Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 5:23

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

23. And the very God of peace ] the God of peace Himself (R. V.) so “God Himself” in ch. 1Th 3:11, and “our Lord Jesus Christ Himself” in 2Th 2:16, where the like contrast is implied between human wish or endeavour and Divine power. With this contrast in his mind, St Paul begins, But, not and: “I bid you keep yourselves from evil; but may God, Who only can, cleanse and preserve you.” Comp. Php 2:12-13, “Work out your own salvation; for God is He that worketh in you.”

“The God of peace” is a favourite designation with St Paul (found also in Heb 13:20), in wishes and blessings: see 2Th 3:16; Rom 16:20, &c. For peace, see note on ch. 1Th 1:1. This is God’s distinguishing gift in the Gospel, that by which He makes Himself and His grace known in the hearts of men. In like fashion He is named from other gifts, “The God of patience and consolation” (Rom 15:5), “of hope” (1Th 5:13), “of love and peace” (2Co 13:11), “of all grace” (1Pe 5:10). While He is “the God of peace,” true peace is “the peace of God” (see Php 4:7; Php 4:9). And His peace bears fruit in our sanctification.

sanctify you wholly ] Rather, unto completeness, or full perfection. The readers are already sanctified in Christ Jesus (see ch. 1Th 4:7-8, “in sanctification”; 2Th 2:13; comp. 1Co 1:2); the Apostle prays that they may be sanctified to the fullest extent, or rather, that God may so sanctify them as to bring them to the full perfection of their nature, that as sanctified men they may realise the end of their being in all its length and breadth. See Trench’s Synonyms of the N.T., xxii., on the relation of this expression to entire in next clause.

On sanctification, see notes to ch. 1Th 4:3; 1Th 4:7; also 2Th 2:13.

and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless ] “I pray God” is needlessly supplied in the A.V. More precisely, and in the Greek order: entire (or in full integrity) may your spirit and soul and body, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, be preserved. The word “entire” takes up the thread of the last sentence, to the prayer of which the Apostle seeks to give more comprehensive expression. But the completeness of blessing desired now assumes a new aspect. From the degree of holiness desired we pass to its range, from its intension (as the logicians would say) to its extension. St Paul prays that in the integrity of their human person and nature they may be preserved, “spirit, soul, and body” alike finding their safety, with their oneness, in the holy service of God.

St Paul has already treated, in ch. 1Th 4:3-8, of one chief branch of bodily sanctification. Now he thinks of this sanctity as penetrating the whole being of the man. It is not necessary to regard spirit and soul and body as three distinct logical divisions of man’s nature [8] . The Apostle aims at making his wish exhaustive in its completeness. He begins with the innermost “your spirit,” nearest to God “Who is spirit,” and with which the Holy Spirit directly unites Himself, “witnessing to our spirit” (Rom 8:16); and he ends with “body,” the vessel (ch. 1Th 4:4) and envelope of our nature, through which it belongs to the external world and holds intercourse with it. The “soul,” poised between them, is the individual self, the living personality, in which spirit and flesh, common to each man with his fellows, meet and are actualised in him. When St Paul bids the Corinthians to “cleanse” themselves “from all defilement of flesh and spirit” (2Co 7:1: contrast 1Pe 1:22, “having purified your souls ” your individual selves), that phrase covers the same ground as this, but it treats the matter as one of contrast between man’s outer and inner relations; whereas the stress here lies on the integrity of the man himself, with his balanced and developed nature, and all his faculties in exercise. Hence the verb ( be preserved) is singular: spirit, soul, and body forming one whole man. The “spirit” is “kept,” when no evil reaches the inner depths of the man’s nature, or disturbs his relations to God and eternity; his “soul,” when the world of self is guarded, when all his feelings and thoughts are sinless; his “body,” when his outward life and relations to the material world are innocent.

[8] Those who maintain a threefold analysis of human nature in Scripture are called Trichotomists; and the advocates of a twofold division, Dichotomists. Amongst the chief expositions of the former view is that given in Delitzsch’s System of Biblical Psychology, and in Heard’s Tripartite Nature of Man; on the other side, consult Beck’s Biblical Psychology, or Laidlaw’s Bible Doctrine of Man.

The connection between sanctity and safety (“be preserved”) lies in the fact that what is sanctified is given over to God. “No one is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand,” said Jesus (Joh 10:29). See the next verse, and comp. 2Ti 1:12; also Psalms 121; Isa 27:3. The word “preserved” stands with emphasis at the end of the sentence. In the intercession of John 17, our Lord prays first, “Holy Father, keep them” ( 1Th 5:11 ; 1Th 5:15), then “ sanctify them” (1Th 5:17). But He is thinking there of the situation of His disciples, in the midst of the world; the Apostle leads up to their future manifestation, at His coming.

St Paul writes blamelessly not blameless (A.V.); and in not unto the coming &c. This adverbial adjunct must belong, despite its position, to the foregoing adjective ( entire), not to the verb ( be preserved); for God is the keeper in this context, and no blame can conceivably attach to the manner of His keeping: “In full integrity may your spirit and soul and body be preserved, blamelessly entire in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” is the end of the Apostle’s thoughts in this letter, the goal of his readers’ hopes. It will supply the final test of the worth of character, and of the completeness of the sanctification effected in believers. Then the whole work of Christ’s servants will be brought to its issue and determination. “The Day will declare it” (1Co 3:13).

On “the coming” ( parousia), and “our Lord Jesus Christ,” see notes to ch. 1Th 1:1; 1Th 1:3; 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13 ; 1Th 4:14-17; on “blamelessly,” 1Th 3:13.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And the very God of peace – The God who gives peace or happiness; compare notes, Rom 1:7.

Sanctify you – See the notes at Joh 17:17.

Wholly – holoteleis. In every part; completely. It is always proper to pray that God would make his people entirely holy. A prayer for perfect sanctification, however, should not be adduced as a proof that it is in fact attained in the present life.

Your whole spirit and soul and body – There is an allusion here, doubtless, to the popular opinion in regard to what constitutes man. We have a body; we have animal life and instincts in common with the inferior creation; and we have also a rational and immortal soul. This distinction is one that appears to the mass of people to be true, and the apostle speaks of it in the language commonly employed by mankind. At the same time, no one can demonstrate that it is not founded in truth. The body we see, and there can be no difference of opinion in regard to its existence. The soul ( he psuche – psyche), the vital principle, the animal life, or the seat of the senses, desires, affections, appetites, we have in common with other animals. It pertains to the nature of the animal creation, though more perfect in some animals than in others, but is in all distinct from the soul as the seat of conscience, and as capable of moral agency.

See the use of the word in Mat 22:37; Mar 12:30; Luk 10:27; Luk 12:20; Act 20:10; Heb 4:12; Rev 8:9, et al. In the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy this was distinguished from the higher rational nature , ho nous, to pneuma as this last belonged to man alone. This psyche ( psuche) soul. or life, it is commonly supposed, becomes extinct at death. It is so connected with the bodily organization, that when the tissues of the animal frame cease their functions, this ceases also. This was not, however, the opinion of the ancient Greeks. Homer uses the term to denote that which leaves the body with the breath, as escaping from the herkos odonton – the fence or sept of thy teeth – and as also passing out through a wound. – This psuche – psyche – continued to exist in Hades, and was supposed to have a definite form there, but could not be seized by the hands.

Ody. 2:207. See Passow, 2; compare Prof. Bush, Anasta. pp. 72, 73. Though this word, however, denotes the vital principle or the animal life, in man it may be connected with morals – just as the body may be – for it is a part of himself in his present organization, and whatever may be true in regard to the inferior creation, it is his duty to bring his whole nature under law, or so to control it that it may not be an occasion of sin. Hence the apostle prays that the whole body and soul – or animal nature – may be made holy. This distinction between the animal life and the mind of man (the anima and animus, the psuche and the pneuma), was often made by the ancient philosophers. See Plato, Timae. p. 1048, A. Nemesius, de Nat. Hom. 1 Cited Glyca, p. 70; Lucretius, 3:94; 116, 131; Juvenal, 15:146; Cicero, de Divinat. 129, as quoted by Wetstein in loc. A similar view prevailed also among the Jews. rabbi Isaac (Zohar in Lev. fol. 29, 2), says, Worthy are the righteous in this world and the world to come, for lo, they are all holy; their body is holy, their soul is holy, their spirit and their breath is holy. Whether the apostle meant to sanction this view, or merely to speak in common and popular language, may indeed be questioned, but there seems to be a foundation for the language in the nature of man. The word here rendered spirit ( pneuma), refers to the intellectual or higher nature of man; that which is the seat of reason, of conscience, and of responsibility. This is immortal. It has no necessary connection with the body, as animal life or the psyche ( psuche) has, and consequently will be unaffected by death. It is this which distinguishes man from the brute creation; this which allies him with higher intelligences around the throne of God.

Be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ – The apostle does not intimate here that either the body or the vital principle will be admitted to heaven, or will be found in a future state of being, whatever may be the truth on that subject. The prayer is, that they might be entirely holy, and be kept from transgression, until the Lord Jesus should come; that is, until he should come either to remove them by death, or to wind up the affairs of this lower world; see the notes on 1Th 1:10. By his praying that the body and the soul – meaning here the animal nature, the seat of the affections and passions – might be kept holy, there is reference to the fact that, connected as they are with a rational and accountable soul, they may be the occasion of sin. The same natural propensities; the same excitability of passion; the same affections which in a brute would involve no responsibility, and have nothing moral in their character, may be a very different thing in man, who is placed under a moral law, and who is bound to restrain and govern all his passions by a reference to that law, and to his higher nature. For a cur to snarl and growl; for a lion to roar and rage; for a hyena to be fierce and untameable; for a serpent to hiss and bite, and for the ostrich to leave her eggs without concern Job 39:14, involves no blame, no guilt for them, for they are not accountable; but for man to evince the same temper, and the same want of affection, does involve guilt, for he has a higher nature, and all these things should be subject to the law which God has imposed on him as a moral and accountable being. As these things may, therefore, in man be the occasion of sin, and ought to be subdued, there was a fitness in praying that they might be preserved blameless to the coming of the Saviour; compare the notes on 1Co 9:27.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Th 5:23

The very God of peace sanctify you wholly

A short but comprehensive prayer

The apostle had told the Thessalonians in the beginning of his Epistle, that he always made mention of them in his prayers; and, now he is Writing to them, and closing his Epistle, he lifteth up his whole heart for them.

I. The God to whom the apostle prays, namely, the very God of Peace. He is sometimes denominated the God of all grace, the God of love, but here–the very God of peace, not only because He is the Author of peace, but also the Lover of concord. There was a special reason for this: Paul felt that by the peaceableness and unity of the Thessalonians themselves they would best obtain those things for which he prays. God does not bestow His choice blessings on the members of a Church who are given to strife and disorder, but on those who are bound together in one by the golden cord of love. Such peace and fellowship are pleasant to behold both to men and angels; how much more to God Himself! (Psa 133:1-3).

II. The burden of the apostles prayer.

1. Sanctification. Not partial but entire–the whole man. Or, he prays that they may be more perfectly sanctified, for the best are sanctified but in part while in this world; and therefore we should pray for and press toward complete sanctification.

2. Preservation. Where the good work of grace is begun, it will be carried on, be protected and preserved; and all those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus shall be preserved to the coming of Christ Jesus. If God did not carry on His good work in the soul, it would miscarry; and therefore we should pray God to perfect it, and preserve us blameless, that is, free from sin and impurity, till at length we are presented faultless before the throne of His glory with exceeding great joy.

III. The apostles assurance anent his, prayer. Faithful is He that calleth you, he writes to his converts, who also will do it. The sovereign kindness and infinite love of God had already graciously appeared to them in calling them to the saving knowledge of His truth, and the sure faithfulness of God was their security that they would be Divinely helped to persevere to the end. Accordingly, the apostle assures them that God would do what he desired: He would effect what He had Himself promised: He would accomplish all the good pleasure of His goodness toward them. Verily, our fidelity to God depends upon Gods faithfulness to us. (R. Fergusson.)

Sanctification

I. The agent in our sanctification is the Spirit of God (2Th 2:13; 1Pe 1:2; 1Co 6:14; see also Rom 8:1-39). By the Father we are sanctified, as we are chosen by Him unto sanctification; as by His good pleasure and free grace the atonement of Christ and the sanctifying agency of the Spirit exist. By the Son we are sanctified, as His death is the only means by which we ever become holy, and by which the Spirit came into the world for the benevolent purpose of making us holy. By the Spirit we are sanctified as the immediate Agent in applying to us the blessings of Christs redemption, particularly in renewing and purifying our hearts and lives. Thus, although this work is immediately performed by the Spirit as the proper Agent, yet we are truly, though more remotely, said to be sanctified by the Father, by the Son, and by the Godhead universally considered.

II. The instruments of our sanctification are generally the Word and Providence of God.

1. The Word of God is the means of our sanctification in all cases in which it contributes to render us better, whether it be read, heard, or remembered; whether it be pondered with love, reverence, wonder, or delight; or whether, with similar affections, it be faithfully obeyed; whether its instructions and impressions be communicated to us directly, or through the medium of Divine ordinances, or the conversation, or the communion, or the example of our fellow Christians.

2. The Providence of God becomes the means of our sanctification in all the ways in which it makes solemn and religious impressions on the mind.

III. The process of sanctification may be summarily exhibited in the following manner.

1. It is progressive through life. The first sanctifying act of the Spirit of God is employed in regenerating the soul. Succeeding acts of the same nature are employed in purifying it through all the successive periods of life.

2. This process is not uniform. By this I intend that it is not the same in manner or degree every day, month, or year. From whatever cause it arises, our views are at times brighter, our vigilance more active, our resolution stronger, our temper more serene, and our energy more vigorous than at other times. This is visible in all that we speak, or think, or do, whatever may be the objects of our attention. That a state of things in us, which so materially affects ourselves in our very nature, should have an important influence on our religious interests is to be expected of course. The changes are here wrought in ourselves; and we, the persons thus changed, are those whose religion is concerned. As we are changed, therefore the state of our religion must in a greater or less degree be changed also.

3. The process of sanctification is universal. By this I intend that it affects the whole man: his views, affections, purposes, and conduct, and those of every kind. It extends alike to his duties of every kind; toward himself, his fellow creatures, and his Maker. It affects and improves indiscriminately all the virtues of the Christian character: love to God and to mankind, faith, repentance, justice, truth, kindness, humility, forgiveness, charity, generosity, public spirit, meekness, patience, fortitude, temperance, moderation, candour, and charitableness of judgment. It influences ruling passions and appetites, habits of thought and affection, of language and practice. It prompts to all the acts of piety: to prayer, praise, attendance upon the sanctuary and its ordinances, oar sanctification of the Sabbath, Christian communion, and Christian discipline.

4. The progress of sanctification is conspicuous in the life. From the commencement of Christianity in the soul the Christian course is that of a general reformation.

Remarks:

1. The considerations suggested concerning this important religious subject furnish every professing Christian with an interesting rule for the examination of his own character.

2. The same considerations furnish abundant encouragement to the Christian. Think how much God has done to accomplish this work, and you can find no room for despondency. (Timothy Dwight, D. D.)

Entire sanctification

Short of being wholly surrendered to God, we are maimed and incomplete. Holiness is the science of making men whole and keeping them whole. Christ is not come to save bits of humanity, like spars of a floating wreck, mens souls only, but to restore the finished man which God fashioned at the first, entire and without blemish. And because this is our completed life, it is our only true life. Our true life can only be that in which all our faculties find room for their harmonious development. This differs greatly from some of the notions that have gathered about the doctrine which regard the body as an enemy and persecute it accordingly; or a weak effeminacy whose conscience is troubled as to the colour of a ribbon, the size of a feather, the metal of ones watch chain; a life in which everything is suspected a ghostly mystery, a thing alike loveless and useless. Let us gladly welcome the word–entire sanctification; not the privilege of a few adventurous and favoured souls, but the everyday life of ordinary men and women in the everyday work. The word sanctification means everywhere that which is claimed by God, given to God, used for God. Take its first use, God rested on the seventh day and sanctified it. What the Sabbath was amongst days, that man is to be amongst creatures.

I. That this is our true life is manifest in the very nature of man which is here referred to, body, soul, and spirit.

1. Man is a mystery, rent by two, we might say three, worlds.

(1) In common with the animals he has a body taken from the same earth, dependent on the same conditions, returning to the earth in the same way. And yet the beasts in following their instincts fulfil the purpose of their being, whilst man is a true man only as these instincts are checked. The reason must come in to control the appetites, but what if the passion be stronger than reason? Reason may bid the man to do right, but it does not bring the power. And, worse still, what if the reason itself drag down the man, lower the animal, and he who was sensual becomes devilish, the subject of envy, malice, pride, covetousness, revenge? What then?

(2) We turn to the other faculty–the spirit. That which looks out where reason cannot see, and listens where reason hears nothing, that which has the dread consciousness of a Presence at which reason may laugh, looking out into the dark to declare that there is nothing. But this faculty may contribute to the degradation of the man. To his other miseries this may add a thousand superstitions. Of all creatures man alone wants more than he needs, and in that one fact lies the source of mans misery. Of all animals man alone is the victim of excess. It is the infinite capacity of the spirit degraded and seeking its satisfaction through indulgence.

2. Such is this creature. In a world where all else fulfil their purpose and lie down in peace, he alone is distracted. He is too big for the world, with a mind that cannot fulfil its own ideal. Where can he find his true life, in which all that is within him can be made harmonious and balanced? Some have said, Mutilate the body to save his nobler being. Others have said, Blind the mind and mock the spirit, that the animal may be happy. Eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. But surely there is a power somewhere that can keep the creature whole. Think of a steamship, steam at full pressure, engines going, sails set, yet with no hand on the helm, no lookout, no eye on the compass, hurrying on in the darkness, none knows whither. Or think of such a ship manned, yet where the forces of steam are set to one end and the sails to another, where one part of the crew will make for the Southern Cross and another steer for the North Pole. What is the remedy?

3. Let the commander come on board with due authority, then shall all these antagonistic forces be brought into harmonious working. We, seeking for deliverance, turn instinctively to our Creator. He who made us at the first must understand these faculties and can restore them to their true ends and uses. In all gradations of life we find the need of the creature met with its supply. The higher capacities of man for friendship, service, brotherhood find room and satisfaction. And is it only in the highest that we are to be left deceived? Made conscious of the infinite, yet are we to be met with the finite? If that be so, then has all nature mocked us. Every instinct within us, everything about us, cries aloud that somewhere there is that which can set the man at rest. Instinctively we lift our hands upward, assured that help must come from God. The God of Peace, who made us for Himself, can adjust the wishes and aims to His will, and the man takes his true place in the world as one having dominion over it. Here is our only true life, a life of entire consecration.

II. Our knowledge of God makes this entire sanctification our only true life. In common with other creatures, we live and move and have our being in God.

1. But this wards us from all other creatures in the world, we can give to God. This it is which makes us capable of religion. According to our gift do we find our place in one of the three great classes which divide humanity. Only to give something that we have is the mark of the heathen. Only to give something that we do is the distinction of the Jew. To give that which we are is the privilege and glory of the Christian. Take my goods and be no more angry with me, is the cry of the heathen. Behold my righteousness and remember Thy promise, speaks the Jew. I am not mine own, but Thine, live in me or I die, is the distinctive glory of the Christian.

2. But what we give to God is altogether the result of our knowledge of Him. If we know God only as Creator and Controller, who touches us only from without, we give that which is only from without. But if we know God as our Father, as Love–then is there but one offering which can satisfy Him or satisfy us, body, soul, and spirit wholly given up to Him. Before this demand of our complete surrender, there comes the revelation of God. The Epistle begins with, Grace and peace from God our Father, etc. It is in this revelation of Gods love to us that this claim finds its force. If He have given Himself to us there can be no other return than our whole being to Him. Amongst us the claims of love are such that true love is hurt and injured with less than love. If love be lacking, gifts, obedience, service do but affront and insult love. If the measure of Gods love to us be nothing less than the shame and agony and death of the Son of God, then to give Him less than our body, soul, and spirit is to make religion itself only another bewilderment.

III. Consider this life as the subject of our prayer. May the God of Peace Himself sanctify you wholly. This great work is to be done for us by God. What years of weary and wasted endeavour it would save us if we were willing to accept so obvious a truth! We linger about theories of sanctification. In seeking to make this life our own it will help us to dwell upon the three stages of sanctification as set forth in the Old Testament, the picture book of the New.

1. Sanctification is the surrender of that which is claimed. Sanctify unto me, or as it is in the original, Cause to pass over unto us. That is where sanctification begins. The demand and command of God. We have thought so much about Gods provision for our forgiveness that we have almost lost sight of the fact that forgiveness has this purpose, our perfect obedience to His will. Jesus Christ is come not to be Saviour only, but Lord. Holiness is obedience, and the beauty of Holiness is the beauty of a completed obedience. Religion may borrow the loftiest titles, and swell with the sublimest aspiration, and yet be a thing of flabby sentimentalism, without the strong pillars and girders of Gods authority. Let this surrender to God be a definite act. Our fathers often made this surrender in writing, and it is a distinct gain to make the act visible and tangible. And the process of writing gives one leisure to see into the greatness of Gods claim, and into the sincerity of our response. This is the first step we must bring into our life, the great, strong authority of God. There was an age in which the authority of God was so set forth that it concealed His love, and it produced men stern, perhaps, but grandly true, men all backbones and ribs. Let us beware lest by concealing the authority of God in His love we grow creatures without any backbones or ribs at all.

2. The second step in our sanctification is the cleansing blood. Nothing else could give such solemnity to the offering, nothing else so completely set it apart for God. This was the crimson seal upon the deed of gift. The Church of today has gone away from the Church of the first ages. The death of Christ is the ground of our salvation, that and nothing more. With them it was the resistless claim. Our answer is, Go on your happy way to heaven; theirs was, Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are His. The blood meant ransom, redemption, but the deliverance found its purpose only in the service of God. That is the measure of the Cross of Christ–not safety only from the destroying angel, but deliverance from the bondage of sin, our victory over the world and the flesh. And that not simply as the natural effect upon us of Christs love. It is more than a passionate hatred of sin kindled by the sight of our crucified Lord; more than an enthusiastic devotion fired and sustained by the memory of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. As surely as the Cross of Christ has put me into a new relationship to God, and made it possible for Him to be just and the Justifier of him that believeth, so has that Cross put me into a new relation to the world. This is the great salvation which is provided for us. Now, in the name of Jesus Christ are we to rise to find the chains fall off, the bondage ended, the doors of the prison open, the jealous foes powerless to hold us. Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, now are we free indeed, that in everything we may be His faithful soldiers and servants until our lives end.

3. The last stage in sanctification is the Divine indwelling. Everything led up to that. Everything that was claimed was cleansed. When Moses had done all that God commanded him, then God came down and filled the place with His glorious Presence. Earth had no more to ask, and heaven no more to bestow. Up to that point God is ever seeking to lead us. Just as earth led up to man, and found its use and completeness in his coming, so was it that man led up to God. And when man came God rested from His labours, here was his resting place and home. His work was at an end, and with that indwelling all things found their finish and completion. And up to this all the great provisions of grace lead. We stand and look down through the ages and see God coming nearer to earth, until at last there cometh One who standeth and knocketh, saying, Open unto Me. Then, when He cometh in to dwell with us, paradise is restored. Once more God hath found His rest, and we have found ours, and there comes again the Sabbath calm, for that all is very good. (M. G. Pearse.)

Entire sanctification

By regeneration the heart is renewed, by justification sins are pardoned, in sanctification the life is made holy. Romanists confound justification and sanctification; but while connected they must be distinguished. The former is what is done for us, changes our state, is perfect at once, and is through the merits of Christ; the latter is what is done in us, changes our nature, is gradual, and is by the Spirit. The one gives the title, the other the fitness for glory.

I. The nature of sanctification. Separation from that which is common to that which is holy. So the furniture of the tabernacle (Exo 30:29), and priests and people were sanctified (Exo 28:41). It consists–

1. In mortifying the evils of our nature. (Rom 8:12-13). If sin is not mortified, it will prevent–

(1) Our communion with God (Eze 14:7).

(2) Growth in grace.

(3) Peace here and happiness hereafter.

That which makes clean the outside merely will never satisfy a holy God, make a holy character and fit for a holy place.

2. The consecration of the Christian to that which is holy.

(1) To the glory of God of all that he is, has, and does.

