Sanctification

Sanctification

“Pursue peace with all men, and sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord . . . .”

“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to sanctification, and the end, everlasting life.” Rom. 6:22.

You cannot be a servant of God if your body is not freed from sin. We read that the works of the flesh are manifest.

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4. Then you know that you commit sin. Then the body has not been presented as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God. Rom. 12:1.

In Galatians 5:19 we can read many examples of the works of the flesh. The bodies that do such works are not a sacrifice. The lusts of the body are demanding and exercise power over them. However, once we have been set free from sin we can present or body as a holy sacrifice to God. Then we can be led by the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit—the virtues of Christ. Gal. 5:22-23.

What is sanctification? Sanctification is when the virtues grow and increase. What are the virtues? The virtues are divine nature—the exceedingly great and precious promises that we have received through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and power. 2 Pet. 1:3-4.

Therefore we are exhorted to give all diligence to add virtue to our faith. “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” V. 8.

Paul exhorts Timothy to pay heed to himself and to the doctrine, and to continue in it; for if he did that, he would save both himself and those who heard him. He was exhorted to continue with this. Then he would not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 4:15-16) and his progress would also be evident to all. As a servant of God he would then have his fruit to sanctification.

If he did not have this development in sanctification, he would also not have any fruit from his ministry. Then we could compare him to a rich man who gave all his possessions to the poor but did not have love. He himself did not derive any benefit from it, but it did benefit the poor who received it. 1 Cor. 13:3.

This is also applies to someone who has received knowledge concerning Christ Jesus and proclaims the teachings, but does not pay heed to himself and to the doctrine. Then those who hear him can benefit from what he says, but he himself does not benefit from it.

Even though we do have a pure mind we realize how sluggish we are when we read how zealous Peter was to exhort them. He did not think about having a new text, but his intention was to get them to be more active in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1:12-15; 3:1-2.