5Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
7Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
8Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." - Hebrews 10
The focus is on Hebrews 10:6-10 in this section, however, I added verses 1-5 for context.
"Note that 'sanctified' is in the perfect tense (indicating a complete work) and the passive voice (indicating a work of God, not man). Just as Christ's offering was once for all, so is the setting apart (consecration) of God's elect. Kistemaker writes, 'The verb [been sanctified] indicates that at a given moment someone acted on our behalf to sanctify us, and we have become pure.' Delitzsch adds, 'In [God's] will we are or have been once for all sanctified.' What does this mean in practice?
Invariably in Hebrews, sanctification is the once-for-all act of consecration by which God 'sets aside' the believer from a profane and empty way of life to serve and glorify the living God. Peter describes the sequence of God's saving work in the soul of man. We are, he says, (1) 'elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,' (2) 'in sanctification of [or by] the Spirit, (3) 'for obedience [to the gospel] and' (4) 'sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:2).
The New Testament writers usually thought of sanctification as that work of the Holy Spirit in which he delivers an individual from the authority of darkness and translates him into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13). For example, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they had once lived in rebellion against God, then adds, '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 by the Spirit of our God' (1 Cor. 6:11, emphasis added). The believer's sanctification is not so much a thing that he must strive towards, as an accomplished work of grace by which he is obligated to live for God (1 Cor. 6:19-20)." - Edgar Andrews, A Glorious High Throne
The focus is on Hebrews 10:6-10 in this section, however, I added verses 1-5 for context.
"Note that 'sanctified' is in the perfect tense (indicating a complete work) and the passive voice (indicating a work of God, not man). Just as Christ's offering was once for all, so is the setting apart (consecration) of God's elect. Kistemaker writes, 'The verb [been sanctified] indicates that at a given moment someone acted on our behalf to sanctify us, and we have become pure.' Delitzsch adds, 'In [God's] will we are or have been once for all sanctified.' What does this mean in practice?
Invariably in Hebrews, sanctification is the once-for-all act of consecration by which God 'sets aside' the believer from a profane and empty way of life to serve and glorify the living God. Peter describes the sequence of God's saving work in the soul of man. We are, he says, (1) 'elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,' (2) 'in sanctification of [or by] the Spirit, (3) 'for obedience [to the gospel] and' (4) 'sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:2).
The New Testament writers usually thought of sanctification as that work of the Holy Spirit in which he delivers an individual from the authority of darkness and translates him into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13). For example, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they had once lived in rebellion against God, then adds, '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 by the Spirit of our God' (1 Cor. 6:11, emphasis added). The believer's sanctification is not so much a thing that he must strive towards, as an accomplished work of grace by which he is obligated to live for God (1 Cor. 6:19-20)." - Edgar Andrews, A Glorious High Throne
"11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." - Hebrews 10
"We next notice that perfection attaches to 'those who are being sanctified'. What does this mean? It can be taken in one of two ways. It might refer to a process of sanctification ('progressive sanctification') in which the believer grows more Christ-like with the passage of time; or it could simply mean that Christ makes perfect those whom he first sanctifies or sets apart ('positional sanctification'). The words translated 'those who are being sanctified' (NIV and NKJV) or 'them that are sanctified' (AV and others; almost all older translations use this simple present tense) mean literally ' the sanctified'. Young's Literal Translation renders it: '... he hath perfected to the end those sanctified.'
Because 'sanctified' is a present participle in the original Greek, many authorities today represent sanctification as an ongoing process rather than an accomplished fact. However, it would be more consistent with general New Testament usage if the Writer is employing the present tense to signify ' those who are now in a state of sanctification'.
This, I believe, is the correct interpretation. Only four verses earlier (10:10), Hebrews clearly refers to the believer's sanctification as a completed work, accomplished by Jesus' death upon the cross. It is unlikely that the Writer now wishes to teach that sanctification is an ongoing and as yet incomplete process. Indeed, the idea that believers are being made more holy with the passage of time would sit uncomfortably with the primary statement of this verse, namely, that the elect have been perfected for ever by the death of Christ." - Ed Andrews, A Glorious High Throne
"We next notice that perfection attaches to 'those who are being sanctified'. What does this mean? It can be taken in one of two ways. It might refer to a process of sanctification ('progressive sanctification') in which the believer grows more Christ-like with the passage of time; or it could simply mean that Christ makes perfect those whom he first sanctifies or sets apart ('positional sanctification'). The words translated 'those who are being sanctified' (NIV and NKJV) or 'them that are sanctified' (AV and others; almost all older translations use this simple present tense) mean literally ' the sanctified'. Young's Literal Translation renders it: '... he hath perfected to the end those sanctified.'
Because 'sanctified' is a present participle in the original Greek, many authorities today represent sanctification as an ongoing process rather than an accomplished fact. However, it would be more consistent with general New Testament usage if the Writer is employing the present tense to signify ' those who are now in a state of sanctification'.
This, I believe, is the correct interpretation. Only four verses earlier (10:10), Hebrews clearly refers to the believer's sanctification as a completed work, accomplished by Jesus' death upon the cross. It is unlikely that the Writer now wishes to teach that sanctification is an ongoing and as yet incomplete process. Indeed, the idea that believers are being made more holy with the passage of time would sit uncomfortably with the primary statement of this verse, namely, that the elect have been perfected for ever by the death of Christ." - Ed Andrews, A Glorious High Throne
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