BLJ: The postings for the next few days come from D.S. Corlett's booklet, "The ABCs of Holiness." The work, although small, is packed with valuable doctrinal truths.
THE NATURE OF SIN
The foundation for the doctrine and experience of entire sanctification is found in the nature of sin. Unless we have a clear understanding of the nature of sin we will never fully comprehend the doctrine of holiness.
1. What is the nature of sin?
Sin is twofold in its nature; namely, sin a principle of evil within the nature of man; and sin an outward act of disobedience or transgression of the law of God.
2. What is the natural state of man as he is born into this world?
Man is born in a state of innocency before God, but with a sinful nature that is prone to evil. "Were by nature the children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).
3. Is the individual responsible for this sinful nature in the sense that it brings guilt to his heart?
No, the individual is not responsible for this sinful nature, hence it cannot bring guilt to his heart. It is his misfortune as a member of the human race. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5).
4. How did this nature of sin enter the human race?
Sin entered the race through Adam and his rebellion against God. Adam because of his transgression was not only made a sinner, but he became sinful in his nature. Through Adam's act sin entered the life stream of the human race and it was henceforth the misfortune of all born into the race to inherit this nature of sin. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world [race]" (Romans 5:12). To be born human is to be born sinful.
5. How does this inherited sin affect the life of man?
His inner life is disordered with a proneness toward evil and he finds it easier to do wrong than to do right. "The children of men ... are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:2-3). "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3).
6. Is there not some positive element of righteousness naturally inherent in man which may be cultivated so that the individual may overcome or correct this inner proneness to evil?
There is no positive element of righteousness inherent in man, his whole being is tainted with this sinful nature so that he finds himself helpless to overcome or correct this inner disorder or proneness to evil. "There is none righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10). "For I know that in me dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18).
7. Is this nature of sin resident in the physical body of man?
No, this sinful nature is in the individual, not in the physical body. The body cannot sin independent of the individual, it is never the agent in committing sin. The individual is the agent and the body may be used as the instrument of sinning. "As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness" (Romans 6:19). Note it is the individual which yielded the members -- body and powers of soul. As a sinner the individual yielded his members as instruments of his sinning; when he became righteous he yielded those same members as servants or instruments of righteousness.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Is Holiness Imputed or Imparted?
BLJ: This is a very important topic. Is holiness imputed, that is you are not really holy, but God sees you as holy? Or is holiness imparted by the Holy Spirit so that you actually become holy.
Is personal holiness imparted or imputed by Christ?
We know of no imputed holiness. Christ imparts never imputes holiness. His righteousness never covers up a corrupt heart. He never apologizes for sin, nor throws a mantle over it. It is to be feared, many who are living in sin are cherishing the delusion that they "are complete to in Christ," through an imaginary imputed holiness, while they fail to seek personal righteousness in His cleansing blood. It is a pernicious Antinomian heresy to trust in Christ's imputed righteousness instead of seeking and receiving personal redemption through his blood. We must be made "partakers of his holiness." No man is saved by the credit of Christ's holiness, without personal holiness begotten in him by Christ; and Christ never accounts his people holy in law before he makes them holy in fact.
Holiness in man, wrought by the grace and power of Christ, is precisely the same as holiness in God. The same in kind -- the one is original, and the other is derived and inwrought by the Holy Ghost. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." God is both the model and source of all holiness.
Our perfection is in Christ, as the perfection of the branch is in the vine. Grace is derived from Christ only by a union with him, as the branch to the vine. "Christ in you the hope of glory," -- dwelling in us by the Holy Spirit, and sanctifying us by his blood. Christ atones, intercedes, and procures blessings for us, and of God is made unto us "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." Our holiness is no more confined to the person of Christ, than a sick person's health is to the physician who cures him; or than a starving beggar is full fed in the benefactor who supplies his wants. Through the blood, merit, and work of Christ the fully saved soul has personal sanctification, and is made holy.
Rev. Albert Barnes says: "By him we are sanctified, or made holy. This does not mean, that his personal holiness is reckoned to us, but that by his work applied to our hearts, we become personally sanctified or holy." -- Notes I Car. i. 30.
Is personal holiness imparted or imputed by Christ?
We know of no imputed holiness. Christ imparts never imputes holiness. His righteousness never covers up a corrupt heart. He never apologizes for sin, nor throws a mantle over it. It is to be feared, many who are living in sin are cherishing the delusion that they "are complete to in Christ," through an imaginary imputed holiness, while they fail to seek personal righteousness in His cleansing blood. It is a pernicious Antinomian heresy to trust in Christ's imputed righteousness instead of seeking and receiving personal redemption through his blood. We must be made "partakers of his holiness." No man is saved by the credit of Christ's holiness, without personal holiness begotten in him by Christ; and Christ never accounts his people holy in law before he makes them holy in fact.
Holiness in man, wrought by the grace and power of Christ, is precisely the same as holiness in God. The same in kind -- the one is original, and the other is derived and inwrought by the Holy Ghost. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." God is both the model and source of all holiness.
Our perfection is in Christ, as the perfection of the branch is in the vine. Grace is derived from Christ only by a union with him, as the branch to the vine. "Christ in you the hope of glory," -- dwelling in us by the Holy Spirit, and sanctifying us by his blood. Christ atones, intercedes, and procures blessings for us, and of God is made unto us "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." Our holiness is no more confined to the person of Christ, than a sick person's health is to the physician who cures him; or than a starving beggar is full fed in the benefactor who supplies his wants. Through the blood, merit, and work of Christ the fully saved soul has personal sanctification, and is made holy.
Rev. Albert Barnes says: "By him we are sanctified, or made holy. This does not mean, that his personal holiness is reckoned to us, but that by his work applied to our hearts, we become personally sanctified or holy." -- Notes I Car. i. 30.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Legal Versus Christian Perfection
BLJ: How can men and women be perfect before God? We need to know what is meant by Christian Perfection.
If the law is uncompromising in its claims, and the best Christian is defective, because of powers enfeebled by the fall, how can men be perfect?
Legal perfection is one thing, and evangelical Christian perfection is another.
1. Under the evangelical law of grace, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Although our powers are impaired by the fall, St. Paul says: What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit."
The fulfillment of the law was epitomized by our Saviour, -- "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with al thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself;" and, "On these two hang all the law and the prophets." Grace to observe this is provided, and promised in the Old Testament, -- "The Lord thy God will circumcise (purify) thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." (Deut. xxx. 6.)
2. No one is responsible for a deficiency of capacity, or for enfeebled powers which his own agency had no part in bringing about. God is just, and never inflicts penalty on any one for deficiency of capacity or power for which they are not responsible; nor does he require of any one services above what he can render by natural or graciously acquired ability. "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not."
3. God's plan of saving man is not by the law, not upon condition of faultless obedience to the law. We are saved "by grace through faith." The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ our Redeemer. Although the powers of the entirely sanctified are less than those of primitive man, having been impaired by the fall of Adam, and of necessity less than the law requires, yet he is accepted for Christ's sake; he always needing and always having, the merit of his death. He, the second Adam, is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." The entirely sanctified Christian is "complete in him," not only in respect inward purity, but also in his relations to the law. His merit pardons, his blood cleanses, and his atonement and intercession magnify the law, and answer as an equivalent to our unavoidable defects and deficiencies.
If the law is uncompromising in its claims, and the best Christian is defective, because of powers enfeebled by the fall, how can men be perfect?
Legal perfection is one thing, and evangelical Christian perfection is another.
1. Under the evangelical law of grace, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Although our powers are impaired by the fall, St. Paul says: What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit."
The fulfillment of the law was epitomized by our Saviour, -- "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with al thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself;" and, "On these two hang all the law and the prophets." Grace to observe this is provided, and promised in the Old Testament, -- "The Lord thy God will circumcise (purify) thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." (Deut. xxx. 6.)
2. No one is responsible for a deficiency of capacity, or for enfeebled powers which his own agency had no part in bringing about. God is just, and never inflicts penalty on any one for deficiency of capacity or power for which they are not responsible; nor does he require of any one services above what he can render by natural or graciously acquired ability. "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not."
3. God's plan of saving man is not by the law, not upon condition of faultless obedience to the law. We are saved "by grace through faith." The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ our Redeemer. Although the powers of the entirely sanctified are less than those of primitive man, having been impaired by the fall of Adam, and of necessity less than the law requires, yet he is accepted for Christ's sake; he always needing and always having, the merit of his death. He, the second Adam, is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." The entirely sanctified Christian is "complete in him," not only in respect inward purity, but also in his relations to the law. His merit pardons, his blood cleanses, and his atonement and intercession magnify the law, and answer as an equivalent to our unavoidable defects and deficiencies.
Monday, April 27, 2020
More Understanding the Nature of Entire Sanctification
BLJ: I have found that sometimes objections to the holiness doctrine is due to a lack of understanding what exactly do we mean when we say, "Christian Perfection." Today's lesson is about what is included when we use terms like holiness, Christian Perfection or Entire Sanctification.
What does the highest evangelical perfection include?
Under the economy of grace, the measure of man's responsibility and obedience is his actual ability, as a fallen and infirm being, and not the ability of an unfallen being. The commands, -- "To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and to "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect," are to be interpreted in harmony with this view; the Father being the human standard only in purity or holiness, and not in range of powers or natural perfections. The highest evangelical perfection embraces two things:
1st. A perfection of love, proportioned to the power of each individual.
2d. A steady progress in love harmonizing with our circumstances and increasing capacity and ability. Hence Christian perfection must be a relative and modified perfection, proportioned to the individual capacity and strength of the Christian.
To love the Lord with all our heart, is to love him to the extent of the powers and capacity we actually possess, no more, no less. To love him more than with all our heart -- beyond our power and capacity -- would be an absurdity; and to love him less than to the extent of our capacity and powers, our actual ability, would be short of the divine requirement.
Our Heavenly Father requires us to love him (with his assisting grace) as much as we can, to the extent of our actual ability. Perfect love is pure love filling the heart. That is all!
"What doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul." Man, by the grace of God, can do as well as he can. "He that does as well as he can does well; angels can do no better, and God requires no more."
In many things, the whole is easier of accomplishment than a part. Total abstinence is easier to an inebriate than partial reformation. Walking uprightly is easier than walking bent over. Normal and full action is easier than abnormal and restrained action. To love God with all the heart, is easier than to love him with a divided heart. A divided service, as well as a halfhearted service, is always a difficult service.
