Page 575 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

SANCTUARY - SAPPHIRA

set apart as holy and acceptable by prayer (1 Ti. 4:5). SANHEDRIN (council chamber). The supreme
The believer is to sanctify God in his heart in the sense council of the Jewish people in the time of Christ and
of setting God apart as first in his thoughts and earlier. THE ORIGIN OF THIS ASSEMBLY is traced in
affections (1 Pe. 3:15). Thus, to sanctify, or to make the Mishna to the seventy elders whom Moses was
holy, does not mean to purify or to make morally directed to associate with him in the government of the
sinless; it means to set apart something for God and for Israelites (Nu. 11:16, 17); but this tribunal was
His pure service. The essence of holiness is separation. probably temporary, and did not continue to exist after
In relation to the Christian, sanctification or holiness the Israelites had entered Palestine. In the lack of
refers to being set apart to God from sin. There are definite historical information as to the establishment of
three distinctly different aspects of this sanctification: the Sanhedrin, it can only be said in general that the
past, present, and future. Every Christian can say, “I Greek etymology of the name seems to point to a period
have been sanctified; I am being sanctified; I will yet be subsequent to the Macedonian supremacy in Palestine.
sanctified.” Past Sanctification means the believer is From the few incidental notices in the N.T., we gather
already positionally set apart in Christ (Ac. 20:32; 1 Co. that it consisted of chief priests, or the heads of the
1:2, 30; 6:9-11; He. 10:10, 14). At the new birth, the twenty-four classes into which the priests were divided,
believer is eternally sanctified in Christ, is brought from elders, men of age and experience, and scribes, lawyers,
the power of the devil into the family of God (Jn. 1:14; or those learned in the Jewish law (Mt. 26:57,59; Mk.
Ga. 4:4-6), from the devil’s kingdom into Christ’s 15:1; Lk. 22:66; Ac. 5:21). THE NUMBER OF MEMBERS
kingdom (Col. 1:12, 13); from the old creation into the is usually given as 71. The president of this body was
new creation (2 Co. 5:17). This sanctification is an styled nasi, and was chosen on account of his eminence
eternal reality and is based on a new spiritual position in worth and wisdom. Often, if not generally, this pre-
the Christian has in Jesus Christ. The Corinthian eminence was accorded to the high priest. The vice-
believers were far from sinless, yet they were called president, called in the Talmud ‘father of the house of
saints and were said to have been sanctified (1 Co. 1:2, judgment,’ sat at the right hand of the president. ...
30). In this sense, the Christian can say, “I AM sanctified While in session the Sanhedrin sat in the form of a half-
in Christ.” Present Sanctification is the process by which circle. THE PLACE IN WHICH THE SESSIONS OF THE
the Holy Spirit gradually changes the believer’s life to SANHEDRIN WERE ORDINARILY HELD was, according
give victory over sin. This is practical sanctification. This to the Talmud, a hall called Gazzith, supposed by
is Christian growth: putting away sin and putting on Lightfoot to have been situated in the southeast corner
godliness (Ro. 6:19, 22; 1 Th. 4:3, 4; 1 Pe. 1:14-16). of one of the courts near the temple building. In special
The process of sanctification never ends in this life. The exigencies, however, it seems to have met in the
believer never comes to the place where he can say, “I residence of the high priest (Mt. 26:3). Forty years
have no sin” (1 Jn. 1:8-10). He must resist sin and before the destruction of Jerusalem, and consequently
continue the process of putting off the old man and while the Saviour was teaching in Palestine, the sessions
putting on the new man (Eph. 4:22-24) until he is taken of the Sanhedrin were removed from the hall Gazzith to
from this world at death or at the return of Christ. In a somewhat greater distance from the temple building,
this sense, the Christian can say, “I am BEING sanctified although still on Mount Moriah. After several other
by God’s power.” Future Sanctification is the perfection changes, its seat was finally established at Tiberias,
the believer will attain at the resurrection (1 Th. 5:23). where it became extinct A.D. 425. As a judicial body the
At Christ’s coming, every believer will receive a new Sanhedrin constituted a supreme court, to which
body that will have no sin. The Christian will no longer belonged in the first instance the trial of error and
have to resist sin within or to grow toward perfection. deceivers of the people. From Ac. 9:2 it appears that the
His sanctification will be complete. He will be wholly Sanhedrin exercised a degree of authority beyond the
and forever set apart to God from sin. We must be limits of Palestine. The Talmud also mentions a lesser
careful not to confuse these different aspects of Sanhedrin of 23 members in every city in Palestine in
sanctification or holiness. [See Eternal Security, Grace, which were not less than 120 householders (Smith).
Gospel, Holy, Integrity, Justification, Saint, Seventh-day SANSANNAH (frequent purifying). Jos. 15:31.
Adventism, Upright.] SAPH (extended). 2 Sa. 21:18.
SANCTUARY. (1) Israel’s Tabernacle (Ex. 25:8). (2) SAPHIR (fair, delightful). Mi. 1:11.
Israel’s temple (1 Ch. 22:19). (3) A haven of refuge (Is.
8:14). (4) A place of heathen worship (Is. 16:12). (5) In SAPPHIRA (beautiful). The woman in the early
modern usage, the term “sanctuary” is also used to church who was killed with her husband because of
describe a church building or a place of Christian lying about what they gave in offering from the sale of
worship. [See Tabernacle, Temple.] their property (Ac. 5:1-10).

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity 575