Tag: saints

  • Sanctification – saints washed in Christ’s Holiness

    Sanctification occurs only 5-10 times in the New Testament, while “sanctify” occurs 70 times in 65 verses in the KJV throughout the Bible.

    Doesn’t sanctification require someone or something to be ‘sanctified?’

    What is sanctification?

    How is it different since Christ Jesus?


    Sanctification in the Old Testament

    congregation of the Hebrews at Mount Horeb

    Moses on Sinai

    Exodus 19 NKJV excerpt

    And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain..

    ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,

    … ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

    Exodus 19:3-6 except NKJV

    So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes.

    קָדַשׁ qâdash,

    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),

    https://davidfowlerpreacher.com/2014/06/08/pictures-of-the-holy-spirit/
    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 H6942 as H6942 holy H6942.’”

    Exodus 19:22-23 LSB – noting H6942 meaning Sanctify or Hallow

    שְׁמֹות (Exodus) 19 :: Masoretic Text

    19:23 וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־יְהוָה לֹא־יוּכַל הָעָם לַעֲלֹת אֶל־הַר סִינָי כִּי־אַתָּה הַעֵדֹתָה בָּנוּ לֵאמֹר הַגְבֵּל אֶת־הָהָר וְקִדַּשְׁתּוֹ׃

    Does this washing for holiness before God bring any sanctifying fear over you before facing the LORD your Maker?


    An Old Testament Word

    You may recognize the same word in a couple of important places in the Bible.

    Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified H6942 it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it.

    Genesis 2:3 LSB

    זָכוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ׃

    “Remember the sabbath day, to keep H6942 it holy H6942.

    Exodus 20:8 WLC, LSB

    Pray then like this:
    Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

    Matthew 6:9 RSV

    Sanctification then prepares unholy sinners to face the Most Holy.


    Sanctification in the New Testament

    verb - From ἅγιος (G40) adjective (most holy thing, a saint) 
    - From hagos adjective (an awful thing) [cf ἁγνός (G53) adjective, properly, clean, i.e. (figuratively) innocent, modest, perfect:—chaste, clean, pure.
    • to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow
    • to separate from profane things and dedicate to God
    • to purify
      • to cleanse externally
      • to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin
      • to purify internally by renewing of the soul

    The Apostle Paul, in referring to a long list of sins of the Corinthians writes:

    And such were some of you; but you were washed,

    but you were sanctified G37,

    but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

    1 Corinthians 6:11 LSB


    a most holy thing, a saint ?


    Are YOU a HOLY Saint of JESUS Christ, therefore sanctified to Him in your mortal AND eternal life?


    Sanctified saints

    “For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

    Gospel of John 17:20 LSB


    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.

    Hebrews 2:10-11 BSB


    Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

    John 17:17 CSB – Jesus’ prayer for disciples


    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

    but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

    1 Thessalonians 4:3a, (3b-6 short list of our impurity) 7-8 LSB

    ~A.D. 51 – Paul writes to encourage the Thessalonian Church

    A look back from 2025 CE to an earlier look at Sanctification

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  • A First Letter to the Corinthians Intro

    A First Letter to the Corinthians Intro

    in the year of our Lord ano Domini 55 [A.D. 55]

    & in the context of the culture of Corinth


    Intro

    PREVIOUSLY in this Talk of Jesus series from CHURCH LETTERS - IS HE WRITING TO ME? we have glanced at a few of Paul's LETTERS (Epistles) to the Church written during his just completed missionary journeys. 

    TODAY we continue with a brief look back at more letters already sent to the churches.
    And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: Acts 19:11 ASV graphic map of Third Missionary Journey of Paul

    WHAT THE CHURCH HAS READ SO FAR:

    Just a reminder that all dates from reliable sources may vary but are used for chronological context only.
    • A.D. 49 – JAMES, the half-brother of Jesus and leader of the church in Jerusalem writes his LETTER
      • James also sends out a letter to the churches concerning gentiles from the Council in Jerusalem.
    • A.D. 49 – Paul writes his letter to the Galatians (actually, several new churches in Galatia)
    • A.D. 50 – 1 THESSALONIANS
    • A.D. 51 – 2 THESSALONIANS

    • during the A.D. 50’s or A.D. 60’s (actual date unknown) – The GOSPEL OF MARK

    1:1 Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ

    The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God – Mark 1:1

    Consider the possibility that parts of the Gospel of John Mark, who had accompanied his uncle Barnabas and the Apostle Paul to Cypress, MAY HAVE been known even in Corinth where Paul has already travelled and whose FIRST LETTER we are about to examine.

