“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”
1 Peter 3:15, NKJV
I would imagine that for most believers, when we hear the word ‘sanctify,’ we tend to think about how the Lord sanctifies us. So what does it mean when the Apostle Peter gives direction to us to ‘sanctify the Lord God in our hearts‘? I know that when I began to look into this verse and came to grasp what it was telling me, it truly changed the way I related to and walked with the Lord.
Defining the Terms
When I study a passage, I find it helpful to look deeper into the actual meanings of the original Greek / Hebrew words. Oftentimes some of the nuances get lost in translation. The primary word in this passage for the purpose here is the one translated as ‘sanctify.’ This Greek word is hagiazō. 1 One Greek lexicon defines this word as referring to “hallow or sanctify…stands in contrast to defiled or common…” 2 Another lexicon adds, “declare sacred or holy, consecrate…acknowledge to be venerable, to hallow.” 3
As stated in the intro, God is the One Who does the sanctifying. He alone has the ability, authority, character, and holiness to sanctify anyone; it is from Him alone that sanctification and holiness comes from. So then, how do we sanctify the Lord God in our hearts?
The Context
As with all Scripture, the key to proper understanding is controlled by the context in which we find the passage. In order to understand what the Apostle Peter is trying to communicate to believer’s in this verse, we need to look at the surrounding verses for the context. In this case, I believe we need only look at 6 verses:
“And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit”
1 Peter 3:13-18 NKJV
From the context quoted above, it seems clear that the primary theme in these verses is the suffering of the believer. I realize that verse 15, our particular focus of the study, is often used in Apologetics 4 in order to show the need and validity of the discipline. While apologetics are certainly needed and biblical, this is not the purpose of this text when it commands us to ‘always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.’
What it Means to Us
This passage is framed in the context of suffering. The book-ends, if you will, begin with our suffering and end with the example of Christ’s sufferings. In the middle of our focus verse, 1 Peter 3:15, we find two basic commands to all believers. They are:
* Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts
* Always be ready to give a defense for your hope
How do we sanctify the Lord God in our hearts?
I think the basic idea here is that we understand and firmly establish that God is Holy. He is Righteous. He is without sin and is not chargeable with any wrong-doing. As the passage states, even ‘if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good,’ that we still cannot become hostile towards God. This however, is our human nature. When we feel pain or go through hard times, we want someone to blame. If there are no earthly scapegoats that we can hold responsible then surely God is responsible. We then direct our ire and outrage towards Him. I propose that this happens because we have not truly sanctified the Lord God in our hearts.
If I may digress for a moment, I believe this is a product of our selfish human nature that has been compounded in our self-centered culture. Many of us as professing believers are more concerned with reading the overabundance of Bible Promise Books for Believers, instead of reading to understand what our responsibilities are towards God. It has become more about what God is supposed to be doing for me than what I am supposed to be doing for Him, His Kingdom, and His Glory…even if that means our deep and personal suffering.
Another difficulty we may have in truly and fully sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts is our doctrine. One take-away from the story of Job is that Job, his three counselors/friends, and Job’s wife came face to face in a head-on collision with their theology as pertaining to the relationship between God and the reality of personal suffering. Job is widely regarded as the oldest / first written Book of the Bible. The popular belief is that the Book of Job may have been set in the time period of Abraham and the patriarchs. This is significant because this was prior to any known Divine Laws being given (e.g. The 10 Commandments, or Levitical Laws). So this meant that what was known about God or believed about God was formed from oral traditions or personally developed doctrines.
One thing that we can discern regarding what Job, his wife, and his three friends held dear doctrinally speaking is something called Retribution Theology. 5 The basic tenants of this doctrine include: (a) if a person does well – God will bless and reward him, and (b) if a person does bad – God will punish and do him harm. Likewise, if someone was blessed and had health and wealth – they were obviously righteous, and if someone was sick or bad things happened to them, they were presumed to be evil-doers and God was cursing them.
Not only do the human characters in this story believe this, but Satan, the great Accuser, even goes so far as to challenge God that Job only loves Him because of His divine protection and blessings. He further accuses that Job will curse God to His face if he is allowed to suffer enough. 6 The rest of the Book of Job is a real-life struggle with this theology. It is a battle that each of us will likely face if we live long enough. It is a battle we encounter when our theology, what we believe about God, does not seem to line up with what we are going through. I do not think that it is a mere coincidence that the Book of Job was the first written–as it deals with this very basic struggle in our walk with God. The only way to guard against failing in these seasons of pain and turmoil, is by completely, once and for all, sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts. We must resolve that no matter what storms descend upon us, no matter what pain or grief we feel, that God is sanctified in our hearts and mind. He is not chargeable with sin or any shade of gray; He is utterly Holy and blameless.
