I Thessalonians 5:23-24

Hi,
In I Thessalonians 5:23-24 we read: "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. Faithful is He that calledth you who also will do it".
Since Paul is writing to Christians not the unsaved, what exactly is he referring to here? It sounds like it is something that is completed in this life as it is mentioned done and then Paul prays the we would then be preserved blameless. We can't be PRESERVED blameless unless we are made blameless to begin with. Since he is talking to Christians here, this doesn't seem to be referring to salvation. Just what is it for God to "sanctify you wholly" and to then go on to be "preserved blameless." Is this referring to some special touch of God, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, another work of grace or just what is being referred to in this place?

Hi JLM,
In my limited understanding of Scripture, verse 24 to appears to be consequence of verse 23. That is, the natural consequence of us being sanctified wholly [totally/through and through/completely], a life-long process, is that we will be preserved blameless at the second coming.

In addition, I believe the way,'blameless' is used here is identical to the way it's used in Genesis 17:1

May the Lord grant you light concerning this Scripture. Amen.

Dear Poster,
Sanctification is a daily process. So everyday the Holy spirit will show us new Sins in our life. We need to repent and pray for the grace of God to save us from those Sins. When a person is born again he has few known sins, this can be compared to a child in 1st grade. Once the Child passes first grade, which here is victory over those sins (by repentance and grace of God), then the person is considered blameless for what he knows. Though this child has scored 100% in 1st grade it cannot compete with a student of 10th Grade who scored 90%, because the child knows only 1st grade syllabus.
So Paul here prays that we go though the sanctification process fully and in every stage we remain blameless for our knowledge of Sin, until our lord Jesus returns.

Dear Friend,
Sanctification in this verse speaks of entire sanctification, which God does in a moment of time when the believer yields fully to Him, and is filled with the Holy Spirit as a second definite work of grace. In this way it is not progressive, but instantaneous. A man can never be saved a little at a time, but only in an instant. The same with entire sanctification. God fills completely and fully. The believer then continues to walk in the light and grow in grace. He is blameless because he has forsaken sin once for all. This does not mean that a sanctified believer could not fall into sin. But it does mean he has victory over sin; the acts of sin and the nature of sin. This victory is only maintained by faith which is yielded to God.
JB

Brother I do not believe in Calvinism, I believe in the life of Jesus that can be manifested in us by the power of Holy spirit. I never argued with a Calvinist nor am I interested in. But just found few confusing statements in your post, if you have time please clarify these. I am posting them with full respect for you.

He is blameless because he has forsaken sin once for all.

This does not mean that a sanctified believer could not fall into sin. But it does mean he has victory over sin; the acts of sin and the nature of sin.

So victory over Sin does not mean I will not fall into sin? So the victory that according to you God gives in 1 moment is so short lived? So God does not have power to give me victory over Sin completely in that 1 moment that you have mentioned?
Please try to understand the difference because you first said that God frees a truly born-again man from all Sins in 1 instant, then how can I fall into sin?
I am happy that you at least accept that an instantaneously saved man can fall, most people with your kind of theology won't even accept that. Since you have accepted this, I find great hope in truly saving you.

You misunderstood by what I meant that a sanctified believer could fall into sin. What I meant is that as long as we are in this life, there is the possibility of a person sinning. Victory over sin means that you do not have to fall into sin. THere is a difference between sinning and the ability to fall into sin.