Q2. Sanctification and Sexuality

[Trusting God]

Q2. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4) What does it mean to be "sanctified"?

Sanctified mean to be holy, set apart, or dedicate oneself fully for God.

In what sense are we "holy" now?

Believers are “holy” now, because of their position and relationship to Christ, and we are commanded to be holy by God because “He is holy.”

"You are to be holy (qādôsh) to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." (Leviticus 20:26)

In what sense are we in the process of becoming "holy"?

We are in the process of becoming “holy” experientially. We are being changed day-by-day into Christ’s likeness as we focus on Christ, and we should strive for holiness by clinging to the things of God, and releasing the things and ways of the world.

Romans 12:1-2 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?

Holiness has everything to do with our sexuality, because God has a place and a purpose for sexuality only to the marriage union.

Believers are to avoid, and abstain from sexual immorality, because it is sin. Sin separates us from God, and He has commanded us not to be controlled by sexual immorality.

"³ It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵not in passionate **** like the heathen, who do not know God; ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸ Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit." (I Thessalonians 4:3-8)

[linda bass]

What it means to be "sanctified" is to be made holy.

We are "holy" now in the sense that as believers we are "in Christ" because we are part of Christ. We are also "holy" in the sense that, day by day we are being changed into Christ's likeness as we focus on Him.

What holiness has to do with our sexuality is, we need to avoid sexual immorality in order to see the completion of our faith in Christ fulfilled.

[Old Jerry]

Sanctified means that we have been set aside for doing God’s work here on earth. We are holy now because we belong to Jesus and we have the Holy Spirit in us. We are in the process of becoming “holy” because we are still reading the bible and finding out new truths.

 

Sexuality deals with our bodies and we are to keep our bodies holy.

 

 

[Joeraja]

What does it mean to be “sanctified”? To be sanctified is to set apart our lives to be vessels of God. It is an on-going process where we continually seek Him to guide us, teach us and to build us up.

 

In what sense are we “holy” now? In what sense are we in the process of becoming “holy”?

We are holy because we have been redeemed by a Holy God, Jesus Christ who was sinless and yet sacrificed His live on the Cross that we my be made holy and acceptable to the Lord. We are made holy on accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour but will have to be refreshed daily by the Holy Spirit as our journey has just begun.Salvation makes us holy but we have to allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us in order to continue being holy.

 

What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?

Holiness ensures that our bodies are kept free from the corruption of worldly life like sexual immorality, fornication and ****

[van]

To be sanctified means that you should avoid sexual immorality by controlling your own body. We are holy now because we belong to Christ. We are becoming holy each and every day we live our lives for Christ. Holiness have everything to do with our sexuality. God created sex, so it's not bad. But, God created it for marriage between a man and a woman.

[davidjjj]

Q2. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4) What does it mean to be "sanctified"? In what sense are we "holy" now? In what sense are we in the process of becoming "holy"? What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?

We are holy now in the sense that we have been set apart from the world and set apart to God, we belong to God. We have in trusting Jesus been joined to Him (Rom 6) and so we are “in Christ” and this means not only forgiveness for our sins but that His righteousness has been conveyed to us, we are holy in God’s sight, belonging to Him, set apart for Him, and cleansed by Him.

Romans 6 breaks down well how being made holy in this way, means living new lives, lives characterized by holiness in our thinking, attitudes, behaviour and actions. We are to become experientially what we are positionally. So we have been joined to Christ (Rom 6:1-10) and this means we are no longer slaves to sin, Christ is now our Lord and calls the shots in our lives...we are under His grace. Because of this we must choose to live holy lives (Rom 6:11-13), Peter agrees saying because we belong now to a Holy God we should live holy lives (1 Pet 1:13-16) Paul reminds of this same truth in Rom 12, we have presented ourselves as living sacrifices to God and so we should not be conformed to the world...

God’s Holy nature is reflected in His instructions to us in the Bible, they are not arbitrary rules, or even social norms, but are God’s ways, and teach us what holiness looks like in practice. One area God has shown His holy ways for us is in the arena of sexuality.

