Our Devotional in Paul’s prayers continues.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
God himself is the God of peace. Does this make a difference for you? Does it make a difference for those you pray for?
The difference Paul seeks, in prayer, for his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica, is sanctification. To be sanctified is to be set apart, purified, and declared clean for the Master’s use. Paul prays that this sanctification would extend to the very depths of our lives – that we would be pure through and through, like 24ct gold.
He says the same thing again when he asks that our whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless. ‘Blameless’ is the same word we have seen several times in his prayers. It simply means ‘without fault’ or ‘without guilt,’ but that is as high a standard as holiness.
But it is not up to us – this is a prayer that God would sanctify his people; it is a prayer that we would be ‘kept blameless’ – actually there is no verb in this part of the sentance – the blamelessness is a further evidence of his sanctification. But Paul goes on to very clearly ground this outcome in the character of God: he is faithful and he will do it! Amen.
But don’t miss the connection between Paul’s prayer and the invocation ‘May God himself, the God of peace . . .’ Peace, apparently, is an end product of sanctification and blamelessness.
Here’s a Stuart Townend song based on a number of these ‘God of peace’ passages: Benediction. The video is pretty well done, but does not have lyrics. You can find them here.
