Sanctified, Set Apart, Translated

“Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.” (Hebrews 13:12, KJV)

The blood of Jesus sanctifies each believer. Again, sanctify is a religious word, and many people are confused about its meaning. The word sanctify is related to the word saint and is directly related in the original biblical languages to the word for “holy.” So, to sanctify means “to make saintly,” or “to make holy.” Holiness includes the aspect of being set apart to God. The one who is sanctified finds himself in an area where God has access to him but the devil does not. To be sanctified is to be removed from the area of Satan’s reach and placed in an area where we are available to God. That is what it is to be sanctified: set apart to God, made holy. Just like righteousness, sanctification does not come by works, by effort, or by religion. It comes only by faith in the blood of Jesus. You belong to God, you are under God’s control, and you are available to God. Anything that is not of God has no right of approach to you; it is kept away by the blood.

In Colossians 1:12–13, Paul wrote:

“Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (NIV)

Through faith in the blood of Jesus, we have been removed from the area of Satan’s authority and translated into the kingdom of God. We have been totally translated. We are not going to be translated; we have already been translated—spirit, soul, and body. We are not in the devil’s territory. We are not under the devil’s laws. We are in the territory of the Son of God, and we are under His laws.