As far as I am aware Jesus and the apostles used the word porneia in the same way their Jewish contemporaries were using it (and didn't see any need to redefine or amend how this term was used by them) ie for any sexual practice outside a heterosexual marriage context ie adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, sex before marriage, ********** etc.

Jesus uses this broad term to address broad sexual infidelity in marriage (although there is another word that Jesus used in the very same passage that is specifically referring to adultery) Mat 19:8-9 (cf Mat 5:32)

Paul uses this term to describe what might be incest- or at the very least a step son having sex with his step mother (1 Cor 5).

Paul again insinuates that sex outside marriage is porneia 1 Cor 7:2

The council of Elders establishing God’s grace in the church for Jew and gentiles add instruction abstain from porneia for all believer under grace (Acts 15)

Although not often mentioning porneia directly with homosexuality (although Jude 7 implies it) it is clear that the NT condemns this sexual practice (see rom 1 etc).

All these uses seem to find harmony with how the word porneia was being used by Jewish contemporaries and in keeping with the OT instructions.

This also fits in with God’s design for humanity seen right back in genesis, God designed human beings and sanctioned heterosexual marriage as the only context for sex. For sex to be holy it must be according to God’s intent and unholy sexual practice is condemned and puts a sinful barrier between us and the lord (Isaiah 59:2) and Paul warns that if we live in an unholy way in this area- we sin against our own body (1 Cor 6:18)

So yes God's holiness and His command of Holiness has implications in all aspects of life, including sexuality!!!

[Onerivertrail]

Q2. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4) What does it mean to be “sanctified”? In what sense are we “holy” now? In what sense are we in the process of becoming “holy”? What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?          

 

We became sanctified (holy) through Christ. We are holy now as we maintain this holiness by walking out the process. We are to keep our bodies holy and sanctified by following the direction of sexual intimacy. Walking in this as God has designed and directed us to do keeps our body holy. As we yield to the Holy Spirit we become as God made us through the sacrifice of Jesus for us.

[sunshine1962]

To be sanctified is to be made holy; to be set apart as God's very own.

We are holy now, because God has already separated us from the world for His own purposes.

We are in the process of becoming "holy", because we are works in progress.

We can't be immoral sexually and holy in all other aspects of our lives.

[WinstonY]

Q2. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4) What does it mean to be “sanctified”? In what sense are we “holy” now? In what sense are we in the process of becoming “holy”? What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?

 

 

 

Lesson 4.2

 

Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ in our thought, action and character. It is a process that begins upon our justification by the Lord. As normal immoral humans we are unable to stand before a righteous God in our unrighteousness. When we are confirmed in our faith and trust in the Lord we are justified by the Lord. We are put right with God by Jesus who by his power and strength overs us in a cloak of righteousness that enables us to stand before the Lord God in his almighty power and glory.

 

At that time there occurs in our hearts a desire to serve God in body and in spirit. However, we still have our human body and soul that deceive us into comitting acts of sin for we still live in a sinful world. We stand before God in our weakness. Like Paul we have 'thorns in the flesh which gives us weakness' that allow the sin of the world to creep in. The Lord then starts a process of sanctification that creates in us the conditions where we can be more Christlike. It is much like the cocoon of a butterfly. At first nothing seems to happen, but than there is a struggle between the outer strength of the cocoon and the inner strength of the butterfly. Gradually, though time and the work of the Lord the butterfly finally emerges, the wings dry and the beautiful butterfly flies away to praise the Lord in its beauty.

 

We also struggle against the outer forces of the world but with the sanctifying power of the Lord we are gradually transformed into a creature that brings glory to God and to his creation.

 

 

Holy is to be set apart for God. We as Christians are set apart from the world though our trust and belief in Christ Jesus our Lord. With this faith we then begin to be sanctified to the Lord as we gradually through Jesus and 'in Jesus' become transformed into a likeness unto that of Jesus.

