1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Truth: We don't sanctify ourselves; God sanctifies us, just as He justifies us!
The confusion over sanctification is not really a confusion as to what the Bible says, as much as how to apply what the Bible says. As an example, in the above passage it is quite plan that the agent for sanctification is God. You would be hard pressed to make an argument that anyone else does the sanctification. The problem arises in the practical working out of that truth. Some believe our efforts are part of the equation to the sanctification process. They look at our sanctification like you would look at one of those moving walkways in the airport. When you step on the walkway, it is a conveyor belt. Since the belt is moving and you are standing on it, you are not doing anything. But, if you start to walk, yourself, you move faster, with very little effort. To "some" this is the Doctrine of Sanctification. God is moving us and we are moving us toward holiness. However, since we are dead in trespasses and sin and have nothing in us, it is impossible to see how we can do even the lightest of walking. Once we are regenerated and are indwelled by the Spirit, it is the Spirit that produces fruit. So, the conveyor belt picture works if we agree that God chooses us from our deadly state and puts us on the conveyor belt, Christ makes the belt move because He died for us and the Spirit empowers us to walk on the belt. That would be the picture of sanctification as we see in the above passage. God not only, "himself", sanctifies us, He does so "completely" and keeps our "whole spirit and soul and body" blameless. Our part is faith in God, Christ and the Spirit to do all that. And, God even gives us the faith. He causes that faith to grow as we study His Word. He gives us the Word and the Spirit interprets it for us. We are to believe it as we hear it. We don't sanctify ourselves. God does it all ... just like justification.
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