1 Thes. 5:23-28 (ESV)
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
[25] Brothers, pray for us.
[26] Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
[27] I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
[28] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
The God of peace himself sanctify you completely, Paul asks that God Sanctify you completely. Sanctify, sanctification, words that are thrown around quite a bit, and rarely defined. To be sanctified means to be made holy. Be made holy. You can sanctify things. When you use things in the context of worship they are often sanctified, especially in regards to Old Testament worship. All sorts of things had to be sanctified before they could be used in the temple environs. Thing is, nothing sanctified itself. God had to be the operator. God sanctifies us completely. He gives us faith. He baptizes us. He washes us and cleans us. He forgives us. And in that forgiveness we find our sanctification. we are made to be holy. We are not made partially holy, but completely holy. Then we go and we live that sanctified life that has been given to us. We don’t always live a life worthy of our sanctification. Infact we never do. We sin incessantly and constantly in thought word and deed. But we live a sanctified life despite our sin, because we live a forgiven life. Christianity is not about living a perfect life, but a forgiven life, a sanctified life, a life made holy by the forgiveness of sins found in Jesus Christ.
4 comments:
I recently came across an excellent quote from Luther on sanctification...
Martin Luther states, “We in Christ equals justification; Christ in us equals sanctification”.
When I read this my thoughts were...well of course... Christian and denominational "vocabulary" often becomes like the confusion of language at Bable...but when it clearly stated...it is revelatory! Excellent post Bror!
what?!!!! Luther talked about Sanctification. Are we talking about the same Luther?!!! I mean Wesley says he didn't ever say anything about sanctification, and Wesley is gospel truth.:)
"Christianity is not about living a perfect life, but a forgiven life, a sanctified life, a life made holy by the forgiveness of sins found in Jesus Christ."
Amen, Bror!
The Exodus reading from the T of DP for yesterday had this on sanctification.
"Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you."
So, we see that we are sanctified by resting in him.
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