(2) To the cause of Christ which is the good of man.

II. The way of sanctification.

1. It is attributed to the redeeming, cleansing blood of Christ.

2. To the Holy Spirit (2Th 2:13 : Rom 15:16). His design is not simply to better our nature, but to cure it entirely.

3. To the Word of God as the Spirits instrument (Joh 17:17), explaining the nature, applying the promises, and imparting the hope of holiness.

4. To faith and prayer (2Th 2:13; Act 15:9; Mat 7:11). Truth sanctifies only as it is received by faith, and by prayer obtains the influence of the Spirit.

III. The characteristics of sanctification.

1. Progressiveness. We should aim at sinless perfection, and unless we increase in holiness we are increasing in sin.

2. Visibility, not of course in its essence but in its effects. We see that the tree grows, that its branches extend, that it bears fruit, although we do not see it grow.

3. Entireness. It must influence the whole man.

IV. The importance of sanctification.

1. Without it the design of Gods love to us is in vain, This is the will of God even your sanctification.

2. Without it we are strangers to the Saviours grace who died for us that He might purify unto Himself, etc.

3. Without it we are a forsaken and desecrated temple of the Holy Ghost.

4. Without it we are unfit for heaven. None but the pure in heart shall see God.

Application:

1. Use the means of sanctification, prayer, Bible study.

2. Keep before you the perfect model of sanctification in the example of Christ.

3. Never be satisfied with your attainment in sanctification. (Dr. Jarbo.)

Entire sanctification

1. Note the position of this prayer. It forms a conclusion, and this gives it a specific character.

(1) It is the natural close of the Epistle–an impressive course of precept and exhortation. Sanctification from all sins and also in its positive sense had been inculcated and prayed for, and now all previous petitions are gathered up into one.

(2) It is the close of the strain immediately preceding. As far back as 1Th 5:15, we perceive the signs of strong emotion. Pauls exhortations become very bold, and each bears the burden of perfection. The grandeur of this introduction prepares us for the grandeur of the prayer. Precisely at the point when mans ambition to be perfect has been stimulated to the utmost, the transition is made from what we can do for ourselves to what God can do foe us.

2. The peculiarities of the prayer. It is marked off from the rest of Pauls prayers in that it has more of the temple spirit and phraseology. This suggests at once a comparison with our Lords High Priestly consecration prayer (Joh 17:1-26). The Divine consecration separating believers from the world while keeping them blameless in it; having its end, on the one hand, in the unity of the mystical body in holiness, and on the other, the vision of Christs glory at His coming; and brought to its perfection by the righteous or faithful God of the Christian vocation; these form a series of ideas common to Christ and Paul.

3. The expressions by which God is invoked in Pauls prayers are always great expository helps.

(1) The God of peace is the author of reconciliation accomplished through the atoning mediation of Christ, Those only can be sanctified who have entered into the enjoyment of the Divine favour. Peace begins the state of grace, pervades it, and is its perfection (Rom 5:1).

(2) He that calleth (1Th 5:24). Sometimes the calling refers to the past–at conversion: sometimes to the final issue; here, however, it is the continuous call between the two extremes–always to holiness. This name is a remembrancer, every time we hear it, of an abiding obligation on our part, and a constant will on the part of God.

(3) The third name is not mentioned but implied. God is the only sanctifier–the Father (Joh 17:17), the Son (Heb 2:11), the Holy Ghost (2Th 2:13). Only a lax religious phraseology speaks of a mans consecrating himself. We have words for duty and virtue in every form, but this must be sanctified or set apart from our common use. Only One could say I sanctify myself.

4. Entering the prayer itself we mark its great central idea, the entireness of personal sanctification: but to clear the way we must consider what is not meant, that in which all accepted believers are entirely sanctified.

(1) They are absolutely washed from the guilt of sin (Heb 10:22). In this sense sanctification and justification are one. The soul that is justified in the forum or court mediatorial is in the temple and before the altar sanctified, and completely (Heb 10:14).

(2) They are presented to God upon an altar which makes everything holy, and they are thus set apart to the Divine service. Now that must be absolute or nothing. The offering must be either on the altar or not on it. But the oblation has yet to go up to heaven in the consuming fire as a whole burnt offering.

(3) They are complete in Christ according to the foreknowledge of God (Rom 8:30; Heb 10:14; 1Co 1:30).

(4) These several views unite in the element of imputation. But the apostles prayer uses a word which takes us into an altogether different region, Faithful, etc. (1Th 5:24). He does not ask that God may count, but that God may make them holy. The entireness of sanctification is here expressed in two ways. It is–

I. A complete consecration of the whole person or being of the Christian.

1. Consider some objections arising out of the form and construction of the sentence. It has been said that the words are too rare and uncertain to admit of a doctrine so important being based upon them. But granted that they are unusual, they are chosen with extreme precision, and bear their sense in their very form. Passing by this, two other objections, based upon it, must be noticed.

(1) One takes the form of an honourable but unsound explanation which assumes that wholly refers to the Thessalonian Church, and blameless to individual members. But there is no instance of any particular community being regarded as capable of entire sanctification. That blessedness is the prerogative of the Christian or the whole mystical body of Christ.

(2) The other less-worthy subterfuge asserts that the plain meaning of the terms must not be unduly pressed; that Pauls theology ought not to be made responsible for his exuberant phrases. This loose theory of inspiration as here applied is condemned by the fact that the text begins and ends with the power of God. And with regard to Faithful is He, it is remarkable that it is always used when the strength of the apostles language might seem to demand the confirmation of a special Divine guarantee.

2. Entire sanctification as an end attained consists of–

(1) A consecrating act of God put forth to the utmost necessary point. The work is one of Divine power which God begins, continues, and brings to perfection. He will do it. This separates our sanctification from everything which man by his own effort may attain. It is not the result of a new direction or impetus given to our faculties; through no energy of the self-consecrated will; through no mighty outgoings of the regenerate feeling; through no contemplation of the regenerate reason. There is a power above and behind using them, but not leaving the recovery of holiness to them. It is not the moral agent retrieving himself by Divine aid, but a new and more abundant life infused, sustained and carried to perfection by God Himself.

(2) This sanctifying power extends to all the elements of mans nature.

(a) His spirit is that element of his nature which is his distinction. In it he is only a little lower than the angels for a season, and has no fellowship whatever with the lower creation. Here is the seat of the Divine image, marred but never lost, and whose perfect restoration must wait until sanctification is lost in glory. Meanwhile the reason is entirely dedicated to its original function of being the depository of the supreme first principles of goodness, rectitude, and truth; the conscience is sanctified unto perfect fidelity as an internal legislator true to the truth, as an incorruptible witness pacified, and as a fearless interpreter of the Divine judgment; the will is sanctified as the servant of its own supreme choice and intention, and as the master of its own acts, by release from every impediment of unholy motives and by the constant influence of the truth applied by the spirit; the impulse behind and the end before, and all its means between consecrated in the unity of one supreme principle–the glory of God. But we are apt to lose the noblest meaning of the term spirit, by the use of these synonyms. It is the element in mans nature that is capable of God. Dead or asleep in the unregenerate, it is quickened into life by the Holy Spirit; and when it is entirely possessed by Him who quickens it–the spiritual man being filled with the Spirit, and wholly spiritual–it is wholly sanctified to the vision of God.

(b) The soul is consecrated as distinct from the spirit. This faculty, when mentioned apart from the spirit, comes between the higher and lower elements of our being. It is the sphere of the desires and passions, which are innocent in themselves, but transformed by the sinful will into worldly affections and lusts, which are restored, however, by being brought under the control of the Holy Spirit through the will, refusing them their unholy stimulants and nourishment in the world.

(c) The body is also sanctified as the instrument of spirit and soul. As such it has abundant honour put upon it as the temple of the Holy Ghost. But like spirit and soul, its sanctification is limited till sanctification and glorification shall be one.

(3) The entireness of the consecration. Wholly has reference to the person made up of these constituents. The three parts are not introduced to show that holiness becomes perfect by proceeding through these inwardly towards the centre. The sanctification is of the man in whom these unite. It begins with the self of the new man, and the Holy Ghost dwelling therein, becomes a will within the will that rules the whole; and when He has confirmed that will in supreme devotion to God, sanctification is entire.

II. The preservation of the same integral person in a state of blamelessness till the coming of Christ.

1. The same power that sanctifies as an act preserves that sanctification as a state. Entire sanctification as distinguished from sanctification is the confirmed, habitual, no longer interrupted devotion of the whole being to God. As the power which created the world sustains it by an indwelling energy, so the power which can fix upon God the strength of the whole soul can keep it fixed upon Him. A strong influence of grace descending in answer to prayer may carry the whole soul to God for a season. When the prayer of faith which brings this blessing becomes unceasing this act becomes the tranquil state of the soul. By faith we stand, and He who is faithful is able to keep us from falling.

2. This consecration is the preservation of all that belongs to Spirit, etc., in the fellowship and service of God. The whole man becomes entirely the Lords property and worshipper, His instrument and servant. Hence entire sanctification is the habitual communion with God as the supreme good of the soul; and the habitual reference of every act to the will and glory of God as the Lord of life. Love makes the whole being a whole burnt offering.

3. This state of entire consecration is preserved in blamelessness.

(1) No blame is imputed to it; by virtue of the atoning blood it is in a constant state of acceptance.

(2) It is a faultless sacrifice. The High Priest so entirely consecrates the offering to God that sin is no longer found in it.

4. The fidelity of God is pledged to the accomplishment of this. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)

The sanctification of the complete man

I. Its meaning.

1. What does Paul mean by being sanctified wholly?

(1) In man there is a trinity of powers linking him with three different worlds.

(a) By the body, with its sensations, etc., we are connected with the earth.

(b) By the soul, powers merely natural, faculties, passions, and affections, we are connected with the sorrowing, rejoicing, toiling world.

(c) But there are deeper things linking us with a sublimer region, an emotion that pants for the eternal, prayers that cry out for the infinite–these are voices of the spirit.

(2) These, Paul says, are to be sanctified, i.e., consecrated.

(a) The body, not by crushing and despising it, but using it as a gift of God for His glory.

(b) The soul, not by despising its gifts as carnal, or shutting our ears to the appeals of affection, but by dedicating it to God; thus making hopes, ambitions, loves, holy.

(c) The spirit must be sanctified, for when men have used the powers of their spirit as their own they have fallen into spiritual sins, intolerance, bigotry, pride.

2. Why does Paul lay such emphasis on the consecration of all our powers? Because they are gateways of temptation from three different worlds, and unless they are consecrated we are never safe.

(1) Men have tried to purify their outward life alone, leaving soul and spirit unguarded, and then secret sins of pride and imagination break out.

(2) Men have left the spirit unconsecrated. Guarding body and soul, subduing bodily fear, and ready to meet scorn and shame, Peter, relying on his own strength, fell at the first temptation.

(3) Men have tried to hallow the spirit only, to keep their higher life apart, hence the dishonesties which have so often blemished men professing peculiar saintliness. We must be consecrated through the whole range of our powers or we shall not be consecrated at all.

II. Its attainment.

1. We cannot consecrate ourselves. We try it.

(1) We subdue the body, but the soul, with its temptations, is too strong for us.

(2) We strain all our energies to subdue sins of the intellect and affections; and then we are tempted with spiritual pride. Weary of the struggle, we say, It is all vain. It is not. Admit your weakness, and cry to God the sanctifier.

2. God preserves the entire sanctification by imparting peace. The calmness He gives when we cease our own efforts is our truest might to maintain this complete consecration.

III. Its motive. Until the coming, etc. This coming is–

1. A day of manifestation. Because that day is coming sanctify–

(1) The body, that it may shine out a glorified body in that day;

(2) The soul, that it may be able to receive the truth and light of that day;

(3) The spirit, that it may be able to commune with the Eternal Love.

2. A day of everlasting gatherings. Sanctify, therefore, body, etc., that you may be meetened for the Church of the firstborn. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)

The prayer for entire consecration

The momentous warning of 1Th 5:19 perhaps led to this prayer that the temple in which that holy flame was burning might be preserved in its integrity and blamelessness. Whole does not mean the three associated together, but that each may be preserved in its completeness. The prayer is threefold.

I. That they may be sanctified by the God of peace.

1. Sanctification is the condition of outward and inward peace.

2. This sanctification is to be complete wholly in their collective powers and constituents.

II. That each constituent may be preserved to our Lords coming. Each part of the man and the whole man is immortal.

III. That each so preserved may be entire and complete, not mutilated or disintegrated by sin.

1. That the body may retain its yet uneffaced image of God, and its unimpaired aptitude to be a living sacrifice to its Maker.

2. The appetitive soul, its purer hopes and nobler aspirations.

3. The spirit, its everblessed associate the Holy Spirit of God. (Bp. Ellicott.)

I pray God that your whole spirit, and soul, and body–The word rendered whole, signifies literally, whole inheritance or portion. It is applied metaphorically to a city, all whose buildings are standing, undamaged by fire or sword; to an empire, the provinces of which are entire; to an army, whose troops are yet undiminished by any casualty. St. Paul, therefore, may be considered to pray that the believers whole inheritance may be kept inviolate. And what is this inheritance? It is threefold, a Body–a Soul–a Spirit. Man, that is, is delineated not as a simple, but as a compound being. He has three constituent parts, and the apostolic prayer is to the effect that every one of these parts may be kept without loss until the day of Christs appearing. (Bp. Woodford.)

The tripartite nature of man

I. Body–sense-consciousness.

II. Soul–self-consciousness.

III. Spirit–God-consciousness. (J. B. Heard, M. A.)

There are three things of which man in his entirety consists–flesh, soul, and spirit: the one, the spirit, giving form; the other, the flesh, receiving form. The soul is intermediate between these two: sometimes it follows the spirit and is elevated by it, and sometimes it consents to the flesh and falls into earthly concupiscences. (Irenaeus.)

Body, soul, and spirit

An ancient philosopher once called the human frame a harmony of bones, and a beautiful cathedral may be well called a harmony of stones. Following the same train of thought in a wider application, I might point out to you how man in his entire composite structure of body and soul and spirit was designed by his Creator to be, as it were, a living instrument of diverse chords attuned to one perfect harmony. How should I describe the relations to each other of these factors of our human fabric? Should I call the body the sheath of the soul, and the soul the sheath of the spirit? Or the body the organ of the soul, and the soul the organ of the spirit? Or the first the utterance of the second, and the second the expression of the third? What is the body for? Not for intemperance, incontinence, greed; the body is for the Lord. He is its Builder and Redeemer: doubly Owner of it and twice Proprietor, first by creation and then by redemption. If, then, we would live to the Lord, let us keep our bodies in temperance, soberness, and chastity. But what did I say–let us keep the body in order? Why, the body is the organ of the soul; the soul rules it with a will, uses it with a will, bids it walk with feet, touch with hand, taste with tongue, speak with mouth, see with eyes. To keep the body in order, then, we must keep the soul in order–filling it with good desires, pure motives, wise counsels, noble aims and aspirations. Yes, but what is to keep the soul in order? Why, the soul itself is controlled by that of which it is the organ and the expression, even by the spirit. So, then, let each of us fill our highest nature, even the spirit, with good desires, pure motives, noble aspirations, lofty thoughts of God and heaven. But can we? Is a mans ego or self outside a man that he should pour into his own spirit good desires, as he would pour water into a cistern? A mans ego is inside the man, whether it be seated in the soul, or in the spirit, or in both. For behind the body is its ruler and director, the soul, behind the soul is its ruler the spirit: but behind the spirit of man is what? Is there no superior? Why, yes; some unseen power there is, that plays the part of King David to the harp, and makes the music of the instrument; that suggests, inspires, persuades, drawing to virtue or tempting to vice–an evil power drawing to evil, a good power to good. If Gods Spirit penetrate, intensify, illuminate mans spirit and through that reach the soul, and bend the will submissive to good, until the man subdue his own flesh to his own spirit, that man, by faith in Christ, shall save his soul alive. But if, alas! the reverse of this–if the love of the world, the lust of the eye, the pride of life should smother, stifle, quench the nobler aspiration after holiness and happiness–such a man, if he resist to the end the strivings of the Holy Ghost in the domain of his own spirit, shall, in the words of our Lord, lose his own soul–his own self. We are fearfully and wonderfully made: our triple organism is a mystery, but our double destiny is a certainty. There is to life eternal a dread alternative. There is the one way to heaven before us, and Jesus Christ is this one Way; and there is another way leading to hell. Powers of evil and powers of good surround us: the angels of God attend upon us for our well-being, the angels of Satan hover about us, tempting us to our ruin. Environed by this conflict in the air between good and evil, we must be loyal to our Master, true to our only Saviour, stedfast in prayer and watching, doing our duty in our several stations, keeping our garments unspotted of the flesh: ever using the sacramental means of grace in the Holy Supper; and so, and only so, the Spirit of Christ, which flows through the mystical veins of His Divine humanity, shall fill with its goodness and gentleness, its purity and charity, our own spirits, through them controlling our souls and bodies. For in Gods propriety of order, the body is the tabernacle of the soul, the soul is the temple of the human spirit, and the human spirit is the sanctuary of the Holy Ghost. (Canon T. S. Evans, D. D.)

Body, soul, and spirit

I. Every department of the universe of matter finds itself represented in the body of man.

1. Whenever he receives, digests, and is nourished by food, and experiences bodily pain, man lives the life of the: animal.

2. The hair, which grows and is nourished, and yet which is endowed with no sensation, belongs to, and connects us with, the vegetable kingdom.

3. Mineral matter enters largely into the composition of the circulating lifeblood, whose current throbs in every extremity of our frame–and thus a link of sympathy, and community of nature, is established between man and a third great department of matter.

II. The Soul is that, which when held in combination with the body, connects us with the beasts of the field. For by the soul is probably to be understood the passions or affections–such as have no element of reason or the higher nature in them–perhaps natural instincts would be a more generally intelligible term. It will not be denied that brutes manifest fear, when they are threatened or punished; that there is a strong spirit of emulation and competition among horses; that anger and jealousy will lead stags to encounter one another; that all animals care for their young, and that in some the maternal instinct is developed with a power which almost surpasses that feeling as it exists in man. Now fear and emulation and anger and parental affection, and other such instincts–in their crude state, unmodified by reason, and the sense of right and wrong–constitute, I suppose, the , or soul, of which the apostle is here speaking.

III. The spirit comprises all that higher part of human nature, by which man holds of God and blessed angels. The spirit gives him a sympathy with the world above, even as the soul gives him a sympathy with the animals, and as the body gives him a sympathy with the material universe. Angels are said to be ministering spirits. And it is remarkable that when man is spoken of in the Scriptures as holding communion with God, the spirit and not the body is mentioned as the organ through which that communion is held (Rom 1:9; Joh 4:24). The beasts that perish cannot apprehend God, cannot understand the Divine Word and Will, or hold communion in any form with the Eternal. Why not? They have no natural capacity for doing so. Some link in their nature is wanting, which, if it were present, might make them competent to an exercise so sweet and yet so awful. That link is –spirit. (Dean Goulburn.)

Body, soul and spirit sanctified

I. The three-fold nature of man. In ordinary language, which the Scripture itself does not hesitate commonly to adopt, a two-fold division of our nature is recognized–man is said to be made up of body and soul. By the word soul are understood both his moral and intellectual faculties–those points in his being which distinguish him from other animals, and to cultivate which is the proper business of his life. It is thus used to signify the highest part of his nature; and therefore in the language of those who know the true objects of his highest faculties, and the exalted state to which they might be raised hereafter, it expresses his immortal part in contradistinction to that which is to perish with this present life (Mat 10:28). But as the notions generally entertained respecting the highest part of our nature were in many respects highly erroneous–as our relation to God as our Maker and Father was lost sight of, and further, as ceasing to regard Him as the great object and centre of our being, men naturally lost all clear and lively hopes of immortality, the word soul in its common acceptation among the Greeks was inadequate to express the loftier and more enlightened conceptions of a Christian, with respect to his best faculties and their most perfect state. We find, therefore, in several passages of the New Testament that a third term is employed in addition to those of body and soul, and intended to express something superior to the soul in its common sense, as the soul is superior to the body. The third term is spirit, which, in the signification now alluded to, seems applicable to Christians only, and to denote that perfection of human nature which it was the object of the gospel to accomplish–an understanding that should know God, and affections that should love Him; or, in other words, a spiritual creature capable of enjoying communion with the Father of Spirits, and from that relation being naturally immortal. Thus, then, when this three-fold division of our nature is mentioned, the term body expresses those appetites we have in common with the brutes; the term soul denotes our moral and intellectual faculties, directed only toward objects of this world, and not exalted by the hope of immortality; and the term spirit takes these same faculties when directed toward God and heavenly things, and from the purity, the greatness, and the perfect goodness of Him who is their object, transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

II. The perfection or blamelessness of this triple nature. With the government of the body all are engaged at some periods of their lives, and some through the whole of their lives. All more or less can understand the temptations to indolence and comfort, and to the indulgence of intemperance and sensuality, How many thousands there are who live like Esau! Their appetites are keen, and their enjoyments lively; the body is alive, while the soul and spirit are almost dead; and therefore the man lives what may be called an animal life; but as a man with a soul, and much more as a Christian with a spirit, he is in the lowest state of degradation, neither fit for the life that is to come, nor yet for the life of a reasonable being even in this present world. To keep down the body, therefore, and bring it into subjection, was the object of fasting and mortification; but what is specially wanted is to raise and strengthen the soul and spirit, that the body may be able and ready to aid them in their work, which it cannot do unless it be itself sound and vigorous. The soul is commonly strengthened by the growth and cultivation of the powers of the understanding, and by the various objects which attract the mind as we come forth into actual life. But the perfection of the soul must not be preferred to that of the spirit, any more than that of the body to that of the soul. The excellence of our spirit is to feel and hope as spiritual and deathless creatures. When this takes place, how beautiful is the sight to behold the spirit, and soul, and body, each healthy and strong, and each working in its proper order to perfect its own happiness, and thereby to advance the glory of the Triune-One! (T. Arnold, D. D.)

The spiritual nature

What Paul prayed for his friends we may well pray for both ourselves and our friends–a blameless spirit, a blameless soul, a blameless body. This is the whole man.

1. What we mean by the body we very well understand. Mystery even in the body there is, it is true; but still, on the whole, what is meant by a blameless body requires no great exposition. The man with a perfect physique, the man who is a picture of perfect health, verifies himself to our senses, with his broad shoulders, his brawny, muscular limbs, the glow of health upon the cheek, his unwearied vigour by day, his sweet, undisturbed sleep at night.

2. We look in the Greek, to find the same word indiscriminately rendered life and soul. We look in the Latin, and find the word that stands for soul to be anima, that which animates the body. The soul, then, is that which gives life to this physical organization, The brain is but ashes, without intellect behind it. The heart is a mere muscular valve, if there be no affection and love which make it beat quicker in the presence of the loved one. That which gives physical organism its use, that which makes it an instrument, that which links man to his fellow man, that which deals with the transient and the visible, with that which is round about us, what philosophers classify as the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will–we call this the soul.

3. But what is the spirit? It is by the spirit that we discern the truth. It is the spirit which is ever against the flesh, antagonizing, striving for full mastery of it. It is the spirit which links us to God. It is the spirit which is the Divine and immortal principle in man, undying. So that if there be no spirit, or if it be left to die, there is no immortal life. Let us look for a few moments, and see what are some of the characteristics of this spiritual nature, what some of the indications of the possession of this spiritual in man. But how shall you know what is the value, worth, character, of your spiritual nature? He that has a spiritual nature–

I. Will have at least a hungering after the spiritual.

1. This may be, indeed, the only evidence of spiritual nature in him. It certainly is the first. Before as yet the artist knows how to paint or draw, he has in him the desire for painting; and the little boy takes up his pencil and scrawls away, trying to make forms, so bearing witness to a seed-art within him that needs development. The bird has a wish for the air before its wings are fledged and it can soar out from the nest. Our hungers indicate what we are.

2. And as the Bible expresses and interprets the desire of spirituality, so it gives its promise to those desires. You may wish for wealth, and stay poor. But the soul that longs for a stronger conscience, a clearer faith, a more eager and joyous hope, a diviner reverence, shall not go unsatisfied.

II. Has in him something that perceives the spiritual.

III. Will find expression for the spiritual. We are not all teachers, but we all live; and, after all, the true measure and final test of spiritual life is not what we think, nor what we say, but the way in which we live. I pray God that you present yourselves, spirit, soul, body, blameless before the throne of His grace.

