Completely Sanctified

Can we be completely sanctified this side of heaven, what should we expect in this life, will we always be in a process of sanctification?

What should we expect in this life, will always be in the process of sanctification, will we ever be completely sanctified? As far as I can see the goal we should be seeking is seeing Christ face to face and as Paul says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:14 what will happen at that time? The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: shall change our vile body, so it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body Phil 3:20-21.

So we have established something that until we see our Savior, Jesus Christ we will always have our vile body, so we can’t expect in this life to be rid of that body.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess 5:23

So here we find out what we can expect, that God will sanctify us completely, and our whole being spirit and soul and body be kept blameless. Let me try and trigger some of your thoughts; does that mean there is an end to the process of sanctification this side of heaven? Can we truly be sanctified completely this side of heaven? Can we be kept blameless this side of heaven? Can our vile body as Paul said earlier be sanctified completely and kept blameless?

This scripture says we can be completely sanctified and kept blameless this side of heaven, but let’s look at others, just so you can get a grasp that this is the will of God, your sanctification. 1 Thess 4:3

So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 1 Thessalonians 3:13

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. Jude 1:24

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him Colossians 1:22

That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Philippians 2:15-16

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him Colossians 1:22

So that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ Philippians 1:10

I posted all the scriptures so that you can have no doubt in your mind, that this is God’s will for your life your sanctification, to keep your whole being Spirit, Soul and Body blameless, Holy and sanctified completely at the time of his coming. Not after his coming but before his coming so that you can presented to him.

Complete Sanctification is not our work.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. Jude 1:24

We attain Complete Sanctification through the death of Christ, by faith.

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him Colossians 1:22

But once we attain Complete Sanctification we must walk in it, it must be practical; it must show in our lives and be evident to this world.

That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Philippians 2:15-16

We need to see the need in our life to sanctified we must see this is the will of God, your sanctification. 1 Thess 4:3. We must ask ourselves this question is our Christian life uniform, what I mean, do we live like an angel on the outside world, but while at home live like a devil? At home you are what you really are. I question whether any man is much better than he is thought of by his wife and family, for they, after all, see the most of us, and know the truth about us. We must live uniform holy life at home, and while we are outside.

Because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord;" that is to say, no man can have communion with God in this life, and no man can expect to live with God in the life to come, without holiness. Do we expect to take the Lord of love and mercy with us to the place of sin? It is enough for him to bear with our double life on earth; shall he have it flung in his face in heaven? What has an unholy life in common with the golden streets of heaven?

When we look at the depth of Complete Sanctification and Holiness we can think it’s impossible, as we think that we will always stumble and we will always sin. But look at what scripture says ‘He is able to keep you from stumbling’ Christ can do it; he can do it for you.

There is no corruption too strong for him to overcome; there is no habit too firm for him to break. He can turn the lion to a lamb. Trust him to save you, and he will do it, whoever you are, and whatever your past life may have been. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;"””that is, he shall be saved from his sins, and delivered from his wickedness; he shall be made a new man in Christ Jesus by the power of the Spirit, received through the medium of his faith.

I agree with most of the things you say. But complete sanctification will not happen until we see Jesus face to face. Only when we see him we will be like him, we will be perfect. Till then we cannot be perfect.

The problem with your first post is you missed the difference between blameless and complete sanctification (Perfection). Most of the verses that you quoted are for being blameless. Yes we are called to be blameless and we can achieve it everyday starting from today if we are truly born again.

Noah was found blameless even before any covenant was made, how was it possible? So to be blameless means what I know I am complete in it. If I tell my 1 year old daughter not to do touch anything unclean and she does not touch them then she is blameless. The one commandment that I gave her, she followed blamelessly. But there can be many things in which she did not do right. But what she knows she followed. Same way we all receive light from God about our sinful flesh, based on the light that each of us have, we are called to be found blameless. The more God shows his light in our life, the more we come to know about our sins and we purify our self. This is what it means to peruse sanctification. Only such people will be able to see God.

Apostle Paul lived a blameless life on earth after his conversion. His conscience was always clear before man and God but he himself says in 1 Cor 4 that this did not make him righteous, because the one who is going to judge him is God. Just like how I know mistakes that my daughter has made, God also knows the unconscious sins of Paul. He will bring light into those sins gradually. Meanwhile Paul makes sure his conscious is clean without any conscious sins before God and man.

Does that mean there is an end to the process of sanctification this side of heaven?

What is the definition of "sanctification”? That is a tricky question. Theologian, Ron Bailey sees "sanctification” as the act of being set apart for holy use ”“ like the vessels in the OT ritual law which were set apart for holy use ”“ as opposed to common use. Can people be partially set apart?

Another thought to consider:
What does pure/blameless mean from the perspective of Law?
What does it mean from the perspective of Grace (and sanctification)?

Quote: I agree with most of the things you say. But complete sanctification will not happen until we see Jesus face to face. Only when we see him we will be like him, we will be perfect. Till then we cannot be perfect.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess 5:23

Adam Clarke Commentary: The apostle prays that this compound being, in all its parts, powers, and faculties, which he terms ὁλοκληρον , their whole, comprehending all parts, everything 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 forever with him.

4.That in this state the whole man may be so sanctified so 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.

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Quote: The problem with your first post is you missed the difference between blameless and complete sanctification (Perfection).

Complete meaning the whole man may is sanctified so it’s preserved blameless till the coming of Christ. Let me word it differently the whole man is preserved blameless because it has been sanctified, we cannot and should not separate the two.

Quote: Most of the verses that you quoted are for being blameless. Yes we are called to be blameless and we can achieve it everyday starting from today if we are truly born again.