Let it be remembered, God does not require any more than we can actually do through grace. As we can give no more than our all, he requires no more. The divine requirement to love him with all our heart, is adapted to all periods and all intelligences; it is a claim of both Testaments, and binding under all dispensations.
If God requires according to what we have, and not according to what we have not, then all his requirements involve the practicability of their enjoined duties; and whatever lies beyond our assisted powers, can not become the contents of his command. That which we can not do, we cannot be under obligation to do, nor can we be blamed for not doing. It is an affirmation of reason, that responsibility is proportioned to ability, hence, the limit of duty is the limit of ability. To show that this is the correct view of this subject, we give a few learned authorities.
1. The learned Limborch: "For as much as God requires that we should love, not above, but with all our strength, it is evident that nothing exceeding our abilities is required at our hands." -- Limborch's Theologia, Book v. chap. 25.
2. The eloquent Episcopus, the successor of Arminius in the university of Leyden: "Whether a man, assisted by divine grace, can keep all the commands of God, even to a perfect fulfillment, I indeed have no doubt. My reasons are these:
(1) "God commands no other love than is rendered by the whole mind, the whole heart, and all the strength.
(2) "God promises that he will circumcise the heart of his people, that they may love him with their whole heart and mind.
(3) God himself testifies, that there have been those who have kept all his commands all the days of their life with their whole mind and heart and strength, and this in the sight of God -- as we read of Asa, 1 Kings xv. 14." -- Peck's Christian Perfection, p. 134.
3. Bishop Burnet on the thirty-nine articles says: "Christian perfection consists in this, that we love and fear God with all our heart. It is in this that true perfection consists."
4. Bishop Jeremy Taylor: "That it is possible to love God with all the heart, is folly to deny. For he that saith he cannot do a thing with all his strength, that is that he cannot do what he can do, knows not what he saith; and yet to do this is the highest measure and sublimity of perfection, and of keeping the commandments."
These authorities might be greatly extended, to show that Christian perfection is a perfection of love to God; in measure corresponding to the capacity of the soul.
What does the highest evangelical perfection include?
Under the economy of grace, the measure of man's responsibility and obedience is his actual ability, as a fallen and infirm being, and not the ability of an unfallen being. The commands, -- "To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and to "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect," are to be interpreted in harmony with this view; the Father being the human standard only in purity or holiness, and not in range of powers or natural perfections. The highest evangelical perfection embraces two things:
1st. A perfection of love, proportioned to the power of each individual.
2d. A steady progress in love harmonizing with our circumstances and increasing capacity and ability. Hence Christian perfection must be a relative and modified perfection, proportioned to the individual capacity and strength of the Christian.
To love the Lord with all our heart, is to love him to the extent of the powers and capacity we actually possess, no more, no less. To love him more than with all our heart -- beyond our power and capacity -- would be an absurdity; and to love him less than to the extent of our capacity and powers, our actual ability, would be short of the divine requirement.
Our Heavenly Father requires us to love him (with his assisting grace) as much as we can, to the extent of our actual ability. Perfect love is pure love filling the heart. That is all!
"What doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul." Man, by the grace of God, can do as well as he can. "He that does as well as he can does well; angels can do no better, and God requires no more."
In many things, the whole is easier of accomplishment than a part. Total abstinence is easier to an inebriate than partial reformation. Walking uprightly is easier than walking bent over. Normal and full action is easier than abnormal and restrained action. To love God with all the heart, is easier than to love him with a divided heart. A divided service, as well as a halfhearted service, is always a difficult service.
Let it be remembered, God does not require any more than we can actually do through grace. As we can give no more than our all, he requires no more. The divine requirement to love him with all our heart, is adapted to all periods and all intelligences; it is a claim of both Testaments, and binding under all dispensations.
If God requires according to what we have, and not according to what we have not, then all his requirements involve the practicability of their enjoined duties; and whatever lies beyond our assisted powers, can not become the contents of his command. That which we can not do, we cannot be under obligation to do, nor can we be blamed for not doing. It is an affirmation of reason, that responsibility is proportioned to ability, hence, the limit of duty is the limit of ability. To show that this is the correct view of this subject, we give a few learned authorities.
1. The learned Limborch: "For as much as God requires that we should love, not above, but with all our strength, it is evident that nothing exceeding our abilities is required at our hands." -- Limborch's Theologia, Book v. chap. 25.
2. The eloquent Episcopus, the successor of Arminius in the university of Leyden: "Whether a man, assisted by divine grace, can keep all the commands of God, even to a perfect fulfillment, I indeed have no doubt. My reasons are these:
(1) "God commands no other love than is rendered by the whole mind, the whole heart, and all the strength.
(2) "God promises that he will circumcise the heart of his people, that they may love him with their whole heart and mind.
(3) God himself testifies, that there have been those who have kept all his commands all the days of their life with their whole mind and heart and strength, and this in the sight of God -- as we read of Asa, 1 Kings xv. 14." -- Peck's Christian Perfection, p. 134.
3. Bishop Burnet on the thirty-nine articles says: "Christian perfection consists in this, that we love and fear God with all our heart. It is in this that true perfection consists."
4. Bishop Jeremy Taylor: "That it is possible to love God with all the heart, is folly to deny. For he that saith he cannot do a thing with all his strength, that is that he cannot do what he can do, knows not what he saith; and yet to do this is the highest measure and sublimity of perfection, and of keeping the commandments."
These authorities might be greatly extended, to show that Christian perfection is a perfection of love to God; in measure corresponding to the capacity of the soul.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
4th Bible Study of the Quarter: Justification by Faith
Today's lesson comes from Romans 3: 19-31. In the latter part of chapter 2, Paul continues to address the Jews who felt they were a "guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness." (Romans 2: 19) However, the Jews were guilty of breaking the law just as the Gentiles. Paul gives us a truth that the true children of God were those who have had an inward transformation. Having established that all men are sinners, he then shows how they may become righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.
The lesson reemphasizes that all men have sinned and are sinners before a holy God. The law makes men aware of their sins, and brings them into condemnation. However, the law has no power to free men from their guilt. The key to the lesson is found in the second section. We read the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It is through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ that a person can be saved. The word believe is far more than mental assent. To believe something is to have that belief impact your life. In Hebrew, to "hear" something is not an auditory test, but instead to both understand what was said and to have it change your life accordingly. God has provided a way of salvation. Thus, He is just in condemning those who refuse His offer, and He is just in pardoning those who repent and believe.
The first section is "Condemned by the Law." vv. 19, 20 Verse 19 states, "What things soever the law saith." Law refers to the Old Testament Scriptures, which contain God's will revealed for our obedience. However, the law could not justify a person. By justify, we mean forgiveness and being received into the family of God. You can't earn your salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith. If you could earn your salvation, it would be owed to you as opposed to a gift from God. The law reveals sin and shows its true nature and consequences. Conviction, the consequences of guilt, is the first and immediate ned of all sinners. No one will seek God until he or she feels that they are guilty. Then, one will seek to be made right with God. The Law of God convicts the sinner of his or her sin which is the first step towards salvation.
The second section is "Justified by Grace." vv. 21-26 "The righteousness [which is] of God" is God's way for a person to be justified. The righteousness was provided through Christ, whose atoning death was sufficient to meet God's justice and to provide pardon for sin. The dilemna was that God is holy and just, but at the same time He is both merciful and loving. How to reconcile these different attributes of God was the issue. If God forgave man's sins without their being a penalty, He would not be just. If He did not forgive man's sins, He would not be merciful and loving. God "set forth" His Son to be the "propitiation" for the sins of men. The Greek word for "propitiation" points back to the mercy seat on the ark in the Holy of Holies. On the mercy seat was made the general atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. Christ is the Mercy Seat of the New Covenant. The means of the propitiation for the believer is "through faith in His blood." It is interesting to note that there is a second Greek word intrepreted as "propitiation" and that word means becoming a substitute for our sins and covering our guilt by the vicarious punishment He endured. Through the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ, God remained both just and merciful. Now, mankind could be saved by grace which was activated by faith.
The third section is "Law and Faith Essential." vv. 27-31 Boasting and self-righteousness can have no part in God's plan of salvation. The law was necessary to convict us of sin and show us our need of salvation. Salvation draws men to God and away from themselves. We are justified by faith alone. If salvation could be earned then it would not be a gift, it would be an obligation on God's part to save us. This could never be!!! Faith does not end the law, rather is vindicated and established by the gospel of salvation by faith. The gospel is holy goodness, a love without feebleness, which pardons guilt and executes judgment at the same time. Therefore, condemnation appears in the pardon, and pardon in the condemnation. The same act proclaims the compassion of God and the inflexibility of His justice. The atonement shows us how much God would do that the law might be kept. Christ by His actions established the law. This is what can make a person holy.
The Golden Text is "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2: 16) "Neither the works of the Jewish law, nor of any other law, could justify any man; and if justification or pardon could not have been attained in some other way (faith in Christ), the world must have perished. Justification by faith, in the boundless mercy of God, is as reasonable as it is Scriptural and necessary." (Adam Clarke)
My summary points:
1. The law condemns us, it never can save us.
2. We are justified by grace which is activated by faith.
3. The law has not disappeared. Through the atonement provided by Jesus Christ we can have salvation that will last for all eternity, if we persevere.
Next week, "Therefore Being Justified." Romans 5: 1-11
Don't forget to read the Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
The lesson reemphasizes that all men have sinned and are sinners before a holy God. The law makes men aware of their sins, and brings them into condemnation. However, the law has no power to free men from their guilt. The key to the lesson is found in the second section. We read the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It is through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ that a person can be saved. The word believe is far more than mental assent. To believe something is to have that belief impact your life. In Hebrew, to "hear" something is not an auditory test, but instead to both understand what was said and to have it change your life accordingly. God has provided a way of salvation. Thus, He is just in condemning those who refuse His offer, and He is just in pardoning those who repent and believe.
The first section is "Condemned by the Law." vv. 19, 20 Verse 19 states, "What things soever the law saith." Law refers to the Old Testament Scriptures, which contain God's will revealed for our obedience. However, the law could not justify a person. By justify, we mean forgiveness and being received into the family of God. You can't earn your salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith. If you could earn your salvation, it would be owed to you as opposed to a gift from God. The law reveals sin and shows its true nature and consequences. Conviction, the consequences of guilt, is the first and immediate ned of all sinners. No one will seek God until he or she feels that they are guilty. Then, one will seek to be made right with God. The Law of God convicts the sinner of his or her sin which is the first step towards salvation.
