Ephesians 5:25-27 English Standard Version
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a]
Footnotes [a] Or holy and blameless
While this verse encourages husbands to love their wives it is Christ who sanctifies His bride not eh husband sanctifying his own wife. We must remember now earlier lessons about eh movement of water being a sign being a movement of the Holy Spirit. We are cleansed by the movement of the Holy Spirit within God’s Holy Word.
Sanctify here is hagiazo in the Greek meaning “to hallow, sanctify,” in the Passive Voice, “to be made holy, be sanctified,” is translated “let him be made holy” in Rev 22:11, the aorist or point tense expressing the definiteness and completeness of the Divine act; elsewhere it is rendered by the verb “to sanctify.” Ref. Vine’s Expository Dictionary
That is a divine act of God and not just a declarative state. This is different from a declarative state in which there is no change in the recipient such as justification. Justification is a judicial decree which recognizes the Judge’s declaration without regard to the condition of the defendant. The guilty is set free whereas sanctification in this case is an alteration of the configuration of the subject.
The big picture looks like this. What you did without Jesus in your life does not matter but what you do with Jesus in your life does matter. A sinner cannot cast any dispersion upon Jesus. A saint on the other hand will always be judged by the world in connection to their declared faith in Christ. How we act says to the world of lost sinners what Jesus can do to change their lives. If He hasn’t changed our lives then there is no hope for the lost sinner.