One word in the Alliance’s Statement on Sanctification sent me down a rabbit trail: control. I was uncomfortable with the idea of being controlled by the Holy Spirit. Did that mean losing my ability to choose?
Working through that question helped me understand the statement more clearly. I came to understand this language as willing surrender to God, rather than coercion. That distinction matters to how I think about Christian growth and how I explain it to others.
What this statement is about
This reading is a church statement from section H6 of the Christian and Missionary Alliance’s manual, rather than a standalone book. It explains the Alliance’s understanding of sanctification: being set apart for God and increasingly changed through life with Jesus.
It describes both what Christians have received through their relationship with Christ and what they continue to grow into. The phrase positional reality refers to belonging to Christ. The ongoing process concerns how that relationship becomes visible in character and conduct.
The statement places the source of that change in God’s work. Our participation matters, but holiness is not presented as a personal achievement by which we prove our worth.
What I mean by surrender
My discomfort with the word control led me to study the language of being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18. I came back to the statement with a different understanding of what surrender could mean.
I do not understand it as having my will taken away. I understand it as willingly bringing my choices into agreement with God’s purposes. Yielding to the Spirit is a Christian expression for that daily practice of listening, trusting, and responding to God.
This helped me see freedom in a place where I had initially heard restriction. It also reminded me that language familiar within a church can need careful explanation.
More than avoiding what is wrong
The reading also brought me back to something I seem to need reminding of often: holiness includes embracing new life with Christ. I can become so focused on resisting sin that I lose sight of the life I am being invited to live.
Christians call that resurrection life, drawing on the belief that Jesus rose from the dead and shares new life with those who trust him. In this context, it means seeking a life shaped by him now.
I want that pursuit to grow from love and devotion, rather than fear of failure or the need to measure my spiritual success.
Room for growth, struggle, and another beginning
The statement affirmed much of what I already believed. Its practical impact was to make me more intentional about communicating it.
People growing in faith encounter struggles and setbacks. I want to help them return to dependence on Jesus rather than treat every setback as proof that they have failed at Christian life. Trust and surrender need to be practiced again, in the next decision and the next difficulty.
That shapes how I approach discipleship, helping people learn to follow Jesus, and spiritual formation, the process through which that relationship shapes their lives.
A particular Christian tradition
This statement represents the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Other Christians describe the relationship between grace, surrender, spiritual experience, and lifelong growth differently. Explore how Christian traditions understand grace and a transformed life →
Reading discussed
The Christian and Missionary Alliance, Statement on Sanctification, Manual, section H6. For a related personal reflection, read Wholly Sanctified.
Sources & further reading
A question in the margin is a good place to begin.