In his work on the sanctification of the believer, John Murray makes a point that is far too often overlooked by the average Christian. He points out that sanctification is, to be sure, an individual matter. God sanctifies each believer so that, as Paul puts it in Romans 8, he can be molded into the image of His Son. The primary point that Murray makes, however, is that in addition to being an individual matter, sanctification is also a corporate one. God doesn't just sanctify the individual believer, but he also sanctifies His church and in the process utilizes that body to further sanctify each individual believer.