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?
The God of peace Himself
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.
What "completely" means
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.
Spirit, soul, and body
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.
Not a claim to sinlessness
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.
Aimed at His coming
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.
Summary
- 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.