The second section is "Justified by Grace." vv. 21-26 "The righteousness [which is] of God" is God's way for a person to be justified. The righteousness was provided through Christ, whose atoning death was sufficient to meet God's justice and to provide pardon for sin. The dilemna was that God is holy and just, but at the same time He is both merciful and loving. How to reconcile these different attributes of God was the issue. If God forgave man's sins without their being a penalty, He would not be just. If He did not forgive man's sins, He would not be merciful and loving. God "set forth" His Son to be the "propitiation" for the sins of men. The Greek word for "propitiation" points back to the mercy seat on the ark in the Holy of Holies. On the mercy seat was made the general atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. Christ is the Mercy Seat of the New Covenant. The means of the propitiation for the believer is "through faith in His blood." It is interesting to note that there is a second Greek word intrepreted as "propitiation" and that word means becoming a substitute for our sins and covering our guilt by the vicarious punishment He endured. Through the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ, God remained both just and merciful. Now, mankind could be saved by grace which was activated by faith.
The third section is "Law and Faith Essential." vv. 27-31 Boasting and self-righteousness can have no part in God's plan of salvation. The law was necessary to convict us of sin and show us our need of salvation. Salvation draws men to God and away from themselves. We are justified by faith alone. If salvation could be earned then it would not be a gift, it would be an obligation on God's part to save us. This could never be!!! Faith does not end the law, rather is vindicated and established by the gospel of salvation by faith. The gospel is holy goodness, a love without feebleness, which pardons guilt and executes judgment at the same time. Therefore, condemnation appears in the pardon, and pardon in the condemnation. The same act proclaims the compassion of God and the inflexibility of His justice. The atonement shows us how much God would do that the law might be kept. Christ by His actions established the law. This is what can make a person holy.
The Golden Text is "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2: 16) "Neither the works of the Jewish law, nor of any other law, could justify any man; and if justification or pardon could not have been attained in some other way (faith in Christ), the world must have perished. Justification by faith, in the boundless mercy of God, is as reasonable as it is Scriptural and necessary." (Adam Clarke)
My summary points:
1. The law condemns us, it never can save us.
2. We are justified by grace which is activated by faith.
3. The law has not disappeared. Through the atonement provided by Jesus Christ we can have salvation that will last for all eternity, if we persevere.
Next week, "Therefore Being Justified." Romans 5: 1-11
Don't forget to read the Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Do You Teach Sinless Perfection?
BLJ: I would get this one a lot. "So, you think you are perfect?" Sanctified believers are not perfect. They still make mistakes, make errors in judgment, and fall short of God's perfection all the time. However, the motives of the heart are pure. I can be in error, but with a pure heart. The sanctified heart is one of pure love: pure love for God and pure love for his neighbor.
Do you teach a sinless perfection?
Our answer must be according to what is meant by "sinless perfection;" which is a term we never use in teaching Christian perfection.
1. If by sinless perfection be meant infallibility, or a state in which the soul cannot sin, we answer, No. We believe in no such perfection in this life; and further, we know of no one who teaches any such thing, although has been asserted over and over, thousands of times, by the opposers of Christian perfection.
2. If by this term be meant, a perfect fulfillment of the Paradisiacal law of innocence, and freedom from all voluntary transgressions of the law of love, we answer, No. Mr. Wesley says: "Therefore sinless perfection is phrase I never use, lest I should seem to contradict myself. I believe a person filled with the love of God still liable to these involuntary transgressions. Such transgressions you may call sins, if you please; I do not." Plain Account, p. 67
3. If by this phrase be meant, a perfect observance of the evangelical law of love, so as to love God with all the heart, soul, and strength, we answer, by the grace of God, Yes. See Deut. xxx. 6.
4. If it be meant a moral condition, in which the soul has no disposition to sin, and will not sin, and by the grace of God is kept from sinning, we answer Yes, to the glory and praise of God.
5. If this question means, does God fully pardon all our sinful acts and absolve us from all guilt, and does He entirely cleanse the soul from a sinful state, so that it becomes pure, or entirely free from sinful proclivities we answer, Yes.
Do you teach a sinless perfection?
Our answer must be according to what is meant by "sinless perfection;" which is a term we never use in teaching Christian perfection.
1. If by sinless perfection be meant infallibility, or a state in which the soul cannot sin, we answer, No. We believe in no such perfection in this life; and further, we know of no one who teaches any such thing, although has been asserted over and over, thousands of times, by the opposers of Christian perfection.
2. If by this term be meant, a perfect fulfillment of the Paradisiacal law of innocence, and freedom from all voluntary transgressions of the law of love, we answer, No. Mr. Wesley says: "Therefore sinless perfection is phrase I never use, lest I should seem to contradict myself. I believe a person filled with the love of God still liable to these involuntary transgressions. Such transgressions you may call sins, if you please; I do not." Plain Account, p. 67
3. If by this phrase be meant, a perfect observance of the evangelical law of love, so as to love God with all the heart, soul, and strength, we answer, by the grace of God, Yes. See Deut. xxx. 6.
4. If it be meant a moral condition, in which the soul has no disposition to sin, and will not sin, and by the grace of God is kept from sinning, we answer Yes, to the glory and praise of God.
5. If this question means, does God fully pardon all our sinful acts and absolve us from all guilt, and does He entirely cleanse the soul from a sinful state, so that it becomes pure, or entirely free from sinful proclivities we answer, Yes.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Is Christian Perfection Absolute Perfection, Angelic Perfection, or Adamic Perfection?
BLJ: Today, we look at several typical responses when people resist entire sanctification. We must always be ready to give an answer when we are sharing our faith to others.
Is Christian Perfection absolute perfection?
It is not. We know of no writer who has ever taught any such perfection in man. God's moral perfections are like an infinite ocean, as boundless and fathomless as immensity. Up to this perfection neither man, nor angel, nor seraph can ever come. Between the highest degree of human perfection, and the perfection of God, there is the difference between the finite and the infinite. Absolute perfection belongs to God alone. In this sense, there is none good but one, that is God." The lightest, sweetest, and most lovely angel in Paradise is infinitely below absolute perfection.
25. Is Christian perfection the same as Angelic perfection? It is not. Angels are a higher order of intelligences; they are innocent and sinlessly pure. The fire of their love burns with an intensity, and their services are performed with a precision and rectitude not possible to mortals. In this world we must be content with Christian perfection; when we reach heaven we shall be equal unto the angels." Christian perfection or holiness is a perfection according to the capacity of a man, and not according to the capacity of an angel, or a glorified saint.
26. Is Christian perfection synonymous with Adamic perfection?
It is not. There is a wide difference between a pure-hearted Christian saved by grace, and unfallen Adam in his Paradisiacal glory; a difference in range of powers, innocency, and grounds of justification. Adam was justified by works, and was free from the broken powers, and infirmities of fallen human nature.
Every creature of God may be perfect after its kind, and according to its degree. Angels, cherubim, and seraphim are all perfect, but their perfection falls infinitely below the absolute perfection of God. There is a gradation which belongs to all the works of God, and hence there are various sorts and degrees of perfection. Angels are perfect in their order and place; they are perfect as angels, but imperfect in comparison with God. Each sphere of being has its normal limits; God alone has absolute, infinite perfection; the angels have a perfection of their own, above that of humanity; fallen but regenerate and sanctified man has also his peculiar sphere in the mediatorial economy; and the highest practicable rectitude, whatever it may be, is his perfection, and is Christian perfection.
Christian perfection is a perfection of love, pure love in a fallen but purified soul.
In the very nature of things, the term perfection is used in various senses, and must be limited and qualified when applied to any being but God; and yet those who reject the doctrine, of Christian perfection seem to affix to the term but one single idea, and that the idea of absoluteness -- implying absolute perfection.
To apply absolute perfection, or angelic, or Adamic perfection, to the terms given in the Bible, significant of Christian perfection, which is a modified, relative perfection, such as may be asserted of an entirely sanctified Christian, is as illogical as it is common among the opponents of this doctrine.
Mr. Wesley adopted the term perfection because he found it in the Scriptures; (see question 1;) he deemed St. Paul and St. John sufficient authorities for its use. The Christian world has also largely recognized the term in the writings of Clement, Macarius, Kempis, Fenelon, Lucus, and many other writers both Papal and Protestant.
Is Christian Perfection absolute perfection?
It is not. We know of no writer who has ever taught any such perfection in man. God's moral perfections are like an infinite ocean, as boundless and fathomless as immensity. Up to this perfection neither man, nor angel, nor seraph can ever come. Between the highest degree of human perfection, and the perfection of God, there is the difference between the finite and the infinite. Absolute perfection belongs to God alone. In this sense, there is none good but one, that is God." The lightest, sweetest, and most lovely angel in Paradise is infinitely below absolute perfection.
25. Is Christian perfection the same as Angelic perfection? It is not. Angels are a higher order of intelligences; they are innocent and sinlessly pure. The fire of their love burns with an intensity, and their services are performed with a precision and rectitude not possible to mortals. In this world we must be content with Christian perfection; when we reach heaven we shall be equal unto the angels." Christian perfection or holiness is a perfection according to the capacity of a man, and not according to the capacity of an angel, or a glorified saint.
26. Is Christian perfection synonymous with Adamic perfection?
It is not. There is a wide difference between a pure-hearted Christian saved by grace, and unfallen Adam in his Paradisiacal glory; a difference in range of powers, innocency, and grounds of justification. Adam was justified by works, and was free from the broken powers, and infirmities of fallen human nature.
Every creature of God may be perfect after its kind, and according to its degree. Angels, cherubim, and seraphim are all perfect, but their perfection falls infinitely below the absolute perfection of God. There is a gradation which belongs to all the works of God, and hence there are various sorts and degrees of perfection. Angels are perfect in their order and place; they are perfect as angels, but imperfect in comparison with God. Each sphere of being has its normal limits; God alone has absolute, infinite perfection; the angels have a perfection of their own, above that of humanity; fallen but regenerate and sanctified man has also his peculiar sphere in the mediatorial economy; and the highest practicable rectitude, whatever it may be, is his perfection, and is Christian perfection.
Christian perfection is a perfection of love, pure love in a fallen but purified soul.
In the very nature of things, the term perfection is used in various senses, and must be limited and qualified when applied to any being but God; and yet those who reject the doctrine, of Christian perfection seem to affix to the term but one single idea, and that the idea of absoluteness -- implying absolute perfection.
