2. The Meaning of Sanctification - Enter His Rest

eing manifested in one respect by a continuous repetition of confession of sin and
prayers for forgiveness. Millions of Christians consider that no prayer is acceptable to
God unless it contains both these elements; whereas the fact is that a confession of sin
which a person does not sincerely realize is a sin in itself. This repetition has permeated
the whole religious life of a vast section of Christendom. People pray repeatedly
thousands of times for forgiveness without ever being conscious of sin or sure of
forgiveness. This same tradition of repetition has recently sought to force itself upon the
interpretation of the text in Romans 12:1: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service." We are told that this consecration is an act of worship
which is to be repeated over and over ten thousand times, just as often as we have
occasion to remember it. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that this consecration is
said to be “your reasonable service,” which might be translated “your rational or spiritual
worship.” The Greek word here is latreia, which originally meant “to serve for hire”; as a
noun it is translated “service” everywhere in the New Testament. The verb is generally
translated “to serve,” although it is rendered “worship” in four places. In the present text
the reference is not to occasionally interrupted and repeated acts of worship, but to the
continuous ritual of the Temple.
This ritual did not consist of occasional or seasonal ceremonies, like the convening of
modern assemblies, but was carried on continuously from age to age, as long as the
Temple stood.
In the spiritual temple, of which the earthly Temple was a type, all Christians are priests:
“And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father” (Rev. 1:6); “Ye .. . are . . .
an holy priesthood” (I Pet. 2:5); “A royal priesthood” (vs. 9). These priests do not merely
visit the spiritual temple occasionally; they “serve him day and night in his temple” (Rev.
7:15). In other words, the worship of the Christian is not merely something he takes up
once a week or once a month; it is a continuous service of his life. He worships God in
spirit and in truth continually, not occasionally.
Paul expressed it “instantly serving [latreuo] God day and night” (Acts 26:7).
Now the noblest duty, the most important act, of the priest is to offer himself, that is,
present his body; and the verb used here is in the aorist tense, which indicates an act
which is completed at one time. The same language is used in Romans 6:13 where
Christians are exhorted to “yield yourselves unto God, as those who are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Here the aorist tense
indicates completed life and death consecration. The verb here is the same as the one
translated “present” in Romans 12:1. And the meaning of the tense is very beautifully
brought out if we observe that the yielding to unrighteousness is in the present tense and
the yielding to God in the aorist tense, so that we might read: “Neither repeatedly yield ye
your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but once for all yield
yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead.” In other words, most people
keep on repeating their acts of sin even though they express a desire for reformation. This
course Paul forbids and commands a once-for-all, life-and-death consecration. We notice
the same idea in I Peter 2:5, where “to offer up spiritual sacrifices” is in the aorist and
signifies sacrifices made once for all. However, there are sacrifices which the Christian
offers repeatedly, for example, “the sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15).
There the verb is in the present tense. We are commanded: “To do good and to
communicate forget not” (verse 16). “Forget not” is in the present tense, indicating
continuous repetition. Likewise the “well pleased” of the Father. Support of this
interpretation is found in the opinion of Dean Henry Alford, formerly dean of Canterbury
and a famous commentator, who writes on I Peter 2:5: “ . . . to offer up (no habitual