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NASB | John 17:1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these things, He raised His eyes to heaven [in prayer] and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify You. |
Subject: Iam having some questions |
Bible Note: Hi Kcabml, What you are espousing is called, Entire Sanctification. Here is an edited excerpt from an article by that name, written by Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921) It has been highly condensed by yours truly and is in no way to be considered comprehensive. To read the complete article go to: http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/bbwentire.htm John part one "And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it." (1 Thess. 5:23-24) --“THERE is no feature of Christianity more strongly emphasized by those to whom its establishment in the world was committed, than the breadth and depth of its ethical demands. No moral attainment is too great to be pressed on them as their duty; no moral duty is too minute to be demanded of them as essential to their Christian walk. In the verses immediately preceding our text the Apostle had been engaged, as is his wont in all his epistles, in enumerating a number of details of conduct which he wished, especially, to emphasize to his readers. But the Apostle would not have his readers suppose that their whole duty was summed up in the items he enumerates. As he draws to the close of his exhortations he therefore breaks off in the enumeration and adjoins one great comprehensive prayer for their entire perfection: "But may the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly: and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved perfect without failure, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it." Here we have obviously a classical passage—possibly, the, classical passage—for "entire sanctification"; and it may repay us in the perennial interest which attends the discussion of the theme of "entire sanctification" to look at it somewhat closely, as such. First of all, let us settle it clearly in mind that it is of entire sanctification" that the passage treats. There can certainly be no doubt of it, if we will only give the language of the passage a fair hearing. It is so emphasized, indeed, and with such an accumulation of phraseology that it becomes almost embarrassing. The entirety, the completeness, the perfection of the sanctification, of which it speaks, is, in fact, the great burden of the passage. Observe the emphatic repetition of the idea of completeness. May the "God of Peace"—and this very designation of God, doubtless, has its reference to the completeness of the sanctification, peace being the opposite of all division, distraction, hesitation and dubitation, —may the "God of Peace," the Apostle prays, "sanctify you completely"—so as that ye may be perfect and wanting nothing that enters into the perfection of your correspondence to the ends for which you were created. Observe further the distribution of the personality, which is to be perfected into its component parts, of each of which, in turn, perfection is desiderated. Not only are we to be sanctified wholly, but also every part of us—our spirit, our soul, our body itself—is to be kept blamelessly perfect. The Apostle is not content, in other words, with the general, but descends into the specific elements of our being. By this mode of accumulation, we perceive, the Apostle throws an astonishing emphasis on the perfection, which he desires for his readers. Here we may say is "Perfectionism" raised to its highest power, a blameless perfection, a perfection admitting of no failure to attain its end, in every department of our being alike, uniting to form a perfection of the whole, a complete attainment of our idea in the whole man. Let us observe next that Paul does not speak of this perfecting of the entire man as if it were a mere ideal, unattainable, and to be looked up to only as the forever beckoning standard hanging hopelessly above us. He treats it as distinctly attainable. He does not, indeed, represent it as attainable by and through human effort alone, as if man in his own strength could reach and touch this his true ultimate goal of endeavor. Rather he emphatically represents it as the gift of God alone. The whole gist of Paul's prayer—nay, the whole drift of his discourse—would be stultified, were it not so. Paul's prayer, and the way in which he introduces his prayer, all combine to make it certain that he is not mocking us here with an illusory hope but is placing soberly before us an attainable goal. This perfect perfection is then, necessarily, according to Paul, attainable for man. God can and will give it to His children. The accomplishment of this our perfection then does not hang on our weak endeavors. It does not hang even on Paul's strong prayer. It hangs only on God's almighty and unfailing faithfulness. If God is faithful, He who not only calls but does—then, we cannot fail of perfection. |