Sanctified Completely

Paul expresses a deep desire when he writes, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Je­sus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23. In verse 24, he explains how this is going to happen: “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

God is assuming a tremendous work by sanctifying us com­pletely: our spirit, soul, and body shall be sanctified. Here He reveals Himself as the God of patience and the God of wonders. This also gives us some insight into the depth and the thoroughness of the sal­vation of man. It is great grace to be able to see that this is God’s goal with us.

Paul had personally experienced a deep cleansing and sanctifica­tion in his life. He gives us a brief outline of his inner life in chapter 7 of his letter to the church in Rome. “I delight in the law of God ac­cording to the inward man. But I see another law in my members. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God . . . .” Verses 22, 23, and 25. Not many people have been this serious and wholehearted. This is also the reason why there are not many who are being sancti­fied completely. If this work is to succeed we need to be a complete sacrifice and alive to God.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:24, we read that God “will do it.” God de­sires jealously the spirit He let dwell in us (James 4:5); and this work will also be done when we are zealous to let Him do it. God wants to sanctify all of our three-fold nature. In this work He meets up with the soul first. The soul is restless and influenced by our feelings; it can receive the Word immediately and with joy, but it can just as quickly be offended when trials come. God’s word must be allowed to pierce even to the division of soul and spirit so that death can enter in; then God can do His work.

The soul makes the decisions in life and rules over the impressions it receives from the senses; therefore it must be cleansed first. God created man by breathing His spirit into his body. Man became a living soul, and the result was our three-fold nature: spirit, soul, and body. The soul can choose whether it wants to be led by the flesh or by the spirit. By nature we are children of wrath, and the soul is led by the flesh. However, through conversion and the new birth, the soul turns away from the flesh and seeks God. Nevertheless, it is human in its love and lacks the firmness that is in God. Now the work that tran­spired in Christ, when He sanctified Himself for us, can begin. John 17:19. The first Adam became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45. God is zealous for this “com­plete” sanctification to begin. In His grace He draws us to the Son, so that the heart can be circumcised and set free from the visible things, and bound to the invisible. In order for this to succeed, we need to be apprehended of Christ.

Paul delighted in the law of God. He did not serve God in a spirit of bondage. He saw the other law in his members and was trans­formed according to the image of God. We must be on the same level Paul was and be apprehended; otherwise the work of being “sanctified completely” will not succeed for us. Paul was in deadly earnest about it; this was not a theory or simply dry knowledge. May we be apprehended of the seriousness of this work and the labor that is required to finish it, so God can sanctify us completely.