    The GREAT COMMISSION of JESUS CHRIST to the CHURCH is recorded in the Gospel of Mark 16:15

    view of earth from moon

    1 Corinthians:

    This epistle was most likely written in the first half of A.D. 55 from Ephesus (16:8, 9, 19) while Paul was on his third missionary journey. The apostle intended to remain on at Ephesus to complete his 3 year stay (Acts 20:31) until Pentecost (May/June) A.D. 55 (16:8). Then he hoped to winter (A.D. 55–56) at Corinth (16:6; Acts 20:2). His departure for Corinth was anticipated even as he wrote (4:19; 11:34; 16:8).

    John MacArthur :: Bible Introductions – 1 Corinthians

    Paulus vocatus apostolus Christi Iesu per voluntatem Dei et Sosthenes frater

    1 Corinthios (1 Corinthians) 1 :: Latin Vulgate (VUL)

    in the context of the culture of Corinth

    CORINTH, ACHAIA is ROMAN; not Macedonian (as in the former Empire of Alexander the Great).

    Neither is the large city of Corinth simply Greek, as in ‘ancient Greece’ with ancient Athens whose glory had long ago been reduced to ruins.

    In 146 BC, the battle of Corinth signified a defining moment in the history of ancient Greece. Situated on the narrow strip of land connecting the Peloponnese to the mainland of Greece, Corinth was a city-state with a significant strategic and economic position.

    source:

    The language of Greek (thanks to the Great Macedonian Alexander) has become the international language of the Roman Empire.

    So in Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, Antioch and even in Jerusalem the GOOD NEWS and Epistles [Letters] typically were written and read in GREEK.

    Παῦλος κλητὸς ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ καὶ Σωσθένης ὁ ἀδελφός

    Α΄ Κορινθίους (1 Corinthians) 1 :: Textus Receptus (TR)

    Paulos klētos apostolos Jēsous Christos dia thelēma theos kai Sōsthenēs ho adelphos;

    To the church of God which is at Corinth,

    to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,

    with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

    1 Corinthians 1:2 NKJV

    Here in CORINTH we immediately read the opening of Paul’s Epistle written in Greek to the CHURCH, beginning with the Apostle’s universal greeting to ALL and specifically to the saints separated to the calling of Christ Jesus our Lord.

    Paul had been there and wrote back to encourage these Christians in Corinth.

    See if this A.D. first century city of CORINTH sounds vaguely familiar to any city of destruction in our 21st century the Common Era.


    Once again, the commentary of John Macarthur on the culture of Corinth.

    Even by the pagan standards of its own culture, Corinth became so morally corrupt that its very name became synonymous with debauchery and moral depravity.

    To “corinthianize” came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery. In 6:9, 10, Paul lists some of the specific sins for which the city was noted and which formerly had characterized many believers in the church there.

    Tragically, some of the worst sins were still found among some church members.

    John Macarthur Commentary – the Background and Setting of Corinth

    Here the Apostle writes to a chosen few SAVED from the surrounding sinful culture of CORINTH (and most every other city in their culturally correct Roman Empire) in a CHURCH separated in worship yet living and working with all of those destined to the wrath of God’s punishment.

    These Corinthian Christians were taught and sought to live in complete contrast to sinful lifestyles hopefully left behind. 

    Later in his letter Paul will describe their love [ ἀγάπη ] more fully.

    1 Corinthians 13:4-8a on LOVE of the Christian who follows Jesus Christ

    Although some contemporary Christians include parts of Paul’s list of LOVE in ceremonies of Christian marriage, the love of which Paul writes is not romantic or specifically marital in any way.

    These CORINTHIANS were recognized in the city for their uniquely personal LOVE –

    ἀγάπη – agapē love,

    sometimes translated as CHARITY for each other and for others.


    Their agapē LOVE stood against a CULTURE OF SIN characterized in acorinthianizedcity, fallen nation or evil empire.


    Paul later writes what he knows of their Corinthian challenges warning:

    Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

    Do not be deceived; 

    .. neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

    And such were some of you…

    1 Corinthians 6:9-11 excerpt LSB

    Starting with Encouragement

    Paul begins his Epistle with an agape-rooted encouragement.

    Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Grace, for which Christians should be so well recognized, written χάρις in Greek charis is:

    • that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
    • good will, loving-kindness, favour
    • of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
    CAN YOU THINK OF ANY GREETING WHICH ENCOURAGES MORE THAN 'GRACE?'