To apply absolute perfection, or angelic, or Adamic perfection, to the terms given in the Bible, significant of Christian perfection, which is a modified, relative perfection, such as may be asserted of an entirely sanctified Christian, is as illogical as it is common among the opponents of this doctrine.
Mr. Wesley adopted the term perfection because he found it in the Scriptures; (see question 1;) he deemed St. Paul and St. John sufficient authorities for its use. The Christian world has also largely recognized the term in the writings of Clement, Macarius, Kempis, Fenelon, Lucus, and many other writers both Papal and Protestant.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
What is the Cause of Prejudice Against Entire Sanctification?
BLJ: I have met "Christians" that were strongly opposed to entire sanctification. I remember a meeting with a Church of Christ minister and one of the members of the church I pastored asked him a pointed question (he was an attorney). He asked him if it was possible would he like to be set free from his carnal heart, to not have an inner struggle? The minister responded that he would not want to be set free. How amazing it is that people would cling to sin while claiming to be a Christian minister. Today, we look at some reasons for the prejudice.
What is the cause of so much prejudice against the doctrine of entire sanctification, and even of hostility to it?
1. The doctrine is misunderstood. Multitudes misapprehend its true nature. It is often taken to mean more than is intended, and more than is taught by the Church. There are thousands within the bosom of our church who are astonishingly ignorant of the doctrine as taught by our standards. In these days of newspapers and light literature which are flooding the land, everything else is read but the excellent works written on this subject.
We think it a serious matter that our grand old religious biographies, which formerly educated our people, such as Fletcher, Clark, Bramwell, Stoner, Carvosso, &c., are being very largely supplanted in our Sabbath schools by light and questionable literature. The valuable books published on this doctrine and experience are read by only a small part of the membership of the church.
2. The doctrine and experience of entire sanctification has been prejudiced among common people by being frequently identified with culture, social refinement, and the highest finish; then of course it can be possessed only by the few who have the time, the means, and the opportunity to obtain the highest development and brightest polish, and cultivation. This is an egregious blunder, contrary to the very genius of the gospel. The highest style of gospel salvation is adapted to the mass of humanity, the common people. A plowman may be entirely sanctified without becoming a polished scholar; and a plain, godly mother may be free from all sin, though she may know nothing of social refinement or literary cultivation.
3. Many of our ministers are at fault in this matter, in not seeking this blessed experience themselves; for not studying and mastering the subject; and for not preaching it more clearly, strongly, and explicitly to the people.
4. Much of the prejudice and opposition to this doctrine comes from remaining depravity in unsanctified believers. Indwelling sin is an antagonism to holiness and, in so far as any Christian has inbred sin, he has it within him opposition to holiness. Many, most, do not yield to it, but resist it, pray against it, and keep it under; others, we are sorry to know, both in the ministry and laity, yield to their depravity, and stand in opposition to God's work.
What is the cause of so much prejudice against the doctrine of entire sanctification, and even of hostility to it?
1. The doctrine is misunderstood. Multitudes misapprehend its true nature. It is often taken to mean more than is intended, and more than is taught by the Church. There are thousands within the bosom of our church who are astonishingly ignorant of the doctrine as taught by our standards. In these days of newspapers and light literature which are flooding the land, everything else is read but the excellent works written on this subject.
We think it a serious matter that our grand old religious biographies, which formerly educated our people, such as Fletcher, Clark, Bramwell, Stoner, Carvosso, &c., are being very largely supplanted in our Sabbath schools by light and questionable literature. The valuable books published on this doctrine and experience are read by only a small part of the membership of the church.
2. The doctrine and experience of entire sanctification has been prejudiced among common people by being frequently identified with culture, social refinement, and the highest finish; then of course it can be possessed only by the few who have the time, the means, and the opportunity to obtain the highest development and brightest polish, and cultivation. This is an egregious blunder, contrary to the very genius of the gospel. The highest style of gospel salvation is adapted to the mass of humanity, the common people. A plowman may be entirely sanctified without becoming a polished scholar; and a plain, godly mother may be free from all sin, though she may know nothing of social refinement or literary cultivation.
3. Many of our ministers are at fault in this matter, in not seeking this blessed experience themselves; for not studying and mastering the subject; and for not preaching it more clearly, strongly, and explicitly to the people.
4. Much of the prejudice and opposition to this doctrine comes from remaining depravity in unsanctified believers. Indwelling sin is an antagonism to holiness and, in so far as any Christian has inbred sin, he has it within him opposition to holiness. Many, most, do not yield to it, but resist it, pray against it, and keep it under; others, we are sorry to know, both in the ministry and laity, yield to their depravity, and stand in opposition to God's work.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
What is the distinction between regeneration and entire sanctification?
BLJ: Today we look at the distinction between initial salvation and holiness. In initial salvation, one has been saved from acts of sin while in entire sanctification, the sin principle in the heart has been removed. Again, we will read statements from various church leaders as they shed light on the subject.
It is that of partial, and of complete purity. The Christian who is but regenerated, is not cleansed from all dwelling sin, while the Christian who is entirely sanctified is entirely purified. Though regeneration and entire sanctification are of one nature, there is a distinction. There is both a doctrinal and an experimental difference; the first preceding and falling below the other, and there is a transition from one to the other.
The first includes, in addition to imparted spiritual life, the commencement of purification; the other is the possession of the same spiritual life with complete purification.
The regenerate state and the fully sanctified state differ in moral quality; grace and life in one case have antagonisms in the heart, -- in the other they have none. The "new life," or "new man," exists in an uncleansed soul in the former case, and in a purified soul in the latter. In the regenerate there is the new life unto righteousness, but not the complete death unto sin. In the entirely sanctified, the new life with all the graces of the Spirit exist in a pure heart.
1. Mr. Wesley says: "That believers are delivered from the guilt and power of sin we allow; that they are delivered from the being of it we deny. . . Christ, indeed, can no reign where sin reigns; neither will he dwell where sin is allowed. But he is and dwells in the heart of every believer who is fighting against all sin, although it be not yet purified. ... Indeed this grand point, that there are two contrary principles in unsanctified believers -- nature and grace, the flesh and the spirit, -- runs through all the Epistles of St. Paul, yea, through all the Holy Scriptures almost all the directions and exhortations therein are founded on this supposition, pointing at wrong tempers or practices in those who are notwithstanding acknowledged by the inspired writers to be believers." -- Sermon on Sin in Believers.
2. Bishop Hedding says: "The difference between a justified soul who is not fully sanctified and one fully sanctified, I understand to be this: the first (if he does not backslide) is kept from voluntarily committing known sin, which is what is commonly meant in the New Testament by committing sin. But he yet finds in himself the remains of inbred corruption, or original sin, such as pride, anger, envy, a feeling of hatred to an enemy, a rejoicing at a calamity which has fallen upon an enemy, &c. The second, or the person fully sanctified, is cleansed from all these inward involuntary sins." -- Sermon before N.J. Con.
3. Dr. Dempster says: "Do you, then, demand an exact expression of the difference? It is this the one admits of controlled tendencies to sin, the other extirpates those tendencies. That is, the merely regenerate has remaining Impurity; the fully sanctified has None." -- Sermon at Bible Institute.
4. Rev. Richard Watson says: "In this regenerate state, the former corruptions of the heart may remain and strive for the mastery, but that which characterizes and distinguishes it from the state of a penitent before justification, before he is in Christ, is, that they are not even his inward habit, and that they have no dominion." -- Institutes , vol. ii. p. 450.
5. Rev. Luther Lee says: The power of sin is broken, the tyrant is dethroned, and his reign ceases in the soul at the moment of regeneration; yet sin is not so destroyed as not to leave is mark upon the soul, and even yet struggle for the mastery."
There is still a warfare within; -- there will be found an opposing element in the sensibility of the soul, which, though it no longer controls the will, often rebels against it and refuses to obey it." -- "The will can and does resist them in a regenerate state; but it cannot silence them, renew, or change their direction by an act of volition." ... "These [propensities, passions, appetites] belong to the soul, and must be brought into harmony with right and the sanctified will before the whole soul can be said to be sanctified or to be entirely consecrated to God. When this work is wrought, then the war within will cease." -- Theology, pp. 212, 213.
6. Rev. William McDonald says:
1. "In regeneration, sin does not reign; in sanctification it does not exist.
2. "In regeneration, sin is suspended; in sanctification it is destroyed.
3. "In regeneration, irregular desires -- anger, pride, unbelief, envy, &c. -- are subdued; in sanctification they are removed.
4. "Regeneration is salvation from the voluntary commission of sin; sanctification is salvation from the being of sin.
5. "Regeneration is the old man bound; sanctification is the old man cast out and spoiled of his goods.
6. "Regeneration is sanctification begun; entire sanctification is the work completed." -- N. Testament Standard, p. 123
21. Is there a difference between sin and depravity?
There is, a very important difference.
1. Sin is "the transgression of the law," and involves moral action, either by voluntary omission, or willful commission, and it always incurs guilt.
2. Depravity is a state or condition, a defilement or perversity of spirit. It is developed in the soul, in inclinations to sin, or in sinward tendencies.
3. Sin, strictly speaking, is voluntary, and involves responsible action, and is a thing to be pardoned.
4. Depravity is inborn, inherited, and inbred. It is derived from fallen Adam, and is augmented by actual sin.
5. All sin involves guilt, depravity does not, unless it be assented to, yielded to, cherished, or its cure willfully neglected.
6. Depravity is one of the results of sin, and it may have somewhat of the nature of sin, in the sense of being a disconformity or unlikeness to God; and it is in this sense that "all unrighteousness is sin." Depravity lacks the voluntary element of sin, hence it is not a thing to be pardoned, like sin proper, but is to be removed from the soul by cleansing or purgation.
Regarding sin and depravity as the same, occasions much confusion on the subject of entire sanctification. Let it be borne in mind, the terms "inbred sin," "indwelling sin," and all others significant of inward pollution, are not used by us as significant of sin in its proper sense, but as an inward corruption or defilement.
"These [sin and depravity] are coupled together as though they were the same; but they are not the same thing. The guilt is one thing, the power another, and the being yet another. That believers are delivered from the guilt and power of sin we allow; that they are delivered from the being of it we deny." -- Wesley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 113.
