Purification the first proper notion of sanctification — Institution of baptism confirming the same apprehension — A spiritual defilement and pollution in sin — The nature of that defilement, or wherein it doth consist — Depravations of nature and acts with respect unto God’s holiness, how and why called “filth” and “pollution” — Twofold pravity and defilement of sin — Its aggravations — We cannot purge it of ourselves, nor could it be done by the law, nor by any ways invented by men for that end.
These things being premised, we proceed to the consideration of sanctification itself, in a farther explication of the description before given; and the first thing we ascribe unto the Spirit of God herein, which constitutes the first part of it, is the purifying and cleansing of our nature from the pollution of sin. Purification is the first proper notion of internal real sanctification; and although, in order of time, it doth not precede the other acts and parts of this work, yet in order of nature it is first proposed and apprehended. To be unclean absolutely and to be holy are universally opposed. Not to be purged from sin is an expression of an unholy person, as to be cleansed is of him that is holy. And this purification, or the effecting of this work of cleansing, is ascribed unto all the causes and means of sanctification; as, — 1. Unto the Spirit, who is the principal efficient of the whole. Not that sanctification consists wholly herein, but firstly and necessarily it is required thereunto, Prov. xxx. 12; Ezek. xxxvi. 25, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.” That this sprinkling of clean water upon us is the communication of the Spirit unto us for the end designed, I have before evinced. It hath also been declared wherefore he is called “water,” or compared thereunto. And the 27th verse shows expressly that it is the Spirit of God which is intended: “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” And that which he is thus in the first place promised for is the cleansing of us from the pollution of sin; which, in order of nature, is preposed unto his enabling us to walk in God’s statutes, or to yield holy obedience unto him.
To the same purpose, among many others, is that promise, Isa. iv. 4, “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of burning.” Upon what ground the Spirit is compared to fire, and thence here called a “Spirit of burning,” hath been also declared. In brief, fire and water were the means whereby all things were purified and cleansed typically in the law, Num. xxxi. 23; and the Holy Spirit being the principal efficient cause of all spiritual cleansing is compared to them both (by which his work was signified), and called by their names. See Mal. iii. 2, 3. And “judgment” is frequently taken for holiness. “The Spirit of judgment,” therefore, and the “Spirit of burning,” is the Spirit of sanctification and purification. And he is here promised for the sanctification of the elect of God. And how shall he effect this work? He shall do it, in the first place, by “washing away their filth and purging away their blood;” — that is, all their spiritual, sinful defilements.
2. The application of the death and blood of Christ unto our souls, for our sanctification, by the Holy Ghost, is said to be for our cleansing**and purging: Eph. v. 25, 26, “Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” He “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works,” Tit. ii. 14. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” 1 John i. 7. “He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Rev. i. 5. “The blood of Christ purgeth our conscience from dead works to serve the living God,” Heb. ix. 14. Respect, I acknowledge, in some of these places, may be had unto the expiation of the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ as offered in sacrifice, for so “by himself he purged our sins,” Heb. i. 3; but as they all suppose a defilement in sin, so the most of them respect its cleansing by the application of the virtue of the blood of Christ unto our souls and consciences in our sanctification. And, —
3. Moreover, where sanctification is enjoined us as our duty, it is prescribed under this notion of cleansing ourselves from sin: “Wash you, make you clean,” Isa. i. 16. “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved,” Jer. iv. 14. “Having therefore these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” 2 Cor. vii. 1. “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,” 1 John iii. 3; Ps. cxix. 9; 2 Tim. ii. 21. And the like expressions of this duty occur in other places.