We come now to the second question, _How are men sanctified?_ There are
several parts to the complete answer of this question.
1. The first part of the answer is found in our text of this chapter,
I Thess. 5:23, +"And the God of Peace himself sanctify you wholly
and may your Spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without
blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."+ It appears from
this verse that _God sanctifies men, and Sanctification is God's work_.
Both the separation of men from sin and their separation unto God,
is God's work. As it was God who in the old dispensation set apart
the first-born of Israel unto Himself, so it is God who in the new
dispensation sets apart the believer unto Himself and separates him
from sin. Sanctification is primarily not our work but God's.
2. The second part of the answer is found in Eph. 5:25, 26,
+"Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,
and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed
it by the washing of water by the word."+ Here we are taught that
_Christ sanctifies the church_ and that _Sanctification is Christ's
work_. The question, of course, arises, in what sense does Christ
sanctify the church. The answer is found in Heb. 10:10, +"By which
will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all."+ Here it appears that Jesus Christ sanctifies
the church by giving Himself up a sacrifice for it. By thus giving
Himself up for it as a sacrifice Christ sets the Church apart for God.
Just as the blood of the Passover Lamb in the 11th and 12th chapters
of Exodus set a difference between Israel and the Egyptians, so our
Lord Jesus by the offering of His own body has forever put a difference
between the believer in Himself and the world, and has forever set
every believer apart for God. The Cross of Christ stands between the
believer and the world. The shed blood of Christ separates the believer
from the world, purchases him to God and thus makes him to belong to
God.
3. The third part of the answer to the question, how men are
sanctified, is found in 2 Thess. 2:13 and in other passages, +"But we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."+ It appears
from this passage, as from other passages in the Bible, that _it is
the Holy Spirit who sanctifies the believer_, and that _Sanctification
is the Holy Spirit's work_. Here the question arises, In what sense
does the Holy Spirit sanctify the believer? In this sense, just as in
the Old Testament type, tabernacle, altar and priest were set apart
for God by the anointing oil (Lev. 8:10-12), so in the New Testament
anti-type, the believer, who is both tabernacle and priest, is set
apart for God by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Further than that,
it is the Holy Spirit's work in the heart that overcomes the flesh and
its defilements, and thus separates the believer from sin and clothes
him with divine graces of character, and makes him fit to be God's own.
As Paul puts it in Gal. 5:22, 23, +"But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness,
self-control."+ In opposition to this work of the Holy Spirit, we
read in the immediately preceding verses what "the works of the flesh"
are, an awful catalogue of vileness and sin, and we are told in the
16th verse, +"Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of
the flesh."+
4. The fourth part of the answer to the question how we are sanctified
is found in Heb. 13:12, +"Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might
sanctify the people through his own blood suffered without the
gate."+ It is plain from this passage that _believers are sanctified
through the blood of Jesus Christ_. Here the question arises, In what
sense does the blood of Jesus sanctify? The answer is plain: _The
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all the guilt of sin_, and thus
separates us from the mass of men under the curse of the broken law,
and sets us apart for God (cf. 1 John 1:7, 9). In the Old Testament
dispensation the blood of the sacrifice cleansed the Israelites from
the _guilt_ of ceremonial offenses and set them apart for God; in the
New Testament anti-type the blood of Christ cleanseth the believer from
the _guilt_ of moral offenses and sets him apart for God.
5. The fifth part of the answer to the question, how men are
sanctified, is found in John 17:17, +"Sanctify them in the truth: thy
word is truth."+ Here our Lord Jesus in His prayer indicates that we
are _sanctified in the truth, and that the truth is the Word of God_.
In what sense does the Word of God sanctify? This question is plainly
answered in different parts of the Word of God, where we are taught
that the Word of God cleanses from the presence of sin, and thus
separates us from it and sets us apart to God. (Ps. 119:9, 11; John
15:3.) As we bring our lives into daily contact with the Word, the sins
and imperfections of our lives and hearts are disclosed and put away,
and thus we are more and more separated from sin unto God. (cf. John
13:10.)
6. The sixth part of the answer to the question, how men are
sanctified, is found in 1 Cor. 1:30, +"But of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption."+ In this passage we are taught that
_Jesus Christ was made unto us from God sanctification_. Just what
does that mean? Simply this: that separation from sin and separation
to God are provided for us in Christ Jesus and by the appropriation
of Jesus Christ we obtain this sanctification thus provided. The more
completely we appropriate Christ the more completely are we sanctified.
But perfect sanctification is provided for us in Him, just as perfect
wisdom is provided in Him (Col. 2:3). We appropriate either wisdom or
sanctification or anything else that is provided for us in Christ in
ever-increasing measure. Through the indwelling Christ presented to us
by the Spirit in the Word, we are made Christlike and bear fruit.
7. The seventh part of the answer to the question of how men are
sanctified is found in Heb. 12:14, +"Follow after peace with all men,
and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord."+
Here we are taught that we have our own part in sanctification, and
that if we are to be sanctified in the fullest sense, _sanctification
is something that we must pursue, or seek earnestly, if we are to
obtain it_. While sanctification is God's work, we have our part in it,
viz., to make it the object of our earnest desire and eager pursuit.
8. The eighth part of the answer to the question of how we are
sanctified is found in Rom. 6:19, 22, +"As ye presented your
members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity,
even so present your members as servants to righteousness unto
sanctification. . . . But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification."+ The
meaning of these words is plain, and the teaching important and
practical. We are here taught that _we attain unto sanctification
through presenting our members as servants (bondservants, or slaves)
to righteousness and becoming ourselves bondservants unto God_. In
other words, if we wish to attain unto sanctification we should present
our whole body and every member of it to God, to be His servants,
belonging wholly unto Him, and we should present ourselves to God as
His servants, to be His absolute property. This is the practical method
of attaining unto sanctification, a method that is open to each one of
us here to-day, no matter how weak we are in ourselves.
9. The ninth and final part of the answer to the question of how we are
sanctified, is found in Acts 26:18, +"To open their eyes, that they
may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them
that are sanctified by faith in Me."+ Here we are told that we are
_sanctified by faith in Christ_. Sanctification, just as justification,
regeneration, and adoption, is conditioned upon faith. Faith is the
hand that appropriates to ourselves the blessing of sanctification that
God has provided for us through His Son Jesus Christ by His death on
the cross, and through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. And
we claim sanctification by simple faith in Him who shed His blood and
by surrendering ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus
Christ gives.