Sanctify… to set apart…..
The Laver in the Tent of Meeting was set part, it was therefore sanctified.
The Tent of meeting itself was sanctified. As was the ark of the Covenant.
When a person accepts Christ (whatever that broad stroke comment means) He has been sanctified by God and set apart. However is it the same as the Laver and the Tent? Nope, it’s just set apart. You could have the man sanctifiy his dishes, and set them apart for special occasions… The word simply means set apart.
Every time you see the word SANCTIFY does not mean it’s the same discussion, anymore than every time you see the word WET it means you are in the water. So determining HOW it’s set apart is going to be important in context.
So, Rom 6:22 says:
you are freed from sin, (sins are atoned for, what most people called saved)
Then become a slave to God (which means you are working at obedience)
Then you receive a benefit. (probably taught how to love is my best guess)
And THEN, not beofre you are Sanctified.
In this case, while it’s true you are sanctified, set apart when you are saved, or your sins are atoned for, in this case it speaks of a different sanctification.
Scripture talks about God will change us. I contend the Rom 6:22 verse’s use of “Sanctified” is a reference to when the person is changed, and it’s complete.
Paul says his job was to present those with him as “perfect” or complete when Christ returns. Numerous other places the completeness or perfection we are to become are mentioned.
Paul claims himself and others were perfect, or complete. Biggest problem here, si people see the old KJV word PERFECT, and think of it in a Utopian without error sense. That’s a recent meaning added to the word, like the last 125ish years or so. When the guys who did the work on Jim’s version existed, that “without flaw” part didn’t exist. Every time you see it in the Bible, you can assume it means a word (some will suit the circumstances better than others in context) from the family, full grown, complete, mature, finished, etc…. Which avoids UTOPIAN without flaw, and assumes the mistakes made growing up, to the point your growth is finished.
So, Bible has plenty to say we are to be perfect. If we can’t get past the “perfect” term, we’ll have to change what that means to suit our theology.
The question should become what IS perfect, in Biblical terms. Obviously no one but Christ will live sinless from birth to death. There is no Utopian flavor at all to that concept.
Before we move forward we need to agree or address first:
Sanctified, may not be the same context every time you see it used, even the word always means set apart. What is being set apart, OR HOW it is being set apart could change.
Teleios/Perfect/Mature doesn’t have a UTOPIAN, without error, flavor to it. But there are plans for perfection/maturation evident in the NT as there are those that have got there, and Paul admits it’s His job to get us there.
That should get us common ground to get through some of the key verses that will pop up here….
So, what does Perfect mean? While each author explains it in different terms and from different angles, and to varying degrees, the most obvious explanation, and from the most used Author Paul, is in EPhesians 4:11-13.
Ephesians 4:11-16
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
>>>>>>This is those who are given the Spiritual Gifts of leadership. Not everyone has these gifts, just some. Like Discernment, teaching, not all have it so not all are expected to do it.<<<<<<
12 for the equipping of the saints
>>>>This is the individuals in the church<<<<<
for the work of service,
>>>>>> See Gal 5:6, Matt 25 last parable. <<<<<<
to the building up of the body of Christ;
>>>>>>>>>>This is the Church. the individuals build up the Church<<<<<
13 until we all attain
>>>This takes us back to the individuals doing the work.. so they work until they all….><<<<<<
to the unity of the faith, and of the [b]knowledge of the Son of God,
>>>>>Egads those people are going to learn through works, not bible study and sunday school….. those poor modern day Bereans, what ARE they missing out on?<<<<<<<
to a mature man,
>>> KING JAMES…..unto a perfect man,++++++
There is something to be completed in us through works led by the Church. It is expected… So how “perfect is “PERFECT” here? Paul further defines it.<<<<<<<<
to the measure
>>> IF Christ’s spiritual maturity was measured in a glass, our glass would be just as full as his was. the same measure.<<<<<<
of the stature
>>>>> As well as our glass would be the same size. Super Big Gulp vs Super Big Gulp. Not Big gulp vs Super Big Gulp. We are not less<<<<<<
which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
>>>> For anyone saying that it is the full and complete perfection, of only part of Christ. That’s the ONLY three ways saying as fully mature as CHrist could be belittled….
1) Not as much,
2) Not as big.
3) Only as much as part of his.
Each was reconciled by Paul for quadruple redundancy to prevent confusion. NOW people have to work really hard to screw this verse up. <<<<<<<
14 [d]As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness [e]in deceitful scheming; 15 but [f]speaking the truth in love, [g]we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together [h]by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Now, SINNING is not how this is accomplished, or rather not sinning. Blessed are the poor, dependent, needy in Spirit. Not the self made strong in spirit that overcomes sin.
1 John 4:16-18 says that if you do not have love, God isn’t in you and you aren’t in God. Does anyone wish to make the argument for, “you will “live in paradise” without being included with God or without His hand in your life? 🙂
No, so the single most important part of your faith, is that you do learn how to love as God does, Matt 5:43-48, not how we have “loved” growing up, which is primarily a self focused love, Sarx, Sinful nature, Flesh…
The key points in the last part of this discussion are:
1) We are to be Perfect.
2) What does Perfect look like?
3) It’s not by not sinning, but by learning how to love.
Conclusion:
This person would be MADE to be set apart, and would be made different. Not just perceived as different. Which is what it says in Isaiah when it says God will change your heart/mind. That is a real change. Not the change people claims happens when nothing has been changed. 🙂 When that change is made, and completed, you are mature, or perfect. This is Christian Maturity.
Challenge Your Faith 