to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):—appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self),
Exodus 21:5-7
“Also let the priests who come near to Yahweh set H6942 themselves apart H6942 as H6942 holy H6942, lest Yahweh break out against them.”
And Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You [testified to] warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain, and set H6942 it apart H6942as H6942 holy H6942.’”
Exodus 19:22-23 LSB – noting H6942 meaning Sanctify or Hallow
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Sanctification of children learning to walk in Christ
To the saints in Galatia:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 4:8-9 ESV
To the saint sitting with you in church:
In conclusion, the best way to examine some of the jargon of Scripture like anointed, consecrated, sanctified, justified and holiness is in prayerful time in the Bible itself.
How better to explain sanctification (or any ‘Christian’ jargon) to a new child of the faith with whom you worship than with Biblical text?
READ any of the links provided in the Scriptures above.
OR For more on the topic of Sanctification you may search it here on TalkofJESUS.com OR simply read the earlier post below with my closing thought.
Sanctification – a refining of our holiness in Christ
For this is the will of God, your sanctification.. For God did not call us to impurity,
but in sanctification.
Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man
AND NOW, in ~ A.D. 50 Paul writes back to the Thessalonians
THREE WEEKS?
Hardly enough time to establish a firm foundation of faith in NEW BELIEVERS!
~A.D. 51 – Paul writes to encourage the Thessalonian Church
Certainly Paul and other apostles must have wondered how the Thessalonians had fared since opponents of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had forced them to exit to Berea, 100 miles away, and cities further south in Greece and Achaia.
Mentioned among these new believers were Jason (Acts 17:5), Gaius (Acts 19:29), Aristarchus (Acts 20:4), and Secundus (Acts 20:4). Source
.. and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith..
.. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always remember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you..
We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father..
The Apostle’s introductory points of encouragement
For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit
our gospel [came] to you in power and in the Holy Spirit
You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
You also became imitators of us and of the Lord [JESUS]
Even though these apostles had not remained in this city of some 200,000 Macedonians, comparable to a Common Era U.S. city of Columbus Ohio, to endure further persecution by the Judaizers, Paul and some of the other apostles would have known from their previous persecutions the afflictions of these new Thessalonian believers.
You [Thessalonians] have had much affliction [YET] with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
.. you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth..
It is from Corinth that Paul writes back to the Thessalonians in ~ A.D. 51
Practical Christianity for NEW Christians in Thessalonica
we ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us as to how you ought to [conduct yourselves] walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.
* Specific Ways to excel still more in holiness, hope and love.
2 For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
PAUL’s HELPFUL LIST:
abstain from [porneia] sexual immorality
know how to possess his own [*]vessel in sanctification and honor
not in lustful passion
* (literally or figuratively [specially, a wife as contributing to the usefulness of the husband]):—goods, sail, stuff, vessel.
Paul’s extensive metaphor mentioning ‘lustful passion’ ‘and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter‘ pointedly establishes the standard of a monogamous marriage to a faithful wife by the Thessalonian brothers and without any adultery or coveting another man’s ‘vessel.’
Sanctification
Sanctification is the theological term describing a refining of our holiness in Christ.
7 For God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification.
8 Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 LSB
God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. – 1 Thessalonians 4:7 New Living Translation
IS YOUR CALL TO CHRIST NOW SANCTIFIED IN HOLINESS?
Now concerning love of the brothers
‘Now as to the love of the brothers and sisters..’ reads the NASB20:
This LOVE is NOT erotic ‘love’ with which the world is enamored and against which Paul has already cautioned, but rather a familial love of a biological brother, i.e. philadelphia.
How many christians, knowing better, have transgressed that line of love?
And as if to further warn believers concerning our sanctification in the loves of Christ Jesus, Paul adds:
“.. for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another..”
you yourselves are taught by GOD [theodidaktos] to Love one another.
of persons
to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
of things
to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing
—each other, mutual, one another, (the other), (them-
make it your ambition to lead a quiet life
attend to your own business
work with your hands
walk [peripateō – lit. ‘behave‘] properly toward outsiders
have need of nothing
DEATH & LIFE
The Apostle Paul closes his first letter to the Thessalonians with a contemporary issue of the A.D. 50’s an ETERNAL and timeless warning also applicable in these last days of the Common Era of the 2020’s.
TWO TIMELINES
~A.D. 30 – JESUS Christ crucified by a Roman Governor [Pilate]
A.D. 50’s – Paul, an Apostle of the risen CHRIST writes to the Thessalonians as ALL still live under ROMAN rule.
A.D. 70 (Twenty years after Paul’s letter) – ROME besieges Jerusalem, drives out the Judeans and destroys the Temple of the Herod’s.
A COMMON ERA CAUTION
9/11/2001 C.E.
~ twenty years ago
2021 of the Common Era
TODAY’s contemporary challenges to Christians
2044 of the Common Era
Twenty years from TODAY? ? ?
Without stepping into an apocalyptic mire of last days, let's briefly glance at Paul's exhortation for Christians living for an eternal God.
(John tells us that those are still living among the 500+ men who witnessed Christ’s resurrection just 20 years earlier.)
God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep [died] in Jesus.
.. the Lord Himself will descend from heaven..
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
[Those] who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them [believers who have died] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air..
NOW, in these last days of the Common Era, this would now include these Thessaloniansalong with other saints to whom the Apostle wrote.
and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.
