What is 'sanctification' & 'righteousness?'
These two words - 'Sanctification' and 'Righteousness,' seemed complicated and unattainable to me as a kid growing up. My mother's people were, mostly, from a 'holiness' religious upbringing from my mother's mother's mother...and I found that it all seemed pretty inaccessible and frightening.
I heard what the 'church' had to say about these two words in terms such as "Thou shalt not..." and then a list of dress codes, and another list of activities that were to be avoided.
Growing up I never really could get a handle on what Jesus might have said about those two words. Basically, other than the "Lord's Prayer," not a lot of attention was given to what Jesus had said. Bible stories about what Jesus did was interspersed with what Paul taught and that was pretty much a summation of my Christian training.
For all the talk about the "Lord's Prayer" (and it is one of my favorite passages of scripture and a liturgical comfort to me) it is really a prayer for Christians to learn and understand.
The 'real' Lord's prayer is found in John 17 where Jesus prays for His disciples.
It was through the 17th Chapter of John that I began to understand the concepts of 'sanctify' and 'righteous' as Jesus used them.
The Apostle Paul wrote more about 'righteousness' than any other writer in the Bible. To the Romans he wrote:
Romans 1:17. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
KJV--righteousness: (Strong's Ref. # 1343) Romanized dikaiosune Pronounced dik-ah-yos-oo'-nay [from GSN1342; equity (of character or act); specially (Christian) justification]
In Jesus' prayer for the disciples He prayed:
John 17:15. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
KJV--hallow, be holy, sanctify: (Strong's Ref. # 37) Romanized hagiazo Pronounced hag-ee-ad'-zo [from GSN0040; to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate]
It doesn't matter where in the New Testament you are reading about "Righteousness," you are reading about a life and actions of equity (doing what is right, just, fair).
If our actions are equitable then we are counted as equitable. If our actions are doing what is right, just and fair, then our life is credited by God as right, just and fair. It is called "Righteousness."
Paul and Peter both wrote of sanctification, or "Sanctifying," as something that only God (through the Holy Spirit) did.
2 Thessalonians 2:13. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
Only God can make us Holy. Only God can purify, consecrate, and make a 'saint.' No one can authentically make one's self a 'saint.' No one can make one's self 'Holy.' That is God's business.
Our business is to be equitable (doing what is right; doing what is just; doing what is fair) and we will be 'Righteous.' God will do the work of making us Holy (purifying, consecrating and making of us 'saints') and we will be 'Sanctified!'