1. Blameless in body: with no wart upon it of intemperance or sensual self-indulgence.

2. Blameless in soul, with no ignorant superstition degrading it, with no social coldness, no disfellowship of humanity, no idleness shackling the hands that should have been busy in service.

3. Blameless in spirit–what do I mean by that? I pray God that you may have–

(1) A reverence that shall always show something higher and grander and nobler and diviner than the eye has ever shown you, and shall always make you bow before it and follow after it.

(2) A hope that shall summon you to a nobler and diviner life than can be interpreted by anything the eye has ever seen or the ear has ever heard.

(3) A conscience that shall hold you rigorously and undeviatingly in the path of rectitude, not turning to the right hand nor the left under beckoning enticement or under threatening pressure and menace.

(4) A love so large, so catholic, and so inspired by Him that no wrong shall weary its patience, no iniquity shall blur or hinder its sympathy, no sorrow shall fall to touch its pity: for this makes manhood and womanhood. Not what we know: ignorance does not defile us. Not what we have done: doing does not make us. But what in the higher developments of our soul, what in our reverence, in our hope, in our faith, in our love, we are–that really makes us. (Lyman Abbott.)

The kings lodging

Manton says: If an earthly king lie but a night in a house, what care is there taken that nothing be offensive to him, but that all things be neat, clean, and sweet? How much more ought you to be careful to get and keep your hearts clean, to perform service acceptably to Him; to be in the exercise of faith, love and other graces, that you may entertain, as you ought, your heavenly King, who comes to take up His continual abode and residence in your hearts! We know a house in which an empress rested for a very short time, and the owner henceforth refused to admit other inmates. Such is his devotion to his royal guest that no one may now sit in her chair or dine at the table which she honoured. Our verdict is that he makes loyalty into absurdity by this conduct; but if we imitate him in this procedure in reference to the Lord Jesus we shall be wise. Let our whole being be set apart for Jesus, and for Jesus only. We shall not have to shut up the house; for our beloved Lord will inhabit every chamber of it, and make it a permanent palace. Let us see to it that all be holy, all pure, all devout. Help us, O Purifier of the temple, to drive out all intruders, and reserve our soul in all the beauty of holiness for the Blessed and Only Potentate. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 23. And the very God of peace] That same God who is the author of peace, the giver of peace; and who has sent, for the redemption of the world, the Prince of peace; may that very God sanctify you wholly; leave no more evil in your hearts than his precepts tolerate evil in your conduct. The word wholly, means precisely the same as our phrase, to all intents and purposes. May he sanctify you to the end and to the uttermost, that, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so may grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Your whole spirit and soul and body] Some think that the apostle alludes to the Pythagorean and Platonic doctrine, which was acknowledged among the Thessalonians. I should rather believe that he refers simply to the fact, that the creature called man is a compound being, consisting,

1. Of a body, , an organized system, formed by the creative energy of God out of the dust of the earth; composed of bones, muscles, and nerves; of arteries, veins, and a variety of other vessels, in which the blood and other fluids circulate.

2. Of a soul, , which is the seat of the different affections and passions, such as love, hatred, anger, c., with sensations, appetites, and propensities of different kinds.

3. Of spirit, , the immortal principle, the source of life to the body and soul, without which the animal functions cannot be performed, how perfect soever the bodily organs may be and which alone possesses the faculty of intelligence, understanding, thinking, and reasoning, and produces the faculty of speech wherever it resides, if accident have not impaired the organs of speech.

The apostle prays that this compound being, in all its parts, powers, and faculties, which he terms , their whole, comprehending all parts, every thing that constitutes man and manhood, may be sanctified and preserved blameless till the coming of Christ; hence we learn,

1. That body, soul, and spirit are debased and polluted by sin.

2. That each is capable of being sanctified, consecrated in all its powers to God, and made holy.

3. That the whole man is to be preserved to the coming of Christ, that body, soul, and spirit may be then glorified for ever with him.

4. That in this state the whole man may be so sanctified as to be preserved blameless till the coming of Christ. And thus we learn that the sanctification is not to take place in, at, or after death. On the pollution and sanctification of flesh and spirit, 2Co 7:1.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The apostle here concludes all with prayer, as knowing all his exhortations and admonitions before given would not be effectual without God; and he prays for their sanctification and preservation. Though they were sanctified already, yet but in part, so that he prays for further progress in it to perfection, which he means by

wholly; a word no where used by the apostle but in this place, and variously rendered; some render it throughout, some, perfectly, some, in every part, some, in all things, some, fully, and the French, entirely. It may refer to all the parts of holiness, and the degrees of holiness, and to the whole man in the several faculties of soul and body, expressed in the next words by

spirit, soul, and body, that their whole man may be entirely separated and consecrated to God, offered up to him as a sacrifice, Rom 12:1; and hence we serve that not only the beginning, but progress in grace is from God. The apostle therefore prays for it to God, (whom he calls the God of peace, to enforce his exhortation to peace, 1Th 5:3), which confutes the Pelagians, who thought objective grace sufficient to sanctify, or that mans nature needs only at first to be excited by God, and then can go forward of itself, being only maimed, not totally corrupted by the fall. It is true, our faculties co-operate with God, but not of themselves, but as acted by his inherent grace and indwelling Spirit.

And what the apostle prays for:

1. That Christians should endeavour after, which is a progress in sanctification to perfection. We may also note, that true sanctification reacheth to the whole man, spirit, soul, and body.

2. Preservation, which we call perseverance, expressed here both by the subject and term of it. The subject is the whole man, branched into three parts, spirit, soul, and body, figured, at least resembled, by the three parts of the temple.

Consider man naturally; and then by spirit we mean his superior faculties, as the mind, conscience, rational will.

By soul, his sensitive appetite, with the affections and passions.

By body, the outward man, the tabernacle and instrument of the soul.

The Jewish rabbins and others think all these are expressed in the creation of man, Gen 2:7; God formed man of the dust of the ground, there is his body; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, or lives, Nishmath Chaiim, Nephesh Chaijah, that is, the faculties of the rational soul; and man became a living soul, that is, the animal and sensitive life. Neither is properly meant here the Spirit of God, for he saith, your spirit; nor the sanctified part of the soul, for he prays for the preserving of their persons. Only observe, when he speaks of their spirit, he calls it their whole spirit. And by the figure zeugma, the word whole is to be carried also to soul and body; so that as he prayed their whole man might be sanctified, so their whole spirit, their whole soul, their whole body might be preserved; and the same word we find Jam 1:4, where it is rendered perfect, alludiug to the perfect possessing of all inheritance or lot that belongs to a man. And by preserving, he means not so much the substance of the spirit, soul, and body, to preserve them in being, as to preserve them in holiness. And they are preserved, partly by being delivered from the sinful distempers that are naturally in them, as ignorance, vanity, impotency, and enmity in the mind, reluctancy and obstinacy in the will, inordinacy and irregularity in the affections, disobedience to the law of God and the regular commands of the soul in the body. If these prevail, they will bring destruction; as diseases prevailing destroy the natural life. And partly also by being supplied with that grace whereby they act regularly towards God, and are serviceable to the end of mans being, as supply of oil preserveth the lamp burning. And hereby we may understand, that not only the inferior faculties are corrupted in mans fall, but the superior and the supreme of all, else the apostle need not have prayed for the spirit to be sanctified and preserved, as well as the soul and body. And elsewhere he prays for a renewing in the spirit of the mind, Eph 4:23. Next we may consider this preservation with respect to the term of it,

preserved blameless unto the coming of Christ: the same which the apostle means by being preserved to Gods heavenly kingdom, 2Ti 4:18; 2Pe 3:14. And those that are preserved to that day, are preserved to the end, and will be found blameless; and their whole man, spirit, soul, and body, being first sanctified, and then preserved, shall be saved and glorified. And the apostle insinuates in the word , blameless, that strict discovery that will be made of persons at that day, wherein some will be blamed, and others be found without blame. And herein the apostle may have respect both to the teachers and ministers in this church, and the private members of it, that with respect to their several duties belonging to them they may be found blameless; and though, according to the strictness of the law of God, none can be without blame, yet, those that have been sincere, and have their sin pardoned, and their persons accepted in Christ, may be found blameless in the day of Christ: however, it is that which we should strive after.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

23. the very Godrather as theGreek, “the God of peace Himself“; who can dofor you by His own power what I cannot do by all my monitions,nor you by all your efforts (Rom 16:20;Heb 13:20), namely, keep you fromall evil, and give you all that is good.

sanctify youforholiness is the necessary condition of “peace” (Php4:6-9).

whollyGreek,“(so that you should be) perfect in every respect”[TITTMANN].

andthat is, “andso (omit ‘I pray God’; not in the Greek) may your . . . spiritand soul and body be preserved,” c.

wholeA different Greekword from “wholly.” Translate, “entire” with noneof the integral parts wanting [TITTMANN].It refers to man in his normal integrity, as originally designed; anideal which shall be attained by the glorified believer. All three,spirit, soul, and body, each in its due place, constitute man”entire.” The “spirit” links man with the higherintelligences of heaven, and is that highest part of man which isreceptive of the quickening Holy Spirit (1Co15:47). In the unspiritual, the spirit is so sunk under the loweranimal soul (which it ought to keep under) that such aretermed “animal” (English Version. “sensual,”having merely the body of organized matter, and the soulthe immaterial animating essence), having not the Spirit(compare 1Co 2:14; see on 1Co15:44; 1Cor 15:46-48; Joh3:6). The unbeliever shall rise with an animal(soul-animated) body, but not like the believer with aspiritual (spirit-endued) body like Christ’s (Ro8:11).

blameless untoratheras Greek, “blamelessly (so as to be in a blameless state)at the coming of Christ.” In Hebrew, “peace”and “wholly” (perfect in every respect) are kindred terms;so that the prayer shows what the title “God of peace”implies. BENGEL takes”wholly” as collectively, all the Thessalonianswithout exception, so that no one should fail. And “whole(entire),” individually, each one of them entire, with”spirit, soul, and body.” The mention of the preservationof the body accords with the subject (1Th4:16). TRENCH betterregards “wholly” as meaning, “having perfectlyattained the moral end,” namely, to be a full-grown manin Christ. “Whole,” complete, with no grace whichought to be wanting in a Christian.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the very God of peace,…. Or “the God of peace himself”. The apostle follows his exhortations with prayer to God, knowing the weakness and impotency of the saints to receive them, and act according to them, and his own insufficiency to impress their minds with them; and that unless the Lord opened their ears to discipline, and sealed instruction to them, they would be useless and in vain: wherefore he applies to the throne of grace, and addresses God as “the God of peace”; so called, because of the concern he has in peace and reconciliation made by the blood of Christ, and because he is the giver of peace of conscience, and the author of peace, concord, and unity among the saints, and of all happiness and prosperity, both in this world, and in that which is to come; [See comments on Ro 15:33]. And the apostle might choose to address God under this character, partly to encourage boldness, freedom, and intrepidity at the throne of grace, and partly to raise hope, expectation, and faith of having his requests answered, since God is not an angry God, nor is fury in him, but the God of peace: and the petitions he puts up for the Thessalonians are as follow: and first, that God would

sanctify you wholly; or “all of you”, as the Arabic version; or “all of you perfectly”, as the Syriac version. These persons were sanctified by the Spirit of God, but not perfectly; the Gospel was come to them in power, and had wrought effectually in them, and they were turned from idols to serve the living God, and had true faith, hope, and love, implanted in them, and which they were enabled to exercise in a very comfortable and commendable manner; but yet this work of grace and sanctification begun in them was far from being perfect, nor is it in the best of saints. There is something lacking in the faith of the greatest believer, love often waxes cold, and hope is not lively at all times, and knowledge is but in part; sin dwells in all; the saints are poor and needy, their wants continually return upon them, and they need daily supplies; the most holy and knowing among them disclaim perfection in themselves, though desirous of it. Their sanctification in Christ is perfect, but not in themselves; there is indeed a perfection of parts in internal sanctification, every grace is implanted, there is not one wanting; the new creature, or new man, has all its parts, though these are not come to their full growth; there is not a perfection of degrees, and this is what the apostle prays for; for sanctification is a progressive, gradual work, it is like seed cast into the earth, which springs up, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, and is as light, which shines more and more to the perfect day. Sanctified persons are first as newborn babes, and then they grow up to be young men, and at last become fathers in Christ; and this work being begun, is carried on, and will be performed, fulfilled, and made perfect: and it is God’s work to do it; he begins, and he carries it on, and he will finish it; and therefore the apostle prays to him to do it; this is his first petition: the second follows,

and I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. A like division of man is made by the Jews: says one of their writers y

“a man cannot know God, unless he knows , “his soul, his breath, or his spirit, and his body”.”

Says z R. Isaac,

“worthy are the righteous in this world, and in the world to come, for lo, they are all holy; their body is holy, their soul is holy, their spirit, and their breath is holy”

[See comments on Heb 4:12]. Some by “spirit” understand the graces and gifts of the Spirit in a regenerate man; and by “the soul”, the soul as regenerated, and as it is the seat and subject of these graces; and by the body, the habitation of the soul, which is influenced by the grace that is last; and this is a sense not to be despised. Others by “the spirit” understand the rational and immortal soul of man, often called a spirit, as in Ec 12:7 and by the soul, the animal and sensitive soul, which man has in common with brutes; see Ec 3:21 and by the “body”, the outward frame of flesh and blood, and bones; but rather “spirit” and “soul” design the same immaterial, immortal, and rational soul of man, considered in its different powers and faculties. The “spirit” may intend the understanding, Job 32:8 which is the principal, leading, and governing faculty of the soul; and which being enlightened by the Spirit of God, a man knows himself, Christ Jesus, and the things of the Spirit, the truths of the Gospel, and receives and values them. The “soul” may include the will and affections, which are influenced by the understanding; and in a regenerate man the will is brought to a resignation to the will of God, and the affections are set upon divine things, and the body is the instrument of performing religious and spiritual exercises: and these the apostle prays may be

preserved blameless; not that he thought they could be kept from sinning entirely in thought, word, or deed; but that they might be preserved in purity and chastity from the gross enormities of life, and be kept from a total and final falling away, the work of grace be at last completed on the soul and spirit, and the body be raised in incorruption, and glory; and both at the coming of Christ be presented faultless, and without blame, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, first to himself, and then to his Father.

y Aben Ezra in Exod. xxxi. 18. z Zohar in Lev. fol. 29. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Paul’s Prayer for the Thessalonians.

A. D. 51.

      23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.   24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.   25 Brethren, pray for us.   26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.   27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.   28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

      In these words, which conclude this epistle, observe,

      I. Paul’s prayer for them, v. 23. He had told them, in the beginning of this epistle, that he always made mention of them in his prayers; and, now that he is writing to them, he lifts up his heart to God in prayer for them. Take notice, 1. To whom the apostle prays, namely, The very God of peace. He is the God of grace, and the God of peace and love. He is the author of peace and lover of concord; and by their peaceableness and unity, from God as the author, those things would best be obtained which he prays for. 2. The things he prays for on behalf of the Thessalonians are their sanctification, that God would sanctify them wholly; and their preservation, that they might be preserved blameless. He prays that they may be wholly sanctified, that the whole man may be sanctified, and then that the whole man, spirit, soul, and body, may be preserved: or, he prays that they may be wholly sanctified, that is, more perfectly, for the best are sanctified but in part while in this world; and therefore we should pray for and press towards complete sanctification. Where the good work of grace is begun, it shall be carried on, be protected and preserved; and all those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus shall be preserved to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And because, if God did not carry on his good work in the soul, it would miscarry, we should pray to God to perfect his work, and preserve us blameless, free from sin and impurity, till at length we are presented faultless before the throne of his glory with exceeding joy.

      II. His comfortable assurance that God would hear his prayer: Faithful is he who calleth you, who will also do it, v. 24. The kindness and love of God had appeared to them in calling them to the knowledge of his truth, and the faithfulness of God was their security that they should persevere to the end; and therefore, the apostle assures them, God would do what he desired; he would effect what he had promised; he would accomplish all the good pleasure of his goodness towards them. Note, Our fidelity to God depends upon his faithfulness to us.

      III. His request of their prayers: Brethren, pray for us, v. 25. We should pray for one another; and brethren should thus express brotherly love. This great apostle did not think it beneath him to call the Thessalonians brethren, nor to request their prayers. Ministers stand in need of their people’s prayers; and the more people pray for their ministers the more good ministers may have from God, and the more benefit people may receive by their ministry.

      IV. His salutation: Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss, v. 26. Thus the apostle sends a friendly salutation from himself, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, and would have them salute each other in their names; and thus he would have them signify their mutual love and affection to one another by the kiss of charity (1 Pet. v. 14), which is here called a holy kiss, to intimate how cautious they should be of all impurity in the use of this ceremony, then commonly practised; as it should not be a treacherous kiss like that of Judas, so not a lascivious kiss like that of the harlot, Prov. vii. 13.

      V. His solemn charge for the reading of this epistle, v. 27. This is not only an exhortation, but an adjuration by the Lord. And this epistle was to be read to all the holy brethren. It is not only allowed to the common people to read the scriptures, and what none should prohibit, but it is their indispensable duty, and what they should be persuaded to do. In order to this, these holy oracles should not be kept concealed in an unknown tongue, but translated into the vulgar languages, that all men, being concerned to know the scriptures, may be able to read them, and be acquainted with them. The public reading of the law was one part of the worship of the sabbath among the Jews in their synagogues, and the scriptures should be read in the public assemblies of Christians also.

      VI. The apostolical benediction that is usual in other epistles: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen, v. 28. We need no more to make us happy than to know that grace which our Lord Jesus Christ has manifested, be interested in that grace which he has purchased, and partake of that grace which dwells in him as the head of the church. This is an ever-flowing and overflowing fountain of grace to supply all our wants.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

The God of peace ( ). The God characterized by peace in his nature, who gladly bestows it also. Common phrase (Milligan) at close of Paul’s Epistles (2Cor 13:11; Rom 15:33; Rom 16:20; Phil 4:9) and

the Lord of peace in 2Th 3:6.

Sanctify you ( ). First aorist active optative in a wish for the future. New verb in LXX and N.T. for the old , to render or to declare holy (), to consecrate, to separate from things profane.

Wholly (). Predicate adjective in plural (, whole, , end), not adverb . Late word in Plutarch, Hexapla, and in inscription A.D. 67 (Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary). Here alone in N.T. Here it means the whole of each of you, every part of each of you, “through and through” (Luther), qualitatively rather than quantitatively.

Your spirit and soul and body ( ). Not necessarily trichotomy as opposed to dichotomy as elsewhere in Paul’s Epistles. Both believers and unbelievers have an inner man (soul , mind , heart , the inward man ) and the outer man (, ). But the believer has the Holy Spirit of God, the renewed spirit of man (1Cor 2:11; Rom 8:9-11).

Be preserved entire ( ). First aorist passive optative in wish for the future. Note singular verb and singular adjective (neuter) showing that Paul conceives of the man as “an undivided whole” (Frame), prayer for the consecration of both body and soul (cf. 1Co 6). The adjective is in predicate and is an old form and means complete in all its parts (, whole, , lot or part). There is to be no deficiency in any part. (from , end) means final perfection.

Without blame (). Old adverb ( privative, , verbal of , to blame) only in I Thess. in N.T. (1Thess 2:10; 1Thess 3:13; 1Thess 5:23). Milligan notes it in certain sepulchral inscriptions discovered in Thessalonica.

At the coming ( ). The Second Coming which was a sustaining hope to Paul as it should be to us and mentioned often in this Epistle (see on 2:19).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

The very God of peace [ ] . Better, the God of peace himself. God ‘s work is contrasted with human efforts to carry out the preceding injunctions. The phrase God of peace only in Paul and Hebrews. See Rom 14:33; Rom 16:20; Phi 4:9; Heb 13:20. The meaning is, God who is the source and giver of peace. Peace, in the Pauline sense, is not mere calm or tranquillity. It is always conceived as based upon reconciliation with God. God is the God of peace only to those who have ceased to be at war with him, and are at one with him. God ‘s peace is not sentimental but moral. Hence the God of peace is the sanctifier. “Peace” is habitually used, both in the Old and New Testaments, in connection with the messianic salvation. The Messiah himself will be Peace (Mic 5:5). Peace is associated with righteousness as a messianic blessing (Psa 72:7; Psa 85:10). Peace, founded in reconciliation with God, is the theme of the gospel (Act 10:36). The gospel is the gospel of peace (Eph 2:17; Eph 6:15; Rom 10:15). Christ is the giver of peace (J. 14 27; 16 33).

Sanctify [] . See on Joh 10:36; Joh 17:17. The primary idea of the word is separation. Hence agiov, the standard word for holy in LXX is, primarily, set apart. Agiazein is

1. to separate from things profane and to consecrate to God;

2. to cleanse or purify as one set apart to holy uses.

Wholly [] . N. T. o. So that nothing shall escape the sanctifying power. %Olov complete, and telov end or consummation.

Spirit, soul, body [, ] . It is useless to attempt to draw from these words a technical, psychological statement of a threefold division of the human personality. If Paul recognized any such technical division, it was more probably twofold; the body or material part, and the immaterial part with its higher and lower sides – pneuma and yuch. See on Rom 6:6; Rom 7:5, 23; Rom 8:4; Rom 11:3 and footnote.

Be preserved entire [ – ] . This is the rendering of Rev. and is correct. A. V. joins oJloklhron with pneuma, and renders your whole spirit. Oloklhron is predic ative, not attributive. It does not mean whole, but is derived from olov whole and klhrov allotment, and signifies having the entire allotment; complete in all parts. It occurs only here and Jas 1:4, where it is associated with teleioi perfect. It appears in LXX, as Lev 23:15; Deu 16:9; Deu 27:6. Joseph. Ant 3:12, 2, uses it of an unblemished victim for sacrifice. As distinguished from oJloteleiv wholly, ver. 23, it is qualitative, while oJloteleiv is quantitative. The kindred oJloklhria perfect soundness, only in Act 3:16. For preserved see on 1Pe 1:4.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And the very God of peace” (autos de ho theos) and himself the God of peace”, source of true peace, who abhors strife, division, contention, confusion, and clamor–to Him Paul prays down blessings from the Father upon the Thessalonian brethren, Jas 1:17-21; 1Co 14:33; Eph 2:14.

2) “Sanctify you wholly” (hagiasai humas holoteleis) may he sanctify you complete”, wholly or in every essence of your being, in every chamber or room of your tabernacle of life, 1Co 6:17-19; 1Co 9:26-27.

3) “And I pray God your whole” (kai holokleron humon) “and your whole being”, (I pray God); as a newborn creature, man belongs to God, should be subject to Him in everything, 1Co 10:31.

4) “Spirit and soul and body” (to pneuma kai he pusche kai to soma) “The spirit and the soul and the body”; this constitutes the whole of man, (a) the spirit of man, nearest like God, (b) soul (spirit, mind and conscience) and (c) the body, tabernacle of man’s soul and spirit. 3Jn 1:2.

5) “Be preserved blameless” (amemptos) “blamelessly”, (teretheis) “may be kept or guarded”, without just charges of blame for wrong–such is real sanctification of life, 1Ti 4:5; 2Ti 2:21; 1Pe 3:15; 1Co 1:8.

6) “Unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (ente parousia tou kuriou hemon lesou Christou) “at the body presence (appearing) of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1Co 1:8; Mat 25:10; Luk 21:36.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

23 Now the God of peace himself. Having given various injunctions, he now proceeds to prayer. And unquestionably doctrine is disseminated in vain, (620) unless God implant it in our minds. From this we see how preposterously those act who measure the strength of men by the precepts of God. Paul, accordingly, knowing that all doctrine is useless until God engraves it, as it were, with his own finger upon our hearts, beseeches God that he would sanctify the Thessalonians. Why he calls him here the God of peace, I do not altogether apprehend, unless you choose to refer it to what goes before, where he makes mention of brotherly agreement, and patience, and equanimity. (621)

We know, however, that under the term sanctification is included the entire renovation of the man. The Thessalonians, it is true, had been in part renewed, but Paul desires that God would perfect what is remaining. From this we infer, that we must, during our whole life, make progress in the pursuit of holiness. (622) But if it is the part of God to renew the whole man, there is nothing left for free will. For if it had been our part to co-operate with God, Paul would have spoken thus — “May God aid or promote your sanctification.” But when he says, sanctify you wholly, he makes him the sole Author of the entire work.

