Ephesians 5:25-27 English Standard Version

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^[a]

Footnotes ^[a] Or holy and blameless

While this verse encourages husbands to love their wives it is Christ who sanctifies His bride not eh husband sanctifying his own wife. We must remember now earlier lessons about eh movement of water being a sign being a movement of the Holy Spirit. We are cleansed by the movement of the Holy Spirit within God’s Holy Word.

Sanctify here is hagiazo in the Greek meaning “to hallow, sanctify,” in the Passive Voice, “to be made holy, be sanctified,” is translated “let him be made holy” in Rev 22:11, the aorist or point tense expressing the definiteness and completeness of the Divine act; elsewhere it is rendered by the verb “to sanctify.” Ref. Vine’s Expository Dictionary

That is a divine act of God and not just a declarative state. This is different from a declarative state in which there is no change in the recipient such as justification. Justification is a judicial decree which recognizes the Judge’s declaration without regard to the condition of the defendant. The guilty is set free whereas sanctification in this case is an alteration of the configuration of the subject.

The big picture looks like this. What you did without Jesus in your life does not matter but what you do with Jesus in your life does matter. A sinner cannot cast any dispersion upon Jesus. A saint on the other hand will always be judged by the world in connection to their declared faith in Christ. How we act says to the world of lost sinners what Jesus can do to change their lives. If He hasn’t changed our lives then there is no hope for the lost sinner.

Ephesians 3:17-19 English Standard Version

¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

I will routinely receive software upgrades to my computer and phone. They are compatible with the system I am running and make it run better and safer. The upgrades are sent by the authors of those systems.

Hebrews 1:2 English Standard Version (ESV) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Our creator has been appointed heir to the Kingdom and as such sends us software upgrades to improve performance and security. It is His system and He is the only authorized software dealer.

Like any system operator we must click on the link to install the updates. Just like my PC or phone, I might be using it at the time and want to put off the upgrades until I find a convenient time.

Considering that His timing is always perfect, putting off software upgrades might not be in our best interest. He does all things with purpose and that purpose will always be to improve our performance and security.

Do not neglect our personal studies. Yes we can learn much in group studies but it is those personal studies of His Word that our heart conditions are upgraded and performance is improved.

Taking care of ourselves is what makes us helpful to others.