Hebrews 12:14, Follow after peace with all men: The
words Follow after translate a Greek word meaning to pursue, as
in a chase or battle. Paul frequently uses the word,
as "Follow after love" (1 Cor. 14:1). Peace, in a world like
this, and especially peace with all men, will not just come our
way. it must be pursued by us. We may well remember that the
Greek word is used often to denote persecution, in which the
persecuted were followed, hunted, sought out. Let us examine
ourselves as to whether we are thus diligently seeking peace with
all men.
And the sanctification without which no man shall see the
Lord. Here is at once an excuse for all "holiness" conventions
and camp meetings that ever took place! Remembering that this
whole verse is governed by the word "follow" in the sense of
"pursue," we find, Follow on after ... the sanctification
(_hagiasmos)--This word is used ten times in the New Testament,
all but once by Paul; the other use, 1 Peter 1:2, "sanctification
of the Spirit," even emphasizing and defining its other
occurrences.
* Many earnest believers are very poorly instructed as to
scriptural "sanctification."
Let us note:
1. All those who are in Christ are "sanctified." This is
seen from 1 Cor. 1:2, "the Church of God which is at Corinth,
even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." This cannot refer
to their "experience," for we see from Ch. 3:1-3 that they were
"babes" and "carnal." But they were no longer in Adam, but in the
Second Man, Christ, and 2 Cor. 5:17 was true of them--they were
"new creatures."
2. Sanctification in Hebrews has this meaning, separated to
God. It does not refer to our experience or feelings. "We have
been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all" (10:10). It was brought about through the blood of
Christ--Who, "that He might sanctify the people through His own
blood, suffered without the gate" (13:12). Christ's shed blood is
called "the blood of the covenant wherewith one was sanctified."
In Ch. 10:29, we see that this separation to God could wholly be
abandoned by apostasy--by "counting the blood a 'common thing.'"
In Ch. 12:14 we see that this separation to God, accomplished by
the blood shed for us, and trusted in, was to be persisted in,
not apostatized from.
3. In 1 Thess. 5:23 we read, "And the God of peace Himself
sanctify you wholly." This refers to the work of the Holy Spirit
in a believer, by which the life and walk become separated and
devoted to God. It is this passage that "Holiness" people
constantly emphasize, and rightly! But we must not be ignorant of
that sanctification which is true of all believers, of all "in
Christ," that of 1 Cor. 1:2. Nor must we be intolerant of degrees
of devotion short of 1 Thess. 5:23. Let us not, also, base our
assurance of "holiness" upon some "experience" we have had, but
rather upon the fact that all in Christ were sanctified (as said
in paragraph No. 2), and have the Holy Spirit, and are asked to
yield to Him! to be "filled" by Him!
Howbeit, in 1 Corinthians 1:30, it is used in its
fundamental sense, which must be attended to by all who would
receive, the gospel as given by God: "Of Him (God) are ye who are
in Christ Jesus, Who was made unto us wisdom from God: (which
included three things
righteousness and sanctification, and
redemption.
We must remember our Lord's prayer in John 17:19: "For their
sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be
sanctified in truth." It is evident that our Lord's
"Sanctifying" Himself could not signify any moral or spiritual
change in Himself, but rather a setting Himself apart to the task
that was before His mind, even the Procuring of our being
separated, handed over, to God, through Christ's sacrifice. God
made Christ "to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him." In Christ we have been cut off (at
the Cross) from the world, and belong in Heaven! He said, "They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
Again, let us observe, that "sanctification" or holiness in
such texts as Romans 6:19, 22; 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4, 7; 1
Timothy 2:15, does not refer to making the believer any more a
"new creature" than when he first believed, when he was
"sanctified in Christ Jesus." But it does refer to that result of
surrender to the operation of the indwelling Spirit by which He
takes charge of our conscious faculties. It is written to
believers, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." For upon and in connection
with this marvelous operation called "sanctification of the
Spirit" (2 Thess. 2:13), the Spirit Himself indwells those
"created in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:10). This "sanctification of
the Spirit" refers to the whole work of the Holy Spirit in us, in
accordance with the fact that we died with Christ, and are now in
the Risen Christ (Rom. 6:8-11). it is the "renewing" referred to
in such passages in Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10;
Titus 3:5. It is accomplished by the Spirit through the Word,
Ephesians 5:26: "That He might sanctify it (the Church, vs. 25),
having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word."
