The Puritan Practice of Sanctification

 Here are "several elements of the Puritan approach to living in Christ by faith:

• Believers Must Pursue Trinitarian Likeness to the Triune God

Believers are first, to imitate the character of God the Father by walking in love (Eph. 5:1; 1 John 4:16).

Second, ... to conform to the image of Christ ... 

Pursuing Christlikeness is not a condition of salvation but a fruit of it.

Third, ... to submit to the mind of the Spirit as revealed in the Scriptures,

• Believers Must Practice Both Mortification and Vivification

Mortification means continually pursuing to death every form of sin.

Vivification is the quickening or bringing to life, of the new nature we have received from God.

We must not only seek to kill sin; we must also seek to do the will of God. We must conform our lives to the standards God has given.

It is essential to balance mortification and vivification in our lives.

• Believers Must Diligently Use the Means of Grace

Without the Scriptures, it is impossible to be sanctified (John 17:17).

To disregard the Word of God is to disregard God's directions on how to become sanctified.

To neglect or set aside the Scriptures in pursuit of sanctification promotes moralism, legalism, or vain efforts at self-improvement.

Holiness takes planning, hard work, and prayer.

'You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.' - John Bunyan

• Believers Should Practice Holiness in Their Daily Vocations

Holiness does not mean leaving the busy world for a life of solitude, but engaging in business in this world with Christian wisdom, diligence, justice, truth, contentment, and constant devotion to God.

• Believers Should Focus on the Benefits of Sanctification

'What health is to the heart, that holiness is to the soul.' - John Flavel

• Believers should Remember That God Uses Holiness to Fit Them for Heaven

If you show no interest for holy living now, you will show no interest for it in the life to come.

God saves us to live in Christ and to walk in holiness."

From A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, Joel R. Beeke & Mark Jones, Ch. 33, pp.531-35.