Wholistic Living: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23, NASB).

Those that want to live for Jesus Christ are required to have their entire life controlled by Him. When I speak of wholistic living I mean that we cannot separate the parts of our being, namely spirit, soul, and body. When we come to Jesus we do not come saying Jesus I give you my spirit, but I will keep my soul and my body for myself. Yet, this is exactly what a lot of Christians do. They offer Jesus a part of themselves and retain for themselves other parts of the self. In addition, some believe that it is acceptable to offer themselves at specific times while retaining other times for their own desires and pleasures. For example, I give you my service in church services on Sunday, but I will enjoy the world’s pleasures the other six days of the week. In this article I want to examine what wholistic living means and its implications for how the Christian ought to conduct their life all the time; that is twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. But before I begin I want to clear up the difference between the spellings “wholistic’ and “holistic.”

I Google both spellings and I find that there are considerable differences about the correct spelling of the words and the differences that each spelling implies. Some people view these words as being interchangeable. After reading several explanations and debates, I come across this explanation. “In some academic fields (sociology, psychology, education), wholistic is used to refer to the idea of addressing all the parts of something simultaneously as in “the whole thing.” Holistic (or holism) refers to the idea that the whole is more than just the sum of the parts.” This explanation is the guiding principle that I am using in writing this article. It seems to me that this definition agrees with what I believe the apostle Paul is saying to the church at Thessalonica. With this in mind let us return to the teaching that Paul is giving to the church and by extension to Christians today.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:1 Paul begins by assuring the church that Jesus will return. His exact day of returning is uncertain and unknown. His return will be surprising and unexpected. Just when people think that the world’s problems have been solved Jesus will return without a warning that the world recognizes. Paul writes, “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While some are saying “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape” (5:2-3, NASB).

After the apostle completes his assurance of the Lord’s return Paul begins to give instructions on how Christians and the church ought to live as they expectantly wait on the Lord’s return. He gives instructions on how church members ought to respect their leaders (v. 12-13). He gives instructions on how the unruly ought to be disciplined and admonished as well as encouragement for the timid (v.14). He gives instructions on vengeance, and repaying evil with doing well (v.15). Beginning in verse sixteen Paul instructs the church to take positive actions that will lead to wholistic living. The entire church and its members are to conduct themselves so that the church is a bride that Jesus the groom will return to take unto Himself.

We will notice that verse twenty-three begins with the word “Now.” The word “now” indicates that Paul is about to make a concluding or summarized statement. Paul has been explaining different aspects of the Christian’s hope and expectation of the Lord’s return. As the church waits for His return their conduct ought to reflect their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe in Him and they are His disciples. In this conclusion Paul says that the Christian ought to give their whole life to Jesus all the time. Do not offer Jesus a part of yourselves; rather your entire being belongs to Jesus. Now, I ask this question: Do Christians offer themselves entirely to Jesus? Let us take a serious look at this question.

Let me begin by saying this: First, I have been physically active my entire life. I was raised on the farm and disciplined in the hard work that that the farm requires. Secondly, I am a Registered Nurse (RN) and I have firsthand experience in seeing how the whole being affects the quality of one’s life. Thirdly, as long as I can remember my parents took their children to church. Now considering the fact that we lived and worked on the farm it was not necessary that we place much emphasis on keeping our bodies physically fit. At the same time however, my mother did emphasize the need for eating a healthy diet even though there were times when we could not afford the foods that mom desired that we eat. We were taught how to keep ourselves out of trouble and to do the right things in our play, study, school, and church. As a growing child it never occurred to me that my parents were teaching my brothers and sisters and me to engage ourselves in wholistic living. I hope that you are seeing that wholistic living is taking care of ourselves entirely; including the spirit, the soul, and the body as a way of life. I believe that this is a subject that the church needs to address. These are some reasons.

First, there are too many Christians that are eager to display their spiritual gifts. Unfortunately, while we admire people with certain spiritual gifts, too often we downplay or ignore the call to live by the Spirit. We put more emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit than we do on the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).You see, when we live according to the Spirit on a regular basics the things of the Spirit begin to permeate our own spirit. We learn to love with the results that we have joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These qualities determine how we conduct ourselves as we interact with our brothers and sisters in Christ and extend to those not yet a part of the body of Jesus Christ. Thus, we are to be sanctified in our spirit.

We are to be sanctified in our soul. The soul refers to the seat of the will and purpose. Our soul begins with the mind—what we think. We must surrender our will to the will of God. Our sinful nature demands that we determine to live for ourselves instead of for the benefits of others. We are to allow the Spirit of the Lord to change and mold our will and purpose to the will and purpose of God. Like Jesus we pray as Jesus prayed, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Lk. 22:42, NASB).

I mentioned above that my parents taught their children to do what they believed to be right. They lived what they believed, and they did their best to teach their children to do the same things that they did. Today, there is this belief that parents should not try to persuade and mold their children in developing values, morals, and beliefs. Instead, these people believe that it is better that the child be exposed to a multitude of ideas and behaviors. The child should be allowed to choose what they will believe and how they will live. This idea runs counter to the words in scripture. “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6, NASB). Parents are responsible to help develop the mind and the will of their children.

The body is the third part of our life that must be sanctified by God. Now, in the church this is a real sensitive area. It is one that is downplayed, not talked about, and even denied to be important. So, let us think about this. The book of Leviticus gives instructions that the community is to live by so that the people will be healthy, strong, disease free, so that the community can be productive. Do we use the instructions in this book as a guideline for living? The answer is a strong “No.” It is taught in many churches that Christians do not need to obey the law; we do not live by the Law. Is this what the Bible really says? Paul tells us that we do not need to live by the Law in regards to our salvation. Paul teaches us that we are justified by God through faith (Rom. 5:1). This means that we cannot do good works so that we are reconciled to God.

Paul says, “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20, NASB). Paul is talking about the “ceremonial law” that deals with the keeping of holy days and the sacrificial system—the sacrifice of animals to atone for sin. The writer of Hebrews tells us that these sacrifices are not sufficient to atone for our sins. In Hebrews 8-9 the writer describes the old covenant. In chapter ten the writer tells us that Jesus is the One; the sacrifice offered once for sins. Thus, the idea that we are not saved from sin by the Law is true, but the book of Leviticus is more than a book about justification with God

In Leviticus, the people are called to be holy. This means that they are to be different from the peoples of the nations around them. They are to be a demonstration that God is God alone. God loves His people and He gives them laws to live by that set them apart from the other nations. In regards to their body; their overall health and well-being the people will be blessed and prosper. The word “prosper” means that they will be successful in accomplishing the things that God has given them to do. “Deuteronomy 28:1-14 describes the many ways that the people will be blessed if they obey the laws that the Lord gives to them. Deuteronomy 28:15- 68 describes the curses that will come upon the people if they do not obey the laws. These include curses that come upon the body; the life of the people. Thus, Paul’s message is one that emphasizes justification by faith as a means to reconciliation with God because of sin. This does not eliminate the need for us to take care of our bodies.

As a Registered Nurse (RN) I have seen how the spirit, soul, and the body work together for the sake of the whole person. For example: The man’s leg is broken. He experiences pain. The pain causes anxiety which in return increases the pain. Unable to walk and carry out normal activities the man becomes depressed. Depression affects the spirit. God is the “God of peace” (v. 23). Peace is the opposite of war. War brings calamity and destruction. Peace is happiness and well being. Paul prays that the Lord will sanctify us in spirit, soul, and body. He prays that the Lord will give us wholistic living.