 

 

c) The Lord God is a jealous God - He wants us to love and adore Him and Him only. The union of Christ and the church is seen as a marriage akin to that between two loving humans. Just as God demands our attention and devotion to be only upon him than in the same fashion our devotion to our partner must have the same temper as that of Christ and the church . With this comparison in mind we can see the importance placed by God on sexual morality - that of an exclusive one on one partnership arrangement between humans. The love that is shared in such a human relation is akin to the love between Christ and the church and also between humans and the Lord.  

[JoanG]

To be sanctified means to be cleansed and made holy. When this happens the Holy Spirit enters into our heart and soul and starts to take root there. We can learn and change our lives and allow the Holy Spirit to start to help us grow in the love of God and to become more Christ like as humans. When we become more like Christ and to start to give our lives over to God, we need to give up our worldly ways. We need to treat our bodies as temples which God now resides. This means avoiding activities that would match us to common people. This means to live better than those around us.

[lighthouse2014]

Q2. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4) What does it mean to be “sanctified”? In what sense are we “holy” now? In what sense are we in the process of becoming “holy”? What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?

To be sanctified means that we are in the process of being made holy, being set apart for God.

In the sense that we are now holy, is that as believers in Christ we are one with him, as he is holy so we are holy.

We are in the process of being made holy day by day because each day the Holy Spirit brings us closer to him by experiences to the likeness of Christ.

By being holy we are to bring our bodies under control, especially avoiding sexual immorality, we are to be honorable in our lives and to others. 

[Reuben]

Q2. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4) What does it mean to be “sanctified”? In what sense are we “holy” now? In what sense are we in the process of becoming “holy”? What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?

To be sanctified means being cleansed and made pure, spotless as such. We are "holy" now through the blood of Jesus Christ that has washed our sins away, and through Him we are made righteous , and my sanctification has started when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. We will always be in the process of becoming "holy" as we do our best to live our lives by Gods grace and being obedient to His will.

Our sexuality needs to be practiced as the Bible commands us and not immorally, so that we are not defiling this sanctification process that is at work in us, and that we will not be guilty of rejecting God , and allowing the flesh to rule over us.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

We are consecrated, separate unto God from a profane, secular and carnal use to be used by God.   2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 PETER 2:9 explains this very well. The Prophet Ezekiel constantly reminds us about holy living;. secret sin cannot be tolerated by the Lord God Yahweh.  His visions and prophecies and sermons are clarion calls to personal holiness as well as corporate holiness.  Those who harbor secret sins cannot be truly sanctified until they repent.

We have put on Christ; we wear our baptismal robes.  We fulfill our calling to be holy in accordance with 1 PETER 2:9.  The "old man" has been crucified. As we grow spiritually, we are formed in the image of Christ.    We go from glory to glory as we study the HOLY BIBLE and partake of Holy Communion.   The enlarged life means that we go deeper with God; we want more of God....deeper understanding of the Holy Bible and discipleship.

We cannot remain in the state of "secret sins".   This entire subject of living chastely is incumbent both on single and married peoples.  Despite heterodox teachings with many Christain churches that condone sexual aberrations; we must stand on the Word of God 100 %.   

[Krissi]

What does it mean to be "sanctified"? In what sense are we "holy" now? In what sense are we in the process of becoming "holy"? What does holiness have to do with our sexuality?

All the words that start with "sanct--" have to do with things/idea of being set apart from the world and dedicated solely to God. A sanctuary is a holy place. To be sanctimonious is to be falsely or hypocritically sanctified. Etc. So, to be sanctified is to be like the beautiful, shiny objects on the eucharistic table, objects used and consecrated solely to God.

We are holy only in an imaginative sense, that God sees/imagines us to be something that we are not because he sees through the lenses of Christ's sanctifying death on the cross. It is better to say that we're in the process of becoming like Him -- sanctification. 

Sexuality is one of a gazillion things that trip us up on the path toward holiness, yet it is a big one, though, perhaps because of it's downstream effects. Furthermore, because it so intimately involves another person, sexuality can pull another person into sin. There is somehting qualitatively different about sexual sins though I'm not sure what it is. I just know that people who get off-track sexually tend to leave the faith, that homosexuality, adultery, fornication, **** addiction and other sexual sins seem to derail a Christian's service and lower God's expectations of that person's value in the kingdom.