Sanctification - Growing in Holiness
The ongoing process by which believers are transformed into the image of Christ.
Sanctification is the progressive work of God making believers actually holy, not just declared righteous. 'And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.' This transformation involves both divine action and human cooperation—we work out salvation 'with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.' Character change is real, though gradual and incomplete this side of eternity. The verb in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is passive and continuous — “are being transformed” — the work is done to you while you keep looking.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.
John Owen wrote extensively on sanctification as 'the mortification of sin and the vivification of holiness' through the Spirit's power.
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Written about in
- What Christianity says about starting again after a fall
The verb in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is passive and continuous — you are being transformed, while you keep looking. That is how the tradition holds grace and effort together: the effort is attention, the change is done to you. It also concedes the change is gradual and never finished in this life.