Bishop Foster says, sin and depravity "are distinct the one from the other: since the depravity may exist without the act, and may be increased by the act, and the carnality may exist without the separate transgression to which it prompts, and is alleged to exist prior to the transgression." -- "Sin committed, and depravity felt, are very different; the one is an action, the other a state of the affections. The regenerate believer is saved from the one, and he has grace to enable him to have the victory over the other; but the disposition itself, to some extent, remains, under the control of a stronger, gracious power implanted, but still making resistance, and indicating actual presence, and needing to be entirely sanctified." -- Christian Purity, pp. 111, 121.
"Moral depravity," says Bishop Hamline, "is not in action or deed, but lies FARTHER BACK and DEEPER DOWN in our nature, at the fountainhead of all activity and character. It is enmity to God, and like the fatal worm at the root of the vine, withers every green leaf." -- Sermon on Depravity.
Rev. Dr. Steele, in "Love Enthroned," says: "The spirit of sin, or inbred sin, technically called original sin, because it is inherited from Adam, is the state of heart out of which acts of sin either actually flow or tend to flow. Until this state is changed, the conquest of love over the soul is incomplete. Regeneration introduces a power which checks the outbreaking of original into actual sin, except occasional and almost involuntary "allies in moments of weakness or unwatchfulness." -- p. 37.
It is that of partial, and of complete purity. The Christian who is but regenerated, is not cleansed from all dwelling sin, while the Christian who is entirely sanctified is entirely purified. Though regeneration and entire sanctification are of one nature, there is a distinction. There is both a doctrinal and an experimental difference; the first preceding and falling below the other, and there is a transition from one to the other.
The first includes, in addition to imparted spiritual life, the commencement of purification; the other is the possession of the same spiritual life with complete purification.
The regenerate state and the fully sanctified state differ in moral quality; grace and life in one case have antagonisms in the heart, -- in the other they have none. The "new life," or "new man," exists in an uncleansed soul in the former case, and in a purified soul in the latter. In the regenerate there is the new life unto righteousness, but not the complete death unto sin. In the entirely sanctified, the new life with all the graces of the Spirit exist in a pure heart.
1. Mr. Wesley says: "That believers are delivered from the guilt and power of sin we allow; that they are delivered from the being of it we deny. . . Christ, indeed, can no reign where sin reigns; neither will he dwell where sin is allowed. But he is and dwells in the heart of every believer who is fighting against all sin, although it be not yet purified. ... Indeed this grand point, that there are two contrary principles in unsanctified believers -- nature and grace, the flesh and the spirit, -- runs through all the Epistles of St. Paul, yea, through all the Holy Scriptures almost all the directions and exhortations therein are founded on this supposition, pointing at wrong tempers or practices in those who are notwithstanding acknowledged by the inspired writers to be believers." -- Sermon on Sin in Believers.
2. Bishop Hedding says: "The difference between a justified soul who is not fully sanctified and one fully sanctified, I understand to be this: the first (if he does not backslide) is kept from voluntarily committing known sin, which is what is commonly meant in the New Testament by committing sin. But he yet finds in himself the remains of inbred corruption, or original sin, such as pride, anger, envy, a feeling of hatred to an enemy, a rejoicing at a calamity which has fallen upon an enemy, &c. The second, or the person fully sanctified, is cleansed from all these inward involuntary sins." -- Sermon before N.J. Con.
3. Dr. Dempster says: "Do you, then, demand an exact expression of the difference? It is this the one admits of controlled tendencies to sin, the other extirpates those tendencies. That is, the merely regenerate has remaining Impurity; the fully sanctified has None." -- Sermon at Bible Institute.
4. Rev. Richard Watson says: "In this regenerate state, the former corruptions of the heart may remain and strive for the mastery, but that which characterizes and distinguishes it from the state of a penitent before justification, before he is in Christ, is, that they are not even his inward habit, and that they have no dominion." -- Institutes , vol. ii. p. 450.
5. Rev. Luther Lee says: The power of sin is broken, the tyrant is dethroned, and his reign ceases in the soul at the moment of regeneration; yet sin is not so destroyed as not to leave is mark upon the soul, and even yet struggle for the mastery."
There is still a warfare within; -- there will be found an opposing element in the sensibility of the soul, which, though it no longer controls the will, often rebels against it and refuses to obey it." -- "The will can and does resist them in a regenerate state; but it cannot silence them, renew, or change their direction by an act of volition." ... "These [propensities, passions, appetites] belong to the soul, and must be brought into harmony with right and the sanctified will before the whole soul can be said to be sanctified or to be entirely consecrated to God. When this work is wrought, then the war within will cease." -- Theology, pp. 212, 213.
6. Rev. William McDonald says:
1. "In regeneration, sin does not reign; in sanctification it does not exist.
2. "In regeneration, sin is suspended; in sanctification it is destroyed.
3. "In regeneration, irregular desires -- anger, pride, unbelief, envy, &c. -- are subdued; in sanctification they are removed.
4. "Regeneration is salvation from the voluntary commission of sin; sanctification is salvation from the being of sin.
5. "Regeneration is the old man bound; sanctification is the old man cast out and spoiled of his goods.
6. "Regeneration is sanctification begun; entire sanctification is the work completed." -- N. Testament Standard, p. 123
21. Is there a difference between sin and depravity?
There is, a very important difference.
1. Sin is "the transgression of the law," and involves moral action, either by voluntary omission, or willful commission, and it always incurs guilt.
2. Depravity is a state or condition, a defilement or perversity of spirit. It is developed in the soul, in inclinations to sin, or in sinward tendencies.
3. Sin, strictly speaking, is voluntary, and involves responsible action, and is a thing to be pardoned.
4. Depravity is inborn, inherited, and inbred. It is derived from fallen Adam, and is augmented by actual sin.
5. All sin involves guilt, depravity does not, unless it be assented to, yielded to, cherished, or its cure willfully neglected.
6. Depravity is one of the results of sin, and it may have somewhat of the nature of sin, in the sense of being a disconformity or unlikeness to God; and it is in this sense that "all unrighteousness is sin." Depravity lacks the voluntary element of sin, hence it is not a thing to be pardoned, like sin proper, but is to be removed from the soul by cleansing or purgation.
Regarding sin and depravity as the same, occasions much confusion on the subject of entire sanctification. Let it be borne in mind, the terms "inbred sin," "indwelling sin," and all others significant of inward pollution, are not used by us as significant of sin in its proper sense, but as an inward corruption or defilement.
"These [sin and depravity] are coupled together as though they were the same; but they are not the same thing. The guilt is one thing, the power another, and the being yet another. That believers are delivered from the guilt and power of sin we allow; that they are delivered from the being of it we deny." -- Wesley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 113.
Bishop Foster says, sin and depravity "are distinct the one from the other: since the depravity may exist without the act, and may be increased by the act, and the carnality may exist without the separate transgression to which it prompts, and is alleged to exist prior to the transgression." -- "Sin committed, and depravity felt, are very different; the one is an action, the other a state of the affections. The regenerate believer is saved from the one, and he has grace to enable him to have the victory over the other; but the disposition itself, to some extent, remains, under the control of a stronger, gracious power implanted, but still making resistance, and indicating actual presence, and needing to be entirely sanctified." -- Christian Purity, pp. 111, 121.
"Moral depravity," says Bishop Hamline, "is not in action or deed, but lies FARTHER BACK and DEEPER DOWN in our nature, at the fountainhead of all activity and character. It is enmity to God, and like the fatal worm at the root of the vine, withers every green leaf." -- Sermon on Depravity.
Rev. Dr. Steele, in "Love Enthroned," says: "The spirit of sin, or inbred sin, technically called original sin, because it is inherited from Adam, is the state of heart out of which acts of sin either actually flow or tend to flow. Until this state is changed, the conquest of love over the soul is incomplete. Regeneration introduces a power which checks the outbreaking of original into actual sin, except occasional and almost involuntary "allies in moments of weakness or unwatchfulness." -- p. 37.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
What is Entire Sanctification or Christian Perfection? Part 2
BLJ: Today we continue to review statements explaining the doctrine of entire sanctification or Christian Perfection from various church leaders.
8. Rev. Luther Lee says: "Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement has power to cleanse from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, which is justification, but are washed entirely from it's pollution, freed from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts, and to walk in his holy commandments blameless." -- Theology, p. 211.
9. Bishop Foster says of the person entirely sanctified, that he is in a state in which he will be entirely free from sin, properly so called, both inward and outward." "The process of this work is in this order: beginning with pardon, by which one aspect of sin, that is actual guilt, is wholly removed, and proceeding in regeneration, by which another kind of sin, that is depravity, is in part removed, terminating with entire sanctification, by which the remainder of the second kind, or depravity, Is Entirely Removed." -- Christian Purity, p. 122.
This statement of Bishop Foster is most admirably expressed, and presents the truth with much clearness. Regeneration removes some sin or pollution, and entire sanctification removes the corruption which remains after regeneration. This will be seen, from the authorities given, to be the Wesleyan idea of entire sanctification.
10. Bishop J. T. Peck: "In the merely justified state we are not entirely pure. ... But in the work of entire sanctification, these impurities are all cleansed away, so that we are wholly saved from sin, from its inward pollution." -- Central Idea, p. 52.
11. Dr. John Dempster, in an admirable sermon on Christian Perfection, before the Biblical Institute, said: "Do you then demand an exact expression of the difference? It is this: the one (regeneration) admits of controlled tendencies to sin, the other (entire sanctification) extirpates those tendencies. 'That is, the merely regenerate has remaining impurity the fully sanctified has none."
12. Bishop D. W. Clarke: "Entire sanctification implies an entire cleansing of the soul from its moral defilement, and the plenary endowment of it with all the graces of the Spirit of -- Beauty of Holiness, May, 1857.
13. Binney's Theological Compend defines holiness as -- "That participation of the Divine Nature, which excludes all original depravity, or inbred Sin, from the heart." ... "Entire sanctification is that act of the Holy Ghost whereby the justified soul is made holy."
14. Bishop Simpson says: "Christian Perfection is a term used by Methodists to denote a state of grace implying purity of heart, or a heart cleansed from all sin." ... "Sanctification is that act of the Holy Ghost whereby the justified man is made holy." -- Encyclopedia of Methodism.
15. Rev. B. W. Gorham: "Entire sanctification is the complete purification of the heart, resulting, through the blood of Jesus Christ, from the pervading presence and governing power the Holy Spirit, continually possessing and occupying the nature, and subduing all things therein unto himself." -- God's Method with Man, p. 170.
16. The German United Brethren Church say: "By perfect holiness we understand the separation and purification from all inhering sin, after regeneration, by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and the filling of the heart with the love of God the Holy Ghost."
