Sanctification – Sanctify in the New Testament appears 8 times. (Rom. 6:19, 6:22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4:4, 4:7; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 12:14.) In noun form the Greek word is: hagiasmos (hag-ee-as-mos') NT: 38, and carries the idea of being in the state of holiness. See Strong’s number definition. Also compare 1 Thess. 4:1-8 in the NAS, KJV, and NIV for usage of this word.

Sanctification is a doctrine based on the holiness of God, and without sanctification there can be no spiritual connection with God. Heb 12:14states: “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” (NAS) The term sanctification could be substituted with the word holiness.

The Scriptures demonstrate a relationship between sanctification and righteousness. Romans 6:19: “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” (NAS) This connection to righteousness demonstrates that holiness cannot exist apart from righteousness.

What is righteousness? Righteousness means to be in right stranding with God’s standards. In order to be in right standing with God, one must be obedient by faith. Romans 9:30-33: “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” (NAS)

Where does man’s righteousness and sanctification comes from? God! 1 Cor 1:30-31. “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (NAS)

How is sanctification achieved? 2 Thess 2:13-15 states. “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NAS) It is our faith placed in the truth of the gospel, and that gospel is this: that Jesus was virgin born, lived a sinless life, died on the cross ofCalvary and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Cor 15:1-8: “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” (NAS)

Adoption – From the Greek word huiothesia (hwee-oth-es-ee'-ah) NT: 5206. Huiothesia is a compound word derived from two other Greek words: huios (hwee-os') NT:5207 meaning “son”, and tithemi (tith'-ay-mee) NT:5087 meaning “to place”, thus, “to place a son.”  See Strong’s number definitions.

Adoption is an important doctrine in Scripture for the following reasons:

1.) The doctrine helps clarify the metaphysical distinction between God and Man. This distinction is required because of the use of concepts such as God as our Father; we are the children of God; we are His offspring and we are joint heirs with Christ. See: Gal. 4:5, Rom. 8:15-17, Acts 17:28. By such usage of terms, there is given an impression that we are gods through association with God. Adoption clarifies these terms by demonstrating that we become the children of God through an adoption process. This process consists of two elements: A.) Eph. 1:5-8. The shedding of  blood by God’s only Son. B.) Acts 26:20. Through faith and the repentance of sin. Through these actions comes personal salvation or personal adoption into the family of God, not as gods but as man given the status of son ship into God’s family, sharing in the inheritance God has for his only Son and us. See: Acts 26:18.

2.) This doctrine demonstrates our relationship with God as personal. Romans 8:15-17: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father! The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” (NAS)

3.) This doctrine provides hope for the future. Romans 8:22-25: “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” (NAS)

4.) This doctrine demonstrates God’s sovereignty in the World. Eph 1:3-6: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (NAS)

Perseverance – Perseverance is found in the King James Bible once. See Eph. 6:18. Also see Strong’s numbered word proskartereesei (NT:4343). In real terms it simply means to be persistent or to be earnest towards. In the New American Standard Bible it is translated 22 times, and carries similar meaning in context and is used in place of the KJV word for “patience.” (See Rev. 14.12, 1 Tim. 6:11, 2 Peter 1:6). If followed in the NAS Bible the term is used to express persistent behavior on behalf of the Christian in three areas. 1.) We should be persistent in prayer for others Eph. 6:18. 2.) We should be persistent in pursuing good fruit or righteousness in our lives, Luke 8:15. 3.) We should pursue perseverance itself, First Timothy 6:11.

Perseverance in terms of theological doctrine is used in circles of Calvinistic persuasion.  It carries the same wait or end result as the doctrine of eternal security. In this light it is referred to as the “Perseverance of the Saints”. Matt 24:11-14: “And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.” (NAS) Based on this and other references the doctrine of perseverance is formulated. In Calvinistic teaching the doctrine of perseverance is the fifth in a five point view of man’s salvation from the wrath of God and is represented by the Arcanum “TULIP” where “P” stands for the “perseverance of the saints.” It is taught in this system of theology that it is God who saves, keeps, and gives grace to the end of human life giving the believer the ability to persevere to the end, thus, giving eternal security, from hell, to ones soul throughout eternity.

In other systems of Christian theology eternal security is not taught, and uses Matt. 24 as an example to show that it is man’s responsibility to persevere to the end and if he should fall away from God he will be lost.

From a Biblicist doctrinal view point perseverance is used in the biblical sense without tying the meaning to a theological position. Eternal security or perseverance of the saints can be demonstrated through many other scriptures in a systematic way without tying the term “perseverance” to the debate. (See: 2 Cor. 1:21,22; Eph. 1:13; Eph. 4:30; John 18:9).

Baptism – The doctrine of Baptism is understood according to ones theological teaching or training. The verb form of the word baptism is baptizo (bap-tid'-zo); from a derivative of NT:911; to immerse, submerge; to make overwhelmed. See Strong’s number definition.

Biblically, baptism was first mentioned in the New Testament and performed by John the Baptist. (See Matt. 3:4-9). Through Jesus example; baptism seemed to be performed by immersion or submerging a person under water. See Matt. 3:16.

The biblical purpose of baptism is debated among the Christian community and is understood according to how one interprets the doctrine of Salvation as it relates to God and Man. Example: In the Scriptures there are 159 references to the word salvation. In context to these references there is no reference or mention to baptism of any kind.

Major themes associated with the doctrine of salvation are seen in:

Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” (NAS)

Romans 10:8-13: “But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart-- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” (NAS)

2 Cor 7:9-10: “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (NAS) 

Heb 11:7: “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” (NAS)

When examining the word “saved”, we fined it listed in the Scriptures 90 times. Of those 90 times listed, there are only three times baptism is associated with that term. (See Mark 16:16, Acts 2:40 and Acts 16:30-33). Based on these three Scriptures, some in the Christian community interject that baptism is required for salvation to be complete. The explanation of these Scriptures could be as simple as understanding the distinction of “John the Baptist” baptism and the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.”

John’s Baptism was unto repentance using water and was done in preparation for the coming messiah. The baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at the moment of salvation and is a permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit as spoken of in the New Covenant as seen in Jer.31, and in Acts 11:14-16. John the Baptist announced this phenomenon to take place in Mark 1:8: “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (NAS)

With Acts being a transitional book from Old Testament Judaism to New Testament Christianity, there was a need to distinguish the difference between John’s baptism and Christ’s baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thus, people were told in Acts to be saved and baptized to differentiate the difference between John’s baptism and Christ’s baptism.

In Mark 16:15-16 we read Jesus words, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” (NAS) In this verse Jesus did not say that if you did not get baptized you would be condemned, only if you did not believe. At the same time in Luke 7:50, these words by Jesus are recorded: “And He said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (NAS) Here Jesus did not instruct the woman to be baptized. 

In Matt 28:18-20 we read: “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (NAS) In this verse it could be understood that making disciples represents the salvation of man, and baptizing represent being a disciple of Christ the savior. Therefore, we are commanded to be baptized as a sign of our affiliation with Christ.

In summery: if you conclude that salvation is by grace alone and baptism has nothing to do with forgiveness or the washing away of sin, then the discussion of infant baptism is irrelevant. However, if you believe that salvation comes through God’s grace plus man’s efforts, then infant baptism could be relevant. In the end, your view of baptism is solely connected to your understanding of salvation as it relates to God and Man.