And your entire spirit. This is added by way of exposition, that we may know what the sanctification of the whole man is, when he is kept entire, or pure, and unpolluted, in spirit, soul, and body, until the day of Christ. As, however, so complete an entireness is never to be met with in this life, it is befitting that some progress be daily made in purity, and something be cleansed away from our pollutions, so long as we live in the world.

We must notice, however, this division of the constituent parts of a man; for in some instances a man is said to consist simply of body and soul, and in that case the term soul denotes the immortal spirit, which resides in the body as in a dwelling. As the soul, however, has two principal faculties — the understanding and the will — the Scripture is accustomed in some cases to mention these two things separately, when designing to express the power and nature of the soul; but in that case the term soul is employed to mean the seat of the affections, so that it is the part that is opposed to the spirit. Hence, when we find mention made here of the term spirit, let us understand it as denoting reason or intelligence, as on the other hand by the term soul, is meant the will and all the affections.

I am aware that many explain Paul’s words otherwise, for they are of opinion that by the term soul is meant vital motion, and by the spirit is meant that part of man which has been renewed; but in that case Paul’s prayer were absurd. Besides, it is in another way, as I have said, that the term is wont to be made use of in Scripture. When Isaiah says,

“

My soul hath desired thee in the night, my spirit hath thought of thee,” (Isa 26:9)

no one doubts that he speaks of his understanding and affection, and thus enumerates two departments of the soul. These two terms are conjoined in the Psalms in the same sense. This, also, corresponds better with Paul’s statement. For how is the whole man entire, except when his thoughts are pure and holy, when all his affections are right and properly regulated, when, in fine, the body itself lays out its endeavors and services only in good works? For the faculty of understanding is held by philosophers to be, as it were, a mistress: the affections occupy a middle place for commanding; the body renders obedience. We see now how well everything corresponds. For then is the man pure and entire, when he thinks nothing in his mind, desires nothing in his heart, does nothing with his body, except what is approved by God. As, however, Paul in this manner commits to God the keeping of the whole man, and all its parts, we must infer from this that we are exposed to innumerable dangers, unless we are protected by his guardianship.

(620) “ Que proufitera-on de prescher la doctrine ?” — “What profit will be derived from preaching doctrine?”

(621) “ Repos d’esprit;” — “Repose of mind.”

(622) “ En l’estude et exercice de sainctete;” — “In the study and exercise of holiness.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

1Th. 5:23. Sanctify you wholly.Ratherunto completeness. The apostle prays that they may be sanctified to the fullest extent (Ibid.). Your whole spirit be preserved blameless.R.V. be preserved entire, without blame. From the degree of holiness desired we pass to its range, from its intension (as the logicians would say) to its extension (Ibid.).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Th. 5:23-24

A Prayer for Sanctification.

Sanctification is the supreme end of the Christian life, and everything should be made to contribute to the grand result. It is the crown and ornament of all other graces, the perfecting of every moral virtue. The fact that man is capable of so lofty a degree of personal holiness indicates that it is the supreme end for which he ought to live. He misses the glory that is within his reach if he does not attain to it. Sanctification in its radical meaning is simply separationa separation from what is evil to what is good. It then implies to make holy that which is unholy. It begins in a moral transformation, the regeneration of the heart, and advances to perfection. Observe:
I. That sanctification is a complete work.Sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless (1Th. 5:23).

1. It affects the intellectual nature of man.Your spirit. It is this that distinguishes truth from falsehood and apprehends the mysteries of religion. If the intellect is sanctified, there is less danger of falling into error and heresy. Enlightened by the Holy Ghost, it enables man to prove all things and to test and judge every aspect of truth.

2. It affects the spiritual nature of man.Your soulthe seat of the affections and will, the passions and appetites. The having the heart in a right or wrong condition makes the difference between the moral and the immoral character. When the heart is sanctified the passions and appetites are kept within due bounds, and the believer is preserved pure from the sinful lusts of the flesh. The same distinction between spirit and soul is made in Heb. 4:12; and in Tit. 1:15 a distinction is made between the intellectual and moral in the terms mind and conscience.

3. It affects the physical nature of man.Your body. The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1Co. 4:19), and must be kept pure and blamelessmust be kept in temperance, soberness, and chastity; to pollute it with fleshly lusts is to pollute and destroy it (1Co. 3:17). The body, immortalised and glorified, will be the companion of the glorified soul throughout eternity; and the Thessalonians had already been assured that the body was to rise from the grave (1Th. 4:16). The whole complex nature of man is to be purified. Mere outward decency of conduct is not enough; the inner man, the intellectual, moral, and spiritual faculties must be kept in a state of purity and holiness. He hath sanctity in no part who is not sanctified in every part.

4. It is a necessary fitness to meet Christ at His coming.Be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Th. 5:23). It is the power of God only that can keep man holy, though the utmost circumspection and vigilance are to be exercised on his part. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see Godsee Him now as the inner eye of the soul is clarified, and see Him at His coming in power and great glory.

II. That sanctification is a divine work.

1. The believer is called to sanctification by the God of unswerving fidelity. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it (1Th. 5:24). God is faithful to all His promises of help. Every promise is backed by the whole force of His omnipotencewho also will do it. There is nothing greater in the universe than the will of God; it actuates His power and ensures His faithfulness. Entire sanctification is therefore no impossible attainment. God calls, not to mock and disappoint, but to bless.

2. The believer is called to sanctification by the God of peace.The very God of peace sanctify you (1Th. 5:23). Peace and sanctification are inseparable; without holiness there can be no peace. God is the author and giver of peace, and delights in peace. Mr. Howels, of Long Acre chapel, used to say that if he saw two dogs at peace with each other, he saw there the very God of peace; that one atom of peace left in a world of war with God is a trace of the lingering mercy and favouring goodness of God. Peace is a reflection of the divine presence on earth. The Thessalonians had been enjoined to cultivate mutual peace and harmony (1Th. 5:13), and personal holiness had been earnestly recommended (1Th. 4:3). They are now taught where peace and holiness are to be found. Both are gifts of God. We have need of peacepeace of conscience, peace from the rage and fury of the world, peace and love among those who are of the household of God.

III. That sanctification is obtained by prayer.The loftiest duty is possible with grace; the least is all but impossible without it. All grace must be sought of God in prayer. The virtue and power of all exhortation and teaching depend on the divine blessing. What God encourages us to seek in prayer is possible of attainment in actual experience. Prayer is the expression of wants we feel. It is the power by which we reach the highest spiritual excellence.

Lessons.

1. Cherish the highest ideal of the Christian character.

2. Pray for divine help in its attainment.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

1Th. 5:23. The Sanctification of the Complete Man.

I. Its meaning.

1. There is a great trinity of powersbody, soul, and spiritlinking man with three different worlds. The physical, the intellectual, the spiritual.

2. These three ranges of powers become gateways of temptation from three different worlds, and unless they are all consecrated we are never free from danger.

II. Its attainment.

1. We cannot consecrate ourselves.

2. God preserves the entire sanctification by imparting peace.

III. The motive for endeavouring to attain it.Until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. A day of manifestation when the shadows and unrealities of time will fade in the full morning of eternity.

2. A day of everlasting gatherings.E. L. Hull.

The Trinity.

I. The first power or consciousness in which God is made known to us is as the Father, the author of our being.

II. The second way through which the personality and consciousness of God has been revealed to us is as the Son.

III. A closer and a more enduring relation in which God stands to us is the relation of the Spirit.It is the graces of the Spirit which harmonise the man and make him one; and that is the end, aim, and object of all the gospel.F. W. Robertson.

1Th. 5:24. The Faith of Man and the Faithfulness of God.

I. The highest object of mans existence is to hold communion with his God.

II. Rightly to believe in Christ is to know and feel this communion.

III. The unalterable faithfulness of God is a fidelity to His own gracious engagement.

IV. The prominent character of God is unshaken stability.

V. God is faithful to His warnings as He is to His promises.A. Butler.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Text (1Th. 5:23)

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.

Translation and Paraphrase

23.

But (now) may the God (who is the creator and giver) of peace (may he) his own self consecrate you in every respect (even unto the end of the age). And may your entire spirit, and soul, and body be (kept from sin and found) blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus, the anointed one.

Notes (1Th. 5:23)

1.

Just as Part One of I Thessalonians closed with a prayer (1Th. 3:11-13), so also Part Two closes with this prayer in 1Th. 5:23.

Pauls prayer in this verse is that the God of peace may do two things for the Thessalonians:

(1)

Sanctify them wholly.

(2)

Preserve their entire nature blameless unto the coming of Christ.

2.

This closing prayer of Part Two reflects both the greatness of the heart of Paul and the greatness of the power of God. Meditate a minute about how great the requests in this prayer are.

3.

The title, God of peace, means the peaceful God. Also it carries the idea that God is the creator and author of peace.

This title, God of peace, is also found in Rom. 15:33; Rom. 16:20; Php. 4:9; 2Co. 13:11; Heb. 13:20; 2Th. 3:16.

How thankful we should be that the true God is the God of peace, and not of hate and war.

4.

To sanctify means to render sacred, declare holy, consecrate, separate from things profane, dedicate to God, purify. To sanctify is to separate something from God, and consecrate it to holy uses.

The entire nature of Christians is being sanctified. For a discussion of sanctification, see the notes on 1Th. 4:3.

5.

We are to be sanctified wholly. The word wholly (Gr., holoteles) means perfect, complete in all respects, and through all time. It is a combination of two words, one meaning whole and the other meaning end. We have tried to bring out this double significance in our translation and paraphrase by rendering it in every respect (even unto the end of the age). (The word holoteles is used as a predicate adjective, almost as an adverb.)

It is comforting to think that we shall be wholly sanctified. We shall no longer be in. danger of temptation. We shall not lose anything that is dear to us on earth. If we have lost a mother whose saintly disposition has made her memory dear, we can be comforted to know that God is not permitting any of her precious nature to escape His preservation and sanctification. The best that is on earth will become better and none of it will be lost. 6.

The words, I pray God, in this verse are written in italics because they are added to the text. They should not be included, because all three menPaul, Silvanus, and Timothyjoined in sending this letter. The Amer. Stan. Vers. correctly omits the I here, as also in 1Th. 4:9.

7.

This verse indicates that man has a three-fold nature:

(1)

He has a spirit.

(2)

He has (and is) a soul.

(3)

He has a body.

(For a full study and analysis of the Scriptural uses of the words, spirit and soul, see Special Study VI, Questions About Spirit and Soul.)

8.

Concerning the difference between spirit, soul, and body, we shall only make the following observations here:

(1)

Spirit (Gr., pneuma) is the life-principle in man. It is the divine breath that gives him life. It is the inward man (2Co. 4:16) that feels, things, wills, decides, and lives.

(2)

Soul (psuche) refers to our personal identity. It includes all those things that make us a particular personour life, our mind, our affections, our emotions, our whole self.

(3)

Body (soma) is almost a self-explanatory term. It is the outward man (2Co. 4:16), the fleshly, material part of our being, to which life is given by the spirit, and which with the spirit becomes a living soul, YOU!

9.

All three parts of mans naturespirit, soul, and bodyhave presently been corrupted by sin. But they will all be sanctified wholly at the coming of Christ.

Our bodies will be sanctified when they are transformed at the resurrection of the dead. Until that time we must keep cleansing ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. 2Co. 7:1; 1Co. 15:51-53.

10.

While we ourselves need to do all we can to make ourselves ready for the coming of the Lord, it is GOD who actually preserves us and delivers us from sin.

Jud. 1:24 : Unto him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Compare 1Co. 10:13; 1Co. 1:8; Php. 1:10.

11.

As Paul draws this first epistle to the Thessalonians to a close, he points once again to the pole-star of our home, the coming (parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Concerning the meaning of parousia, see notes on 1Th. 2:19, par. 7.)

It would be profitable for you at this time to go back to Introductory Section III and review what Paul said about the Lords coming in the Thessalonian epistles.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(23) And.The logic of such an expression as, Do this, and may you be happy, lies in the writers own connection with both the command and the prayer: I bid you abstain from every evil kind of thing, and I pray that God Himself may enable you to keep the commandment.

The very God of peace.In more usual English, the God of peace Himself: the contrast is between the futile efforts after holiness of which they in themselves were capable, and the almighty power of sanctification exercised by God. This sanctification (which is the special work of the Third Person) is here ascribed to the First Person of the Holy Trinity, from whom the Holy Ghost proceeds. He is called (as in Heb. 13:20) the God of peace, not in reference to any dissensions between the Thessalonians (1Th. 5:13), but because of the peace which His sanctification brings into the soul, so that it fears neither temptations power nor persecutions rage. (Comp. the Second Collect for Evensong).

Sanctify you wholly.Rather, sanctify you whole. The idea is rather that of leaving no part unsanctified, than that of doing the work completely so far as it goes: thus it serves to introduce the next sentence, which explains it.

And I pray God.If there were need of any insertion, it should have been We pray God: Silas and Timothy are never forgotten throughout.

Spirit and soul and body.This is St. Pauls fullest and most scientific psychology, not merely a rhetorical piling up of words without any particular meaning being assigned to them. Elsewhere, he merely divides man according to popular language, into two parts, visible and invisible, body and spirit (1Co. 6:20; 1Co. 7:34, et al.); the division into body and soul he never uses. (Comp. Note on 1Co. 2:14.) The spirit (pneuma) is the part by which we apprehend realities intuitivelyi.e., without reasoning upon them; with it we touch, see, serve, worship God (Joh. 4:23-24; Rom. 1:9; 1Co. 6:17; Rev. 1:10, et al.); it is the very inmost consciousness of the man (see, e.g., 1Co. 2:11); it is the part of him which survives death (Heb. 12:23; 1Pe. 3:19; comp. Luk. 23:46; Act. 7:59). The soul. (psyche) includes the intellect, the affections, and the will: and it is of the very essence of the gospel to force sharply upon men the distinction between it and the spirit (Heb. 4:12). Low-living men may have soul (i.e., intellect, affection, will) in abundance, but their spirit falls into complete abeyance (Jud. 1:19); the soul belongs altogether to the lower nature, so that when St. Paul uses the two-fold division, body and spirit, the soul is reckoned (not, probably, as Bishop Ellicott says on our present passage, as part of the spirit, but) as part of the body; and when St. Paul describes the works of the flesh, he includes among them such distinctly soul-sins as heresies (Gal. 5:20). Sanctification preserves all these three divisions entire, and in their due relation to each other; without sanctification, the spirit might be overwhelmed by the other parts gaining the predominance, which would, of course, eventually be the ruin both of soul and body in hell (Mat. 10:28. N.B., that our Lord says nothing of the destruction of the spirit in hell: the question is whether He there definitely meant to exclude spirit, or used soul popularly as including it). Where the New Testament writers acquired such a psychology cannot be determined, but it was probably derived from experimental knowledge of life, not from books, and all experience confirms its accuracy. Modern science tends more and more to show that soul is a function of body.

Unto the coming.A mistranslation for at the coming, caused by the slight difficulty in understanding the true version. The idea is not so much that of their preservation from sin during the interval, but rather the writers hasten in eager anticipation to the Coming itself, and hope that the Thessalonians at the Coming will be found to have been preserved. Blameless should have been blamelessly.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

23. And the very God The sole One who can perform this great work.

Of peace This prayer for their entire sanctification closes upon the whole paragraph, 1Th 5:12-22, the sum and aim of which is their churchly peace. This peace is the aim of both the governmental cautions of 1Th 5:12-15, and of the words of harmony touching supernaturalism in 1Th 5:16-22. From that quarter of peace he would have the Spirit of the God of peace visit, enter, pervade, and sanctify their nature, whole and every part.

Sanctify Bloomfield remarks that this term, like the Hebrew , properly signifies to set apart, to remove from common use, and is often in the Old Testament used of the Levitical offerings. From this meaning of apartness from the gross and common comes the idea of consecration, purity, holiness. Hence, to sanctify is to separate from sin; to bestow, by the Spirit’s aid, the power of avoiding sin and living without condemnation before God. This can never be in this our mortal life, if we are tried by the law of absolute purity. And yet we are accepted by the law of faith in Christ, and pardoned and justified even in this life. Scripture and experience teach that there may be, and often is, such a measure of the Spirit bestowed in answer to the prayer of faith, that such uncondemning state may, even after being defaulted by sin, be re-entered and more or less permanently retained. There may be a state of continuous justification, noncondemnation, undiminished divine approbation, from day to day, and of indefinite length. This spiritual power is seldom, if ever, in such measure conferred at justification, but is the result of a more powerful faith in a maturer Christian life. Though there be a continuous flow of infirmities and short comings, which the absolute would condemn, yet is there also a flow of continuous repentant faith, and a continuous flow of justifying grace and merciful acceptance through the atonement. This is that higher plane of Christian Life, that evangelical blamelessness, for which St. Paul here prays in behalf of his Thessalonians. Barnes, in his Commentary, objects, indeed, that prayer for such sanctification does not prove “that it is attained in this life;” but the apostle in the next verse assures us that God “will do it.” That it is to be done before death is plain from the word preserved, which means a continuous process previous to the coming of Christ.

Wholly Not the whole Church; but, as Lunemann and all the best commentators agree, the whole personality of the individual. He thus prays thus for the whole being as a unit, and then distributively for the different parts of our nature.

Spirit soul body While man is properly divided as twofold into body and soul, in which the soul includes the whole incorporeal nature, the Platonic subdivision of the incorporeal into soul and spirit produces a threefoldness, or (trichotomy) trinality. This Platonic triplicity is so consistent with apparent facts, that it passed into popular language and was adopted by the Rabbies. It is an unsupposable coincidence that St. Paul should fall upon it here accidentally without ever having heard of this trinality from others. It could not have been unknown to philosophical Tarsus. Notes on Mat 5:3; 1Co 2:14; 1Co 14:14 ; 1Co 15:44.

Unto Rather, in. The idea of continuity is not contained in the preposition, but is implied in preserved. The prayer is, that they may be so preserved in holiness as to be found blameless in the parousia of Christ.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘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. Faithful is he who calls you who also will do it.’

Paul’s final prayer and exhortation is an important one. It draws the attention away from the doctrine of the coming of Christ to its purpose, that His people may be sanctified fully and be presented before Him ‘without blame’. Holiness is the objective, the second coming a spur towards it.

First we see the author of this activity. It is ‘the God of peace’, a regular description of God. He is with His people (Rom 15:33; 2Co 13:11), through Jesus Christ He has broken down the wall of partition that separated us from Him (Eph 2:14), He will bruise Satan under their feet shortly (Rom 16:20), He is with those who allow themselves to be perfected and made strong, who are of the same mind and live in peace (2Co 13:11), and with those whose minds are set on what is good, pure, just and lovely (Php 4:9), He is the One Who gives peace at all times and in all ways (2Th 3:16), and, through Jesus Christ the risen Shepherd, He will make His people perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in them what is pleasing in His sight (Heb 13:20).

Thus the idea is of reconciliation, of being delivered from sin’s power into a life of positive goodness and positive thinking so that we may enjoy His presence, of being delivered from the Evil One, and of being made fit for His presence.

‘Sanctify you wholly.’ To sanctify means to set apart to God, and when used of God’s action on man speaks of the process of being transformed into God-likeness and to eventually being wholly without sin and without blemish. The verb here is in the aorist and thus seen as one complete action. This is God’s purpose for His people, their total sanctification. It is not referring to initial sanctification (contrast 1Co 1:2) which they have already experienced, but to the whole range of God’s sanctifying work. It includes acceptability to God and total deliverance from sin and evil, and in the end final transformation to Godlikeness. Thus its effect will be total, as is emphasised by the ‘wholly’. It will permeate into body, soul and spirit. And its result will be presentation before God ‘without blame’.

‘Your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire.’ This is presenting three aspects of a human being but is not to be taken as a ‘scientific’ analysis of man’s make up showing three separate parts. Indeed it is stressed that they are to be preserved ‘entire’, that is ‘complete in all its parts’. Paul sought the preservation of the whole man. Jesus spoke of a man’s ‘heart and soul and mind and strength’ (Mar 12:30; Luk 10:27) and of his ‘flesh — and spirit’. It is clear that it is suggesting that man (or at least a man in Christ – Joh 3:6) is not just body and mind, that there is a spiritual and heavenly aspect to his make-up, but how these relate to each other is never explained, and probably could not be in a way that we could understand.

When man was first made ‘a living soul’ (Gen 2:7; 1Co 15:45) it no doubt included all these aspects (man was made ‘in God’s image’ – Gen 1:27), but something of this was lost and awaited Christ’s ‘life-giving’ work (1Co 15:45). What Christ did and will give, more than makes up for what was lost (2Pe 1:4).

John’s Gospel speaks of man as ‘flesh and spirit’, where flesh represents man as he is in relation to the world and spirit the new-born aspect of a believer (Joh 3:6). So Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us. There is no idea of ‘sinful flesh’ in John, flesh is what man is.

‘Without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The sanctifying process, which includes justification, will result in our being presented ‘without blame’ at the coming of Jesus Christ. This will be the result our justification in Christ, the work of the Spirit within and of the final transformation wrought at His coming (1Co 15:52).

‘Faithful is he who calls you who also will do.’ This final result is the consequence of God’s faithfulness. It is He Who will bring it about. Seen from the point of view of eternity our salvation is His work and not ours, and depends only on His faithfulness. See the whole process as described in Rom 8:28-30 and Eph 1:4-11 and compare 1Co 1:8-9. The calling is continual until the last one has been called. Notice the ‘do’. He not only calls, He acts.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Concluding greetings:

v. 23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

v. 24. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.

v. 25. Brethren, pray for us.

v. 26. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.

v. 27. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.

v. 28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Amen.

The conclusions of Paul’s letters are always serene and restful, his last word invariably being one of evangelical kindness. Whether he here had in mind the vices to which he had alluded in the body of his letter, which tend to disturb the harmony of the Church, or not, his closing benediction is one of singular beauty: He Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, blameless, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the Lord, the God of peace, the apostle commends the Thessalonian Christians, for it is He that is the Author and Giver of peace; He it was that sent His Son, the Prince of Peace, for the redemption of the world, to restore the right relation between Himself and fallen mankind. This God, reconciled to them through the death of His Son, also had the power to consecrate the Christians through and through, working in them that perfection which He desires in His children, through the Word. The result of the Spirit’s sanctifying labors, then, would be that in the end the Christians would be blameless, irreproachable in soul, mind, and body. The soul, in its relation to God, the mind, in its judging of all matters pertaining to sanctification, the body, as the seat of the soul and the instrument of the mind: they all should make steady progress toward perfect sanctification. This goal may not be reached in this life, but at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ all the believers, clothed in the righteousness and holiness of their Redeemer, will be acceptable in the sight of God, washed by the blood of the Lamb that was slain. For the comfort of the Christians, who feel their own insufficiency all too well, the apostle adds: Faithful is He that calls you, who will also do this. The promises of God as to His keeping His own in the faith to the end are so numerous in Scriptures that every Christian should feel the calm certainty of the infallible Word, Joh 10:28; 2Ti 4:8-18.

So far as his own person is concerned, Paul feels constrained to add the appeal: Brethren, pray for me. Not only were great responsibilities resting upon the apostle, but he had an unusual measure of personal affliction to contend with and therefore stood in need of their constant intercession. Incidentally, ever full of kind remembrance toward all members of the churches, he bids his readers salute all the brethren with a holy kiss, a custom of the early Church which was retained for several centuries in the public services, the women saluting the women and the men the men, in a very dignified and solemn manner, to signify the sincerity of the love which united them. The apostle also impressed upon their minds with great solemnity that all the brethren should be given an opportunity to read this letter, for he wanted every single member of the congregation to be acquainted with its contents. Here again the apostle shows the fine character of a pastor who is concerned about every soul entrusted to his care and makes it a special point to reach them all by either public or private appeal. At the end of his letter the apostle places the ordinary benediction in its short form: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! It is a wish which implies not only that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, whose redemption secured free grace for all, but also that He is divine and can freely dispense of His boundless store of grace and mercy, as He obtained it for men by His suffering and death.