17. Rev. Wm. McDonald says: "It is the removal from our moral natures, through faith in Christ, all sinful desires and tempers, -- all pride, anger, envy, unbelief, and love of the world; and the possession in these purified natures of the unmixed graces of faith, humility, resignation, patience, meekness, self-denial, and love." -- Scriptural Views, p. 23.
18. Noah Webster defines sanctification -- "The act of making holy, ..... the state of being thus purified or sanctified.' "To sanctify, its a general sense, is to cleanse, purify, or make holy, ... to cleanse from corruption, to purify from sin."
19. The Methodist Catechism says: "Sanctification is that act of divine grace whereby we are made holy." This definition follows that of regeneration. Catechism No. 111. is more explicit:-- "What is entire sanctification?" " The state of being entirely cleansed from sin, so as to love God with all our heart and mind and strength."
It has been asserted that there is much disagreement and confusion in the teaching of the Church in this regard, and that a new formula of this doctrine is needed. The foregoing quotations from our chief writers show how completely they agree with each other. If desired, this list might be greatly extended, and an equal accord shown respecting the essential particulars of the doctrine.
It cannot be shown that there is more disagreement among our ministers concerning sanctification, if as much, as in regard to the atonement, the resurrection, and other items of doctrine.
That there are a few ministers in the Methodist Church who teach anti-Wesleyan and unscriptural views, we admit, and that many neglect to seek the experience, and therefore are not prepared to teach it as they ought, is both admitted and deplored.
Methodist authorities are agreed in teaching:--
1. That justification and regeneration are not identical with entire sanctification.
2. That entire sanctification is subsequent to regeneration, and in an important sense is an instantaneous work.
3. That it is a supernatural, divine work, and is by faith.
4. That negatively, it is freedom from all sin; and, positively, it is loving God with all the heart.
5. That it is attested by the Holy Spirit, by conscience, and by its fruits.
6. That it is both the privilege and duty of all believers to be entirely sanctified.
Alike, they all discard absolute, angelic, or Adamic perfection, in the entirely sanctified believer. They alike denounce all perfection of degree or of maturity, of judgment or of knowledge, or any other perfection except that of love and moral purity.
In these important items there is agreement among nearly all our chief ministers, and their disagreements are almost entirely in things more speculative than fundamental.
8. Rev. Luther Lee says: "Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement has power to cleanse from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, which is justification, but are washed entirely from it's pollution, freed from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts, and to walk in his holy commandments blameless." -- Theology, p. 211.
9. Bishop Foster says of the person entirely sanctified, that he is in a state in which he will be entirely free from sin, properly so called, both inward and outward." "The process of this work is in this order: beginning with pardon, by which one aspect of sin, that is actual guilt, is wholly removed, and proceeding in regeneration, by which another kind of sin, that is depravity, is in part removed, terminating with entire sanctification, by which the remainder of the second kind, or depravity, Is Entirely Removed." -- Christian Purity, p. 122.
This statement of Bishop Foster is most admirably expressed, and presents the truth with much clearness. Regeneration removes some sin or pollution, and entire sanctification removes the corruption which remains after regeneration. This will be seen, from the authorities given, to be the Wesleyan idea of entire sanctification.
10. Bishop J. T. Peck: "In the merely justified state we are not entirely pure. ... But in the work of entire sanctification, these impurities are all cleansed away, so that we are wholly saved from sin, from its inward pollution." -- Central Idea, p. 52.
11. Dr. John Dempster, in an admirable sermon on Christian Perfection, before the Biblical Institute, said: "Do you then demand an exact expression of the difference? It is this: the one (regeneration) admits of controlled tendencies to sin, the other (entire sanctification) extirpates those tendencies. 'That is, the merely regenerate has remaining impurity the fully sanctified has none."
12. Bishop D. W. Clarke: "Entire sanctification implies an entire cleansing of the soul from its moral defilement, and the plenary endowment of it with all the graces of the Spirit of -- Beauty of Holiness, May, 1857.
13. Binney's Theological Compend defines holiness as -- "That participation of the Divine Nature, which excludes all original depravity, or inbred Sin, from the heart." ... "Entire sanctification is that act of the Holy Ghost whereby the justified soul is made holy."
14. Bishop Simpson says: "Christian Perfection is a term used by Methodists to denote a state of grace implying purity of heart, or a heart cleansed from all sin." ... "Sanctification is that act of the Holy Ghost whereby the justified man is made holy." -- Encyclopedia of Methodism.
15. Rev. B. W. Gorham: "Entire sanctification is the complete purification of the heart, resulting, through the blood of Jesus Christ, from the pervading presence and governing power the Holy Spirit, continually possessing and occupying the nature, and subduing all things therein unto himself." -- God's Method with Man, p. 170.
16. The German United Brethren Church say: "By perfect holiness we understand the separation and purification from all inhering sin, after regeneration, by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and the filling of the heart with the love of God the Holy Ghost."
17. Rev. Wm. McDonald says: "It is the removal from our moral natures, through faith in Christ, all sinful desires and tempers, -- all pride, anger, envy, unbelief, and love of the world; and the possession in these purified natures of the unmixed graces of faith, humility, resignation, patience, meekness, self-denial, and love." -- Scriptural Views, p. 23.
18. Noah Webster defines sanctification -- "The act of making holy, ..... the state of being thus purified or sanctified.' "To sanctify, its a general sense, is to cleanse, purify, or make holy, ... to cleanse from corruption, to purify from sin."
19. The Methodist Catechism says: "Sanctification is that act of divine grace whereby we are made holy." This definition follows that of regeneration. Catechism No. 111. is more explicit:-- "What is entire sanctification?" " The state of being entirely cleansed from sin, so as to love God with all our heart and mind and strength."
It has been asserted that there is much disagreement and confusion in the teaching of the Church in this regard, and that a new formula of this doctrine is needed. The foregoing quotations from our chief writers show how completely they agree with each other. If desired, this list might be greatly extended, and an equal accord shown respecting the essential particulars of the doctrine.
It cannot be shown that there is more disagreement among our ministers concerning sanctification, if as much, as in regard to the atonement, the resurrection, and other items of doctrine.
That there are a few ministers in the Methodist Church who teach anti-Wesleyan and unscriptural views, we admit, and that many neglect to seek the experience, and therefore are not prepared to teach it as they ought, is both admitted and deplored.
Methodist authorities are agreed in teaching:--
1. That justification and regeneration are not identical with entire sanctification.
2. That entire sanctification is subsequent to regeneration, and in an important sense is an instantaneous work.
3. That it is a supernatural, divine work, and is by faith.
4. That negatively, it is freedom from all sin; and, positively, it is loving God with all the heart.
5. That it is attested by the Holy Spirit, by conscience, and by its fruits.
6. That it is both the privilege and duty of all believers to be entirely sanctified.
Alike, they all discard absolute, angelic, or Adamic perfection, in the entirely sanctified believer. They alike denounce all perfection of degree or of maturity, of judgment or of knowledge, or any other perfection except that of love and moral purity.
In these important items there is agreement among nearly all our chief ministers, and their disagreements are almost entirely in things more speculative than fundamental.
Monday, April 20, 2020
What is Entire Sanctification or Christian Perfection? Part 1
BLJ: Today we want to review what is the nature of entire sanctification. Some oppose the doctrine without a proper understanding of what the doctrine represents. The explanations from several church leaders really helps you tom understand what the teaching truly is.
What is entire sanctification or Christian perfection?
Negatively, it is that state of grace which excludes all sin from the heart. Positively, it is the possession of pure love to God. "Blessed are the pure in heart." "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart." In the grace of justification, sins, as acts of transgression, are pardoned. In the grace of sanctification, sin, as a malady, is removed, so that the heart is pure. In the nature of the case, the eradication of sin in principle from the human heart completes the Christian character. When guilt is forgiven in justification, and all pollution is removed in entire sanctification, so that grace possesses the heart and nothing contrary to grace, then the moral condition is reached to which the Scriptures give the name of perfection, or entire sanctification. Though the leading writers of our Church define this gracious state in different phraseology, there is an essential agreement among them; their disagreements are more in infelicities of expression than in real differences, and more speculative than fundamental. Their essential agreement will be seen in the following quotations:
1. Mr. Wesley says: "Both my brother [Charles Wesley] and I maintain, that Christian perfection is that love of God and our neighbor which implies Deliverance From All Sin."
"It is the loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This implies that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in the soul; and that all the thoughts, words, and actions are governed by pure love." -- Vol. vi. p. 500.
"It is nothing higher, and nothing lower than this -- the pure love of God and man. It is love governing the heart and life, running through all our tempers, words, and actions." -- Vol. vi p. 502. -- "Certainly, sanctification (in the proper sense) is an instantaneous deliverance from all sin." -- Vol. vii. p. 717.
2. Ray. John Fletcher says: "It is the pure love of God and man shed abroad in a faithful believer's heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him. to cleanse him, and to keep him clean, 'from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit,' and to enable him to 'fulfill the law of Christ,' according to the talents he is intrusted with, and the circumstances in which he is placed in this world." Last Check, p. 567.
3. Dr. A. Clarke: "What, then, is this complete sanctification? It is the cleansing of the blood, that has not been cleansed; it is washing the soul of a true believer from the remains of sin." -- Clarke's Theology, p. 206.
4. Rev. Richard Watson says: "We have already spoken of justification, adoption, regeneration, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, and we proceed to another AS DISTINCTLY MARKED, and as graciously promised in the Holy Scriptures. This is the entire sanctification, or the perfected holiness of believers. "Happily for us, a subject of so great importance is not involved in obscurity."
The reader will note the declaration of Mr. Watson, that this subject "is not involved in obscurity."
Of the nature and extent of Christian purity, Mr. Watson says: "By which can only be meant our complete deliverance from all spiritual pollution, all inward depravation of the heart, as well as that which, expressing itself outwardly by the indulgence of the senses, is called 'filthiness of the flesh.' " -- Institutes, vol. ii. p. 450.
5. Rev. Joseph Benson: "To sanctify you wholly is to complete the work of purification and renovation begun in your regeneration." -- Com. I Thess. v. 23.
6. Bishop Hedding says: "The degree of original sin which remains in some believers, though not a transgression of a known law, is nevertheless sin, and must be removed before one goes to heaven, and the removal of this evil is what we mean by full sanctification." "Regeneration is the beginning of purification. Entire sanctification is finishing that work." -- Sermon.
