Biblical Theology · Soteriology
The Washing Away of Sins
What It Really Means and Why It Matters
What does it mean to have our sins washed away? We know it is not a literal washing. We still sin. We still live in this body of sin (Rom. 7:24). We still remember our past failures, and we often struggle with patterns rooted in sins we have already committed. A purely literal reading of “washing away sins” makes no sense of our daily experience.
So what does it mean? What does it symbolize?
It symbolizes the removal of guilt. It symbolizes justification. And the right response to that claim is: how do you know? That is exactly the right question.
1 Corinthians 6:11 — The Clearest Statement
“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
— 1 Corinthians 6:11, ESV
There are many texts we could turn to, but this is one of the clearest. Notice that all three verbs — washed, sanctified, justified — are past tense. When Paul uses “sanctified” here, he is not referring to progressive sanctification. He is referring to being set apart — positionally declared holy. And notice the agent Paul names. It is not water. It is the Spirit of God.
What the Greek Actually Says
Washed — apolouō
To be formally made pure. This is not a reference to baptism. Paul is describing an internal cleansing — a washing of guilt, not a washing of the body.
Sanctified — hagiazō
To make holy — to set apart and confer the quality of holiness. It is a term of purity.
Justified — dikaioō
To remove guilt — to declare righteous.
Paul’s Argument: Washing as the Headline
In Greek, a list often opens with the main idea, followed by the components that unpack it. That is precisely what Paul is doing here. As Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown observe:
“This washing implies the admission to the benefits of Christ’s salvation generally; of which the parts are…” sanctification and justification.
— Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 273.
Paul is making a clear argument: washing encompasses justification and sanctification. He is equally clear that this is not baptism with water — it is an internal work performed by the Holy Spirit.
Faith Alone, Applied at Once
Since Paul and the other biblical writers uniformly teach that we are saved by faith alone, we know that sanctification and justification are both applied at the moment of saving faith in Jesus Christ. That is the biblical framework for understanding what “washing” means. The removal of guilt — the washing — happens immediately, through faith, by the Spirit.
The washing is not a process waiting to be completed — it is a verdict already declared, sealed by the Spirit, and received through faith alone in Christ alone.
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