Summary

The apostle describes the unexpectedness of the return of Christ, which makes constant vigilance on the part of the Christians necessary; he gives his readers short instructions as to their conduct toward others and as to their personal bearing; he closes with a beautiful benediction, an appeal, and the apostolic greeting.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

1Th 5:23. And the very God of peace, &c. “And may that God himself, who is reconciled to you by the blood of Christ, and is the author, giver, and approver of peace one with another, and in your own consciences, and of all manner of prosperity; may he thoroughly purge your whole person from all iniquity, and make you eminently partakers of his holiness.” I would translate the original , your whole person, because the word signifies the whole of a thing given by lot, consequently the whole of any thing; and here the whole frame of our nature, our whole person. Accordingly, Dr. Chandler has shewed, that this word is applied to a city, whose buildings are all standing; and to an empire, which has all its provinces; and to an army, whose troops are undiminished by any accident or calamity.

Your whole spirit, and soul, and body, The Pythagoreans, Platonists, and Stoics, divided the immaterial part of man into spirit and soul; an opinion which they seem to have derived from the most antient tradition, founded, perhaps, on the Mosaic account of the formation of man, Gen 2:7 where it is said, that God formed man, his body, of the dust of the earth, and breathed into man the breath of life, or lives; and, by means of this union, man became a living soul, par-taker of a sensitive, as well as of arational life. In short, the apostle’s prayer does at least include this,That theymightbethoroughly sanctified, of how many constituent parts soever their nature consisted. Dr. Heylin has it, May every part of you, your spirit, &c

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Th 5:23 . If what the apostle requires in 1Th 5:22 is to be actually realized, God’s assistance must supervene. Accordingly, this benediction is fitly added to the preceding.

] the God of peace Himself ; an emphatic contrast to the efforts of man .

] the God of peace, i.e. who communicates Christian peace. Neither the connection with 1Th 5:22 nor the contents of the benediction itself will permit us to understand of harmony . To refer to , 1Th 5:13 , for this meaning is far-fetched.

] here only in the N. T. spoken of what is perfect, to which nothing belonging to its nature is wanting. Jerome, ad Hedib. 12, Ambrosiaster, Koppe, Pelt, and others understand in an ethical sense, as an accusative of result: “so that ye be entire, that is, pure and blameless.” But it is better, on account of what follows, to take as an adverb of quantity, uniting it closely with , and finding the whole personality of the Thessalonians denoted as if the simple were written: “in your entire extent, through and through.”

] a fuller repetition of the wish already expressed.

] and indeed .

] means, as , perfectly , consisting of all its parts. refers not only to , although it is governed by it, as the nearest noun, in respect of its gender, but also to and . Comp. Winer, p. 466 [E. T. 661]. The totality of man is here divided into three parts: spirit, soul, and body. See Olshausen, de naturae hum. trichotomia N. T. scriptoribus recepta in s. Opusc. theol. , Berol. 1834, p. 143 ff.; Messner, die Lehre der Apostel , Leipz. 1856, p. 207. We are not to assume that this trichotomy has a purely rhetorical signification, as elsewhere Paul also definitely distinguishes and ( 1Co 2:14-15 ; 1Co 15:44 ; 1Co 15:46 ). The twofold division, which elsewhere occurs with Paul (1Co 7:34 ; 2Co 7:1 ), is a popular form of representation. The origin of the trichotomy is Platonic; but Paul has it not from the writings of Plato and his scholars, but from the current language of society, into which it had passed from the narrow circle of the schools.

denotes the higher and purely spiritual side of the inner life, what is elsewhere called by Paul (reason); is the lower side, which comes in contact with the region of the senses. The spirit is preserved blameless in its totality at the advent, i.e. so that it approves itself blameless at the advent ( is a more exact definition of ), when the voice of truth always rules in it; the soul , when it strives against all the charms of the senses; and, lastly, the body , when it is not abused as the instrument of shameful actions. [67]

[67] According to Schrader, ver. 23 contains an un-Pauline thought, because when Paul distinguishes the from the spirit, the latter is considered as something “divine,” as “unutterably good,” as “eternally opposed to every perversity.” Paul, accordingly, could not have assumed, “besides the soul in man, a mutable spirit which must be preserved from blemish .” But the discourse is not of the holy Divine Spirit which rules in man, but of a part of man, himself, of the ; but the may fall into (Eph 4:17 ), may be (Rom 1:28 ), (Tit 1:15 ), (2Ti 3:8 ), etc.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2209
COMPLETE SANCTIFICATION TO BE SOUGHT AFTER

1Th 5:23-24. The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

PARENTS naturally desire the prosperity of their children; but they can by no means secure it: even though their children should be disposed to concur with them in every prudent plan, yet cannot their combined efforts insure success; since, in numberless instances, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. The spiritual parent, who by the ministration of the Gospel hath begotten sons and daughters to the Lord, is more favourably circumstanced: he is sure that no untoward circumstances shall disappoint his hopes, provided only his children exert themselves as becomes them, in the appointed way. True indeed it is, that success in spiritual things is infinitely more difficult to be obtained, on account of the obstacles which are to be surmounted, and the enemies which are to be subdued. But Omnipotence is engaged in behalf of all who sincerely labour for themselves: nor is there any attainment, to which they who go forward in the strength of God may not confidently aspire. The object which St. Paul desired in behalf of his Thessalonian converts was doubtless exceeding great: it was, that they might be sanctified throughout, and be preserved blameless unto the day of Christ: but his hope concerning them was steadfast, being founded, not on their weak powers, but on the power and fidelity of God, who had undertaken to perfect that which concerned them [Note: Psa 138:8.]. In illustrating the words before us, we shall notice,

I.

The blessing desired

This was the greatest that mortal man can enjoy on earth: it was,

1.

The sanctification of their whole man

[Man is usually spoken of as consisting of two parts, a body and a soul: but he may, perhaps with more propriety, be considered as having three parts;a corporeal substance; an animal soul, like that which exists in the lower orders of creation; and a rational immortal spirit, which connects him with the world above. This distinction between the soul and spirit is to be found also in the Epistle to the Hebrews; where it is said, that the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder the soul and spirit [Note: Heb 4:12.]. In all of these parts, man is corrupt: his body, in all its members, is only, and invariably, an instrument of unrighteousness unto sin [Note: Rom 6:12-13.]: his animal soul, with all its affections and lusts, leads him to those gratifications only, of which the brutes partake in common with him [Note: Jude, ver. 10.]: and his immortal soul is filled with all those evil dispositions which characterize the fallen angels, such as, pride, envy, malice, discontent, and rebellion against God. These different kinds of wickedness are frequently distinguished by the Apostle, according to the sources from whence they spring: he speaks of the unconverted man as fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind [Note: Eph 2:3.]; and tells us, that we must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, if we would perfect holiness in the fear of God [Note: 2Co 7:1.]. Agreeably to these distinctions, the character of fallen man is, that he is earthly, sensual, and devilish [Note: Jam 3:15.]. In all of these parts, then, we need to be renewed and sanctified: we need to have our bodies made instruments of righteousness unto holiness [Note: Rom 6:19.]; our souls, with their affections and lusts, crucified [Note: Gal 5:24.]; and our spirits renewed after the Divine image, in righteousness and true holiness [Note: Eph 4:23-24.]. Hence St. Paul prays for the Thessalonian converts, that they may be sanctified wholly that is, throughout their whole man, even in their whole spirit, and soul, and body. This, and this only, will constitute us new creatures: the old things pertaining to every part of us must have passed away, and all things must have become new [Note: 2Co 5:17.]: then alone can we be said to be partakers of the divine nature [Note: 2Pe 1:4.]; and then alone have we any satisfactory evidence that we are Christians indeed [Note: 2Co 5:17.].

This entire change was the first part of the blessing which St. Paul solicited in their behalf. But he could not be satisfied with this, he therefore further entreated.]

2.

The continuance of it unto the day of Christ

[To be made thus blameless is doubtless an unspeakable blessing; but it would be of little service to us, if we were to lose it again, and to return to our former state of sin and uncleanness. This is an idea which many lovers of human systems do not like: but it is inculcated in every part of the Holy Scriptures: nor can any man get rid of this idea, without doing violence to many of the plainest passages of Holy Writ, and, I had almost said, wresting them to his own destruction.
By the Prophet Ezekiel, God tells us, that, if the righteous man depart from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, his righteousness shall no more be remembered; but for the iniquity that he committeth, he shall die [Note: Eze 18:24.]. St. Paul warns us, that, if after tasting of the heavenly gift, and being made partakers of the Holy Ghost, we fall away, it is impossible, (or so difficult as to be all but impossible,) for us ever to be renewed unto repentance [Note: Heb 6:4-6.]. St. Peter speaks yet more plainly, assuring us, that. if after having escaped the pollutions of the world through knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we be again entangled therein, and overcome, our latter end will be worse than the beginning: for that it would be better for us never to have known the way of righteousness, than, after we have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto us [Note: 2Pe 2:20-21.].

Hence St. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians, that they might be preserved blameless unto the day of Christ. To run well for a season would avail them nothing, if they were hindered at last. To little purpose would they have begun in the Spirit, if they ended in the flesh. We must endure to the end, if ever we would be saved [Note: Mat 14:13.]. And so important is this truth, and so necessary to be inculcated on the minds of even the most exalted Christians, that our blessed Lord himself, in his Letters to the Seven Churches, closes every letter with this solemn admonition, that to him that over-cometh, and to him only shall the full blessings of his salvation ever be extended [Note: Rev 2:7; Rev 2:10; Rev 2:17; Rev 2:26; Rev 3:5; Rev 3:12; Rev 3:21.] Hence are those frequent cautions against declension in the life and power of godliness [Note: 2 John. ver. 8. Rev 3:11. 2Pe 3:14; 2Pe 3:17-18.]. The Lord grant we may ever bear them in mind! for God himself expressly says, If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him [Note: Heb 10:38.].

On these accounts the Apostle prayed for them, that the work begun ill them might be carried on and perfected unto the day of Christ [Note: Php 1:6.].]

Vast as this blessing was, he did not doubt of obtaining it in their behalf. This appears from,

II.

The assurance given

To the attainment of this blessed state God calleth us in his Gospel
[God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness, even to the highest measure of it that can possibly be attained. He says not only, Be ye holy, for I am holy [Note: 1Pe 1:15-16.]; but, Be ye holy, as I am holy, and perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect [Note: Mat 5:48.],]

And, as the God of peace, he promises to raise us to it
[God, having given us his Son to bear our sins in his own body on the tree, and to make reconciliation for us through the blood of the cross, is pleased to reveal himself to us under the endearing character of the God of peace: and being now our God and Father in Christ Jesus, he undertakes to do for us all that shall be necessary for our final acceptance with him in the day of judgment. He promises to sprinkle clean water upon us, and to cleanse us from all our filthiness, and from all our idols [Note: Eze 36:25-27.]. He teaches us also to look, not to his mercy only, or his power, to effect this, but to his truth and faithfulness, yea, and to his very justice too: He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [Note: 1Jn 1:9.]. This I say, he promises to us, being first of all become, through the atoning blood of Christ, a God of peace. We are not to get sanctification first, and then, in consequence of that sanctification, to find him a God of peace; but first to look to him as reconciled to us in Christ Jesus, and then to experience the sanctifying operations of his Spirit. This order must be particularly noticed in our text, as also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is particularly marked [Note: Heb 13:20-21.]: if we overlook this, we shall be in danger of misapprehending and perverting the whole Gospel of Christ: but if we bear this in mind, then may we expect from God a full and complete salvation. In many places does he pledge ins faithfulness to do for us all that we can stand in need of, and never to discontinue his mercies towards us [Note: 1Co 1:8-9 and 2Th 3:3.] He may punish us, and hide his face from us; but he will not utterly abandon us, or cast us off [Note: Psa 89:30-36. Jer 32:40].].

We must, however, be found in the diligent use of the appointed means
[The dependence of his blessing on the use of the appointed means is not always expressed; but it is always implied. He will be inquired of by us, before he will do for us the things which he has most freely promised [Note: Eze 36:37.]. He has appointed the means as well as the end, or rather I should say, the end by the means: he has chosen us to salvation; but it is through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth [Note: 2Th 2:13. 1Pe 1:2.]. He alone has the power whereby our salvation must be affected, as the words of our text very strongly imply [Note: .]; but he expects that we exert ourselves, as much as if all the power resided in our own arm: and the very consideration which many persons urge as a reason for their inactivity, is suggested by him as a reason and encouragement for our most strenuous exertions [Note: Php 2:12-13]. If we will not ask, and seek, and strive, we must expert nothing at his hands: but if we will put forth our own feeble energies in the way of duty, he will strengthen us by his Spirit in our inward man, and make us more than conquerors through Him that loved us.]

From this subject we may learn,
1.

How mistaken they are who think that the Gospel leads to licentiousness

[What symptom of licentiousness is here? Rather, may we not challenge every religious system in the universe to produce morality like unto this? Other systems provide for the cleansing of the outside of the cup and platter; but no other so effectually reaches the heart. The Gospel provides for the sanctification of all our faculties and powers, and for the transformation of our whole man into the very image of our find. Its language is, Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace [Note: Rom 6:14.]. And its effect is, to produce in every mind the desire which is so affectionately expressed in the text, and not for others only, but for ourselves also. Let all jealousy then on this head be put aside: and let us seek to be justified freely by faith in Christ; that, having peace with God through his precious blood, we may receive the communications of his grace more abundantly, and be changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of our God.]

2.

How deluded they are who rest in Christian principles, without aspiring after Christian attainments

[Such there have been in every age of the Church. Not that the Gospel has in itself any tendency to create such characters; but the corruption of mens hearts will take occasion from the Gospel to foster sentiments, which are, in reality, subversive of its most fundamental truths. Many regard all exhortations to holiness as legal: yea, there are not wanting some who will maintain, that Christ, having fulfilled the law for us, has absolved us from all obligation to obey it in any of its commands. They affirm that it is cancelled, not only as a covenant of works, but as a rule of life. They profess, that the sanctification of Christ is imputed to us, precisely as his righteousness is; and that we need no personal holiness, because we have a sufficient holiness in him. Horrible beyond expression are such sentiments as these: and how repugnant they are to those contained in our text, it is needless to observe. That some who advance these sentiments are externally moral, and often benevolent, must be confessed: (if any be truly pious, it is not by means of these principles, but in spite of them:) but the great body of them, with, it is to be feared, but few exceptions, bear the stamp of their unchristian principles in their whole spirit and conduct. The whole family of them may be distinguished by the following marks. They are full of pride and conceit, imagining that none can understand the Gospel but themselves. Such is their confidence in their own opinions, that they seem to think it impossible that they should err. They are dogmatical in the extreme, laying down the law for every one, and expecting all to bow to their judgment: and so contemptuous are they, that they speak of all as blind and ignorant who presume to differ from them. Their irreverent manner of treating the great mysteries of our religion is also most offensive; they speak of them with a most unhallowed familiarity, as though they wore common things: and so profane are they, that they hesitate not. to sneer at the very word of God itself, whenever it militates against their favourite opinions. By these fruits ye shall know them; and by these fruits ye may judge of their principles. True indeed, with their errors they bring forth much that is sound and good: but this only renders their errors the more palatable and the more delusive. They altogether vitiate the taste of the religious world, and indispose them for all practical instruction. They so exclusively set forth what may be called the strong meat of the Gospel, as to withhold all milk from the household of our God [Note: Heb 5:13-14. 1Co 3:2.]. In a word, they promote nothing but spiritual intoxication, and banish from the Church all spiritual sobriety.

In what we have said, we design not to mark the characters of any particular men, but the character and effect of their principles: and we do not hesitate to say again, that this is the true character and effect of Antinomianism, wherever it exists.

In opposition to all who would thus make Christ a minister of sin, we must declare, that he came to save his people, not in their sins, but from them [Note: Mat 1:21.]; and that the grace of God which bringeth salvation, teaches, and must ever teach, men to live righteously, and soberly, and godly in this present world [Note: Tit 2:11-12.], yea, and to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God [Note: Col 4:12.].]

3.

How blessed they are who have obtained peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

[You are not called to make bricks without straw. That God, who is now reconciled to you through the Son of his love, undertakes to supply you with grace sufficient for you [Note: 2Co 12:9.], and to fulfil in you all the good pleasure of his goodness, even the work of faith with power [Note: 2Th 1:11.]. And is he not able to do this? or will he forget his promises, or suffer one jot or tittle of his word to fail? No: He is faithful who hath promised, who also will do it. Be of good courage then, whatever difficulties ye may have to encounter. Know, that greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world [Note: 1Jn 4:4.]. Gird on the armour which is provided for you, and be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus [Note: Eph 6:10-11. 2Ti 2:1.]. Our prayer for you is the same as that of St. Paul for the Thessalonian Christians: yes, beloved, this is our wish, even your perfection [Note: 2Co 13:9.]. And we rejoice in the thought that God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye, having always all-sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work [Note: 2Co 9:8.]. Only look to him as a God of love and peace, and you shall find that what he hath promised he is able also to perform [Note: Rom 4:21.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ver. 23. That your whole spirit, soul, body ] The temple consisted of three parts, so doth man; the body is as the outer court, the soul as the holy place, the spirit as the most holy. So the world is three stories high, the earth, the visible heaven, and the third heaven.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

23, 24 .] contrast to all these feeble endeavours on your own part.

here most probably in its wider sense, as the accomplishment of all these Christian graces, and result of the avoidance of all evil. It seems rather far-fetched to refer it back to 1Th 5:13 .

seems to refer to the entireness of sanctification, which is presently expressed in detail. Jerome, who treats at length of this passage, ad Hedibiam (ep. cxx.) qust. xii., vol. i. p. 1004, explains it, ‘per omnia vel in omnibus, sive plenos et perfectos:’ and so Pelt, ‘ut fiatis integri:’ and the reviewer of Mr. Jowett in the Journal of S. Lit., April, 1856: ‘sanctify you (to be) entire.’ But I prefer the other interpretation: in which case it = .

introduces the detailed expression of the same wish from the lower side in its effects.

] emphatic predicate, as its position before the article shews: entire refers to all three following substantives, though agreeing in gender with , the nearest. Cf. besides reff., Lev 23:15 , .

. . . . ] is the SPIRIT, the highest and distinctive part of man, the immortal and responsible soul , in our common parlance: is the lower or animal soul, containing the passions and desires ( , Plato, Deff. p. 411), which we have in common with the brutes, but which in us is ennobled and drawn up by the . That St. Paul had these distinctions in mind, is plain (against Jowett) from such places as 1Co 2:14 . The spirit, that part whereby we are receptive of the Holy Spirit of God, is, in the unspiritual man, crushed down and subordinated to the animal soul ( ): he therefore is called , Jud 1:19 ; see also note on 1 Cor. as above.

defines and fixes .: that, as Ellic., regarding quantity, this defining quality.

, for it will be in that day that the result will be seen, that the will be accomplished.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Th 5:23 . , with a special allusion to the breaches of harmony and charity produced by vice ( cf. connection of 1Th 3:12-13 and 1Th 4:3 f.), indolence, impatience of authority or of defects in one another (1Th 5:13 f.), retaliation (1Th 5:15 ), and differences of opinion (1Th 5:19 f.) Such faults affect the , the and the respectively, as the sphere of that pure and holy consciousness whose outcome is . , unemphatic genitive (as in 1Th 3:10 ; 1Th 3:13 , cf. Abbott’s Johannine Grammar , 2559 a ) throwing the emphasis on the following word or words. is put first, as the element in human nature which Paul held to be most directly allied to God, while denotes as usual the individual life. The collocation of these terms is unusual but of course quite untechnical. has almost a proleptic tinge = “preserved entire, (so as to be) blameless at the arrival of,” which has led to the substitution, in some inferior MSS., of for ( cf. textual discussion in Amer. Jour. Theol. , 1903, 453 f.). The construction is rather awkward, but the general sense is clear. With the thought of the whole verse compare Ps. Sol. 18:6: , also the description of Abraham being preserved by the divine in Sap. 10:5 ( ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Th 5:23-24

23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

1Th 5:23 “may the God of peace Himself” This is a common phrase in the closings of Paul’s letters (cf. Rom 15:33; Rom 16:20; 2Co 13:11; Php 4:6; 2Th 3:16 ). What a wonderful, descriptive title for deity!

“sanctify. . .be preserved” These are both aorist optatives, which is the mood of wishing or praying. Paul prayed that believers be sanctified and preserved by God. This shows sanctification is both a gift at salvation and a continuing task. See SPECIAL TOPIC: NEW TESTAMENT HOLINESS/SANCTIFICATION at 1Th 4:3.

“sanctify you entirely” In this sentence, two Greek adjectives, “entirely” and “complete,” combined with three nouns, “spirit, soul, and body,” underscores the completeness of our person, not that man is a trichotomous being like the Triune God. In Luk 1:46-47 the parallelism shows that soul and spirit are synonymous. Humans do not have a soulthey are a soul (cf. Gen 2:7). This phrase emphasizes believers’ call to holiness in every area of their lives (cf. Mat 5:48; Eph 1:4).

“may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete” This is not a proof-text for an ontological trichotomy in mankind (humans a trinity like God), but humans have a dual relationship to both this planet and to God. The Hebrew word nephesh is used of both mankind and the animals in Genesis (cf. Gen 1:24; Gen 2:19), while “spirit” (ruah) is used uniquely of mankind (the breath of life). This is not a proof-text on the nature of mankind as a three-part (trichotomous) being, nor is Heb 4:12. Mankind is primarily represented in the Bible as a unity (cf. Gen 2:7). For a good summary of the theories of mankind as trichotomous, dichotomous, or a unity, see Millard J. Erickson’s Christian Theology (second edition) pp. 538-557 and Frank Stagg’s Polarities of Man’s Existence in Biblical Perspective.

“without blame” This term is only found here in the NT. It has been found in inscriptions at Thessalonica. It means free from blame or accusations, therefore, morally pure. It possibly reflects the OT term “blameless” that meant free of defects and, therefore, available for sacrifice. See Special Topic at 1Th 2:10.

“at the coming of our Lord” This has been the theological focus of the entire book, the Second Coming (cf. 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1 Thess. 4:13-15:11; 1Th 5:23). See SPECIAL TOPIC: JESUS’ RETURN at 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13.

1Th 5:24 “Faithful is He” This functions both as the second descriptive title (cf. Deu 7:9; Isa 49:7; 1Co 1:9; 1Co 10:13; 2Co 1:18; 2Th 3:3) and as a characteristic of YHWH (cf. Psa 36:5; Psa 40:10; Psa 89:1-2; Psa 89:5; Psa 89:8; Psa 92:2; Psa 119:90). The believers’ confidence is in the established, settled, unchanging character of YHWH (cf. Mal 3:6).

“He who calls. . .He also will bring it to pass” The third descriptive title, “He who calls,” always refers to God the Father (cf. 1Th 2:12; 1Th 4:7). This verse refers to the believers’ election plus glorification (cf. Rom 8:29-34). It focuses on the trustworthy God who initiates and perfects (cf. Php 1:6; Php 2:13). Our hope is in God’s trustworthiness to keep His promises.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

the very, &c. = may the God of peace Himself. Compare Act 7:2. Heb 13:20.

sanctify. See Joh 17:17.

wholly. Greek. holoteles. Only here.

whole, &c Read, “your spirit and soul and body be kept entire”.

whole. Greek. holokleros. Only here and Jam 1:4. The noun in Act 3:16. –

spirit. App-101.

soul. App-110.

blameless. See 1Th 2:10.

unto = at. Greek. en. App-104.

coming. See 1Th 2:10. Notice how in every chapter of this Epistle the coming of the Lord is presented, and in a different aspect: 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:14-17; 1Th 5:23. In this verse there is a beautiful correspondence. H | The work of the God of peace. Sanctification: complete. J | w | The whole person. x | One part of it (the pneuma). J | w | The whole person (the living soul). x | The other part of it (the body). H | The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preservation: without blemish.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

23, 24.] -contrast to all these feeble endeavours on your own part.

here most probably in its wider sense, as the accomplishment of all these Christian graces, and result of the avoidance of all evil. It seems rather far-fetched to refer it back to 1Th 5:13.

seems to refer to the entireness of sanctification, which is presently expressed in detail. Jerome, who treats at length of this passage, ad Hedibiam (ep. cxx.) qust. xii., vol. i. p. 1004, explains it, per omnia vel in omnibus, sive plenos et perfectos: and so Pelt, ut fiatis integri: and the reviewer of Mr. Jowett in the Journal of S. Lit., April, 1856: sanctify you (to be) entire. But I prefer the other interpretation: in which case it = .

introduces the detailed expression of the same wish from the lower side-in its effects.

] emphatic predicate, as its position before the article shews: entire-refers to all three following substantives, though agreeing in gender with , the nearest. Cf. besides reff., Lev 23:15, .