Yes because you cannot separate the two, ‘so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints’ 1 Thess 3:13. We are blameless because we are Holy, we are blameless because you have been sanctified, separated and made free from sin and become servants to God and have fruit unto holiness Rom 6:23

Quote: What is the definition of "sanctification”?

The word sanctify has two meanings: it signifies to consecrate, to separate from an earthly and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and His service. It also signifies to make holy or pure.

1."To make sacred or holy, to set apart in a holy or religious use.

2.To make free from sin, to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution, to purify. (John17 :17). "Especially (Theol.) the act of God's grace by which the affections of men are purified from sin and the world, and exalted to a supreme love to God." -- Webster's Dictionary.

Quote: I know that you and I would agree that the Scriptures cannot be broken, meaning Scripture cannot contradict itself. I would ask you to consider the following Scriptures and bear also in mind the tense as it is.

Amen I agree with you 100% scripture cannot contradict itself, but our body is to be set apart and kept as a holy thing for the Lord, even though it has not been glorified. So we must balance the scriptures you put forth with those below.

I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification Romans 6:19

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service Romans 12:1

The whole being Spirit Soul and Body is to be given to the Lord, and kept and used for Him.

Quote: Could you comment on the Scriptures I gave and how you see where they fit into your interpretation?

1Cor 15:42-53 Comments: When are born into this world we are born of Adam, his body was made out of the dust of the earth. What is formed of earth must live after in an earthly manner; it must be nourished and supported by the earth. The second man Christ is from heaven, what is from heaven is of a spiritual nature; and shall have no connection with earth. The resurrected body shall be of a heavenly nature, and not subject to decay or death. Our earthly body which is corrupt will not inherit incorruption; we are to get a heavenly body.

Rom 8:21-23 Comments: The redemption of our body or as Paul also says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:14 what will happen at that time of attaining the high calling? The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: shall change our vile body, so it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body Phil 3:20-21.

Type 1.To make sacred or holy, to set apart in a holy or religious use

Type 2.To make free from sin, to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution, to purify.

The new birth is Holiness begun we are made Holy because we are set apart to God we are taken out of Adam and put into Christ (Type 1.sanctifcation), our inner man is born again of the incorruptible seed which is free from sin 1Peter 1:23 ( Type 2.sanctifcation). Conversion makes of a sinner a child of God, but we are full of ignorance and weakness, without any conception of what the whole-hearted devotion God asks of us.

Rom 7:21-23 Comments: The Christian experience post conversion - I strongly identify with Paul’s burden of both wanting to do what is right and please God and live a Holy life only to find something evil within me that always seems to be able to defeat me, what is it I find in me Sin.

As we see ours failures through striving in our own strength, we must surrender our self to Christ anew confessing and giving up all that is of self and sin, yielding our self wholly to Christ and His service, once we believe it we receive it a new power to live his life by the faith of the Son of God.

Yielding our self wholly to Christ and His service is (Type 1.sanctifcation), receiving a new power to live his life by the faith of the Son of God (Type 2.sanctifcation) having the heart cleansed by faith. The power of the Holy Spirit is exerted only through faith, and this faith is possible only when we are conscious of a need of cleansing from all inward tendencies to sin.

Complete sanctification your spirit is born again of the incorruptible seed, your heart (soul) is cleansed made pure by the Holy Spirit and your earthly body has been presented to God as a living sacrifice. (Type 1.sanctifcation) Romans 6:19, Romans 12:1

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

Quote: We know that there is a tension between them and this requires us to have such a great dependency upon the Lord.

Quote: Because of that we never fail to recognise our need for Jesus and the need to come to Him.

As I look at the wonderful promises of complete sanctification while in this earthly body and contemplate a life like this I cannot but come to the conclusion that it will require nothing but a complete and absolute surrender of my life, in essence it will be the death of me.

We all have quoted the bible verse below but have we thought just what it means when it says "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” and "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” Gal 2:20

Just recently as I was pressing in and seeking God in the matter of complete sanctification, I found within a stirring of a very deep humility. I have since then been thinking about humility and the greatest example of humility I can find is Christ. Christ humbled himself and was obedient unto death Phil 2:8.

Likewise the life we should live by faith as Christian’s is one of humility it is the place of entire dependence on God, but to get to that place we have to be willing to accept the cross, we must be willing to accept death as it is only in that death that we can live the life of Christ in this fleshly body and walk in victory over sin. We must get to the place that we can say like Paul said "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”

Now when I write about ‘complete sanctification’, I am promoting the death to self and sin, a life that lives in the flesh that is full of the life of Christ and is totally dependent on Christ. It is the place where we say ‘by myself I can do nothing, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me’

Humility is the place of entire dependence on God, it is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue.

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Frank could you comment on these Scriptures I gave and how you see where they fit into your interpretation?

And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him: he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. 1 John 2:3-6

Quote: The mark of a holy man, is when his presence and words bring conviction of sin to the hearers even if he barely speaks a word, the Holy Presence is so powerfully there with him.

I went to a meeting once in my home town before I was a believer, as my mother had invited me to come along, she had been telling me there people being healed; demons are being cast out, and people were turning to Christ, so out of interest I went along.

Since then to this day, I have never witnessed anything any way near what I saw that night. Even as the preacher was preaching devils were being cast out, there must have 50 people who went out for salvation when the altar call was given. He had such a presence of authority around him, but remained so calm.

My friend who came along with that night was deaf in one ear, he left that meeting healed, I can remember it as clear as anything the pure joy and wonderment he expressed at being healed as we walked home.

This preacher is dead now, but a couple of years ago I did some digging into his life and testimony he testifies to having received the fullness of the blessing.

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