to some degree, we have already been Sanctified, no?
" But you were washed, you were sanctified, (and) you were justified in the name of the LORD Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor 6
Hello again American Gothic, before I begin my reply, I thought that I say that my purpose is not to be argumentative for the sake of being argumentative. We hold many beliefs in common, and most of the rest is between us and the Holy Spirit to work out.
That said, I would like to reply to some of the things that you've said, as well give you a little bit better picture of how I have come to understand some of this and why. So, let me start with the verse (1 Corinthians 6:11) that you posited for us above, and give you a second verse or two to consider as well (interestingly, this was one of the topics that we discussed last Sunday night in my small group/Bible Study on the Book of Hebrews, Chpt 10).
When God causes us to be born again and we come to saving faith in Him (and are thereby saved/justified as a result), we are also sanctified at that moment too (due to the mighty work that God did in us to change us/make us alive in His Son .. e.g.
Ezekiel 36:26-27; Ephesians 2:4-5). However, that's only the beginning of the process. So yes, when we were saved, we were also sanctified (as the Greek aorist, indicative tense indicates in 1 Corinthians 6:11), but sanctification is also a present and ongoing reality in the life of every believer, as the Greek present tense indicates in verses like the following,
Hebrews 2
11 Both He who sanctifies (Greek present tense) and those who are being sanctified (Greek present tense) are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Hebrews 10
14 By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
So, in the case of our sanctification, both are actually true as you can see (which I just noticed you appear to believe as well, since you started out your reply to me by saying, "
to some degree we have already been sanctified, no?").
That's it for now, however, I do have a couple of other things that I'd like to reply to from you other posts, so I'll be back (Dv)
God bless you!
~Deut