. . . . ] is the SPIRIT, the highest and distinctive part of man, the immortal and responsible soul, in our common parlance: is the lower or animal soul, containing the passions and desires ( , Plato, Deff. p. 411), which we have in common with the brutes, but which in us is ennobled and drawn up by the . That St. Paul had these distinctions in mind, is plain (against Jowett) from such places as 1Co 2:14. The spirit, that part whereby we are receptive of the Holy Spirit of God, is, in the unspiritual man, crushed down and subordinated to the animal soul (): he therefore is called , Jud 1:19; see also note on 1 Cor. as above.

defines and fixes .: that, as Ellic., regarding quantity, this defining quality.

, for it will be in that day that the result will be seen,-that the will be accomplished.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Th 5:23. ) [The very] Himself. You will be defended, says Paul, not by my zeal, but by the Divine protection.- , the God of peace) who gives all that is good, and takes away all that is evil: and , in the Hebrew , are conjugates. [Therefore the following prayer shows what this title implies (involves in it).-V. g.]–) He wishes that collectively () and as individuals () they should be claimed for God [as His], and being so claimed, should abide in Him: collectively, all the Thessalonians without exception, so that no one should fail; individually, every one of them, with spirit, soul, and body. The exposition of this verse will perhaps be more matured in course of time. There might be supposed an elegant Chiasmus, and if were taken adverbially, it would cast new light on the exposition.[32] If we give the passage another sense, , would constitute the genus and the whole; the three following words (, , ) would be the parts.- , your spirit and soul and body) You; he just before has called them universally: and the same persons he now denominates from their spiritual condition, my wish being, saith he, that your spirit (Gal 6:18) may be preserved , whole and entire; then from their natural condition, and soul and body, for the nature of the whole man absolutely consists of these two parts, my wish is, that it may be preserved blameless.[33] The mention of the body agrees with the preceding discussion, 1Th 4:4, note 16.

[32] The Chiasmus would make answer to , and to : meaning, May your body be wholly preserved, as also your spirit and soul!-ED.

[33] The Germ. Vers. exhibits on the marg. this periphrasis of the passage:-May your Spirit, i.e. you yourselves be most fully preserved according to your spiritual state, which you have attained in respect both of soul and body. In accordance with this view, I may observe, is the fact, that is a heavenly principle-the life from above-linking us to a higher order of beings, and imparted by the second Adam, who, in 1Co 15:47, is called , a quickening Spirit. Hence is seldom if ever found associated with unbelievers. Passages are found where this word is used of good and bad alike yielding up the Ghost. But these mean rather breathed their last, being used simply of the breath. , anima, on the other hand, is the inferior principle, common to bad and good, linking us to the first Adam, the , living soul; from which we derive the , the natural or animal body-a body animated by the , as contrasted with the , body animated with the Spirit, spiritual, which shall be given to the believer hereafter, 1Co 15:44-47. Comp. Rom 8:11; Jud 1:19, .-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Th 5:23

And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly;-The object and purpose of God is to build up a community on earth, recognizing him as the only and supreme Ruler that will in all things be governed by his laws and animated by his Spirit. God gives assurance that such a community would bring the highest degree of happiness to every member and confer the highest benefit on the world as well as bring the greatest honor to God that is possible to man in the flesh and eternal glory in the future. But few of those who profess to be his children believe this. We by our actions show plainly that we disbelieve it; we refuse to use our time, talent, and means as God directs. What we have belongs to God; he lends it to us here for a time to use for his honor and our good. If we use it wisely and well, as he directs, when we have proved our worthiness, he will give us eternal possessions as our own. The Savior said: “He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is anothers, who will give you that which is your own? (Luk 16:10-12.) What we have here is loaned us by the Lord; what will be given to us in the future will be our own forever.

and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire,-The body is the fleshly part of man in which the soul or spirit dwells. The Bible makes no distinction between the soul and the spirit. The terms are used interchangeably and refer to the spiritual entity that dwells in the fleshly body and makes that body a man. The two words are used probably five hundred or more times in the Bible. In this instance they are used together, but as meaning the same thing. Paul, to strengthen his saying and to fully cover the ground, often used several words meaning much the same to give force and breadth to his expression. In this same Epistle are two other examples: “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and unblamably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe. (2:10.) Here are three words with hardly a distinction in meaning to express the purity of his life and its worthiness to be followed by them. Again: For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? (2:19.) These words did not refer to distinct things or feelings. Then the lexicons define soul as spirit and spirit as soul showing that they are so used by all scholars. The body is the fleshly part of man in which the soul or spirit dwells. Life on earth is the union of the soul or spirit with the material body; the two combined constitute the living being or person as we see and behold him. Death is the separation of the soul, or spirit, from the material body; so this loses its vitality and crumbles into dust.

without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.-[He prays that they may be found free of blame at the coming of the Lord, when the saints and their works shall be made manifest (1Co 3:13) before the judgment seat of Christ. Thus they were to be without blame not merely in conduct before men, but in heart before the Lord himself.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

whole spirit and soul and body

Man a trinity. That the human soul and spirit are not identical is proved by the facts that they are divisible. Heb 4:12 and that soul and spirit are sharply distinguished in the burial and resurrection of the body. It is sown a natural body (soma psuchikon= “soul- body”), it is raised a spiritual body (soma pneumatikon). 1Co 15:44. To assert, therefore, that there is no difference between soul and spirit is to assert that there is no difference between the mortal body and the resurrection body. In Scripture use, the distinction between spirit and soul may be traced. Briefly, that distinction is that the spirit is that part of man which “knows” 1Co 2:11 his mind; the soul is the seat of the affections, desires, and so of the emotions, and of the active will, the self. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful” Mat 26:38 see also; Mat 11:29; Joh 12:27. The word transliterated “soul” in the O.T. (nephesh) is the exact equivalent of the N.T. word for soul (Greek – ), and the use of “soul” in the O.T. is identical with the use of that word in the N.T. (see, e.g.); Deu 6:5; Deu 14:26; 1Sa 18:1; 1Sa 20:4; 1Sa 20:17; Job 7:11; Job 7:15; Job 14:22; Psa 42:6; Psa 84:2. The N.T. word for spirit (pneuma) like the O.T. (ruach), is trans. “air”, “breath”, “wind,” but predominantly “spirit,” whether of God (e.g.); Gen 1:2; Mat 3:16 or of man; Gen 41:8; 1Co 5:5. Because man is “spirit” he is capable of God-consciousness, and of communication with God; Job 32:8; Psa 18:28; Pro 20:27 because he is “soul” he has self- consciousness; Psa 13:2; Psa 42:5; Psa 42:6; Psa 42:11 because he is “body” he has, through his senses, world consciousness.

(See Scofield “Gen 1:26”) .

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

A Prayer for Sanctity

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.1Th 5:23.

Very beautiful is St. Pauls affection for the Thessalonians. It may have been the more tender because they had treated him with kindness, a kindness the more appreciated as a contrast to his experience at Philippi, whence he had just escaped on the occasion of his visit to their city. Be that as it may, he himself likens the love he felt for them to that of a father towards his children, or of a mother nursing her own little ones. And the purer his love, the higher were the blessings he longed for on their behalf. Hence he prays here not that his friends may escape persecution, or have worldly prosperity, but that in Christian character they may be wholly Gods. To desire such a benediction for others is one of the best signs of newness of life, for this is what Jesus Himself was seeking when He came here to save His people from their sins, and to present them faultless before His Fathers face in glory.

Human love is so mixed with alloy that we are not naturally anxious that our friends should be faultless, but are rather gratified when we see that they are no more perfect than ourselves, and are not always displeased when their failings are pointed out. It seems to raise us higher if they are just a little lowered, for a tree which is by no means tall begins to look tall when all those around it are cut down to a lower level. And in addition to this common yet sinful tendency to disparagement, prejudices and animosities play a very important part in our judgment of others, and in our desires for them. This prevalence of prejudice, and this wish to be thought better than our neighbours, often prevent us from earnestly desiring their true ennoblement, and from praying for their redemption from all evil, that they may be blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. From all this jealousy St. Paul is singularly and nobly free. His prayer for his friends is that they may be found blameless, that they may be sanctified wholly.

Jealousy is a terrible thing. It resembles love, it is precisely loves contrary. Instead of wishing for the welfare of the object loved, it desires the dependence of that object upon itself, and its own triumph. Love is the forgetfulness of self; jealousy is the most passionate form of egotism, the glorification of a despotic, exacting, and vain ego, which can neither forget nor subordinate itself. The contrast is perfect.1 [Note: Amiels Journal (trans. by Mrs. Humphry Ward), 284.]

He rarely spoke contemptuously of any ones views or methods. When Evan Roberts, the Welsh revivalist, was holding his meetings at Liverpool, a fellow-clergyman spoke disparagingly of his efforts to Watson, who replied: Well, I dont know anything about that, but remember we dont draw these audiences, so let us keep quiet. He was present himself with Roberts on the platform a few weeks after. When Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander were conducting their mission in Liverpool, a wave of criticism swept over them. One afternoon Watson attended a service, and the next day a Liverpool paper had a warm yet discriminating eulogy on the missioners, signed A City Pastor. The style proclaimed the author, and later on Watson owned to having written that kind letter of encouragement.2 [Note: W. R. Nicoll, Ian Maclaren: Life of the Rev. J. Watson, 383.]

I

The Meaning of Sanctification

1. What does the Apostle mean by this prayer for sanctity? Sanctification may be looked at from different standpoints.

(1) There is a true sense in which Christ is made to us, judicially, sanctification. That is to say, Christs perfect holiness covers the failures and the defects of believers after their conversion, as well as the sins of the soul when it first draws near to Him. It is not an imputed sanctification that the Apostle is dealing with here. If it were an imputed sanctification, it could not be the subject of prayer; because they would have it already. Nor does he mean by sanctification hereand it is important to see itglorification, as some would almost seem to think he does. We must not put the standard too high; we must not put it where it is altogether out of reach. He is not praying for the dead. His prayer is for us to-day. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it, he says.

(2) Nor is this sanctification sinless perfection. Sinless perfection is the scarecrow that the devil employs to frighten Gods children off the finest of the wheat. The fact is that sanctification is Gods truth, and sinless perfection is the devils counterfeit. But wherever there is a counterfeit there is always a truth; and very often the grossness of the counterfeit is the measure of the importance of the truth. Satan is only a copyist. There is no condition here upon earth in which we do not need atoning blood; there is no condition here in which we do not need the forgiveness of our trespasses; there is no condition here in which we do not need the perpetual intercession of our Great High Priest. Within these limits comes the prayer for entire sanctification.

(3) Sanctification is not merely the repression of evil; that is virtue. The pagan, the Roman philosopher, can teach that, more or less. But sanctity, as an old divine once said, is the life of God in man. The moralist knows nothing of it; he has neither the thing itself nor the word.

(4) Sanctification is not the same as good works. Sanctification is Gods work in us, whereby He imparts to our members a holy disposition, inwardly filling us with delight in His law and with repugnance to sin. But good works are acts of man which spring from this holy disposition. Hence Sanctification is the source of good works; it is the lamp that shines with their light, the capital of which they are the interest. Sanctification imparts something to man; good works take something out of him. Sanctification forces the root into the ground; to do good works forces the fruit out of the fruitful tree.

The Pietist says: Sanctification is mans work; it cannot be insisted upon with sufficient emphasis. It is our best effort to be godly. And the Mystic maintains: We cannot do good works, and may not insist upon them; for man is unable; God alone works them in him independently of him. Of course, both are equally wrong and unscriptural. The former, in reducing sanctification to good works takes it out of Gods hand and lays it upon man, who never can perform it; and the latter, in making good works take the place of sanctification, releases man from the task laid on him and claims that God will perform it. Both errors must be opposed.1 [Note: A. Kuyper, in Homiletic Review, lv. 136.]

John Brash was amid the arduous work of his first circuit when, as he says, I began to seek the blessing of perfect love. One Sunday, having to preach in the country in the afternoon and evening, I spent the forenoon in prayer. While pleading with God for the blessing, my agony became so great that I resolved not to rise from my knees until I had obtained it. It was easy for me to yield up to God everything that I felt He required from me but oneand that was my reputation. In order to live a life of consecration to Him, it would be necessary for me to adopt a simple and unadorned style of preaching, to discard all subjects that would be pleasing and interesting merely, and to aim solely and always at usefulness. The consequence of adopting such a style would be, as it then seemed to me, obscurity and hard work in discouraging spheres, and amongst small congregations. The struggle was severe, but all attempts at compromise, and all sophistical reasoning about seeking popularity as a stepping-stone to usefulness failed to satisfy my conscience, and I at last made a full surrender of all my powers to God, that they might be employed for His glory alone. In the instant that I made the offering I felt that it was accepted, and that God had taken full possession of my heart. The experience was so distinct from anything I had previously felt that it was impossible to doubt the nature of the blessing I had received. Throughout the day there was an abiding consciousness of a presence which I knew to be that of Christ Himself. My feeling was one of reverent, subdued joy, arising from the knowledge that I was united to Him, and filled with His Spirit. Since that memorable Sunday the discussions I have read and heard on the subject of instantaneous and conscious sanctification from sin have had little interest for me. I know that the blessing may be received instantaneously; though in some cases the transition from partial to entire sanctification may be imperceptible to the subject of it.2 [Note: John Brash: Memorials and Correspondence, 26.]

2. To sanctify is to set something apart for a holy purpose, so that it may be regarded as holy, and as being profaned if used for a lower purpose. If we were to distinguish between sanctification and consecration we should say the latter represents the human and the former the Divine side of the same act or experience. We consecrate ourselves when we yield ourselves up to God, for Him to do with us what He wills, laying ourselves as it were upon the altar as a living sacrifice. God sanctifies us when He accepts this offering, and conforms us to His Son. Hence we are not told that we must wholly sanctify ourselves, but the God of peace is asked to effect this for us. Similarly, Jesus prays in His final intercession on earth for His disciples: sanctify them through thy truth. But in the same prayer, alluding to Himself, He says, for their sakes I sanctify myself, a solemn declaration in which He claims the Divine as well as the human power. What He meant was that He had set Himself apart for the holy purpose of redeeming man, even by the sacrifice of Himself; and this was a sacrifice not confined to Calvary though it was consummated there.

In the sanctification of Jesus Christ to the Fathers redemptive service of mankind, a process by which He passed from unspotted personal perfection into the new perfection of a vicarious Mediatorship, two methods of operation merge into each other. Our Lord speaks of Himself as him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world. The life received from the everlasting springs brought with it inspirations of love which determined His office and moved Him to an act of supreme self-dedication for the race. Side by side with the effusion of sanctifying life from the Father there came the voluntary consecration of the Son to His sacred and benign tasks. And for their sakes I sanctify myself. And in the sanctification of the redeemed Church two similar acts must be co-ordinatedsanctification by the act and operation of God Himself, and also a sanctification in the free, practical, self-determined acts of the daily life, responding to the will and work of God.1 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Strenuous Gospel, 481.]

3. Sanctification, then, is the imitation of Christ. It is being in the world as He was in the world. And that man is most holy, or most sanctified, who has least ignorance and error in his mind, least selfishness and earthliness in his heart, least perversity and stubbornness in his will, all of which Christ was without; the opposite and Godlike virtues adorning His character in perfect measure. Hence it is easy to understand how it should be said that men were sanctified by faith, sanctified through the truth.

This cannot be understood so long as we conceive of the human soul as a material substance that becomes brighter, more fruitful, or more fragrant, according to some supposed mysterious action of the Holy Spirit upon it. But if we look at the soul as brought to understand and believe the truth about Christ, His person, His cross, and His work, then we see how it straightway becomes like Christ; for it is only by the truth acting upon it that a rational soul can become enlightened, affectionate, devout, as Christ was. A soul that understands and believes the truth must become like Him, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. The Spirit does not sanctifiy us by putting some mysterious principle into our hearts called grace. The truth is the grace that He puts into our hearts, and out of this comes every other which deserves the name, even all the features of Christs imagelove, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. We have the whole process described in the words of the Apostle Paul, perhaps the most beautiful description of sanctification in the whole Bible. We are beholding as in a glass, the glass of the Bible, with open face (with clear view), the glory of the Lord, i.e. of the Lord Jesus, and are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The whole truth on the subject, then, is this: to be sanctified is to be Christ-like. We are thus sanctified by knowing the truth as it is in Jesus, and feeling its power more and more. And the great force that works out the change is the same Spirit that began it in the day of regeneration, revealing Christ to us in His Word, and forming Him in our hearts, the hope of glory.

Of all the Italian artists the Pre-Raphaelite Fra Angelico, the angelic brother, and saintly painter, is his great favourite. No one is so frequently mentioned, or spoken of in terms of such affectionate admiration. These are the pictures, he exclaims enthusiastically regarding the works of the great Dominican, in which every face has soul within, and every hand a heart; all is life; joy is joy, and grief is grief; and piety through all mellows the whole to charity, as heavenward tread the holy saints of old. Describe each I cannot; only their remembrance is with me, and hooded Fra Angelico, pencil in hand, sketching and limning the faces, embodiment of Christ on earth. Again: The Madonna della Stella by Fra Angelico for sweetness and love surpasses all of his age, while the Christ nestles into her neck and loves, and for a while, before the thorny way is opened to Him, tastes all love of earth. This is the painter of whom it is written that he was wont to say that the practice of art required repose and holy thoughts, and that he who would depict the acts of Christ must learn to live with Christ. This was the man who above all others took captive William Dennys admiration. It was like drawing like.1 [Note: A. B. Bruce, The Lift of William Denny, 19.]

II

Entire Sanctification

1. There is a sense in which sanctification is entire in regeneration. To the measure of every mans light the surrender to God must be without reserve, and the cleansing of the heart from an evil conscience is as entire as justification is complete. By one offering, he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Though sanctification is in this sense complete in regeneration, in the purpose of God and the experience of the believer, much is left to be accomplished in the nature of the sanctified. The carnalities need to be purged out. Entire sanctification completes the work of regeneration, pervading every part of the renewed nature. The spirit is sanctified wholly; the reason is filled with the all-pervasive presence of God realized in the consciousness. Every faculty of the mind is not only cleansed from defilement, but in every part there is reflected the mind of God. The soul is sanctified wholly; its desires are holy, its passions clean, its thoughts pure, its impulses God-ward, and its delight is in the will of the Lord. The tugging of the old nature with its evil lusts is over. The body is sanctified wholly; its members become instruments of righteousness; it is a temple of God, cleansed, sanctified, and filled with the glory of His presence. The sanctification of the parts is not a separate process. The work is one, and is accomplished in the sanctification of the man. The parts are mentioned to set forth the completeness and entireness of the work of God in redeemed and sanctified man. It is entire, complete, without restriction, and without defect. Every part is cleansed, perfected, and pervaded with the energy of the Divine Presence. The fleshly is eradicated and the spiritual prevails.

What you say about the sin attaching to a reserve in the consecration reminds me of the truth on which Benjamin Hellier used to insist, that in the New Testament the only Christian life allowable is that of entire sanctification. For those who are stopping short of this there are exhortations, warnings, expostulations, invitations, prayers; but the life there presented to every believer is one of a surrendered will, an obedient heart, a victorious Spirit-filled life in union with Christ, bringing salvation from sin, and leading to steady growth, through increasing knowledge and manifold temptations. This is the true answer to those who ask where the New Testament speaks of a second blessing. Salvation is one blessing, which many Christians, through their own fault or that of their teachers, are not receiving in its completeness.1 [Note: John Brash: Memorials and Correspondence, 36.]

2. What the Apostle meant by this threefold division of human nature cannot be determined with absolute confidence. It is possible that he availed himself of a current division of human nature into three partsspirit, soul, and body; and that, without at all pronouncing on the truth of this view, he made use of it to express emphatically the whole of mans being; just as we are commanded to love God with all our heart and soul and strength and mind, although it is not laid down as a fixed truth that mans nature is made up of these four parts.

It is probable, however, that the Apostle meant more than this, and taught us to seek from God not only in general the recovery of our whole being from sin, but also of the particular parts and in the particular order in which they are here mentioned. He does not at all decide whether the spirit, soul, and body are rightly arranged by the philosophers in separate order. But he does teach that there are such parts of human nature, and he gives directions how they should be treated. There is the spirit, by which he means our highest facilities that come nearest to God, the faculties that connect man with the spiritual and the invisible. These might be perverted to pride and unbelief, and lead man into the condemnation of the devil. There is the soul, the seat of the affections and desires that more especially connect man with this lower world. These might be perverted to covetousness, to lust, to sinful anger, and the other soul passions that corrupt and embitter society. And there is the body, the instrument of mans higher nature, with its own appetites and cravings, which might be perverted to excess and vicious indulgence, and become the tyrant over the highest powers it ought to serve.

From all these evils and dangers, the Apostle fervently prays that the Thessalonians may be preserved; and there is something in the order in which he arranges his petitions which is instructive. For if the spirit, which is placed first, be preserved, it will tend to preserve the soul; if the soul be preserved, it will tend to preserve the body. The favourable influence might begin above with mans conscience and reason, then descend to his social affections and desires, then govern and regulate his bodily appetites. What the Apostle prays for is, that every mans spirit should be as much in communion with God as the spirit of Jesus Christ; his soul as full of social affection and unselfish desire; his body as much the pure and willing instrument of his superior nature in Gods service. Then he would be sanctified wholly. All the parts of his being, like the several strings of a harp, would vibrate in perfect unison with each other, and with the master-strain of Christs example.

The soul opens upward to the Infinite and Eternal through the Spirit, with its capacity for God, and downward to the Finite and Temporal through the Body, with its capacity for material objects. The spirit stands for our heavenly aptitudes, the body for our earthly ones. By the one we are able to seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God; through the other we are apt to become entangled with the things that pertain to earth (Col 3:1-5).1 [Note: F. B. Meyer, The Souls Pure Intention, 5.]

(1) The spirit stands first in this enumeration because the work within its unseen recesses determines the surrender of the rest of a mans powers to Gods uses. This is the point at which we touch the Eternal. Just as fire came first to the altar and from that central point spread in mystic and broadening illumination to the outer courts, with their lamps, vessels, and sacred treasures, so, in the later dispensation, the process by which God claims men for His will and hallows their powers, begins with the spirit. Here is the golden altar, and God descends into soul and body by first stirring into movement those higher affinities which link our natures immediately with His own. The strict and unhalting preparation of the outward life is imperative, but the mystery through which we become Gods dawns at the inmost centre of our being. We can never level ourselves up to this state by bodily acts and exercises, however intense the emotion which pervades them. Here lie the sources of character, and in sweetening these God makes the life a fragrant sacrifice. The spirit was designed for sovereignty over soul and body, and when Gods fiat restores its withered powers and puts within its grasp the sceptre of royalty, all other parts of mans nature fall into due subordination and attain that faultless co-adaptation of movement in which perfection consists.

(2) The sanctification of the soul, which is the earthen vessel containing the lower passions and appetites, follows that of the spirit. When God possesses us for His own uses all natural instincts fulfil a Divine purpose, and fulfil it in harmony with providential plans. The forces of the nervous life may lend virility to a mans service.

(3) It is not in its own strength and beauty that the glory of the body consists, but in its connexion with the other parts of man. It is the servant of mans higher nature. It is the medium of communication between it and the outer world, conveying to the mind, through the senses, impressions of the outer world; and on the other hand, conveying the purpose of the higher powers of man, by means of its activity, into action in the outer world. It is in this service that the glory of the body consists. But the servant may become the master; this lowest part of human nature may become the ruling part. In that case the soul, with its strong and noble powers, becomes a shorn Samson in the lap of Delilah, and the spiritthat pure dove with wings of silver and feathers of yellow goldhas to lie among the pots, and bathe its breast in the mud of sensuality. Even the body itself, deposed from its true position and its true function, becomes degraded, and approaches towards brutality.

How well I remember when I was a young man, before I was ordained, being in a foreign town, just after leaving Oxford, and a boy came to me with a question which tested the truth of my manhood to the bottom. He was, I remember, five years younger than I was; I was twenty-three. He in that town had been spoken to in this manner by other young Englishmen who were spending their winter in that town. They asked him to come with them to the low parts of the town. They said: All young men of your age always act like this; they are not men if they dont. He came to me; he was a very excitable, impulsive, lovable boy; and he said: I have asked for an hour before I would give them my final answer. If I can find one man of your age who will on his word as a gentleman say he has not done that, I will not go; but, if not, I will go. So he came to me. I was on my honour to give him a true answer, and, although it is thirty years ago, I thank God to-day that I could look him in the face and say: I have never gone; I have never sinned in that way. I have many infirmities, many short-comings, but I have never misused my body in that way. Then, he said, I wont go with them.1 [Note: Bishop A. F. W. Ingram, Secrets of Strength, 211.]