When we are in the midst of trials and tribulations, one practical way to accomplish this is to refrain from asking and dwelling on, ‘Why me God?’ Instead, we should be asking, ‘How can you use this, Lord?’ I believe asking the first question, ‘Why?’ can only set us up for failure. It presumes already that God is subject to us and owes us an answer. As a child…I despised it when I would ask a parent, adult, or other authority figure, ‘Why?’ and just get, ‘Because I said so.’ All that would do for me is make me angry, bitter, and then I would have to assign them whatever motive my fleshly wrath attributed to them. Again, the ‘Why me God?’ question is self-centered. It is only concerned with how an event affects us as individuals.
If we have truly sanctified the Lord God in our hearts, then our eyes will be firmly fixed on Him. Our question will be coming from a place of reverent submission and asking the Lord, ‘How can You use this trial, this suffering, this tragedy Lord? What would you have me do in this situation Lord?’ Additionally, as Peter points out in the passage, Jesus and His suffering on the cross is our example to follow. He was truly the only person Who was born without sin, lived without sin, and did not deserve death. Yet…the Father used the greatest injustice of all eternity to save mankind. If God can use the sufferings of Jesus, surely He can use ours. Our focus must be on where God is working, instead of where we think He is not working (i.e. fixing our problems, curing our ills, and healing our pains).
What does it mean to give a reason for the hope that is in us?
To restate, I do not believe the context supports the idea of apologetics here. Instead, the plain meaning is that when you and I are going through the storms of life and the sufferings we experience, we are always to be ready to give a defense or reason for the hope that we still have. The truth is, anyone can praise God and flaunt their Christianity when they have health, wealth, and general prosperity…but the challenge for real believers is to have the Lord so firmly sanctified in their hearts, that even in their darkest grief they can still testify to their hope, faith, and resolve in God. For a firmly rooted believer, there is no loss, no tragedy, no death, no famine, no disease, no trial, nothing that will separate us from our faith and hope in Jesus.
Our Take-Aways
- One Bible promise we should be focused on is we will suffer as believers. 2 Timothy 3:12 reads, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 7 There are many other passages that promise believers will suffer 8 We need to be prepared when those trials come. We need be settled and have it resolved to (a) sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and (b) even in the midst of the trial, be ready to give a reason for the hope we have.
- How you and I respond to trials (what we say and do in reference to our faith in Christ) may very well reveal at least one reason we are going through the trial. I have found that the trials and suffering in my life have served as spiritual x-rays. They have often shown me what was deeply rooted in my heart that I was not actively aware of. Jesus once spoke that “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…” 9 This is one way the Lord can help us realize that we have an issue that needs attention. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. 10
- The hope that you and I should have is not referring to God removing problems from our life. The hope that we have is that our God is Good. He is Holy. He is Just. Our hope is not that we will have a pain-free, tear-free, struggle-free earthly life…rather our hope is that we do have a pain-free, tear-free, struggle-free eternal life waiting for us. Our sufferings in this world, no matter how great, will only be temporary; we have already been saved from the eternal suffering in Hell if we are truly saved.
- Additionally, our hope and confidence is that “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” 11 This verse does not say that all things that happen are good; our life experiences would also agree. What this verse does say is that all things will work together for good…to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Isolated events will not likely make sense to us, nor will we likely be able to see good coming from most of the bad ones. Yet our hope is that God will be able to use all things together for good. However, we may only be able to see that possibility if we truly love God and have sanctified Him in our hearts. We must realize that all things are about His plan and purpose, and not ours.
- One last take-away comes in the way of biblical examples of people in Scripture that did not sanctify the Lord God in their hearts and minds. This example relates to both Moses and Aaron. Notice what the Word of God states:
“And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”
Numbers 20:12, KJV
Because Moses and Aaron did not sanctify the Lord, they were never allowed to enter the Promised Land. 12 It makes me wonder, ‘what could the consequences be for me and others if I do not sanctify the Lord in my heart?’
Article Footnotes- https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G37&t=KJV [↩]
- #37, Greek Lexicon in the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, (AMG International:1991) [↩]
- Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G37&t=KJV [↩]
- Apologetics refers to the Christian discipline of defending the Christian faith including the Bible, creation, doctrines, etc., against attacks from cults, non-believers, science falsely so-called, etc.[↩]
- for a deeper study on this topic, check out https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Retribution[↩]
- See Job 1 & 2[↩]
- NKJV[↩]
- see Matthew 5:10-13; 10:22-25; Mark 10:30; Luke 14:27; John 15:19-21; 16:2,33; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:3,4; 1 Peter 4:12; etc.[↩]
- Matthew 15:18, NKJV[↩]
- Hebrews 12:2[↩]
- Romans 8:28[↩]
- See also Numbers 27:14[↩]