Now the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul closes this letter with a prayer for the people he has just been instructing. Two questions follow: what does "completely" mean here, and why does Paul name spirit, soul, and body?
Paul does not pray to God under a random title. The name he chooses points back to how God made peace, and to what that peace now produces.
God is for all who have believed in Christ the God of peace. God made peace in the blood of the cross. Believers are both reconciled and sanctified through the peace that God has made for us in the work of His Son. So we stand in a blessed relationship with the God of peace and have fellowship with Him. Out of this flows a life and walk devoted to God. Believers are sanctified by all three persons of the Godhead: by God the Father, by the blood of Jesus Christ and the offering of His body, and by the Holy Spirit.
One writer notes who does this work, then traces peace as a sequence the believer moves through:
The God of peace Himself claims and sanctifies us wholly. Peace with God, then the peace of God, then the God of peace — this is the order in which the soul enters the blessing and experiences it through our Lord Jesus.
The word behind "completely" carries the sense of reaching all the way to the finish.
When it comes to practice, the apostle asks that the God of peace may sanctify believers wholly (oloteleis) — that is, entirely and right to the end.
One writer sets the standard high, and applies it to us now and not only to Paul's converts:
The apostle Paul desired, in regard to each of his converts, that the whole man might be practically set apart for God. Each of the three parts that make up a man — spirit, soul, and body — was to be affected. And so far that he kept himself separate not only from evil, but from every appearance of it. Nothing less than this should be what we pray for even now.
Paul names three parts. One writer explains the difference between the two inner ones:
It may help to add that "the soul" is the seat of personality, while "the spirit" is the expression of capacity. So the soul, with its affections, is the responsible "I". The spirit is the higher faculty that can know God — and that can also know unspeakable misery if it rejects Him.
Paul's order is not the one we normally use:
Sometimes we may forget that we have spirits. How often we say "body, soul and spirit;" the Scripture says "spirit, soul and body". We are so apt to think more of our bodies than of our spirits, but God is concerned with our spirits.
Some read this verse as a promise that God removes sin from a believer now. But Paul asks for two things here, not one:
Notice: here is entire sanctification to God, and yet we need entire preservation. Suppose spirit, soul, and body were sanctified in the sense of being made as pure as Christ is pure. Then there would be no need to be preserved blameless. Does Christ need such preserving?
The prayer makes sense because it asks for something these believers had only in part:
Here the word is used of a sanctification that comes in degrees. The Thessalonians, along with all believers, had a perfect sanctification in Christ. But in daily life they enjoyed and displayed it only in part. So the apostle prays that they may be wholly sanctified.
The prayer has a deadline in it: the day Christ returns.
There is nothing partial about God's gracious work. Its sanctifying influence reaches every part of us, and it carries on until "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." When He comes, the sanctification of the whole man will reach its completeness and perfection — but not before.
Another writer adds what waits for those found blameless:
God wants every part of the man — his mind, his affections, and his body — set apart from this world for Christ. Then, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to reign, we may be found blameless and receive a full reward.
- Peace first. God made peace in the blood of the cross. Out of that settled relationship with the God of peace flows a devoted life. The work starts with God, not with our effort.
- Wholly. "Completely" means entirely and to the end. God claims every part of us, and the separation reaches even to what only looks like evil.
- Three parts. Spirit is the capacity that can know God. Soul is the seat of personality and affections. Paul names the spirit first; we usually name the body first.
- Two requests. Paul asks two things: that God sanctify us, and that He preserve us. The second would be pointless if the first made us sinless. So this is not perfection now.
- Finished at His coming. The sanctification of the whole man is complete only when Christ returns. Those found blameless then receive a full reward.
He [is] faithful who calls you, who will also perform [it].
The prayer just before this asks the biggest thing possible — that God keep believers blameless until Christ comes. This verse does not add another request. It names the One who answers, and shows where a Christian's confidence rests.
Verse 23 asks God to make His people holy. That prayer matches what God Himself wants for them.
Verse 24 is very encouraging; it gives the answer to the prayer, "He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it." … It is the Father's desire that all His people should be holy, as He is holy.
The key word in the verse is "faithful." Its meaning is exact, and it belongs to God Himself.
In both the Old and the New Testament, this word comes from the same root as "faith." It is being true to oneself, to one's nature, to any promise given, and to any trust committed. It is in various connections often applied to God Himself.
The verse points to God as the One who calls. That call has a goal, and He will reach it.
The One who has called us to glory is faithful and will carry out the purpose for which He has called us.
Our own failures along the way do not change the outcome He has fixed.
Despite all the breakdowns and desertions on our side, God has called us to this blameless condition in glory. He will not fail to achieve His purpose with us. He will do it!
If a believer could finally be lost, the failure would be God's, not just the believer's.
Yet the apostle's hope is in Him whose purpose for His people cannot fail. "He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it." We are on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd; and if there were final failure, it would be His strength that failed. That would be as impossible for Him as success would be for us without Him.
These readers were not living in calm. The assurance came to them while enemies were trying to break them.
Satan was raising the storm of persecution against them. Troubles and afflictions kept piling on them to force them into evil, or, if possible, to destroy their faith. The apostle directs their hearts and minds to God. His words take the form of a prayer or desire for them. They show how his own heart knew this sure refuge in the storm, and the power that could keep them in perfect peace, though surrounded by enemies and by evil. So he adds, "He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it."
A guarantee like this could be misread as permission to drift. Commentators press the opposite: the same call that secures us also makes a claim on us now.
If He has called, will He not also perform? … But His calling to the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord is as serious in its present claim on us as it is sure in His grace. We must cast no shade of unfaithfulness on either, staining His name that we bear.
The response it invites is not passivity. It is holding fast to Him.
Finally, God has called us to this life of holiness with Himself; He is faithful and He will carry it out. May He enable us to hold fast to Him, so that we may know it in practice!
- Call. The verse rests everything on the One who calls. He has called us to glory, and He will finish what He called us for.
- Character. "Faithful" means being true to your own nature, to every promise given and every trust received. The word shares a root with "faith."
- Certainty. If a believer failed in the end, the Shepherd's strength would have failed. That cannot happen. Without Him, we could never succeed.
- Comfort. The words came to people in a storm of persecution. They point to the power that keeps us in perfect peace while enemies press in.
- Claim. The call is as serious in its demand on us as it is sure in His grace. So hold fast to Him, and let His work show in practice.