Robbins in the forward to Gordon Clark’s book Sanctification.
And not only is there a great deal of confusion about sanctification, but the errors people make on this doctrine place them in two broad categories: mystics and workers.
Mystics, as Robbins points out, are those who say of sanctification, “Let go and let God.” They tend to be Charismatics. On the other hand, the workers think that justification is by grace but sanctification is by works. Such persons tend to be Reformed.
Neither of these approaches to sanctification is Biblical.
Before talking about what sanctification is, Robbins notes that salvation, “from start to finish, from election to glorification, from eternity to eternity, is all of grace.”
Robbins notes that justification – God’s declaring us legally righteous and pardoning all our sins – is by grace alone, through faith alone apart from any works. Further, justification is wholly outside us. It is a work that God has done for us by imputing – to impute means to ascribe or to reckon – Christ’s perfect righteousness to us. Justification is not a work done in us.
Sanctification, on the other hand, is not outside of us. “It is a subjective moral change in our character that begins with regeneration and ends with glorification in heaven…Both justification and sanctification are the work of God, not of ourselves; one work, justification, takes place wholly outside of us; the second, sanctification, is God’s work in cleansing us from all sin.”
Robbins, quoting the Westminster Larger Catechism on sanctification, notes that sanctification is, “the 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 to sin and live unto righteousness.”
Now if you’re anything like I was for a long time, you may be thinking, “surely my works have something to do with sanctification, right?” Well, yes, works do have something to do with sanctification, but not in the way that I once thought. You see, I made the very common error of supposing that good works were sanctification. This is not the case, as Robbins explains.
Robbins continues, “In short, men do not make themselves holy; neither their regeneration nor their growth in grace is due to their own diligence or obedience, but to God alone. The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control – are just that, the fruit of the Spirit, not of ourselves, for it is Christ who lives in us, and it is Christ who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure. We are commanded to ‘work out’ what God has already ‘worked in’ us. We cannot work out unless God works in us, for without Christ we can do nothing. We are Christ’s workmanship, not our own.”
Aha! So, good works do have something to do with sanctification, but they are not sanctification itself. Good works are the fruit of our sanctification. They are the product of sanctification already accomplished in us. This information is very helpful to understanding sanctification, but it still leaves unanswered the question of how God sanctifies believers. But we don’t have to guess at it. The Bible tells us explicitly how God produces sanctification in his people, and the clue to how he does it is found in the title of this post.
“God,” Robbins tells us, “works through knowledge.” This probably comes as a surprise to many people. Ours is an anti-intellectual age, one in which feelings are prized and the understanding deprecated. But Christ prayed, “Sanctify them by your truth; your word is truth.” Just as God saves sinful men by causing them to understand and assent to the truths of Scripture, in like fashion he sanctifies them.
Because sanctification is by knowledge, Robbins concludes, “That is why this book on sanctification so emphasizes Bible study. God sanctifies his people through his Word. Unless we know that Word, we cannot be sanctified. Our imperfect and sin-stained obedience to God’s moral law, which is holy, just, and good, is not the cause of our sanctification, but the result. Unless we were already sanctified, we would find it in us neither to will nor to do God’s will. Sanctification is not by works, lest any man should boast. Nor, on the other hand do we “let go and let God” and in some mystical way become sanctified.”
Both justification and sanctification are all of grace and in no part due to our works. Justification is outside us and takes place once, at a single point in time. Justification is God’s declaring us righteous on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us and received by faith alone. Sanctification, on the other hand, is a process beginning with our regeneration and ending with our glorification.
Finally, if sanctification is by knowledge, then it follows that to become move sanctified means that we grown in knowledge of the revealed Word of God. Now there’s a nice incentive for Bible study. As the Author of Hebrews tells us, God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Lux Lucet 
https://godshammer.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/john-robbins-quick-quote/
Good quote from John Robbins correcting Gordon Clark:
CLARK: “Let us be quite clear on the fact that the Bible does not teach salvation by faith alone. The Bible teaches justification by faith alone. Justification then necessarily is followed by a process of sanctification, and this consists of works which we do.” (Predestination, page 86)
John Robbins, who was the editor of this 2006 edition of “Predestination” (published by the Trinity Foundation), inserted the following footnote refuting and correcting Clark:
“9. Editors note: From here to the end of the paragraph Dr. Clark errs in two ways. First the Bible emphatically teaches salvation by faith alone: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50). “Those by the way side are they that hear; then comes the devil, and takes away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). “Who will tell you words, by which you and all your house shall be saved” (Acts 11:4). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Romans 10:9). “By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2). “For by grace are you saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). “…it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). “…them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). “God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:39).
