The Pursuit of the Holy God - Church of God of Prophecy

to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the
kind – yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish (NRSV).
This section of Ephesians falls under the section known as the “Household Code.” Paul understood
the sacred bond of marriage as a sanctifying relationship. The husband was set apart for the wife
and vice versa. The husband’s love for his wife was to be mutually rewarding and sanctifying. The
mutual love would be sanctifying love. Any disruption of this relationship was to be seen as sin. Paul
understood the sanctifying work of Christ in this context. Christ loved the church and gave (paradidomi
- to give into the hands of another) himself up for her. He did this in order to make her holy (sanctify).
The word sanctify here is translated from the Greek, hagiase. The verb is used here in the aorist tense
which indicates that it is a past completed event. Because of the sacrifice of Christ, the Ephesians were
in fact sanctified. The text indicates the sanctification was accomplished through cleansing. The term
cleansing is translated from katharizo which means to cause something to become clean. In a spiritual
sense, it means to purify from pollution and guilt of sin. In secular Greek katharizo occurs in inscriptions
for ceremonial cleansing. This expression is not found anywhere else in the Pauline corpus. He
emphasizes the corporate dimension by asserting that it is the church which is sanctified through Christ’s
death.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul writes: “ Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (KJV).
When Paul uses the word sanctified (Greek- h`giasmenoij), it is a verb participle perfect passive
dative masculine plural from a`gia,zw. (to make holy, sanctify, consecrate, dedicate, purify: of things—
Matthew 23:17-19; of persons—John 10:36; 1 Corinthians 7:14; Hebrews 9:13). 38 Therefore, Paul is
speaking to the church of God which is in Corinth, consecrated to him in union with Christ Jesus (1
Corinthians 1:2). By this opening verse in Corinthians, a person cannot fail to see that a fundamental
problem with the Corinthian believers was the selfish attitude of the church members who desired their
freedom above the well-being of others. Paul’s writings demonstrate his concern for both the individual
and the corporate body. There is a distinctly corporate dimension to his thoughts. This dimension shows
up when Paul writes that any act which harms an individual Christian is really an affront to Christ
himself (8:12), and most certainly when he says that an act performed in isolation may be insignificant
and harmless in one’s own eyes, but as a social act it can become intensely meaningful (10:16-30). 39
According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary:
Sanctification, involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about
by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature
more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul
in regeneration. In other words, sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work
begun in regeneration, and it extends to the whole man (Romans 6:13; 2 Corinthians
4:6; Colossians 3:10; 1 John 4:7; 1Corinthians 6:19). It is the special office of the Holy
Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work (1Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians
2:13). 40
38 Louw Nida Lexicon- 53.44, Norfolk, VA: Bible Works, 7.0, (Electronic CD), 2010.
39 J. AyodejI Adewuya. Holiness and Community. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2003, page185.
40 Easton’s Bible Dictionary (Hodge’s Outlines). Parsons Technology: Electronic Edition STEP Files, 2007.
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