    I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all word and all knowledge,
    even as the witness about Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, eagerly awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, beyond reproach in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Paul practically embraces these Corinthian believers in a personal prayer written for them.

    Could any introduction of LOVE and Grace be more encouraging?

    God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

    Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 1:9 LSB [in context of 1:3-9]
    Theos is faithful, through Whom you were kaleō into koinōnia with His Son Ἰησοῦς Χριστός [iēsous christos] our kyrios.

    *Linked definitions of GREEK words from 1 Corinthians 1:9 from BlueLetterBible.org

    Reintroducing our Lord

    Paul begins his letter to a beloved church in a city caught-up in the sins of SELF and worshipping multiple gods of ME with encouragement in the Lord Jesus Christ.

    In the Apostle Paul’s two Epistles to the Corinthians he uses:

    • iēsous – 45x
    • christos – 111x
    • kyrios – 95x
    • θεόςtheos – an amazing 185x
    - king - only once in his second letter & not referring to Jesus
    - prophet - prophētēs - only once but referring to gifts of the saints
    - priest not at all in writing to the Corinthians

    TO:

    THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SANCTIFIED ἁγιάζω – hagiazō – Paul uses this four times in this letter.

    Are YOU sanctified?

    ἅγιοςagios – sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing), saint.

    That’s what the apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God asks the church of God which is at Corinth.

    (It's a good question for those claiming Jesus Christ facing a refining and sanctification of our sinful mortal flesh.)

    The Apostle Paul refers to the church as SAINTS, a most holy thing, TWENTY TIMES in his epistles to the Corinthians including his encouragement of the church in this introduction.

    To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

    τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Κορίνθῳ ἡγιασμένοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ κλητοῖς ἁγίοις σὺν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ αὐτῶν τε καὶ ἡμῶν·
    1 Corinthians 1:2 NIV, TR –

    The Apostle Paul has many more things to write to the Corinthians (and to you, God-willing).

    To be continued…

    Talk of JESUS .com

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  • Preaching Biblical Doctrine to Ourselves

    Preaching Biblical Doctrine to Ourselves

    FROM the Word of God

    TO the saints of Christ’s Church

    Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.

    Second letter of the Apostle John 1:9 – CSB
    Do you really believe that? Can you affirm that ONLY Scripture Sola Scriptura is the inspired word of the Lord God?
    ONLY ScriptureSola Scriptura

    IF you squirmed a bit while reading my last Saturday Post laser-focused on your PASTOR and mine, prepare to become even more uncomfortable this week as we point the BIBLICAL TEACHING finger back at ourselves.

    Do you really believe that? doctrine - a line in the sand [picture of Jesus kneeling down to draw a line with his finger

    ‘Upbuilding the saints

    By review, in our look at the theology of Dr. Martyn LLOYD-JONES on the Christian Life, subtitled: DOCTRINE AND LIFE AS FUEL AND FIRE, we observed his teaching of important distinctions.

    Preaching is the primary business of the church, and preaching should have two main objects in view: ..

    Upbuilding the saints AND evangelizing the lost.

    SAINTS & HOLY ONES

    WE are the saints of Christ's Church and Kingdom to come.
    O when the saints go marching in,
    O when they crown Him Lord of all,
    O Lord, I want to be among the number..
    
    O when all knees bow at His name,
    O when they sing the Saviour’s praise,
    O Lord, I want to be among the number
    When the saints go marching in!
    
    excerpt source:

    Gotta love them ole hymns evangelizing Jesus as Lord and Saviour!

    The Spirit-led saints of the Church proclaim the victory of Christ on the Cross.

    • Our church is really good at evangelism, but as for our membership we might as well have a revolving door.

    Sound familiar? (It’s a common challenge.)

    Is that YOUR church too?

    • Multitudes of evangelized faces — yet so many souls forgotten as they slipped out some Sunday through the revolving doors of our ‘church’.

    THREE Marks of a true church:

    In the fourth of his key distinctions, The Distinction between Right and Wrong – Understandings of the Marks of the Church, Lloyd-Jones states THREE Marks of a true church:

    1. the Word is truly preached (our current focus)
    2. the sacraments are truly administered (can’t go there today) and (3)
    3. discipline is truly exercised. (Today: a bit of admonition to self-discipline concerning Scripture)

    more about Jason Meyer, author of the Lloyd-Jones resource used here & his church

    While proclaiming and evangelizing the Gospel to evangelize ‘outsiders‘ through missions distant to our personal lives, WE as Christ’s saints must NOT neglect a personal relationship within our local church, our fellowship of the saints to each other.

