A number of verses in the New Testament speak of pursuing holiness. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all men, and holiness without which no one shall see the Lord.” The proper Christian life must be a balance between peace and holiness. With God, holiness is an attribute of His holy nature; with us, it is our separation unto God. The implication here is that while we are pursuing peace with all men, we must also pay attention to the matter of holiness before God. Our pursuing peace with all men must be balanced by our holiness before God, our separation unto God, without which no one shall see the Lord and have fellowship with Him.
First Peter 1:15 says, “According to the Holy One who called you, you yourselves also become holy in all your manner of life.” The Holy One is the Triune God-the choosing Father, the redeeming Son, and the sanctifying Spirit (1 Pet. 1:1-2). The Father has regenerated His elect, imparting His holy nature into them (v. 3); the Son has redeemed them with His blood from the vain manner of life (vv. 18-19); and the Spirit has sanctified them according to the Father’s holy nature, separating them from anything other than God, that they, by the holy nature of the Father, may become holy in all their manner of life, even as holy as God Himself. We become holy in all our manner of life through the sanctification of the Spirit. This is based on regeneration, which brings us the holy nature of God and issues in a holy life.
Second Peter 3:11 says, “All these things being thus dissolved, what kind of persons ought you to be in holy manner of life and godliness.” Although all things whether on earth or in the heavens have been reconciled to God through Christ by His blood (Col. 1:20), the heavenly things having been purified by the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:23), they still need to be cleared up by being burned up in God’s governmental dealing so that they may become new in nature and appearance in God’s new universe (2 Pet. 3:13). Thus, what kind of persons ought we, the children of the holy God, to be in holy manner of life and godliness; that is, what kind of transformation ought we to have to live a life in the manner of God’s holy nature and godliness to express Him so that we may be qualified to match His holy government? How wonderful that the divine power has provided us with all things that are needed to live such a life in the holy manner and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
First Thessalonians 4:3 and 4 tell us that the will of God is our sanctification and that each of us should “know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.” Sanctification refers to a holy condition before God, and honor, to a respectable standing before man. Verse 7 says, “God has not called us for uncleanness but in sanctification.” Since God has called us in sanctification, we must always remain in sanctification.
Second Timothy 2:21 says, “If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work.” Here honor is a matter of nature, sanctified a matter of position, useful a matter of practice, and prepared a matter of training.
The believers are sanctified also through their perfecting of holiness. In 2 Corinthians 7:1 Paul says, “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Holiness is separation unto God from all things other than Him. Perfecting holiness is to make this separation full and perfect, to have our entire being-spirit, soul, and body-fully and perfectly separated, sanctified, unto God (1 Thes. 5:23).
Holy means not only sanctified, separated, unto God; it also means different, distinct, from everything that is common. Only God is different, distinct, from all other things. Hence, He is holy. According to Ephesians 1:4, He chose us so that we would be holy. The way He makes us holy is to impart Himself, the holy One, into us so that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature.
Finally, for the believers to be sanctified is for them to be sanctified wholly in their body, soul, and spirit. First Thessalonians 5:23 says, “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “sanctified” here means to be set apart; it is to be separated unto God from things common or profane. The word “wholly” means entirely, thoroughly, to the consummation. God sanctifies us wholly, so that no part of our being, either of our spirit or soul or body, will be left common or profane. God sanctifies us first by taking possession of our spirit through regeneration (John 3:5-6); second, by spreading Himself as the life-giving Spirit from our spirit into our soul to saturate and transform it (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18); and last, by enlivening our mortal body through our soul (Rom. 8:11, 13) and transfiguring it by His life power (Phil. 3:21).
Home | First | Prev | Next