Health and Sanctification Pt.1

Growth in the Christian life to true godliness is called sanctification. We are being sanctified or renewed into the image of Christ as we go from strength to strength in “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Through the process of sanctification the Lord desires to restore us completely. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 KJV.

As the Holy Spirit seeks to dwell within our hearts and minds, He will teach us daily how to conform all of our ways according to the Scriptures. “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” 2 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” John 16:13 KJV.

With the understanding that the Holy Spirit must abide in us, we must then keep our temple, which is our body, in a state that the Holy Spirit will find acceptable; and this is our reasonable service or duty. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV. “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. Romans 12:1 KJV.

As stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, sanctification involves our whole being; the physical, mental and spiritual. In this month’s issue of The Healthy Christian, we will be looking at sanctification from the perspective of our physical nature. How does the Lord intend to keep us blameless or perfect physically?

Sanctification through the Statutes and Commandments

With the Ten Commandments containing the broad principles that govern life, the Lord has given us various statutes, which are more specific. Some of these statutes concern the operations of the sanctuary (Numbers 18:23), civil matters (Numbers 30:16) and also our health. Let us explore some of God’s statutes on health in relation to the sanctification of our body.

The Lord instructs us through Moses, “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 20:7. Holiness means to be perfectly pure; and the Lord gives the principle that we should not corrupt ourselves by eating things, such as creeping things or decaying animals. “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” “And ye shall be holy men unto Me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.” Leviticus 11:44 KJV, Exodus 22:31 KJV.

These instructions are some of God’s statutes through which He desires to sanctify us or make us holy men and women. “And ye shall keep My statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you.” Leviticus 20:8 KJV. The Lord also counsels us, “Do not drink wine nor strong drink…it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:” Leviticus 10:9. For another witness, we read how the Lord gave Israel statutes concerning their diet at the time, that they should avoid eating the fat and blood of animals.“It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.”Leviticus 3:17 KJV. Animal fat, which we call grease, will clog our blood vessels resulting in high blood pressure and premature death. The blood of animals will also poison our blood causing cancers throughout the body. Likewise He gave them statutes concerning hygiene (Numbers 19:21).

These statues, through which the Lord sanctifies our body and mind, are called the statutes of life (Ezekiel 33:15) or the laws of health; and should we obey them as the Ten Commandments, we will not become ill and the Lord will lengthen our days. He counsels us, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” “And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.” Exodus 15:26 KJV. 1 Kings 3:14 KJV. Longevity is obtained only through careful attention to the laws of health and the Commandments.

The Lord joins the commandments with the statutes because the statutes are an extension of the commandments. An example of this is the sixth commandment, which states, “Thou shalt not kill.”- neither others nor oneself. To violate the statutes of life is to transgress the Law because in so doing one will be weakening his body and could possible cause his premature death. Sin and death entered the world because the Law of God was broken in Eden. Adam and Eve transgressed the sixth commandment by eating what God had commanded them not to eat.

We must understand that sin came into the world through intemperance. It was not the literal adultery, stealing or bowing down to graven images that brought sin into the world, it was intemperance; eating that which was clearly forbidden. Therefore all species of intemperance is a transgression of the Moral Law and until this point is well understood by the people of God then we will not grow in the Christian life or be sanctified as the Lord would have us to be. Peter gives us the ladder of sanctification, a part of which is the principle of temperance, because it is necessary in order for us to have a clear understanding of what true godliness entails. “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;” “And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;” 2 Peter 1:5-6 KJV.

“God’s people are to learn the meaning of temperance in all things. All self-indulgence is to be cut away from their lives. Before they can really understand the meaning of true sanctification and of conformity to the will of Christ, they must, by co-operating with God, obtain the mastery over wrong habits and practices.” Child Guidance 396.3.

“He [God] tells us that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost; and He requires us to take care of this temple, that it may be a fit habitation for His Spirit. The apostle Paul gives us this admonition: “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” [1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.] All should be very careful to preserve the body in the best condition of health, that they may render to God perfect service, and do their duty in the family and in society. It is truly a sin to violate the laws of our being as it is to break the Ten Commandments. To do either is to break God’s laws. Those who transgress the law of God in their physical organism, will be inclined to violate the law of God spoken from Sinai.” – Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene 52.3, 53.1. 

The Lord promises rich blessings to those who keep all His Commandments and Statutes, and they will be enriched in this life and also secure their future immortal glory. “If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them;” “Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” Leviticus 26:3-4 KJV. I pray the Lord continues to bless you richly with His Spirit.