"Sanctification" in this aspect becomes a Conscious state in the
believer, a complete change in our conscious faculties, as is
described in Philippians 4:7: "The peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in
Christ Jesus"; or Colossians 3:17: "Whatsoever ye do, in word or
in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the Father through Him."
* While on the one hand we must guard against any thought
that the flesh is changed, or that our bodies are to be trusted;
yet, on the other hand, we must either accept the fact that God
takes complete charge of us, or deny these, His plain words, and
such testimonies as Paul's: "To me to live is Christ." How sane
is his word, also: "For I know nothing against myself; yet am I
not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord."
The "holiness" people (dear Saints, and none of them
modernists!) Make "a clean heart," which as we have seen, is
taught in the N.T. (1 Tim. 1:5; Acts 15:8-9), to be "eradication
of the sinful principle from _the _flesh"--which is tragic error.
The "flesh" will be with us till we get our new bodies. Paul
could have "walked after the flesh," for the flesh was present
with him; but he did not! instead, he says, "Thanks be unto God,
who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ" (2 Cor. 2:14).
--Sanctification, without which no man shall see the Lord:
We are made to tremble (as we ought to tremble) many times in
this book of Hebrews; and here again. Shall we say that none but
those who have followed on unto entire control by the Spirit of
God shall see the Lord? No, for although this warning is most
solemn, connected as it is with the exhortation to look carefully
(vs. 15) concerning some who might come eternally short of
salvation, yet it must be connected with those Scriptures which
reveal the infinite reach of Divine grace! As for example, the
passage about the incestuous man of 1 Corinthians 5; or those of
1 Corinthians 11 who, partaking of the Lord's Supper in
carelessness or ignorance, had been chastened unto physical
illness and even death (1 Cor. 11:30), that they might not "be
condemned with the world"! (vs. 32).
Yet on the other hand, we must not miss the truth that there
is that sanctification which all true Saints yearn after, and in
their measure "pursue." John in his first epistle says,
"Whosoever is begotten of God doth not practice sin, because His
(God's) seed abideth in Him; and he cannot practice sin, because
he is begotten of God."
Again, in Hebrews 12:14, do not confuse the sanctification
with our pursuing it. God does not say that no man shall see the
Lord except those who have pursued sanctification (do we not all
feel that we have pursued it too feebly?) But He does say that no
man without that sanctification shall see the Lord.
Verses 15, 16: looking carefully lest there be any man that
falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled; lest
there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one
mess of meat sold his own birthright. These verses are directed
to all the Assembly, but especially to those, as in Chapter
13:17, who "had the rule over them," and "watched in behalf of their souls."
These were to watch for four kinds of troublers:
1. Lest (there should be) any man that falleth short of the
grace of God.
2. Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.
3. Lest (there should be) any fornicator.
4. Lest there be any profane person.
On reading this, our hearts sink within us as we contemplate
the churches today, for who is ready to observe these so
searching directions of the holy apostle?
1. First, then, Lest there be any man among professed
believers that really was falling short of or (literally in the
Greek) falling back from the grace of God. What sort of person is
this, and how does he fall short of the grace of God? Westcott
insists, "The construction marks a falling back from that with
which some connection exists, implying a moral separation. The
present participle describes a continuous state and not a single
defection." This agrees with that fatal "falling away" of Chapter
6:6--after "tasting." Is it not also suggested in Paul's plea in
2 Corinthians 6:1: "And working together with God we entreat also
that ye receive not the grace of God in vain"--through neglect or
sloth falling back from it? Chrysostom says, "The image is taken
from a company of travelers, one of whom lags behind, and so
never reaches the end of the long and laborious journey."
We remember how the rocky-ground hearers of our Lord's
parable at first eagerly responded. The seed sprang immediately
up, but there was little soil and unbroken rock beneath; and the
Lord said, "These have no root, who for awhile believe, and in
time of temptation fall away" (Lk. 8:13). How solemn is the use
of this word "fall" in the book of Hebrews! First, Chapter 3:12,
"Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you
an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the Living God."
Then Chapter 6:6: "tasting," and then "falling away"--impossible
to "renew," because "rejected" of God!
Then Chapter 4:11 "Give diligence to enter into that rest,
that no man fall after the same example of disobedience."
Next, Chapter 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the Living God"!