    So in addition to EVANGELIZING the lost (to come take a look at our ‘church‘), the other oft’-neglected responsibility of church leadership to the Lord of the harvest is the upbuilding of Christ’s flock, the saints of our local church.


    But DON’T blame your Pastor

    He’s just one evangelist with a high roof over a pulpit lit up on Sundays.

    Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

    Ephesians 4:12 CSB +(every version from the Bible points to Christ’s gift)

    The finger of response points back to ALL of the church — including the Pastor AND including YOU and ME.

    And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

    • some evangelists
    • some pastors and teachers
    • EQUIPPING THE saints (That’s US, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus)
    • FOR THE WORK of ministry (YES, saints, we are ministers + AND WHY?)
    • to build up the body of Christ (that is, His Church)

    Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.

    But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head ​— ​Christ.

    Ephesians 4:15 [context 4:12-15] + Grow up in Christ.

    For your Upbuilding (Edifying, Building up)

    Of grace and freedom of the saints Paul writes to the church at Corinth:

    • All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. – 1 Corinthians 10:23 LSB

    Be encouraged by Scripture and the Word of God through the Apostles.

    Paul writes to the church at Thessaloniki:

    • Therefore, [encourage] comfort one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 LSB

    ..We speak in Christ in the sight of God. And all these things, beloved, are for your building up.

    a Second Apostolic Letter to the Church at Corinth 12:19b

    What do YOU and your LOCAL Church believe?

    Last year I shared a post on BIBLICAL Doctrines of the Church from an agreed statement of the International Council of Biblical Inerrancy.

    (It may help you to first, sort out what you believe about the inerrancy of the Holy Bible and secondly, give you some insight into the theology you hear from the pulpit of your church.)

    Article IV: The Church and Its Mission are not detailed in this post, but below. – RH

    Source: ICBI – THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL APPLICATION

    The Church and Its Mission

    We affirm that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives the Bible its canonical authority, and the role of the
    church was and is to recognize and affirm this authority.
    We affirm that Christ the Lord has established his church on earth and rules it by His Word and Spirit.
    We affirm that the church is apostolic as it receives and is established upon the doctrine of the apostles
    recorded in Scripture and continues to proclaim the apostolic gospel.
    We affirm that identifying marks of local churches are faithful confession and proclamation of the Word of
    God, and responsible administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
    We affirm that churches are subject to the Word of Christ in their order as in their doctrine.
    We affirm that in addition to their commitment to a local church, Christians may properly involve
    themselves in parachurch organizations for specialized ministry.
    We affirm that Christ calls the church to serve Him by its worship, nurture, and witness as His people in the
    world.
    We affirm that Christ sends the church into the whole world to summon sinful humanity to faith, repentance,
    and righteousness.
    We affirm that the unity and clarity of Scripture encourage us to seek to resolve doctrinal differences
    among Christians, and so to manifest the oneness of the church in Christ.
    • HOW ARE YOU DOING WITH THESE AFFIRMATIONS OF YOUR FAITH?
      • All “YES’ & Amen?

    NOW think about the doctrine you hear preached each Sunday and what you do NOT believe & therefore must stand firmly AGAINST.

    We deny that the church can grant canonical authority to Scripture.
    We deny that the church is constituted by the will and traditions of men.
    We deny that the church can bind the conscience apart from the Word of God.
    We deny that the church can free itself from the authority of the written Word of God and still exercise valid
    discipline in Christ's name.
    We deny that the church can accommodate itself to the demands of a particular culture if those demands
    conflict with scriptural revelation, or if they restrain the liberty of Christian conscience.
    We deny that differing cultural situations invalidate the biblical principle of male-female equality or the
    biblical requirements for their roles in the church.
    These are the very doctrines -- the lines in the sand -- of the PROTESTANT REFORMATION.

    HOW’D YOU SCORE?

    • Can you DENY false preaching and false doctrine?
    • Do you recognize false preaching and false doctrine when you hear it?

    Returning now to the first letter of the Apostle John to the Church:

    Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

    By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

    1 John 4:1-3 LSB

    Do you hear this preached as written by God in Scripture through the Apostle John? 
    
    

    In our NEXT Saturday Post we’ll take a look at some familiar characters from your local church as described by one of the theologians mentioned previously: John Bunyan.

    Jesus Christ is Lord!

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