51 Essential Bible Verses for Sanctification

Sanctification is the action of setting something or someone apart as holy, purifying it, and dedicating it to God’s service. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). We are in need of God’s sanctifying grace to be made holy as God is holy. Consecration, calling, and holiness are related terms that help us to understand the Biblical concept of sanctification. The following Bible verses about sanctification teach us that God calls people to be holy, sanctifies us from sin, and empowers us to serve Him through faith and obedience.

Examples of Sanctification in the Bible

In the Old Testament, both people and ordinary objects were sanctified for sacred purposes. Once they were set apart as instruments for God’s service, they were never to be used for mundane purposes again (Exodus 29-30). 

These cultic practices foreshadow the sanctification of the church. God sets people apart from the world to honor him through sacrificial service (John 17:15-18; Romans 12:1-2). People are purified from their sins by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:11-14) and are conformed to the image of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29). As Christians submit to the life of the Holy Spirit they grow in godliness reflecting God’s holy character more and more (Galatians 5:16-24; 1 Peter 1:14-16).

Those who have been sanctified are called saints, or “holy ones.” In the New Testament, the term “saint” applies to every follower of Jesus, not just exemplary Christians (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2). 

God sanctifies people from their sins and sets them apart from the world to serve Him alone (Romans 6:5-14). God calls every Christian to set themselves apart from the world in order to honor God with their lives (2 Timothy 2:21; 1 Peter 2:9).

Consecrated to God

Consecration means setting something apart from the world to serve God. The nation of Israel was consecrated to honor God with their lives. Abraham, Israel’s first patriarch was set apart from his nation and his family to serve God in the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-3). His descendants became the nation of Israel. They were called out from among all the nations of the earth to worship God alone. 

The people of Israel were set apart as God’s special possession (Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 7:6). They were to represent God before the other nations of the earth, demonstrating God’s holiness by keeping the Sabbath and obeying God’s commands (Leviticus 22:31-33). God’s commandments revealed his ethical standards. The commands provided a practical way for God’s people to display His holiness to the world.

In the Biblical narrative, the Israelites were unable to consistently keep God’s law (Exodus 32; Isaiah 1-3). They failed to worship God alone, picking up the practice of worshipping idols from the prevalent Canaanite culture. They broke God’s ethical requirements of loving God and loving their neighbors. Instead of caring for the disenfranchised as God directed, they pursued their own self interests to the detriment of others (Ezekiel 34:2-6). 

God was dishonored by their disobedience. Instead of being glorified, God’s name was profaned among the nations (Ezekiel 20:1-32; 36:16-21). God promised to restore his good name by empowering his people to keep his commandments through the power of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27). 

God fulfilled his promise through the new covenant. God wrote his commandments on people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 10:16), and empowered them to overcome sin and temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). God renews his covenant with the church, once again calling people to represent his holiness before the nations of the earth. The church is set apart from the world to serve God.

Bible verses about Holiness

God is holy and calls his people to be holy. Holiness is the attribute of God that binds all others together. Holiness does not define God’s character, rather God’s character defines what it means to be holy. God is holy. Holiness is godliness. Sanctification is the process of becoming holy like God. The following Bible verses about Holiness help us to understand God’s character and our calling.

God is Holy

Exodus 15:11

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2

There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

Psalm 99:9

Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!

Isaiah 6:3

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Revelation 4:8

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Revelation 15:4

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

Be Holy as God is Holy

Leviticus 11:44-45

You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

Leviticus 19:1-2

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Leviticus 20:26

You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

Matthew 5:48

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Ephesians 4:1

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

1 Thessalonians 4:7

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

2 Timothy 1:9

Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Hebrews 12:14

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

1 Peter 1:14-16

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Bible verses about Sanctification

God purifies us from sin through the blood of Christ, empowers us with the Holy Spirit to grow in holiness, and sets us apart from the world for Christian service. 

Positional Sanctification

God establishes our holiness before him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus died, once and for all, that we might be sanctified from sin. Positional sanctification is a completed work of God’s grace that is accepted by faith when we receive Jesus as our savior. Jesus takes our sin upon himself and gives us his righteousness. 

Because of Christ’s righteousness, we are acceptable and blameless before the Lord. We are set apart as holy, for service to the Lord. As Aaron and the priesthood were anointed by oil and consecrated for service to God in the tabernacle, followers of Jesus are anointed by the blood of Christ, and set apart to serve God in the world.

Hebrews 9:13-14

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 10:10

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:14

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Hebrews 10:29

How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 13:12

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

1 Corinthians 1:30

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

1 Corinthians 6:11

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Progressive Sanctification

Progressive sanctification is the process of growing in godliness, as we become more like Christ, expressing his character as our own. Jesus breaks the power of sin in us, once and for all. We are no longer under sin’s dominion. God fills us with the Holy Spirit who empowers to do what is right and pleasing in God’s sight. As we learn to submit to the power of the Holy Spirit and resist the sinful desires of our flesh, we grow in godliness. Progressive sanctification requires our ongoing cooperation with God.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Romans 6:6

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Romans 6:19

For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Romans 8:29

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

1 Corinthians 15:49

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Philippians 2:12-13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Titus 3:5

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Sanctified from Sin

As we grow in godliness our lives will look different from the prevailing culture. We conform to God’s ethical standard for our lives by submitting to the Holy Spirit. God purifies us from sin and sets us apart from the world so we might honor him through faith and obedience. 

1 John 3:1-3

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 Peter 1:14-16

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 5:16-24

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Sanctified for Service

These Bible verses help us to understand that God has consecrated a people for himself, to honor him. Just as Israel was set apart from the other nations as God’s special possession, so has the church been set apart from the world to do good works that honor Him. 

Genesis 12:1-3

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Exodus 19:4-6

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Exodus 30:30-33

You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. And you shall say to the people of Israel, “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.”

Deuteronomy 7:6

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Leviticus 22:31-33

“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.”

John 17:15-19

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Acts 13:2

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Acts 26:16-18

But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Timothy 2:21

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Sanctified for Eternal Life

The final aim of sanctification is the glorification of believers. On the day of resurrection, followers of Jesus will receive a glorified body like his and our sanctification from the world will be complete.

Romans 3:22

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

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.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Quotes about Sanctification

Sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” - Westminster Shorter Catechism Q35

“Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.” - Wayne Grudem

“By sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin, and restored to the image of God” - John Wesley

“Holiness is nothing else but the habitual and predominant devotion and dedication of soul, and body, and life, and all that we have to God; and esteeming, and loving, and serving, and seeking Him, before all the pleasures and prosperity of the flesh.” - Richard Baxter

“Most men hope to go to heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there. Heaven is essentially a holy place; it's inhabitants are all holy; it's occupations are all holy.” - J. C. Ryle

A Prayer for Sanctification

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come. You alone are worthy to be praised. God make me holy as you are holy through the blood of your son Jesus. Set me apart to serve you all the days of my life.

Lord, reveal to me the sinful condition of my heart, so I might make a good confession to you. Convict me of my sin so I might turn away from the desires of my flesh and the comforts of the world. Help me to find my complete satisfaction in you and you alone. Set me apart from the pridefulness of this life. Help me humble myself before you.

Without you, Lord, I am lost. But you have sought me out. You have called me to yourself and made me your own. You have forgiven me of my sins and set me apart to honor you.

Help me to live my life for you and you alone. Conform me to the image of Christ. Help me to submit to the leading of your Spirit. Even now Lord, show me what stands between us. Remove the spiritual darkness from my eyes so I can see you more clearly. Help me grow in godliness and in faithful service to you. 

Amen.