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1 Thessalonians 5:23 Sanctify You Wholly . . . Whole Spirit And Soul And Body Be Preserved Blameless |
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming [literal: abiding presence] of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's intent is to fully sanctify all three parts of our beings: spirit, soul, and body, in that order. Human beings are three-part beings. In the natural, you will often hear of body, mind, and spirit. (The Greek word for soul is translated alternately as mind, heart, soul, or life) In the natural, human beings are upside down because of the fall. The body is in control, the mind/soul/life/heart in the middle, and the spirit rarely considered. When a person is born again, that person is a new creation, but he or she still has the fleshly nature. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8 That is why we must die to the flesh. The flesh, of course, refers to the body. However, the body also has much of the mind in bondage to it. That is the fleshly mind, the carnal mind, the natural mind. The fleshly nature wants the un-redeemed body to be in control. The human spirit is seated with Christ in heavenly places, not perfected as yet, but set free to a great extent. The mind and will is where the battle is taking place. Paul is praying that the Thessalonians would have their whole spirit, soul, and body taken into a blameless state, and this is related to the abiding presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is not implying that they will somehow be in a sinless state living until Jesus returns. Notice that the spirit is mentioned first, because our spirits were created to be in communion with and submission to the Holy Spirit. They were created to rule over our minds or souls. Our minds were created to rule over our bodies. We are to be spiritually minded rather than carnally minded. We are not to follow the flesh or the instincts, habits, and emotions of the body but rather we are to yield our members to the Holy Spirit so that God can do His work through us and create a clean heart within us. And God will complete the work in us, but only as we become that member in particular in the church. We could never become complete in ourselves apart from the church, Christ the Body on earth, any more than we could become complete without Christ the Head in Heaven. Author/Compiler Last updated: May, 2014 ![]() Bread Crumbs Main Foundations Home Meaning Bible Dictionary History Toons & Vids Quotations Similar
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Sanctify You Wholly . . . Whole Spirit And Soul And Body Be Preserved Blameless 1 Thessalonians 5:23 preserved blameless unto the coming [literal: abiding presence] of our Lord Jesus Christ. Recent
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