“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 (1Th 5:23).”
What does it mean to be sanctified? In the passage above the word sanctify, ἁγιάζω (hagiazō), means to make holy or to ceremonially purify or consecrate something or even to mentally venerate something as holy (Strong 1890, G37). It strikes me that if I were to define the exercise of religion, I would define it as those things I do to make or keep myself holy and consecrated before God or even as the specific acts that are a direct result of or attempt to venerate God as holy. To practice religion is to do those things that sanctify you and keep you sanctified. It is that which I do to venerate God as holy. It seems to me that my sanctification is tied directly to the exercise of my religion.
Paul also uses three terms, spirit, soul, and body, to emphasize those three aspects of personhood necessary to underscore the completeness of sanctification (Walvoord and Zuck 2004, 710). Paul is asking that God sanctify his readers in all three areas or that God sanctify them completely. I fully understand that apart from God I can not be sanctified. That the work of sanctification is God’s work. At the time that Paul wrote these words Jesus had already died on the cross for our sanctification and now Paul is asking God to complete that process. Paul here establishes that God is both the agent of our rebirth and the motivator of our continued sanctification. But am I responsible in any way with respect to my sanctification? Do I have any agency in my own sanctification? If so, how am I to exercise that responsibility and what would that responsibility look like?
Writing to the Corinthians Paul argues that “since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (2Co 7:1).” Holiness, ἁγιωσύνη (hagiōsunē), hear means the property of sacredness (Strong 1890, G42). It is a property of, ἅγιος (hagiŏs), which means sacred (Strong 1890, G40). The idea, though, is completely sacred it carries with it a physical purity, a moral blamelessness, and connotations of religious ceremonial sacredness (Strong 1890, G40). Surprisingly, ἁγιάζω (hagiazō) or sanctify as used in 1Th 5:23, and ἁγιωσύνη (hagiōsunē) or holiness as used in 2Co 7:1 come from that same root idea ἅγιος (hagiŏs) or sacred. You are sacred because God created you. Even more so, you are sacred because God has sanctified you through the sacrifice of His own body; His own son. Your holiness then is a measure of your willingness not to defile that original or renewed sacredness.
The writer of Hebrews uses the same word for holiness when he exhorts his readers to “strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14).” The implication is that while God is the agent of the sanctification spoken of to the Thessalonians the Christian is the agent responsible for his holiness spoken of to the Corinthians and Hebrews. “…the meaning ‘moral fitness’ emerges. Hebrews 12:14 urges us to strive for holiness, or sanctity. This is the most common understanding of sanctification, the growth in holiness that should follow conversion (Eph 1:4; Phil. 3:12) (Elwell 2001, 1052).” Our willingness and ability to keep from defiling our own sacredness should cause us to grow into that sacredness. This is personal sanctification built on the foundation of the sanctification provided through Christ.
Just like sanctification holiness is also connected to the bodily aspect of personhood. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Rom 12:1).” The sanctification God provides is complete and the holiness that we are to strive for should be equally comprehensive and consequently you cannot neglect the bodily aspect of your holiness. For the Christian then anything that can affect his/her body has the potential to affect his/her holiness. “The body of the Christian must be kept from immorality because every Christian is a sacred (“sanctified”) person, belonging to Christ (Elwell 2001, 1052).”
This is what it means to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s not just that the Holy Spirit has changed residence but that the zeal that God had for the holiness of His physical temple in Jerusalem (Psa 69:9) is directly translated into the zeal that God has for the holiness of His physical temple in the Christian. Thus, the zeal found in Psalter, “For zeal for your house has consumed me… (Psa 69:9)” for the sacredness of God’s temple is at least equal to His zeal for the sacredness of the Christian. Adam Clarke commenting on Psalm 69:9 describes God’s zeal for the temple as the desire to promote His glory; a zeal that overcomes all of His other desires (Clarke 1810-1826, 438). That zeal for the Temple was manifested in Jesus’ fury at the money changers (Joh 2:17) His zeal for the Christian was manifested on the cross (Heb 12:2). To defile that temple by threatening its holiness is to cross the zeal of Christ and the zeal of God.
“…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1Co6:19-20).”
The question remains however, does vaccination have a positive or negative impact on your holiness? Stay tuned…
Thank you for reading. There is so much detail in every word the Bible that I hope these words have encouraged you to dig more into its pages. Don’t forget to sign up for my e-mail below and get a notice every time I post a blog. Also, if you could check out those advertisements on my site I would appreciate it. Especially if you find that I might be advertising something in appropriate for an ambassador of Christ. Send me an email with the web link to the advertisement and I’ll add it to my block list. You could be helping me to represent Him well.
Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.
Elwell, Walter A., ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Second Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.
Pontifical Academy for Life. Moral Reflections on Vaxccines Prepared from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Fetuses. Pontifical Academy for Life. n.d. https://www.immunize.org/talking-about-vaccines/vaticandocument.htm (accessed 10 24, 2021).
Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Abingdon Press, 1890.
Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Dallas: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004.