Lesson 24 A Prayer For Their Sanctification And Preservation (Series: Lessons On 1 Thess.) Series

1/27/19

Tom Lowe

Lesson 24: A Prayer For Their Sanctification and Preservation (1Thess. 5:23-24)

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through[4]. May your whole spirit[2], soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Introduction

Paul includes all his exhortations in a prayer for sanctification and assures believers that a faithful God will answer it.

Commentary

(5:23) May God himself, the God of peace[3], sanctify[1] you through and through[4]. May your whole spirit[2], soul[2] and body[2] be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify[1] you through and through[4].

Throughout the Epistle Paul has been concerned with sanctification (3:13; 4:3, 4, 7, 8); and here he prays that God will sanctify (separate to Himself) the readers of the Epistle. The Greek language here reads, “The God of peace Himself sanctify[1] you wholly.” Paul is here stressing divine power, contrasting God’s divine ability with the limited ability of man.

“The God of peace” is a term often used by Paul in his epistles. God is the God of peace, and Isaiah said, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you” (Isa. 26:3).

In the apostle’s letter to the Romans, he said, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”?“Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). We also “joy in God” through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:11), who through His shed blood made peace between God and man?that is, if a man will put his trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. Peace is God’s distinguishing gift in the Gospel through the sacrifice of His own begotten Son. God makes Himself known in the hearts of men through the peace that He gives.

All believers are sanctified in Christ Jesus when they are born again (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Cor. 1:2); but Paul is praying here that the very “God of peace sanctify you through and through”?sanctify you unto completeness or full perfection (fully grown, in a spiritual sense) in every area of their lives. Sanctification is progressive as well as positional. Paul is praying here that the sanctification of the Thessalonian saints will increase and bring them to the full stature of the spiritual man. Paul did not mean they could attain complete sanctification on this side of heaven. That is impossible.

Paul continues his prayer, “May your whole spirit[2], soul[2] and body[2] be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When God created man He said, ”Let us make man in our own image.” We know that there are no two human beings who are identical; but I personally believe that when the Bible speaks of man being created in the image of God, the scriptures teach that that image is not so much in physical appearance as it is in spiritual likeness.

My friends, I cannot explain the Trinity, and I don’t dare speculate. But I believe it because the scriptures teach it. Neither can I explain the trinity (body, soul, spirit[2]) of man?but man is a trinity. We are created in the image of God in that we are Trinitarian. We have a spirit, we have a soul, and we have a body?and the scriptures clearly differentiate between the three.

There is a definite distinction between soul and spirit in man. The Word of God clearly teaches that the spirit makes man capable of being God-conscious. Through the Spirit, we communicate with God. Read Job 32:8, Prov. 20:7 and Ps. 18:28. The fact is that man is a highly complex being. Aspects of his nature may be distinguished, but he cannot be divided up into parts. Man does not sin in either body or spirit irrespective of the other. The whole man is affected by sin, and the whole man is to be affected by salvation (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Jesus came to save or make the whole man sound (John 7:23). All men have a soul and a body? really; each person is both body and soul. The Christian is spiritual in both. His spirit indwells his body. The Holy Spirit indwells the Christian’s spirit, thus saturating the whole of his life and soul.

It is absolutely imperative that man thinks right about God’s Word before he can be saved because salvation becomes ours by faith?and saving faith can come only by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17; John 5:24[6]; 1 Pe. 1:23). Man has a spirit, and through that spirit, we can communicate with God when we believe His Word. Believing His Word, we love the Lord with all our soul. When we think right about God, we automatically love Him.