.. the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly..
Thessalonians 5:2b-3a LSB
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief..
Paul then reminds us once more of our obedient sanctification in Christ.
.. let us be awake and sober.
For God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians 5:9-10 ~ A.D. 51
Now 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.
Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.
Maybe a Saint or Pope? Perhaps an angel? How about a Priest or holy man dedicating their life to God? And what about holy men and women of other faiths? WHO CAN BE HOLY?
No question about someone’s preaching or teaching is more important than, “What do you mean by that?”
So as I begin this series addressing various doctrines, please allow me to address what I mean by three terms in this first doctrine: God, Isand Holy. (What do I mean when I preface my teaching on the Bible by saying, ‘God is holy?’)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..
gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God
also (plural intensive – singular meaning) i.e. the true God
We cannot exhaust all of the words used for ‘God’ here as we speak of doctrine, but we must look at one additional (and somewhat ambiguous) synonym, ‘Lord.’
28 One of the Torah-teachers came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He [the Messiah Jesus] had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”
‘Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
Mark 12:28-29 from NASB & CJB
Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘.. The Lord is our God, the Lord is one..’
Holy, Holy, Holy
I remember from early days of my childhood growing up ‘in church’ hearing a cappella worship and the ethereal lyrics of ‘Holy, Holy, Holy.’ The ‘otherness‘ feeling of these moments of worship transported my soul to a higher undefinable place. It was worship I would not come to understand until until I received the Holy Spirit many years later in this mortal life.
Although we cannot even approach the heights and depths of the doctrine of Trinity in this brief look at holiness, I offer you, beloved fellow believer, this one insight:
You may have heard of the Trinity before, but it will not impact your faith until you receive the Holy Spirit.
Awe becomes a most humbling reaction to the Holy presence of Almighty God!
We witness mortals experiencing this holiness in Moses and many others. Take the reaction of the prophet Isaiah for instance:
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
“God is not a man, that He would lie, Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good.
This Latin expression from early church fathers describes God’s holiness as the “tremendous, tremor-inducing and awe-inspiring, mystery,” a reverence for the Lord rarely present in 21st century worship by the church.
God is Other Plus
Can man pursue Other?
God IS other, but God is also more than Other. The LORD is above all His Creation plus in it as well. The Personal God of the Bible made Himself known to those He chose; that is, Moses, Elijah and the Prophets, David and others.
Although we hallow God (and we must), our awe and fear of the LORD draws us to His love that conceived each of us in His image as body, mind and spirit.
Again, returning to a description by Otto, who secular philosophers accuse of pursuing the irrational, it is better to say “supra-rational.”
God is NOT other than rational just because man cannot understand a God so ‘other’ than mankind.
Theologians seek to study “that rational aspect of that supreme Reality we call ‘God.”‘ Although the Holy trembles the hearts of men, the pursuit of God’s holiness draws us to the other supra-rational being who out of His own love pursues us.
God defends HIS HOLINESS!
Scripture records that God has met up with some brash men and responded. (So have we.) Some sought answers from the Lord while others offended God by bold disrespect or by profane ignorance of the Almighty.
Secular ambivalence to God denies that which is holy, while cultural inclusion of that which is not holy diminishes the Divine Authority of He Who IS other and above all creation.
GOD defends His holiness and His Holy Name.
Roger@talkofJESUS.com
The Lord’s defense of His holiness is sometimes subtle and gentle, yet at times severe and final in execution of His judgment.
Scriptural Defense of God’s Holiness
“Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” – Exodus 3:5
“You shall be holy people to Me, therefore.. – Exodus 22:31a
..the ground that was under them split open..
So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. – Numbers 16:35
.. Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly overturned it. But the anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him because he had put out his hand toward the ark; and he died there before God. – 1 Chronicles 13:9b-10
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
.. and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.” – Luke 3:22
In the synagogue [at Capernaum] there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave us alone! What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all.. – Luke 4
A Rebuke of the Church
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:
I know your deeds..
A plea of grace
Are you, dear saint of God, looking to the holiness offered to sinners — undeserved holiness by grace from the Perfect Other Son and Sacrifice –Jesus Christ — Who was and IS and will be — judge of all living flesh and judge of each dead saint or sinner?
He knows your deeds — your works for the Lord, as well as every impure act in thought, word and deed.
Hear the cries of the souls of the saints beneath the Altar of Heaven:
“How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”
Are these not souls like ours crying out to the Lord God for Justice?
How long, O Lord, can it yet be in these last days of this 21st century?
Do you, my fellow saint, recall what follows in John’s apocalypse from Jesus Christ — what response to God’s holy refining of heaven and earth?
And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth..
The sky was split apart .. and every mountain and island was removed from its place..
excerpt from the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 6:12-14
The LORD God: Father, Son and Spirit: are ONE and ALL are Perfectly HOLY
Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder…
..and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
..day and night they do not cease to say,
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, who was and who is and who is to come.”
Revelation 4:8b NASB20
Let those with ears hear what the Spirit says — GOD IS HOLY!
![Thessalonica [Θεσσαλονίκη] next destination of Paul, Silas and Timothy when they depart from Philippi on the 2nd missionary journey of Paul.](https://talkofjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Thessalonica-2nd-missionary-journey-from-Philippi.jpg)