“We see in these verses that justification is not an aspect of salvation on a par with other aspects, but is so identified with salvation that the terms are interchanged repeatedly. To be justified—to be declared righteous because of the imputation of. Christ’s perfect righteousness—is to be saved. All else—sanctification, good works, glorification—flow from that.
“Second, Dr. Clark errs when he says that sanctification “consists of works which we do” and “of external actions initiated by internal volitions” and that “we do the things that produce sanctification.” All these statements are in error. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit; it is not something we do, nor is it the result of something we do. Question 75 of the Larger Catechism asks, “What is sanctification?” and answers: “Sanctification is a work God’s grace…”. In the Westminster Confession of Faith, the chapter on Sanctification is separate from and precedes the chapter on Good Works. To show that sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, not of ourselves, it cites such verses as 1 Corinthians 6:10: “…but you are washed, you are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” John 17:17: “Sanctify them through your truth: Your Word is truth.” Ephesians 5:26: “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly…”. Good works neither are sanctification nor do they produce sanctification. Good works are an effect, a result of sanctification by the Spirit.
“Dr. Clark knew all of this, for in his book “Sanctification,” he wrote, “Chapter 13 of the Westminster Confession emphasizes the fact that we are sanctified by God, not by our own efforts; and imperfect obedience to the moral law is a result of that sanctification, not the cause of it.” He concludes his book with the words of Christ from John 17: “Sanctify them by your truth. Your Word is truth.” (Predestination, pages 85-86)
…The Bible alone is the infallible rule of faith and practice.
{Thanks to Monty Collier for this!}
Thanks for sharing that quote, Hugh. As I was reading through it, I realized that I had not seen these comments by Robbins before. I checked my copy of Predestination and found that it’s the one put out by P&R, not the Trinity Foundation.
I’m going to have to get the Foundation’s edition.
Steve,
You’re most welcome.
I am taking these quotes from Monty Collier, not the book.
Hugh
Thanks, Hugh.
“Our imperfect and sin-stained obedience to God’s moral law, which is holy, just, and good, is not the cause of our sanctification, but the result.”
“Sanctification, on the other hand, is not outside of us. ‘It is a subjective moral change in our character that begins with regeneration and ends with glorification in heaven. Both justification and sanctification are the work of God, not of ourselves; one work, justification, takes place wholly outside of us; the second, sanctification, is God’s work in cleansing us from all sin.’
“Robbins, quoting the Westminster Larger Catechism on sanctification, notes that sanctification is, ‘the 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 to sin and live unto righteousness.’”
There is, in essence, no appreciable difference between Robbins and MacArthur.
You are mistaken, David. Although you don’t say why there is “no appreciable difference between Robbins and MacArthur,” I’m going to assume that you think Robbins is teaching some form of John MacArthur’s error on justification, where MacArthur argued that justification is by faith together with its works. John Robbins argued multiple times and very clearly that justification is by belief alone apart from any good works.
Further, the quotes you provided are John’s statements on sanctification, not justification. Sanctification and justification are not the same thing.
David & Steve, This *is* a serious error:
{Sanctification, on the other hand, is not outside of us. “It is a subjective moral change in our character that begins with regeneration and ends with glorification in heaven…Both justification and sanctification are the work of God, not of ourselves; one work, justification, takes place wholly outside of us; the second, sanctification, is God’s work in cleansing us from all sin.”
{Robbins, quoting the Westminster Larger Catechism on sanctification, notes that sanctification is, “the 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 to sin and live unto righteousness.”}
Sanctification is not, “God’s work in cleansing us from all sin,” but rather, our being set apart/ consecrated by the blood of Christ?
Sanctification is neither “renewal” nor “enablement” by “God’s grace,” but his setting us apart by grace alone thru faith alone in the blood of Christ alone?
John 17:17 – Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 17:19 – And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Acts 26:18 – them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Romans 15:16 – Gentiles… sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
1 Cor. 1:2 – to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus
1 Cor. 6:11 – but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Heb. 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb. 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
1 Thes. 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
Heb. 13:12 – Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
* * * * *
Nor is sanctification, “a subjective moral change in our character that begins with regeneration and ends with glorification in heaven.”
Rather, sanctification is holiness, set-apartness, consecration. Done by God on our behalf for the sake of Christ. Different than his justification of us, but not divorced from it, nor any less an objective reality.
Steve & David – Seen this? https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/yes-god-requires-obedience-for-salvation/