7. Dr. George Peck says: "By being saved from all sin in the present life, we mean being saved, first, from all outward sin all violations of the requirements of the law of love which relate to our outward conduct; and, secondly, from all inward sin all violations of the law of love which relate to the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will." -- Christian Perfection, p. 65.
What is entire sanctification or Christian perfection?
Negatively, it is that state of grace which excludes all sin from the heart. Positively, it is the possession of pure love to God. "Blessed are the pure in heart." "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart." In the grace of justification, sins, as acts of transgression, are pardoned. In the grace of sanctification, sin, as a malady, is removed, so that the heart is pure. In the nature of the case, the eradication of sin in principle from the human heart completes the Christian character. When guilt is forgiven in justification, and all pollution is removed in entire sanctification, so that grace possesses the heart and nothing contrary to grace, then the moral condition is reached to which the Scriptures give the name of perfection, or entire sanctification. Though the leading writers of our Church define this gracious state in different phraseology, there is an essential agreement among them; their disagreements are more in infelicities of expression than in real differences, and more speculative than fundamental. Their essential agreement will be seen in the following quotations:
1. Mr. Wesley says: "Both my brother [Charles Wesley] and I maintain, that Christian perfection is that love of God and our neighbor which implies Deliverance From All Sin."
"It is the loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This implies that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in the soul; and that all the thoughts, words, and actions are governed by pure love." -- Vol. vi. p. 500.
"It is nothing higher, and nothing lower than this -- the pure love of God and man. It is love governing the heart and life, running through all our tempers, words, and actions." -- Vol. vi p. 502. -- "Certainly, sanctification (in the proper sense) is an instantaneous deliverance from all sin." -- Vol. vii. p. 717.
2. Ray. John Fletcher says: "It is the pure love of God and man shed abroad in a faithful believer's heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him. to cleanse him, and to keep him clean, 'from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit,' and to enable him to 'fulfill the law of Christ,' according to the talents he is intrusted with, and the circumstances in which he is placed in this world." Last Check, p. 567.
3. Dr. A. Clarke: "What, then, is this complete sanctification? It is the cleansing of the blood, that has not been cleansed; it is washing the soul of a true believer from the remains of sin." -- Clarke's Theology, p. 206.
4. Rev. Richard Watson says: "We have already spoken of justification, adoption, regeneration, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, and we proceed to another AS DISTINCTLY MARKED, and as graciously promised in the Holy Scriptures. This is the entire sanctification, or the perfected holiness of believers. "Happily for us, a subject of so great importance is not involved in obscurity."
The reader will note the declaration of Mr. Watson, that this subject "is not involved in obscurity."
Of the nature and extent of Christian purity, Mr. Watson says: "By which can only be meant our complete deliverance from all spiritual pollution, all inward depravation of the heart, as well as that which, expressing itself outwardly by the indulgence of the senses, is called 'filthiness of the flesh.' " -- Institutes, vol. ii. p. 450.
5. Rev. Joseph Benson: "To sanctify you wholly is to complete the work of purification and renovation begun in your regeneration." -- Com. I Thess. v. 23.
6. Bishop Hedding says: "The degree of original sin which remains in some believers, though not a transgression of a known law, is nevertheless sin, and must be removed before one goes to heaven, and the removal of this evil is what we mean by full sanctification." "Regeneration is the beginning of purification. Entire sanctification is finishing that work." -- Sermon.
7. Dr. George Peck says: "By being saved from all sin in the present life, we mean being saved, first, from all outward sin all violations of the requirements of the law of love which relate to our outward conduct; and, secondly, from all inward sin all violations of the law of love which relate to the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will." -- Christian Perfection, p. 65.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
3rd Bible Study of the Quarter: Condemnation of the Self-Righteous
Today's lesson comes from Romans 2: 1-16. If you review chapter 1 of Romans, you will see that Paul reveals the degenerating sinful condition of those who have rejected the truth of God. A Jew, who had the written revelation, would find it easy to condemn the Gentiles in their sinful state who did not have the Law of God. The lesson starts off with a general application, "O man," regarding those who would pass judgment on others. It is not until verse nine that Paul directs his comments towards the self-righteous Jew.
Since we are all born with a sinful nature, we easily fall into acts of sin. All have sinned and it is only by the grace of God that we are freed from guilt, and delivered from sin's power. Since salvation is by grace, there is no room for one to feel superior to others, nor be judgmental toward the lost. We should be discerning, "by their fruits ye shall know them," but we are not to be judgmental, passing sentence on others. Our duty is to proclaim or herald the truth of the Gospel message, but we are not to do so in a smug or condescending manner.
In the second section of the lesson we see that people are either obeying the truth and persevering, or they are contending with God and disobeying. Both groups will receive their just reward, for God will not show partiality to anyone.
In the last section, Paul shows that even the heathen will be justly condemned, for they have turned from the natural revelation. They have rejected the light which they did have. All men are accountble to God, their Creator.
The first section is "All Have Sinned." vv. 1-4 God is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance. Romans 3:23 states: "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of the glory of God." In these verses 1-4, Paul does not want the Jews to have religious pride. The Jews looked down on the Gentiles. Since the Jews were "children of Abraham," they felt superior to others, and loved upon the Gentiles as sinners. However, in passing judgment on the sins of others, they were also condemning themselves, for they were guilty of the "same things." At some point, those that practice secretly what they condemn openly, will be exposed for what they really are when they face the judgment of God.
Our God is a merciful God, and manifests extreme kindness to those who have gone astray. This does not mean that God overlooks our sins. "We must not be deceived into smug self-complacency because God's judgment is restrained by His forbearance and goodness." God's forbearance was not a testimony to their innocence, but a call for their repentance. Remember, a sinning religion is not acceptable. And, how we judge others will be how we are judged. We need to be humble and contrite before others. It is not our place to be the judge of the world. Instead, our duty is to proclaim or herald the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to remember that we were all sinners before the grace of God saved us.
The second section is "All Face God's Judgment." vv. 5-11 When the "impenitent heart" rejects the light of God and the goodness of God, the result causes the heart to become hardened, and the hardness increases as the soul continues to sin. That rebellious soul will one day face his record, and receive his due reward. We are saved by faith, but rewarded for our works. Jesus told the churches in Revelation 2and 3, "I know thy works." Our works may live long after our bodies do. Verses 7 and 8 depict a contrast. Verse 7 tells us that those who are doing good works will persevere in well doing. In verse 8, we see that those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will yield themselves to inquiry and become servants of sin. Verses 9 and 10 show the contrasts of man's final end. Tribulation and anguish for those that do evil and glory and honor to those that do good good works. While we are not saved by works, those that are saved, will do good works. Both Jews and Gentiles will face God's judgment. God is no respecter of persons and will look upon the heart and treat people just as they deserve. Punishment will be proportional to the mercy abused. Every person has a choice to be a servant of truth or slave of unrighteousness.
The third section is "All Are Accountable." vv. 12-16 Paul reemphasizes the fact that all men have sinned against God. Some have sinned without the law, and others with the law. We are responsible for the light (what God has shown them) which they have. Men who do not have the written Word, are responsible for God's revelation of truth through creation and the formation of the human personality. Man was created a moral being with a sense of right and wrong. Even heathen cultures condemn the grosser sins of humanity. All men possess a sense of justice, honor, love, public peace, etc. A person's conscience should bear witness to certain types of behavior. No one is without excuse.
It is not enough to know the law of God. But, because of the depravity of the human heart, men enter into sin, and stand condemned before God. No person can be justified by their works or obedience because of the universal nature of sin. Everyone is guilty before God. There are no excuses. A sinning religion is not acceptable. There will be a reckoning day in which wrongs are righted, evil men are punished, and righteous men at last rewarded. The question is, which one will you be on that final day. Will you be one with saving faith that produced good fruit, or one that sowed to the flesh and died in your sins?
The Golden Text is: "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." (1 Peter 1:17) "God's judgment will be according to a man's work, and a man's work or conduct will be according to the moral state of his mind. No favoritism can prevail in the day of judgment; nothing will pass there but holiness of heart and life. A righteousness imputed, and not possessed and practiced, will not avail where God judges according to every man's work. It would be well if those sinners and spurious believers who fancy themselves safe and complete in the righteousness of Christ, while impure and unholy in themselves, would think of this testimony of the apostle." (Adam Clarke)
My summary points:
1. Every person has sinned and is in need of a Saviour.
2. Everyone alive, everyone you see, will face God's judgment one day.
3. There will be no excuses. So we must take action now for ourselves and for those God brings into our paths. It is holiness or hell.
Next week, "Justification by Faith." Romans 3: 19-31
Don't forget to read your Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
Since we are all born with a sinful nature, we easily fall into acts of sin. All have sinned and it is only by the grace of God that we are freed from guilt, and delivered from sin's power. Since salvation is by grace, there is no room for one to feel superior to others, nor be judgmental toward the lost. We should be discerning, "by their fruits ye shall know them," but we are not to be judgmental, passing sentence on others. Our duty is to proclaim or herald the truth of the Gospel message, but we are not to do so in a smug or condescending manner.
In the second section of the lesson we see that people are either obeying the truth and persevering, or they are contending with God and disobeying. Both groups will receive their just reward, for God will not show partiality to anyone.
In the last section, Paul shows that even the heathen will be justly condemned, for they have turned from the natural revelation. They have rejected the light which they did have. All men are accountble to God, their Creator.
The first section is "All Have Sinned." vv. 1-4 God is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance. Romans 3:23 states: "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of the glory of God." In these verses 1-4, Paul does not want the Jews to have religious pride. The Jews looked down on the Gentiles. Since the Jews were "children of Abraham," they felt superior to others, and loved upon the Gentiles as sinners. However, in passing judgment on the sins of others, they were also condemning themselves, for they were guilty of the "same things." At some point, those that practice secretly what they condemn openly, will be exposed for what they really are when they face the judgment of God.
Our God is a merciful God, and manifests extreme kindness to those who have gone astray. This does not mean that God overlooks our sins. "We must not be deceived into smug self-complacency because God's judgment is restrained by His forbearance and goodness." God's forbearance was not a testimony to their innocence, but a call for their repentance. Remember, a sinning religion is not acceptable. And, how we judge others will be how we are judged. We need to be humble and contrite before others. It is not our place to be the judge of the world. Instead, our duty is to proclaim or herald the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to remember that we were all sinners before the grace of God saved us.