If you would see what it is to be sanctified, look to Jesus. His body was sanctified; for all its powers were used in absolute accordance with the will of God. His feet, to hasten to the bed of pain, or the haunt of the sin-stricken. His hand, to raise the dead and to save the sinking. His eyes, to look with ineffable pity on the city which spurned Him, or with silent rebuke on the disciple who denied Him. His voice, to teach with such ineffable wisdom and power as to constrain even His enemies to say, Never man spake like this Man! Even in what we may call the ordinary scenes of His life there was the same sanctity. He took part in festivities; and though some dared to say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, they knew the charge was false; for by His holy presence He made every meal a sacrament, and every social gathering sacred. To be sanctified is to be like Him; so that on the tables of the home, and on the ledgers in the office, on our warehouses and marts, it shall be as though in letters of light these words were blazoned, Holiness unto the Lord.2 [Note: A. Rowland, The Burdens of Life, 147.]

How should I describe the relations to each other of these factors of our human fabric? Should I call the body the sheath of the soul and the soul the sheath of the spirit. So saith the Latin father Tertullian. Or should I say that the body is the organ of the soul and the soul the organ of the spirit? Or the first the utterance of the second and the second the expression of the third? What is the body for? Not for intemperance, not for drunkenness, not for incontinence, not for the greed of avarice: but the body, saith St. Paul, is for the Lord. He is the proprietor of it. He is the builder of the body and redeemer of it; doubly owner of it and twice proprietor, first by creation and then by redemption. His body, pierced on the cross, redeemed ours; and we were then bought with a price. If then we would live to the Lord who died to make us His own again, let us keep our bodies in temperance, soberness, and chastity; if we do not He will cast us into outer darkness. But what did I say? Let us keep the body in order? Why, the body is the organ of the soul; the soul rules it with a will, uses it with a will, bids it walk with feet, touch with hand, taste with tongue, speak with mouth, see with eyes. The soul stares and peers through the eyes of a bad man with looks of lust, of pride, of hate: for the eyes of the body are the windows of the soul surveying through them this material world of sun and moon, of mountains and cities: while the hands and feet are the willing servants of the soul, executing its will, doing its bidding and going on its errands. Eyes, hands, feet, tongue, all instruments of unrighteousness to the soul of a bad man, of righteousness to the soul of the good. So then if the soul rules the body, let us keep the body in order. How? Clearly by keeping the soul in order, filling it with good desires, with pure motives, with wise counsels, with noble aims and aspirations: but what was I saying? Let us keep the soul in order, that through it we may keep the body in order? Yes, but quis custodiet ipsam custodem? What is to keep the soul in order? Why the soul itself is controlled by that of which it is the organ and the expression, even by the spirit. So then let each of us fill our highest nature, even the spirit, with good desires, with pure motives, with noble aspirations, with lofty thoughts of Gods Paradise and the glories of the coming Kingdom. What is this? That the body may be kept in order by its superior the soul, and the soul kept in order by its superior the spirit, let us each fill his own spirit with good desires? Let us? Can we? Is a mans ego or self outside a man that he should pour into his own spirit good desires, as he would pour water into a cistern? A mans ego is inside the man, whether it be seated in the soul or in the spirit or in both. For behind the body is its ruler and director the soul, behind the soul is its ruler the spirit: but behind the spirit of man is what? Is there no superior? No controller behind that? Why, yes, some unseen power there is that plays the part of King David to the harp and makes the music of the instrument; that suggests, that inspires, that persuades, drawing to virtue or tempting to vice. An evil power drawing to evil, a good power to good. Certainly behind the human spirit of a good man is that which is akin to it, even the Divine Spirit of the unseen Christ breathing into it good desires, pure motives, lofty inspirations, instilling a steady belief in a better world and a quiet assurance of a blessed immortality hereafter; shedding meekness, gentleness, purity, charity, a high nature filling with joy and peace a lower kindred nature, like sunshine filling daylight.1 [Note: T. S. Evans, Body, Soul, and Spirit, 4.]

III

The Means and the Motive

1. Though, as we have seen, our own will must co-operate with Gods will in our sanctification, yet sanctification is not the result of our own effort. Our text, especially in the original, where emphasis is strong on God himself, suggests that it is in Him, not in ourselves, that we have hope. This is clearer in the Revised Version. In the verses immediately preceding the text St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians as to what they were to do. Then suddenly he turns from the work of the human will to the work of the Divine Spirit, and says, The God of peace himself sanctify you wholly. And in the next verse he encourages them to believe that this will be so by the declaration, Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.

2. But not only does St. Paul say it is God that sanctifies us, he says also that it is the God of peace. The use of this epithet is perhaps intended to teach us two truths.

(1) It teaches us this great lesson, that sanctification, like every other blessing of redemption, comes to us from God through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Previously to the atonement God could neither pardon nor sanctify. God is light as well as love. He would, to speak with reverence, have become unholy Himself had He consented to make the sinner holy before atonement was made. Now the great work is finished. God, as the God of peace, has brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, and is ready to make us perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight.

Suppose a rich and fertile country from which alone we derived the supply of our tables, the clothing of our persons, the ornaments of our houses, were alienated from us by war, and by war of our own provoking. It would need some atonement, some reconciliation, to reopen our lost sources of improvement or even of subsistence. And suppose another powerful nation were to mediate on our behalf and restore pacific relations; then it would be possible for the old supplies to flow in, not because there was any pleasure in withholding them, but because, till then, the honour of the nation we had provoked was not satisfied. Such is a faint image of the change which has come over our relations to God by the interposition of Jesus Christ. Now, as the very God of peace, He can bestow what before His heart yearned to confer, but for which an honourable way was not found. Now the richest treasures of heaven may be brought down to us by the Holy Spirit. Heaven and earth are leagued in friendship, and there is no Christian who desires these ornaments of the soul, better far than the choicest productions found beneath the skies, that will not find the God of peace prepared to impart them, and to do unto him exceeding abundantly above all that he can ask or think.1 [Note: Principal Cairns, Sanctification, 20.]

(2) But, again, the calmness He gives when we cease our own efforts, and trust Him, is our truest might to maintain this complete consecration. While the calm and holy light of that peace shines in the soul, the storm may roar without and be unheeded; and the phantoms of temptation beckon and allure us in vain. It was the power of that peace that gave St. Paul strength to control the temptations which assailed his vehement, sarcastic, fiery soul, and to bear the burdens of the weak, and submit silently to the slanders and scorns of the Church and the world.

Power that is not of God, however great,

Is but the downward rushing and the glare

Of a swift meteor that hath lost its share

In the one impulse which doth animate

The parent mass: emblem to me of fate!

Which through vast nightly wastes doth onward fare,

Wild-eyed and headlong, rent away from prayer

A moment brilliant, then most desolate!

And, O my brothers, shall we ever learn

From all the things we see continually

That pride is but the empty mockery

Of what is strong in man! Not so the stern

And sweet repose of soul which we can earn

Only through reverence and humility!1 [Note: George MacDonald, Poetical Works, 2:322.]

3. The words of the Apostle are chosen with the utmost care. He prays that they may be kept, not without fault, but without blame. Many blameless things are faulty, and many faulty things are blameless. A work done from purest love and to the utmost capacity may be full of faults but entirely free from blame. A picture is often hung in the home that has a value apart altogether from the judgment of the Academy. Faultless? Not by a long way. But a pure soul put its best into it, and soul is more than precision. Faultless? Nay, for though the sanctification be entire, it is not final. The glorification is not yet. Until it comes the spirit will be beset with limitations and infirmities, the soul will be hampered in its aspirations, and the body will continue to be an imperfect instrument preventing with its weakness the will of the spirit. Not faultless but blameless. Without reproach, without condemnation, and in all things acceptable before God!

To a person who was troubled at her imperfections, St. Francis de Sales wrote thus: We should, indeed, like to be without imperfections, but, my dearest daughter, we must submit patiently to the trial of having a human, rather than an angelic, nature. Our imperfections ought not, indeed, to please us; on the contrary, we should say with the holy Apostle: Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! But, at the same time, they ought not to astonish us, nor to discourage us: we should draw from them submission, humility, and mistrust of ourselves; never discouragement and loss of heart, far less distrust of Gods love for us; for though He loves not our imperfections and venial sins, He loves us, in spite of them. The weakness and backwardness of a child displeases its mother, but she does not for that reason love it less. On the contrary, she loves it more fondly, because she compassionates it. So, too, is it with God, who cannot, as I have said, love our imperfections and venial sins, but never ceases to love us, so that David with reason cries out to Him: Have mercy on me, O Lord; for I am weak. 1 [Note: J. P. Camus, The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, 372.]

4. And what is the motive that ever urges us to this sanctification? To St. Paul it is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That great event is the most powerful of all motives to cultivate Christian holiness. For to what end does Christ come? He comes to see in what degree His image has been perfected in His professing people. He comes to see who have called Him Lord, Lord, but have not done the things that He commanded them, and to expose them to shame and everlasting contempt. He comes also to display the graces and holy beauties of His genuine followers, and to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe.

The labours of those that have struggled to be like Him, who have watched and prayed that they might not walk unworthy of His Kingdom and glory, who have wept and made supplication, when no eye saw them, over their remaining spots and blemishestheir labours will not be in vain in the Lord. Every prayer for themselves, and every prayer for others that they too may be prepared and complete in all the will of God, shall find its reward openly; and the sighs that have gone up to heaven for entire sanctification will then receive a glorious answer, when they shall be fully conformed to the image of Him who is the firstborn among many brethren and presented holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His Fathers sight! Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

The great thing, I suspect, is to assure ourselves, not that these things may be, but that they shall be: that Christs appearing is as certain as the suns rising, or as our deaths; that we do not make it certain by our faith, but that its certainty is the warrant of our faith, and that which is to cure us of its sluggishness. And if this is so, we may encourage all persons always to expect Christs manifestation; the more they do expect it, the better they will be, the more they will rise out of their sloth, their scorn, their confusions, their selfishness; the more they will work on manfully in their own appointed tasks, whatever they be, the more they will work with each other; the more they will fight against the temptations which will recur in a thousand different shapes, and will come again and again, as angels of light, to separate themselves from others under any pretence whatever, in faith, in hope, in worship; the more they will prize common thanksgivings, common prayers, and will rejoice to meet in using them, that they may pray against the devil, who is leading them, and all the people about them, to set up themselves, that they may not trust Christ, and glorify God.1 [Note: Life of Frederick Denison Maurice, ii. 245.]

The Porter watches at the gate,

The servants watch within;

The watch is long betimes and late,

The prize is slow to win.

Watchman, what of the night?

But still

His answer sounds the same:

No daybreak tops the utmost hill,

Nor pale our lamps of flame.

One to another hear them speak

The patient virgins wise:

Surely He is not far to seek

All night we watch and rise.

The days are evil looking back,

The coming days are dim;

Yet count we not His promise slack,

But watch and wait for Him.

One with another, soul with soul,

They kindle fire from fire:

Friends watch us who have touched the goal

They urge us, come up higher.

With them shall rest our waysore feet,

With them is built our home,

With Christ.They sweet, but He most sweet,

Sweeter than honeycomb.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, Poems, 202.]

A Prayer for Sanctity

Literature

Abbott (L.), Signs of Promise, 274.

Cairns (J.), Sanctification, 1.

Chadwick (S.), Humanity and God, 57.

Evans (T. S.), Body, Soul, and Spirit, 1.

Fairbairn (R. B.), College Sermons, 282.

Farrar (F. W.), The Witness of History to Christ, 129.

Farrar (F. W.), Words of Truth and Wisdom, 54.

Farrar (F. W.), In the Days of Thy Youth, 349.

Goodwin (H. M.), Christ and Humanity, 125.

Harris (H.), The Two Blasphemies, 74.

Hopkins (E. H.), The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life, 201.

Hull (E. L.), Sermons, i. 225.

Ingram (A. F. W.), Secrets of Strength, 207.

Leifchild (J.), in Pulpit Memorials, 105.

Meyer (F. B.), The Souls Pure Intention, 1.

Pulsford (J.), Our Deathless Hope, 41.

Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, iii. 43.

Rowland (A.), The Burdens of Life, 139.

Selby (T. G.), The Strenuous Gospel, 400.

Trumbull (H. C.), Our Misunderstood Bible, 108.

Welldon (J. E. C.), The School of Faith, 121.

Wood (W. S.), Problems in the New Testament, 113.

Cambridge Review, iii. Supplement No. 66 (T. G. Bonney).

Christian World Pulpit, xx. 8 (A. Barry); xlviii. 292 (J. Stalker).

Churchmans Pulpit: Whitsunday, ix. 231 (A. P. Forbes), 237 (T Arnold).

Homiletic Review, lv. 136 (A. Kuyper).

Keswick Week, 1901, p. 190 (E. W. Moore).

Penuel, iii. 64 (G. Warner).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

God: Rom 15:5, Rom 15:13, Rom 15:33, Rom 16:20, 1Co 14:33, 2Co 5:19, Phi 4:9, 2Th 3:16, Heb 13:20, 1Pe 5:10

sanctify: 1Th 3:13, 1Th 4:3, Lev 20:8, Lev 20:26, Eze 37:28, Joh 17:19, Act 20:32, Act 26:18, 1Co 1:2, Heb 2:11, 1Pe 1:2, Jud 1:1

your: Heb 4:12

preserved: 1Th 3:13, 1Co 1:8, 1Co 1:9, Eph 5:26, Eph 5:27, Phi 1:6, Phi 1:10, Phi 2:15, Phi 2:16, Col 1:22, Jud 1:24

Reciprocal: Exo 31:13 – that ye may Num 6:24 – keep thee 1Sa 25:39 – kept his servant Psa 92:15 – To show Eze 20:12 – I am Mat 13:33 – till Luk 13:21 – till Luk 24:39 – for Joh 13:10 – needeth Joh 15:2 – and Rom 5:1 – we have Rom 15:16 – being 1Co 7:34 – both 2Co 1:14 – in the 2Co 7:1 – filthiness 2Co 13:7 – I pray 2Co 13:11 – the God Phi 1:20 – Christ Col 4:12 – that 1Th 2:19 – in 1Ti 6:14 – until 2Ti 4:18 – and will Heb 13:21 – Make Jam 5:16 – pray 2Pe 3:14 – in peace 1Jo 2:28 – at his

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

WHOLLY SANCTIFIED

The very God of peace sanctify you wholly.

1Th 5:23

Has God, the God of peace, taken possession of our whole spirit? Have we given Him our spirit? Nay, have we ever even truly got hold of the spirit within us, so that we have been able to give it away? Do we know anything about a true inner worshipping in our spirit, hours of prayer in the spirit before God? And do we know of an outflow of spirit which gushes out of our inmost depths and flows through all our lives, making them fruitful?

Our spirit, which is a vassal of the great God, the King of kings, is at the same time itself a king in us. And it reigns over two kingdoms, soul and body, and consequently wears a double crown. Well, these kingdoms shall be consecrated to God by the spirit, itself consecrated to Him.

I. The soul is to be consecrated.Our soulwhat a wonderful kingdom, not the less so that we have the soul to a certain point in common with a multitude of other beings. Still, the human soul is something singularly wonderful. What a multiform life it is, what an ocean of powers! There is in it a world of images and thoughts, of desires and longings, feelings, remembrances, and hopes. These are, as it were, the inhabitants of the kingdom of the soul, each one in a way independent. But they must now all in absolute obedience be subject to the spiritthat is, to the spirit which itself is governed and occupied by God. And the spirit shall learn how to take possession of this dominion. It may not, like a weak king, allow the soul-life to go its own way, may not let a single one of its emotions loose, without control. The spirit must pervade all. This is the sanctification of the soul. This is easily said, it is true, but it is hard to realise.

And now comes the turn of the second kingdom of the spiritthe body.

II. A human body also is a kingdom, a world of wonders.Go to the anatomist or the physiologist, and he will describe to you this world of wonders, with its capital, its officers in authority, and its servants, its roads, rivers, and canals, its centre of businessnay, even its mob and its roving freebooters. Or go to Socrates of old, and you shall hear him with admiration praise the formation of the human body. But this kingdom also would fain be independent, and, if possible, reign over both soul and spirit. But how pitiable is a man of whom one must say such a thing as that he is all bodyfor instance, that his God is his belly! Thus the bodily life must be penetrated by the spirit, the renewed spirit. This is the sanctification of the body. The Holy Scripture is most rigorous in its demands on this sanctification. Present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God, says an Apostle. And again, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Ay, not only our thoughts, desires, and feelings, but our tongue, hand, and foot, our dress, our walk, our bodily work, our sexual life, all shall be Gods by being spiritual. Our members are the members of Christ, our body the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Illustration

How comprehensive is this work of sanctification! Our whole being must be sanctified. And how rich, manifold, and wondrous is our beingspirit, soul, and body, the three intertwined, and each containing a multitude of powers! Man has sometimes been called a machine, and certain learned men of our days seem to be specially fond of this appellation. We remember an expression by a French scholar, Baron von Holbaeh, Lhomme de machine. Well, let us appropriate this apparently anything but creditable epithet, and make use of it for our purpose. A machine is, as we very well know, not made by itself; it is the creation of another, and at the same time a work of art, often a work of genius, and moreover intended for and serving the higher reasonable purposes of him who made it, or of others like him. Even so it is with man.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Th 5:23. Every good thing is of God, but he is here said to be of peace because that is an outstanding result of being wholly sanctified. The word means to be devoted to the service of God, and such a condition is accomplished by the word of God (Joh 17:17). As a general statement, the rest of this verse is a prayer of Paul that the entire being of the brethren be kept blameless, which means in obedience to the truth of God that has sanctified them, and that such a condition would exist until Christ comes again. Spirit and soul and body. This is the only place in the Bible where the three parts of the human being are named in one sentence. There is not much difference between the first two, for they are used interchangeably at various places in the sacred writings. However, since Paul uses them together in the present passage, there must be some difference, although they both refer to the inner or immaterial part of man, in contrast with the material or bodily part. Gen 2:7 states the origin of the body and soul of man. But God did not stop with the creation of those two parts. Zec 12:1 states that God formed the spirit of man within him, thus completing the three parts of the human being. From the forgoing considerations, I will give to the readers the three parts of man as follows: The body is that part that is composed of the ground, made in the form of an animal (not a vegetable or mineral); the soul is the part that makes him a living animal; the spirit is the part that makes him a human, living animal. It should be added that God intended this being to have an endless existence, beginning with his stay on the earth, during which he was to be given opportunity to serve his Creator intelligently and spiritually. Because of this exalted purpose, God gave to this being a superior personality over all other living creatures, both as to his material and to his immaterial formation.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Th 5:23. The God of peace. A term occurring towards the close of many of the Epistlessee references. Perhaps the title varies slightly in meaning according to the context in which it is found; sometimes pointing rather to the inward peace which the all-seeing and self-reliant God ever enjoys, sometimes again rather to the communication of this quality to His creatures by bringing them into harmony with Himself and with one another.

Sanctify you wholly. Both in this and in the succeeding clause the emphasis lies on the completeness of the work of sanctification. The members of the Thessalonian Church were not to suppose that this new religion they professed consisted merely or mainly in certain rites or observances. It called them to holiness, a sanctity of conduct from which no part of their, life might be exempted, a sanctity of person in which their whole nature must partake. This completeness, this harmonious advance of every element of Christian character, is the difficulty. Generally a mans character grows only in one direction; attentive to public duties, he neglects those that are domestic; zealous in every good cause, his vanity increases with every success; master of his appetites, he fails to control his temper; and so forth.

Spirit and soul and body. Had he a distinct thought attached to each of these words? Probably not. He is not writing a treatise on the soul, but pouring forth from the fulness of his heart a prayer for his converts. Language thus used should not be too closely analyzed. His words may be compared to similar expressions among ourselves,e.g., with my heart and soul. Who would distinguish between the two?(Jowett).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1, that our apostle having exhorted the Thessalonians to labour after the highest measures of sanctification, breathes out his soul here in a most affectionate prayer to God, to sanctify them thoroughly and throughout; teaching us that instruction and supplication should go together; after we have been instant with our people we must be earnest and instant with God for them.

Observe, 2. The person whom the apostle directs his prayer for sanctification to, The God of peace: but why doth he not style him the God of grace? Because peace and unity is one very eminent part of that sanctification the apostle had prayed for, and had exhorted them before unto, Be at peace among yourselves 1Th 5:13. Now this grace being once well rooted, all the other parts of sanctification thrive the better.

Observe, 3. How thorough and prevailing a work of sanctification the apostle prays for, namely, that God would sanctify them wholly in spirit, soul, and body.

By spirit, understand the superior faculties, the understanding, the will and conscience; by soul, the inferior faculties, the passions, affections, and sensitive appetite; and by body, the outward man, the tabernacle of the soul. Now the apostle prays, that all these may be sanctified, because they are defiled.

Blessed be God, regenerating grace is as universal a principle as original sin was; it is in the understanding by illumination, in the will by renovation, in all the affections by sanctifiation, reducing those rebellious powers under the government and dominion of reason and religion.

Observe, 4. Our apostle doth not only pray for their sanctification, but for their preservation also, that they may be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, preserved in a state of grace and holiness unto the end. All the sanctified are preserved; instability is an argument of insincerity; within a while, all possibilities of falling will be removed; in the mean while, take heed of falling, by thinking it is impossible to fall; for none are so near falling as those who are most confident of their own strength and standing.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Paul’s Prayer for the Thessalonians and a Request Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians as he closed this letter was that God would continue setting them apart, or sanctifying, until they were complete. Further, he prayed the whole spirit, or man, which we might call mind, soul and body, would be kept safe by no sin being laid to his charge until Jesus comes again. God first called all Christians through the gospel ( 2Th 2:14 ). He continues to call to righteousness through His word. The Almighty is able to set His followers apart and keep marks of blame off their records. He is faithful in that He will keep all of His promises and do His part. Anyone who would receive His promised blessings must fulfill the conditions He has stated ( 1Jn 1:9 ; 1Jn 2:24 ; Jud 1:21 ; Jud 1:24 ).

