February 8

For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth. — John 17:19 BSB

Christ has been made sanctification for His people (1 Corinthians 1:30). What are we? Are we not filthy, polluted, and defiled? Don’t we often feel as if we are utterly unclean? Is there any holiness, spirituality, or heavenly-mindedness in us by nature? Not a single drop. Not a trace. So how can a sinful person like me ever hope to stand before a holy God? How can a corrupted creature like me ever hope to see a holy God without being destroyed?

I can’t—unless the Lord Jesus Christ is my sanctification. Why do people resist the idea of “imputed sanctification” when they accept “imputed righteousness”? Why shouldn’t Christ’s holiness be imputed to His people, just as His righteousness is? Why shouldn’t they stand sanctified in Him, just as they are justified in Him? Why not? Is there anything in Christ that He does not share with His people? Is there any attribute, perfection, gift, or blessing in Him that is not for our benefit? Didn’t He sanctify Himself so that His people might be sanctified in truth? Isn’t He the holy Lamb of God, so that we might be “holy and without blame before Him in love”?

What is my own holiness, even that which God has imparted to me? At best, it is small, incomplete, and insufficient. But when I consider the pure and spotless holiness of Jesus imputed to His people, seeing them as holy in Him, pure in Him, without spot in Him—this wipes away all the flaws of the creature and makes them stand holy and spotless before God.