“The doctrine of justification by faith is one of the most majestic and comforting doctrines in the Scriptures, but it never appears alone in the life of the Christian. The work of progressive sanctification, a grace of equal beauty, always accompanies it.” Paul Washer

The second half of Hebrews 12:14 says that “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” That is not only a great shorthand definition of sanctification, but it also tells us how vitally important it is to every single one of us. We were saved not just to get to heaven one day, but to glorify and honour God in the here and now by becoming holy and more and more Christlike.

With 2000 years of thought and writing on this, one can find thousands of terrific quotes about sanctification. This is a tiny sample of some general remarks about sanctification. Future articles will deal with more specific matters concerning this topic.

These 30 quotes come from 21 writers, mainly Protestants, and mainly from recent sources. But some older quotes, along with some non-Protestant ones are found here as well.

“My soul is like a house, small for you to enter, but I pray you to enlarge it. It is in ruins, but I ask you to remake it. It contains much that you will not be pleased to see: this I know and do not hide. But who is to rid it of these things? There is no one but you.” Augustine

“It is not merely a question of our being delivered from the law’s condemnation. Christ has delivered us from the law’s power, too. He died to start the process of sanctification and not merely to provide propitiation from wrath. . . . Justification and sanctification always go together, so that you cannot have one without the other. . . . According to Romans 8:3-4, sanctification is the very end for which God saved us.” James Montgomery Boice

“The moment we begin to feel satisfied that we are making some progress along the road of sanctification, it is all the more necessary to repent and confess that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Yet the Christian life is not one of gloom, but of ever increasing joy in the Lord. God alone knows our good works; all we know is His good work.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“There is no higher compliment that can be paid to a Christian than to call him a godly person. He might be a conscientious parent, a zealous church worker, a dynamic spokesman for Christ, or a talented Christian leader; but none of these things matters if, at the same time, he is not a godly person.” Jerry Bridges

“Godliness is no optional spiritual luxury for a few quaint Christians of a bygone era or for some group of super-saints of today. It is both the privilege and duty of every Christian to pursue godliness, to train himself to be godly, to study diligently the practice of godliness.” Jerry Bridges

“In our day we seem to have magnified the love of God almost to the exclusion of the fear of God. Because of this preoccupation we are not honoring God and reverencing him as we should. We should magnify the love of God; but although we revel in his love and mercy, we must never lose sight of his majesty and his holiness.” Jerry Bridges

“Every element of our own self-reliance must be put to death by the power of God. The moment we recognize our complete weakness and our dependence upon Him will be the very moment that the Spirit of God will exhibit His power.” Oswald Chambers

“Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me; sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me.” Oswald Chambers

“We are personally responsible to put sin to death. It will not simply vanish on its own accord. . . . Yes the Spirit enables us. Without him we are powerless. But he never turns us into automatons. He never relieves us of the responsibility of living for the glory of Jesus Christ. Since he is holy in himself, he wants us to be holy in ourselves (but not by ourselves). And holy people do holy things – such as resisting and mortifying sin.” Sinclair Ferguson

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