The apostle went on to make a request of his children in the faith in Thessalonica. How appropriate that any proclaimer of God’s truth should ask for prayers in his behalf. Paul believed in prayer and constantly remembered others in his prayers, so he asked them to be mindful of him ( 1Th 5:23-25 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

1Th 5:23-26. And the very God of peace , literally, May the God of peace himself; that is, he who is ready to give you peace with himself after all you have done; who is in Christ reconciling you to himself, not imputing your trespasses unto you, if in repentance and faith you turn to him, but on these terms preaching peace to you by Jesus Christ: sanctify you wholly That is, may he carry on and complete the work of purification and renovation begun in your regeneration, redeeming you from all iniquity, Tit 2:14; cleansing you from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 2Co 7:1; stamping you with his whole image, and rendering you a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but made holy toward God, dedicated to and employed in his service, and without blame in the whole of your conduct toward men. The word , here rendered wholly, signifies every part of you, and every part perfectly; implying that every faculty of their souls, and every sense and member of their bodies, should be completely purified, and devoted to the service of God. And I pray God These words are not in the original, which is literally, and may the whole of you, , your whole constitution, the whole frame of your nature, all belonging to you, all of and about you, be made and preserved blameless. And what the apostle means by this whole constitution, or frame, of their nature, he immediately specifies, mentioning the spirit, the soul, and the body. Here, says Whitby, the apostle justifies the ancient and true philosophy, that man is, as Nemesius styles him, , a compound of three differing parts. This was the doctrine of the Pythagoreans, and also that of the Platonists, who held that there is in man a soul irrational, which includes the affections of the body; and a mind, which uses the body as its instrument, and fights against it. This also was the doctrine of the Stoics, whence Antoninus saith, The three constituent parts of man are , , , the body, soul, and mind. Irenus, and Clemens of Alexandria, and Origen, say the same. He adds, those two excellent philosophers, Gassendus and Dr. Willis, have established this philosophy beyond all reasonable contradiction. It appears also, as the learned Vitringa has very accurately shown, a notion prevailed among the rabbis, as well as the philosophers, that the person of a man was constituted of three distinct substances; 1st, the rational spirit, which survives the death of the body, and is immortal; 2d, the animal soul, which man has in common with the beasts, and which dies with the body; and, 3d, the visible body. Many other learned divines, however, are of opinion, that as the apostles design was to teach mankind religion, and not philosophy, he might use the popular language to which the Thessalonians were accustomed, without adopting the philosophy on which that language was founded: consequently that it is not necessary to consider him as intending more by his prayer than that the Thessalonian believers might be thoroughly sanctified, of how many constituent parts soever their nature consisted. To comprehend, says Macknight, the distinction between soul and spirit, which the sacred writers seem to have intimated in some passages, the soul must be considered as connected both with the body and with the spirit. By its connection with the body, the soul receives impressions from the senses; and by its connection with the spirit, it conveys these impressions, by means of the imagination and memory, to the spirit, as materials for its operations. The powers last mentioned, through their connection with the body, are liable indeed to be so disturbed by injuries befalling it, as to convey false perceptions to the spirit. But the powers of the spirit not being affected by bodily injuries, it judges of the impressions conveyed to it as accurately as if they were true representations, so that the conclusions which it forms are generally right. It may not be improper to add here, that the spirit, as distinguished from the two other parts included in the human constitution, seems to be supposed by the apostle (Heb 4:12) to be capable of being separated from the soul, his expression being, The word of God is quick, &c., piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit; and some have thought that he intimates, (1Co 14:14-15,) that the one may know what the other does not. Be this, however, as it may, the apostles words were certainly not intended to teach us philosophy, or to imply more than a prayer that all our powers of mind and body, the rational, including the understanding, the judgment, conscience, and will; the animal, comprehending the affections, passions, and sensations; and corporal, namely, the members and senses of our bodies, should be wholly sanctified; that is, purified from pollution, dedicated to God, and employed in glorifying him. Unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ To call you hence by death, or to summon you to appear at his bar. Faithful is he

To his word and promises; that calleth you By his gospel; who also will do it Will preserve you blameless to his coming, unless you quench the Spirit. He will not, says Whitby, be wanting in what is requisite on his part toward it; I say his part, for if the faithfulness of God required that he should sanctify and preserve us blameless to the end without our care, or should work in us absolutely and certainly that care, and the apostle believed this, how could he fear lest the Thessalonians should be so overcome by Satans temptations, as that his labour with them might be in vain, 1Th 3:5; this being, in effect, to fear that God might be unfaithful to his promise.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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. [May God, who makes peace between himself and mankind, himself prepare you for his judgment-day, making your entire being, in all its threefold nature, fit to be preserved, and wholly above all censure.]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

ARGUMENT 10

SANCTIFICATION AND THE COMING OF THE LORD

23. The God of peace himself sanctify you wholly. The sinner is a stranger to the God of peace; to him he is the God of wrath and retribution. Hence, sanctification is not for sinners. Repentance and justification are the gospel pertinent to them. The appeal here is to Christians only. Hagiasai, sanctify, is in the aorist tense, and means instantaneously take the world out of you; from alpha, not, and ge, the world. Regeneration takes you out of the world, and sanctification takes the world out of you. Hence, we must have a double divorcement from the world before we can go to heaven. Against the gradualistic theology, which everywhere curses the modern pulpit, the New Testament is outspoken and decisive from Alpha to Omega. The aorist tense in this passage and hundreds more admits of no gradualism. It positively means sanctify you this moment. The gradualism in the plan of salvation is all on the human side. We gradually approach sanctification, suddenly enter it, and gradually progress indefinitely. The Greek for wholly is holoteleis, from holos, the whole, and telos, perfection. Hence, it means entirely unto perfection; i.e., every constituency of your being sanctified unto Completion. Paul makes no provision for sin, and gives no place to the devil. In E.V. this word is an adverb, qualifying sanctify. In the Greek it is a compound adjective, with a double superlative signification. It does not occur in the classic Greek. Paul, a tiptop linguist, manufactured this wonderful compound superlative adjective to describe the people whose responsibility he must bear at the pearly portals. The word describes the pronoun you, in the text. Hence, you, yourself, must be complete in every constituency of your being if you ever enter heaven. Many adroit tergiversations are resorted to by Satans preachers to evade a clear and unequivocal revelation of Gods truth in this passage. But not one of them can stand before the white light radiated by the Holy Ghost from these inspired words, May your whole spirit, mind, and body be preserved blamelessly at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The rank and file of the modern clergy are dichotomistsi.e., advocates of the two natures; i.e., soul and bodyunfortunately confounding spirit and mind, and preaching intellectualism and metaphysics, instead of spirituality. John Wesley was a trichotomist, like the apostle Paul, preaching the three constituencies of humanityspirit, mind, and body. Total depravity applies to the human spirit only, not to the mind and body. Man in the fall became a spiritual corpse, retaining his intellectual and physical life, though terribly wrecked and dilapidated. A thousand systems of counterfeit religions prevail in the world this day, consisting of mentality and materiality, without a solitary vestige of spiritual life Satans illusory passports to hell, all competent to live and prosper without the Holy Ghost, who alone can quicken the dead human spirit into life, sanctifying it with our entire being for an eternity of bliss. The silly heresy somewhat prevalent among ignorant people, vindicating the theory that sin remains in the body after the soul is made pure, is utterly eradicated and annihilated by this passage, as we see here that sanctification includes spirit, mind, and body; i.e., our entire being, leaving no pocket for the devil. Here you see also the peculiar prominence given to the Lords second coming by apostolic preaching, as in this powerful and importunate prayer for the entire sanctification of the Thessalonians, the petition involves their abiding in the experience till the Lord comes. Hence, we have the New Testament standard of religion here clear and unequivocal; i.e., entire sanctification of spirit, soul, and body, and perseverance in the experience till the Lord comes. Hence, you see the glorious climax of the New Testament gospel culminating in these beautiful and transcendent truths; i.e., and the Lords return to the earth to execute righteous judgments against the wicked nations and fallen Churches, and establish his kingdom from the heads of the rivers to the ends of the earth.

24. Faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it. Your omnipotent Savior, who is infinitely abundantly able to do this work, Calls you to sanctification. Hence, it is wicked, rebellious, and blasphemous to say you can not get it. It is not your work, but that of the omnipotent God, who creates a world in a moment. Hence, you are left without excuse, as you have nothing to do but turn over your sanctification into his hands, raise the shout of faith, and be loyal to God. He does it without any help on your part.

26. Salute all the brothers with a holy kiss. The word kiss is philema, from phileo, to love, and simply means a love token givena literal kiss of the lips, or a cordial salutation in some other way. It is certainly our privilege to administer the kiss; however we should not sticklerize, lest we be brought under bondage. In this glorious full salvation the Lord breaks from our necks every yoke which Satan and men have put on us. So let us jealously conserve our perfect spiritual freedom, never permitting men or devils to lay the weight of a feather on our consciences, and see that we do not manufacture yokes with our own hands, and put them on our own necks. The world is in the devils bondage, and unsanctified Christians in legal bondage. Let us all watch and pray, lest men, devils or our own hands, ever interfere with this blessed, sweet, and glorious liberty, a prelibation of heavenly bliss.

27. I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the brethren. This verse solves the problem of legal oaths, as here we see that Paul administers an oath to the brethren, that this letter should be read to all the saints. As these people had been so recently converted out of heathenism, it was a matter of the most vital importance that it should be read to every one of them; hence Paul adjures them in the name of the Lord, thus tightening up their obligations, and augmenting the certainty of the great end in view that every disciple should hear this letter. It was not enough simply to read it in the public audience, but they must make certain investigation, finding out every absentee, hunting him up, and reading this letter to him.

28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. This is simply an apostolic benediction, such as we find, in diversified forms and magnitudes, concluding every epistle. The popular superstition prevalent in the Churches, using only 2Co 13:13, in the dismission of a congregation, and restricting the privilege to an ordained clergyman, is by no means commendable. It is certainly the gracious privilege of every Christian conducting religious service to pronounce these benedictions pursuant to the light and leading of the Holy Spirit.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

1Th 5:23-28. Conclusion.

1Th 5:23. The closing benediction commending the Thessalonian Christians to God.spirit and soul and body: if we press the phrase, human nature is threefold, consisting of: (a) a body, the physical organism; (b) soul, the principle of life, the moral and intellectual side of man; (c) spirit, the organ of communion with God. But whether this tripartite theory represents Pauls permanent view is open to doubt, as elsewhere he speaks in terms of duality as flesh and spirit.

1Th 5:26. be read to all: a phrase which shows that Paul intended his epistles not merely for the leaders of the Church, but for the whole community, including the humblest and poorest.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

5:23 And the very God of peace {i} sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(i) Separate you from the world, and make you holy to himself through his Spirit, in Christ, in whom alone you will attain to that true peace.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

3. Divine enablement 5:23-24

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Peace in the assembly was very important to Paul. The "spirit" is the part of us that enables us to communicate with God. The "soul" makes us conscious of ourselves. The "body" is the physical part that expresses the inner person. These are not the only elements that constitute humanity (cf. heart, mind, conscience, etc.), but they are the ones Paul chose here.

"It is precarious to try to construct a tripartite doctrine of human nature on the juxtaposition of the three nouns, pneuma, psyche and soma. . . . The distinction between the bodily and spiritual aspects of human nature is easily made, but to make a comparable distinction between ’spirit’ and ’soul’ is forced." [Note: Bruce, p. 130.]

Paul may have mentioned "spirit and soul and body" because these three aspects point to the believer’s relationships to God, himself or herself, and other people. Together they picture wholeness. Paul’s desire for his readers was that every part of them, involving all their relationships, would remain without fault and that they would continue to mature and live free from legitimate grounds for accusation until Christ’s return. Note again that he believed the Lord’s return could precede their deaths.

Since the Lord did not return before Paul died was he wrong to view the Lord’s return as he did, namely, as imminent? No, because imminent means that He could return at any moment, not that He will return very soon.

"In a prayer expressing Paul’s wishes for the congregation, two of the basic themes of the letter are again highlighted. The prayer utilizes two optative verbs, asking that God ’may . . . sanctify’ the Thessalonians and that they ’may . . . be kept blameless.’ The prayer for sanctification reminds the readers of the exhortations in chaps. 4-5. In fact, the call for sanctification brackets these final two chapters. Chapter 4 begins with an exhortation to the people to lead sanctified lives (1Th 5:3-8), and chap. 5 ends with a prayer that God would sanctify his people (1Th 5:23 a). The prayer for the preservation of the saints until the coming of the Lord (1Th 5:23 b) reflects back on encouragements to persist in hope despite affliction (1Th 1:3; 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:14-16; 1Th 3:5; 1Th 5:10-11)." [Note: Martin, p. 188.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 16

CONCLUSION

1Th 5:23-28 (R.V.)

THESE verses open with a contrast to what precedes, which is more strongly brought out in the original than in the translation. The Apostle has drawn the likeness of a Christian church, as a Christian church ought to be, waiting for the coming of the Lord; he has appealed to the Thessalonians to make this picture their standard, and to aim at Christian holiness; and conscious of the futility of such advice, as long as it stands alone and addresses itself to mans unaided efforts, he turns here instinctively to prayer: “The God of peace Himself”-working in independence of your exertions and my exhortations-“sanctify you wholly.”

The solemn fulness of this title forbids us to pass it by. Why does Paul describe God in this particular place as the God of peace? Is it not because peace is the only possible basis on which the work of sanctification can proceed? I do not think it is forced to render the words literally, the God of the peace, i.e., the peace with which all believers are familiar, the Christian peace, the primary blessing of the gospel. The God of peace is the God of the gospel, the God who has come preaching peace in Jesus Christ, proclaiming reconciliation to those who are far off and to those who are near. No one can ever be sanctified who does not first accept the message of reconciliation. It is not possible to become holy as God is holy, until, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is Gods way of holiness; and this is why the Apostle presents his prayer for the sanctification of the Thessalonians to the God of peace. We are so slow to learn this, in spite of the countless ways in which it is forced upon us, that one is tempted to call it a secret; yet no secret, surely, could be more open. Who has not tried to overcome a fault, to work off a vicious temper, to break for good with an evil habit, or in some other direction to sanctify himself, and withal to keep out of Gods sight till the work was done? It is of no use. Only the God of Christian peace, the God of the gospel, can sanctify us; or to look at the same thing from our own side, we cannot be sanctified until we are at peace with God. Confess your sins with a humble and penitent heart; accept the forgiveness and friendship of God in Christ Jesus: and then He will work in you both will and deed to further His good pleasure.

Notice the comprehensiveness of the Apostles prayer in this place. It is conveyed in three separate words – wholly (), entire (), and without blame (). It is intensified by what has, at least, the look of an enumeration of the parts or elements of which mans nature consists-“your spirit and soul and body.” It is raised to its highest power when the sanctity for which he prays is set in the searching light of the Last Judgment-in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. We all feel how great a thing it is which the Apostle here asks of God: can we bring its details more nearly home to ourselves? Can we tell, in particular, what he means by spirit and soul and body?

The learned and philosophical have found in these three words a magnificent field for the display of philosophy and learning; but unhappily for plain people, it is not very easy to follow them. As the words stand before us in the text, they have a friendly Biblical look; we get a fair impression of the Apostles intention in using them; but as they come out in treatises on Biblical Psychology, though they are much more imposing, it would be rash to say they are more strictly scientific, and they are certainly much less apprehensible than they are here. To begin with the easiest one, everybody knows what it meant by the body. What the Apostle prays for in this place is that God would make the body in its entirety-every organ and every function of it-holy. God made the body at the beginning; He made it for Himself; and it is His. To begin with, it is neither holy nor unholy; it has no character of its own at all; but it may be profaned or it may be sanctified; it may be made the servant of God or the servant of sin, consecrated or prostituted. Everybody knows whether his body is being sanctified or not. Everybody knows “the inconceivable evil of sensuality.” Everybody knows that pampering of the body, excess in eating and drinking, sloth and dirt, are incompatible with bodily sanctification. It is not a survival of Judaism when the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us to draw near to God “in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” But sanctification, even of the body, really comes only by employment in Gods service; charity, the service of others for Jesus sake, is that which makes the body truly His. Holy are the feet which move incessantly on His errands; holy are the hands which, like His, are continually doing good; holy are the lips which plead His cause or speak comfort in His Name. The Apostle himself points the moral of this prayer for the consecration of the body when he says to the Romans, “Present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification.”

But let us look, now, at the other two terms-spirit and soul. Sometimes one of these is used in contrast with body, sometimes the other. Thus Paul says that the unmarried Christian woman cares for the things of the Lord, seeking only how she may be holy in body and in spirit, -the two together constituting the whole person. Jesus, again, warns His disciples not to fear man, but to fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell; where the person is made to consist, not of body and spirit, but of body and soul. These passages certainly lead us to think that soul and spirit must be very near akin to each other; and that impression is strengthened when we remember such a passage as is found in Marys song: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour”; where, according to the laws of Hebrew poetry, soul and spirit must mean practically the same thing. But granting that they do so, when we find two words used for the same thing, the natural inference is that they give us each a different look at it. One of them shows it in one aspect; the other in another. Can we apply that distinction here? I think the use of the words in the Bible enables us to do it quite decidedly; but it is unnecessary to go into the details. The soul means the life which is in man, taken simply as it is, with all its powers; the spirit means that very same life, taken in its relation to God. This relation may be of various kinds: for the life that is in us is derived from God; it is akin to the life of God Himself; it is created with a view to fellowship with God; in the Christian it is actually redeemed and admitted to that fellowship; and in all those aspects it is spiritual life. But we may look at it without thinking of God at all; and then, in Bible language, we are looking, not at mans spirit, but at his soul.

This inward life, in all its aspects, is to be sanctified through and through. All our powers of thought and imagination are to be consecrated; unholy thoughts are to be banished; lawless, roving imaginings, suppressed. All our inventiveness is to be used in Gods service. All our affections are to be holy. Our hearts desire is not to settle on anything from which it would shrink in the day of the Lord Jesus. The fire which He came to cast on the earth must be kindled in our souls, and blaze there till it has burned up all that is unworthy of His love. Our consciences must be disciplined by His word and Spirit, till all the aberrations due to pride and passion and the law of the world have been reduced to nothing, and as face answers face in the glass, so our judgment and our will answer His. Paul prays for this when he says, May your whole soul be preserved blameless. But what is the special point of the sanctification of the spirit? It is probably narrowing it a little, but it points us in the right direction, if we say that it has regard to worship and devotion. The spirit of man is his life in its relation to God. Holiness belongs to the very idea of this: but who has not heard of sins in holy things? Which of us ever prays as he ought to pray? Which of us is not weak, distrustful, incoherent, divided in heart, wandering in desire, even when he approaches God? Which of us does not at times forget God altogether? Which of us has really worthy thoughts of God, worthy conceptions of His holiness and of His love, worthy reverence, a worthy trust? Is there not an element in our devotions even, in the life of our spirits at their best and highest, which is worldly and unhallowed, and for which we need the pardoning and sanctifying love of God? The more we reflect upon it, the more comprehensive will this prayer of the Apostle appear, and the more vast and far-reaching the work of sanctification. He seems himself to have felt, as mans complex nature passes before his mind, with all its elements, all its activities, all its bearings, all its possible and actual profanation, how great a task its complete purification and consecration to God must be. It is a task infinitely beyond mans power to accomplish. Unless he is prompted and supported from above, it is more than he can hope for, more than he can ask or think. When the Apostle adds to his prayer, as if to justify his boldness, “Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it,” is it not a New Testament echo of Davids cry, “Thou, O Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to Thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house: therefore hath Thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto Thee”?

Theologians have tried in various ways to find a scientific expression for the Christian conviction implied in such words as these, but with imperfect success. Calvinism is one of these expressions: its doctrines of a Divine decree, and of the perseverance of the saints, really rest upon the truth of this 24th verse (1Th 5:24), -that salvation is of God to begin with; and that God, who has begun the good work, is in earnest with it, and will not fail nor be discouraged until He has carried it through. Every Christian depends upon these truths, whatever he may think of Calvinistic inferences from them, or of the forms in which theologians have embodied them. When we pray to God to sanctify us wholly; to make us His in body, soul, and spirit; to preserve our whole nature in all its parts and functions blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus, is not our confidence this, that God has called us to this life of entire consecration, that He has opened the door for us to enter upon it by sending His Son to be a propitiation for our sins, that He has actually begun it by inclining our hearts to receive the gospel, and that He may be depended upon to persevere in it till it is thoroughly accomplished? What would all our good resolutions amount to, if they were not backed by the unchanging purpose of Gods love? What would be the worth of all our efforts and of all our hopes, if behind them, and behind our despondency and our failures too, there did not stand the unwearying faithfulness of God? This is the rock which is higher than we; our refuge; our stronghold; our stay in the time of trouble. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. We may change, but not He.

What follows is the affectionate desultory close of the letter. Paul has prayed for the Thessalonians; he begs their prayers for himself. This request is made no less than seven times in his Epistles-including the one before us: a fact which shows how priceless to the Apostle was the intercession of others on his behalf. So it is always; there is nothing which so directly and powerfully helps a minister of the gospel as the prayers of his congregation. They are the channels of all possible blessing both for him and those to whom he ministers. But prayer for him is to be combined with love to one another: “Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss.” The kiss was the ordinary greeting among members of a family; brothers and sisters kissed each other when they met, especially after long separation; even among those who were no kin to each other, but only on friendly terms, it was common enough, and answered to our shaking of hands. In the Church the kiss was the pledge of brotherhood; those who exchanged it declared themselves members of one family. When the Apostle says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” he means, as holy always does in the New Testament, a Christian kiss; a greeting not of natural affection, nor of social courtesy merely, but recognising the unity of all members of the Church in Christ Jesus, and expressing pure Christian love. The history of the kiss of charity is rather curious, and not without its moral. Of course, its only value was as the natural expression of brotherly love; where the natural expression of such love was not kissing, but the grasping of the hand, or the friendly inclination of the head, the Christian kiss ought to have died a natural death. So, on the whole, it did; but with some partial survivals in ritual, which in the Greek and Romish Churches are not yet extinct. It became a custom in the Church to give the kiss of brotherhood to a member newly admitted by baptism; that practice still survives in some quarters, even when children only are baptised. The great celebrations at Easter, when no element of ritual was omitted, retained the kiss of peace long after it had fallen out of the other services. At Solemn Mass in the Church of Rome the kiss is ceremonially exchanged, between the celebrating and the assistant ministers. At Low Mass it is omitted, or given with what is called an osculatory or Pax. The priest kisses the altar; then he kisses the osculatory, which is a small metal plate; then he hands this to the server, and the server hands it to the people, who pass it from one to another, kissing it as it goes. This cold survival of the cordial greeting of the Apostolic Church warns us to distinguish spirit from letter. “Greet one another with a holy kiss” means, Show your Christian love one to another, frankly and heartily, in the way which comes natural to you. Do not be afraid to break the ice when you come into the church. There should be no ice there to break. Greet your brother or your sister cordially and like a Christian: assume and create the atmosphere of home.

Perhaps the very strong language which follows may point to some lack of good feeling in the church at Thessalonica: “I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the brethren.” Why should he need to adjure them by the Lord? Could there be any doubt that everybody in the church would hear his Epistle? It is not easy to say. Perhaps the elders who received it might have thought it wiser not to tell all that it contained to everybody; we know how instinctive it is for men in office-whether they be ministers of the church or ministers of state-to make a mystery out of their business, and, by keeping something always in reserve, to provide a basis for a despotic and uncontrolled authority. But whether for this or some other purpose, consciously or unconsciously influencing them, Paul seems to have thought the suppression of his letter possible; and gives this strong charge that it be read to all. It is interesting to notice the beginnings of the New Testament. This is its earliest book, and here we see its place in the Church vindicated by the Apostle himself. Of course when he commands it to be read, he does not mean that it is to be read repeatedly; the idea of a New Testament, of a collection of Christian books to stand side by side with the books of the earlier revelation, and to be used like them in public worship, could not enter mens minds as long as the apostles were with them; but a direction like this manifestly gives the Apostles pen the authority of his voice, and makes the writing for us what his personal presence was in his lifetime. The apostolic word is the primary document of the Christian faith; no Christianity has ever existed in the world but that which has drawn its contents and its quality from this; and nothing which departs from this rule is entitled to be called Christian.

The charge to read the letter to all the brethren is one of the many indications in the New Testament that, though the gospel is a mysterion, as it is called in Greek, there is no mystery about it in the modern sense. It is all open and aboveboard. There is not something on the surface, which the simple are to be allowed to believe; and something quite different underneath, into which the wise and prudent are to be initiated. The whole thing has been revealed unto babes. He who makes a mystery out of it, a professional secret which it needs a special education to understand, is not only guilty of a great sin, but proves that he knows nothing about it. Paul knew its length and breadth and depth and height better than any man; and though he had to accommodate himself to human weakness, distinguishing between babes in Christ and such as were able to bear strong meat, he put the highest things within reach of all; “Him we preach,” he exclaims to the Colossians, “warning every man, and teaching every man in every wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.” There is no attainment in wisdom or in goodness which is barred against any man by the gospel; and there is no surer mark of faithlessness and treachery in a church than this, that it keeps its members in a perpetual pupilage or minority, discouraging the free use of Holy Scripture, and taking care that all that it contains is not read to all the brethren. Among the many tokens which mark the Church of Rome as faithless to the true conception of the gospel, which proclaims the end of mans minority in religion, and the coming to age of the true children of God, her treatment of Scripture is the most conspicuous. Let us who have the Book in our hands, and the Spirit to guide us, prize at its true worth this unspeakable gift.

This last caution is followed by the benediction with which in one form. or another the Apostle concludes his letters. Here it is very brief: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” He ends with practically the same prayer as that with which he began: “Grace to you and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” And what is true of this Epistle is true of all the rest: the. grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is their A-and their W, their first word and their last. Whatever God has to say to us – and in all the New Testament letters there are things that search the heart and make it quake-begins and ends with grace. It has its fountain in the love of God; it is working out, as its end, the purpose of that love. I have known people take a violent dislike to the word grace, probably because they had often heard it used without meaning; but surely it is the sweetest and most constraining even of Bible words. All that God has been to man in Jesus Christ is summed up in it: all His gentleness and beauty, all His tenderness and patience, all the holy passion of His love, is gathered up in grace. What more could one soul wish for another than that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ should be with it?

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary