Sanctification

1. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195) — “He who obeys the Lord and follows the prophecy given through Him is made holy.”

   Sanctification as obedience shaped by revelation.

   
   

2. Origen (c. 230) — “The soul is sanctified when it cleaves to God in purity.”

   Holiness as Godward attachment.

   
   

3. Athanasius (c. 350) — “The Word became man that He might sanctify humanity in Himself.”

   Union with Christ as the fountain of sanctification.

   
   

4. Basil the Great (c. 360) — “The Spirit makes us like God through sanctification.”

   The Spirit’s transforming agency.

   
   

5. Augustine (c. 400) — “He who justifies also sanctifies; for whom He forgives, He also heals.”

   Sanctification as the healing of the soul.

   
   

6. Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1130) — “To love God is to be made pure; to cling to Him is to be made holy.”

   Love as the engine of sanctification.

   
   

7. Martin Luther (1520s) — “There is no justification without sanctification, no forgiveness without renewal of life.”

   Sanctification inseparable from saving faith.

   
   

8. John Calvin (1559) — “Christ justifies no one whom He does not also sanctify.”

   Sanctification as the necessary fruit of union with Christ.

   
   

9. Heinrich Bullinger (1560s) — “The Spirit reforms us daily, shaping us into the likeness of Christ.”

   Daily renewal emphasized.

   
   

10. John Owen (1650s) — “Sanctification is the work of the Spirit in us, mortifying sin and quickening grace.”

    Classic Puritan twofold pattern: mortification and vivification.

    
    

11. Thomas Watson (1660s) — “Sanctification is a principle of grace wrought in the heart, whereby it is made holy.”

    Holiness as an implanted principle.

    
    

12. Richard Baxter (1670s) — “Holiness is the very health of the soul.”

    Sanctification as spiritual vitality.

    
    

13. Jonathan Edwards (1740s) — “True saints grow in holiness as they behold the beauty of Christ.”

    Transformation through beholding.

    
    

14. John Wesley (1760s) — “Sanctification is the renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Spirit into the image of God.”

    Restoration of the imago Dei.

    
    

15. Charles Spurgeon (1860s) — “If He gives you grace to believe, He will give you grace to live a holy life afterward.”

    Sanctification as the inevitable companion of saving grace.

    
    

16. J. C. Ryle (1877) — “Tell me not of your justification unless you have also some marks of sanctification.”

    Holiness as evidence of true conversion.

    
    

17. Charles Hodge (1880s) — “Sanctification is not a work of nature, but a work of grace… effected supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.”

    Sanctification as supernatural transformation.

    
    

18. A. W. Tozer (1948) — “We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ.”

    Sanctification rooted in Christ’s atoning work.

    
    

19. Oswald Chambers (early 1900s) — “Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him.”

    Christ Himself as our holiness.

    
    

20. Sinclair Ferguson (2000s) — “Sanctification is the Spirit’s work of making us who we already are in Christ.”

    Identity-driven transformation.