State and Standing

by D. S. Parrack (England)
 

No. 3 — SANCTIFICATION

Sanctification is sometimes seen as very much like the cleansing, or washing, already discussed, or perhaps the making of someone holy by inducing a higher moral standard. That this cannot be the real N.T. meaning of the word is made plain by a prayer of the Lord Jesus in which, speaking not only of the disciples with Him at the time but “them also which shall believe in Me through their word,” He says. “For their sakes I sanctify Myself,” Jn.17.19-20. Neither of the two earlier discarded meanings could possibly be applied to the Lord Jesus. The idea then is rather a dedication, of being set apart to a person, group or cause. What He was saying was that He dedicated Himself to His people and in so doing was giving full-hearted affirmation of what His Father had already committed Him to. He speaks of Himself as “Him Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world,” Jn.10.36. We see then, the Son of God sanctified by the Father to perform the task for which He willingly came into the world, and which, for the sake of His Father and the beneficiaries of that task, He sanctified Himself, set Himself apart, to perfectly complete.

That really is the setting of the scene in determining what sanctification means for us, a dedication, a full-hearted commitment to God. But can we really be expected to attain to such a high and total standard of devotedness as God's holiness would demand? No more by our own efforts than we could in the spheres of redemption and cleansing. In the context of current considerations then, on what is our standing in God's sight actually based and is that foundation firm enough to be totally dependable?

Referring once again to Paul's letter to an assembly in seemingly hopeless disarray, we saw that he could say, in spite of their failures and problems, “— but ye are sanctified,” 1Cor.6.11. That is a solid statement of fact, a fully accomplished condition. But how could people like that, people like us, a person like me, be so sanctified and set apart for God? “By the which will (i.e. God's) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all — for by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified, Heb.10.10-14. Now if words mean anything, and remember that these words are from God's Word, “once for all” and “for ever” signify something unalterably complete which can never be nullified or need repetition or addition.

That being our standing in God's sight, and remembering that that is in accord with His divinely revealed will, (see again Heb.10.10), we need to consider and determine just what His will is as regards our present and actual state. Well, it is precisely the same. “For this is the will of God even your sanctification,” 1Thess.4.3, and Paul is now talking about our practical living. How then is this practice of sanctification to show itself, for to be meaningful, show itself it must? “That ye should abstain from fornication — for God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness,” v4-7. The apostle is quite frankly dealing with potential sexual misconduct, but without saying, as he had to do with the Corinthians, that it was actually happening, he was giving advance warning. He goes on to show that such sins, in the context, adultery, are not only perpetrated against the victims but against God Himself. “He therefore that despiseth” (disregards JND), i.e. another's rights “despiseth (disregards) not man but God,” v8. David was very conscious of this aspect of such sin. He certainly had sinned outrageously against Urijah, but when convicted of his sinfulness he exclaims to God, “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight,” Ps.51.4. Having said that though, and going off at a slight tangent from our main discussion, we must not think that even genuine repentance towards God absolves us from the duty of remedying to whatever degree possible, the results of sins perpetrated against others (see e.g. Ex.22.1-17).

Sanctification, in the sense of our practical living, our state, does require attention being given to it. “Abstain from”, may linguistically be a negative concept, a ‘not doing’ of something, but it still demands an application of effort. Remember that those failing to respond to what Paul was saying, were described as despising or disregarding. Despising or disregarding what? “Commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus,” v2, and the revealed “will of God,” v3. That being the case remember that “The Lord is the avenger of all such,” v6. Those sinned against, defrauded as the AV puts it, may not be in a position to avenge themselves, Urijah was murdered to make quite sure that he wasn't. God, however, could and did see that David suffered directly for those sins (see 2Sam.12.11 and 16.22). Unfortunately that did not stop Urijah and Bathsheba suffering too, nor did it prevent the death of an innocent child (see 2Sam.12.15-19). Freedom from eternal judgment by grace, does not mean escape from deserved chastisement in this life, hence the need to be concerned about our present state of behaviour. God is concerned about our practical sanctification, our being separated to Him. Because of His intrinsic holiness He says to His people, “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” 1Pet.1.16. Holiness is not the same as sanctification, it is the working out of it in practice. But God is not only concerned in this context about the relationship between Himself and us individually but also because the kind of life produced by practical sanctification makes us beneficial to others too, and that is what God wants of believers “a peculiar people, zealous of good works,” Tit.2.14.

—to be continued (D.V.)