Replies

Hello Kolo. Great to see you again. I hope you and yours are well.

This is very odd theology, at least to me; "positionally...righteous in Christ"? Just what do you mean?

I happen to agree with this explanation in Positional Sanctification. Here is an excerpt:

...... “Sanctify,” means “set apart for God’s exclusive use.” Our sanctification is past, present and future. We have been sanctified, we are being sanctified and we shall be sanctified. These three aspects speak of our positional sanctification (1 Cor. 6:11; 1:2; Heb. 10:10), experiential or progressive sanctification (1 Pet. 1:6; 2 Cor. 7:1), and ultimate or perfect sanctification (1 John 3:1-3).

Positional sanctification is also called our standing with God or status sanctification. We are called “saints” and “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 1:7). It is status, position or relationship with God. All believers are classified as “the saints” (Acts 20:32; 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Heb. 10:10, 14; Jude 1). Therefore, sainthood or sanctification, is not an attainment, it is the state into which God, in grace, calls sinful men, and in which they begin their course as Christians (Col. 3:12; Heb. 3:1).

Positional sanctification relates to the fact that the believer has been redeemed and cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We have been forgiven all of our sins and placed in a new relationship to God. “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10, NASB 1995).

Positional sanctification is true of every believer. We have once and for all been set apart for God. This is why we are called “saints” because that is what we are in God’s sight. We have been sanctified and are holy before God. We are accepted in the Beloved.

The greatest incentive for holy living is our position before God.

We are not now righteous in ourselves, but we are accepted in the righteousness of Christ. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB 1995).

Our positional sanctification is just as perfect as Christ is perfect. Just as much as He is set apart, we who are in Him are set apart. It is our vital union with Christ. Positional sanctification is as complete for the poorest and weakest believer as it is for the strong and mature. Our positional sanctification depends only on our union and standing in Christ. In this standing before the Father the believer is righteous and accepted before Him forever.

All believers are sanctified positionally. However, sinless perfection will not be achieved in this life. Glorification of the believer is when we stand complete before the Father in a resurrected glorified body. Then we shall be sinless and perfect.

The apostle Paul indicates the status or position of the believers in Christ at Corinth. He writes his letter “to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling” (1 Cor. 1:2). In 1 Corinthians 6:11 he writes to believers recalling their conversion saying, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor. 6:9-10 tell about their lives before they trusted in Christ.

The author of Hebrews sees the believer accepted, forgiven, sins expiated by the sacrifice of Christ and already sanctified. “We have been sanctified . . . are sanctified” by the once for all perfect sacrifice of Christ (Heb. 10:10, 29; 2:11; 9:13-14; 10:14; 13:12). This position never ever changes.

Our positional sanctification is true regardless of the degree of one’s spirituality. Our progressive sanctification is progressive during our whole earthly Christian life. Our future or ultimate sanctification will not be fulfilled until we see Jesus in His glory. The Corinthian believers were “sanctified” in the sense of being set apart and yet were “carnal.”

Our positional sanctification as stated in Hebrews 10:10 is an action completed in past time with present results. We are now permanently sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Christ has satisfied fully, freely, and forever every claim of the holy law of God against us. God has righteously judged all our sins through the death of Christ.

So, again to be clear the righteousness is not of ourselves at all. It is only Christ's righteousness that allows us to be saved and sealed in the Holy Spirit in the present time, even though we are yet still sinners in this world. This positional aspect of sanctification is what allows assurance of salvation and assurance that God's promises apply to us as believers, etc. As a status this would be comparable to the juridical aspect of what we call justification. Christ's action justified us and gave us the permanent status of being positionally sanctified IN Christ.