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The apostle here concludes all with prayer, as knowing all his exhortations and admonitions before given would not be effectual without God; and he prays for their sanctification and preservation. Though they were sanctified already, yet but in part, so that he prays for further progress in it to perfection, which he means by
wholly; a word no where used by the apostle but in this place, and variously rendered; some render it throughout, some, perfectly, some, in every part, some, in all things, some, fully, and the French, entirely. It may refer to all the parts of holiness, and the degrees of holiness, and to the whole man in the several faculties of soul and body, expressed in the next words by
spirit, soul, and body, that their whole man may be entirely separated and consecrated to God, offered up to him as a sacrifice, Rom_12:1; and hence we serve that not only the beginning, but progress in grace is from God. The apostle therefore prays for it to God, (whom he calls the God of peace, to enforce his exhortation to peace, 1Th_5:3), which confutes the Pelagians, who thought objective grace sufficient to sanctify, or that man’s nature needs only at first to be excited by God, and then can go forward of itself, being only maimed, not totally corrupted by the fall. It is true, our faculties co-operate with God, but not of themselves, but as acted by his inherent grace and indwelling Spirit.
And what the apostle prays for:
1. That Christians should endeavour after, which is a progress in sanctification to perfection. We may also note, that true sanctification reacheth to the whole man, spirit, soul, and body.
2. Preservation, which we call perseverance, expressed here both by the subject and term of it. The subject is the whole man, branched into three parts, spirit, soul, and body, figured, at least resembled, by the three parts of the temple.
Consider man naturally; and then by spirit we mean his superior faculties, as the mind, conscience, rational will.
By soul, his sensitive appetite, with the affections and passions.
By body, the outward man, the tabernacle and instrument of the soul.
The Jewish rabbins and others think all these are expressed in the creation of man, Gen_2:7; God formed man of the dust of the ground, there is his body; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, or lives, Nishmath Chaiim, Nephesh Chaijah, that is, the faculties of the rational soul; and man became a living soul, that is, the animal and sensitive life. Neither is properly meant here the Spirit of God, for he saith, your spirit; nor the sanctified part of the soul, for he prays for the preserving of their persons. Only observe, when he speaks of their spirit, he calls it their whole spirit. And by the figure zeugma, the word whole is to be carried also to soul and body; so that as he prayed their whole man might be sanctified, so their whole spirit, their whole soul, their whole body might be preserved; and the same word we find Jam_1:4, where it is rendered perfect, alludiug to the perfect possessing of all inheritance or lot that belongs to a man. And by preserving, he means not so much the substance of the spirit, soul, and body, to preserve them in being, as to preserve them in holiness. And they are preserved, partly by being delivered from the sinful distempers that are naturally in them, as ignorance, vanity, impotency, and enmity in the mind, reluctancy and obstinacy in the will, inordinacy and irregularity in the affections, disobedience to the law of God and the regular commands of the soul in the body. If these prevail, they will bring destruction; as diseases prevailing destroy the natural life. And partly also by being supplied with that grace whereby they act regularly towards God, and are serviceable to the end of man’s being, as supply of oil preserveth the lamp burning. And hereby we may understand, that not only the inferior faculties are corrupted in man’s fall, but the superior and the supreme of all, else the apostle need not have prayed for the spirit to be sanctified and preserved, as well as the soul and body. And elsewhere he prays for a renewing in the spirit of the mind, Eph_4:23. Next we may consider this preservation with respect to the term of it,
preserved blameless unto the coming of Christ: the same which the apostle means by being preserved to God’s heavenly kingdom, 2Ti_4:18 2Pe_3:14. And those that are preserved to that day, are preserved to the end, and will be found blameless; and their whole man, spirit, soul, and body, being first sanctified, and then preserved, shall be saved and glorified. And the apostle insinuates in the word amemptwv, blameless, that strict discovery that will be made of persons at that day, wherein some will be blamed, and others be found without blame. And herein the apostle may have respect both to the teachers and ministers in this church, and the private members of it, that with respect to their several duties belonging to them they may be found blameless; and though, according to the strictness of the law of God, none can be without blame, yet, those that have been sincere, and have their sin pardoned, and their persons accepted in Christ, may be found blameless in the day of Christ: however, it is that which we should strive after.