Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. | ||
| Leviticus 20:7 | ||
| “Sanctify,” or qadash in Hebrew, means “to set apart”—set apart to God and set apart from sin. Can we really be set apart from sin? Can we truly be sanctified? John Wesley and his brother, Charles, both godly men, believed that if people lived a disciplined life before God, they could achieve a state of sanctity in which they would never sin again. Determined to see this understanding come to fruition, they developed a method to do this, and the Methodist movement was born. On other hand, John Calvin and others said it was impossible to be completely and totally sanctified in this life. And these two views remain in the church to this day. When Jesus died on the cross, He didn’t say, “To be continued,” or “This will do for now.” He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). That is why Paul could address the Corinthian believers as those who have been sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:2). Practically, the Corinthian congregation was full of problems. So are we. But positionally, the Corinthians were sanctified. And so are we. Pastor Jon Courson | ||