The second section is "All Face God's Judgment." vv. 5-11 When the "impenitent heart" rejects the light of God and the goodness of God, the result causes the heart to become hardened, and the hardness increases as the soul continues to sin. That rebellious soul will one day face his record, and receive his due reward. We are saved by faith, but rewarded for our works. Jesus told the churches in Revelation 2and 3, "I know thy works." Our works may live long after our bodies do. Verses 7 and 8 depict a contrast. Verse 7 tells us that those who are doing good works will persevere in well doing. In verse 8, we see that those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will yield themselves to inquiry and become servants of sin. Verses 9 and 10 show the contrasts of man's final end. Tribulation and anguish for those that do evil and glory and honor to those that do good good works. While we are not saved by works, those that are saved, will do good works. Both Jews and Gentiles will face God's judgment. God is no respecter of persons and will look upon the heart and treat people just as they deserve. Punishment will be proportional to the mercy abused. Every person has a choice to be a servant of truth or slave of unrighteousness.
The third section is "All Are Accountable." vv. 12-16 Paul reemphasizes the fact that all men have sinned against God. Some have sinned without the law, and others with the law. We are responsible for the light (what God has shown them) which they have. Men who do not have the written Word, are responsible for God's revelation of truth through creation and the formation of the human personality. Man was created a moral being with a sense of right and wrong. Even heathen cultures condemn the grosser sins of humanity. All men possess a sense of justice, honor, love, public peace, etc. A person's conscience should bear witness to certain types of behavior. No one is without excuse.
It is not enough to know the law of God. But, because of the depravity of the human heart, men enter into sin, and stand condemned before God. No person can be justified by their works or obedience because of the universal nature of sin. Everyone is guilty before God. There are no excuses. A sinning religion is not acceptable. There will be a reckoning day in which wrongs are righted, evil men are punished, and righteous men at last rewarded. The question is, which one will you be on that final day. Will you be one with saving faith that produced good fruit, or one that sowed to the flesh and died in your sins?
The Golden Text is: "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." (1 Peter 1:17) "God's judgment will be according to a man's work, and a man's work or conduct will be according to the moral state of his mind. No favoritism can prevail in the day of judgment; nothing will pass there but holiness of heart and life. A righteousness imputed, and not possessed and practiced, will not avail where God judges according to every man's work. It would be well if those sinners and spurious believers who fancy themselves safe and complete in the righteousness of Christ, while impure and unholy in themselves, would think of this testimony of the apostle." (Adam Clarke)
My summary points:
1. Every person has sinned and is in need of a Saviour.
2. Everyone alive, everyone you see, will face God's judgment one day.
3. There will be no excuses. So we must take action now for ourselves and for those God brings into our paths. It is holiness or hell.
Next week, "Justification by Faith." Romans 3: 19-31
Don't forget to read your Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Time Between Regeneration and Entire Sanctification
BLJ: Sometimes people ask how long must one wait until they can seek to be sanctified once they have been born again. Today's lesson helps answers that question.
How soon after regeneration may the soul be entirely sanctified?
1. There is no time stated in the Scriptures which must elapse after conversion before the soul can be entirely sanctified. The only prerequisite to the seeking of holiness is the justified and regenerate state. Even "babes in Christ" are exhorted "to go on unto perfection;" and all believers are included in the command, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." The declaration, "It is the will of God, even your sanctification," is true of every believer, and was originally addressed to heathen converts who were but babes in Christ. "Today," the present time, is the voice of both the Law and of the Gospel in regard to our sanctification. It is the duty and privilege of all believers to have hearts cleansed from sin, and filled with love at once.
2. When first converted, we should press on into this goodly land which flows with milk and honey. When the kingdom of God is first set up in our hearts, the course is short, the difficulties are comparatively few, and we can not be too early, or too much in earnest, seeking purity.
3. Ancient Canaan was a type of gospel privilege, and is frequently used in the Scriptures to illustrate truth and duty. As entire holiness is the objective point in the whole Christian system; so Canaan was the objective point to the Israelites when they left Egypt. After they left Horeb, on the shores of the Red Sea, they consumed only eleven days in reaching the borders of Canaan, in sight of the beautiful hills of that goodly land. Joshua, the faithful servant of God, seeing their privilege and duty, said to them: "Let us go up at once, and possess it: for we are well able to overcome it." But the unbelieving Israelites remained forty years in the wilderness, with all their disabilities and sorrows, when they might have entered their long promised Canaan in less than a month.
Are there not ten times six hundred thousand in the Christian Church today who ought to pass over at once into the Canaan of perfect love? And some of these, we fear, have been more than forty years in the wilderness.
Pray, dear reader, that the Lord may raise up a thousand Calebs and Joshuas to lead the people into the green pastures of our spiritual Canaan.
This question is of such importance, we will give several authorities upon it.
Rev. John Wesley says: "I have been lately thinking a good deal on one point, wherein, perhaps, we have all been wanting. We have not made it a rule, as soon as ever persons are justified, to remind them of 'going on unto perfection.' Whereas This Is The Very Time Preferable To All Others. They have then the simplicity of little children and they are fervent in Spirit, ready to cut off a right hand or pluck out the right eye. But if we once suffer this fervor to subside, we shall find it hard enough to bring them again even to this point." -- Letter to Thomas Rankin.
"Every one, though born of God in an instant, yea, and sanctified in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows, by slow degrees, both after the former and the latter change. But it does not follow from thence that there may be a considerable tract of time between the one and the other. A year or a month is the same with God as a thousand. It is therefore our duty to pray and look for full salvation every day, every hour, every moment, without waiting until we have either done or suffered more." -Vol. vi. p. 764.
Many at Macclesfield believed that the blood of Christ had cleansed them from all sin. I spoke to these forty in all one by one. Some of them said they received that blessing ten days, some six, some four, some three days, after they found peace with God, and two of then the next day." -- Vol. iv. p. 135.
With God one day is as a thousand years. It plainly follows that the quantity of time is nothing to him. Centuries, years, months, days, hours, and moments are exactly the same. Consequently he can as well sanctify in a day after we are justified as a hundred years. There is no difference at all, unless we suppose him to be such a one as ourselves. Accordingly, we see, in fact, that some of the most unquestionable witnesses of sanctifying grace were sanctified with a Few Days after they were justified." No wonder that he exclaims, Oh, why do we not encourage all to expect this blessing every hour from the moment they are justified?" -- Vol. iv. p. 451.
Mr. Wesley wrote to Freeborn Garrettson in 1785: It will be well, as soon as any seekers find peace with God, to exhort them to go on unto perfection."
Bishop Peck says "There is surely no time fixed in the Scriptures which must elapse before the work can be accomplished. The Saviour prays for his disciples, 'Sanctify them through thy truth,' assuming that they were all at that time eligible to this great blessing Indeed, there has been such variety in the periods of entire sanctification as to show clearly that no specific time must elapse before the converted man may enter into the rest of perfect love." -- (Central Idea, p. 110.
President Mahan says: "This is the very sentiment which is invariably impressed by the Spirit of God upon the young convert in the warmth of his early love."
Rev. Luther Lee says "This progressive work may be cut short and finished at any moment, when the intelligence clearly comprehends the defects of the present state, and faith, comprehending the power and willingness of God to sanctify us wholly, and do it now, is exercised." -- Theology, p. 214
"We are generally inclined to the opinion," says Rev. J. S. Inskip, "that between our justification and sanctification there must necessarily be an extended period of many months or years, or well-nigh a lifetime. This is a most grievous error. -- Methods of Promoting Perfect Love, p. 14.
Rev. Asa Kent, late of the Providence Conference, says. "Fifty and sixty years ago, young coverts were exhorted to improve their 'first love,' while their hearts were warm, in seeking for full sanctification that this would prevent their backsliding, and secure a permanent peace within. Before I had been in society one year, my soul hungered and thirsted after a clean heart, and I was resolved never to rest without it." -- Article in Guide, 1858.
The Bible says: "Now is the accepted time, NOW is the day of salvation." The command, "Be ye holy," is in the present tense, and binding upon all believers, without regard to the length of time since their conversion. Paul wrote to heathen converts in the city of Thessalonica, not more than six months old: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Any delay of entire sanctification beyond the period necessary to acquire a knowledge of its necessity, its nature, and the conditions of its attainment, is justly chargeable upon ourselves.
To hasten over into the spiritual Canaan of perfect love is among the first lessons of the Holy Spirit gives the young convert.
How soon after regeneration may the soul be entirely sanctified?
1. There is no time stated in the Scriptures which must elapse after conversion before the soul can be entirely sanctified. The only prerequisite to the seeking of holiness is the justified and regenerate state. Even "babes in Christ" are exhorted "to go on unto perfection;" and all believers are included in the command, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." The declaration, "It is the will of God, even your sanctification," is true of every believer, and was originally addressed to heathen converts who were but babes in Christ. "Today," the present time, is the voice of both the Law and of the Gospel in regard to our sanctification. It is the duty and privilege of all believers to have hearts cleansed from sin, and filled with love at once.
2. When first converted, we should press on into this goodly land which flows with milk and honey. When the kingdom of God is first set up in our hearts, the course is short, the difficulties are comparatively few, and we can not be too early, or too much in earnest, seeking purity.
3. Ancient Canaan was a type of gospel privilege, and is frequently used in the Scriptures to illustrate truth and duty. As entire holiness is the objective point in the whole Christian system; so Canaan was the objective point to the Israelites when they left Egypt. After they left Horeb, on the shores of the Red Sea, they consumed only eleven days in reaching the borders of Canaan, in sight of the beautiful hills of that goodly land. Joshua, the faithful servant of God, seeing their privilege and duty, said to them: "Let us go up at once, and possess it: for we are well able to overcome it." But the unbelieving Israelites remained forty years in the wilderness, with all their disabilities and sorrows, when they might have entered their long promised Canaan in less than a month.
Are there not ten times six hundred thousand in the Christian Church today who ought to pass over at once into the Canaan of perfect love? And some of these, we fear, have been more than forty years in the wilderness.
Pray, dear reader, that the Lord may raise up a thousand Calebs and Joshuas to lead the people into the green pastures of our spiritual Canaan.
This question is of such importance, we will give several authorities upon it.
Rev. John Wesley says: "I have been lately thinking a good deal on one point, wherein, perhaps, we have all been wanting. We have not made it a rule, as soon as ever persons are justified, to remind them of 'going on unto perfection.' Whereas This Is The Very Time Preferable To All Others. They have then the simplicity of little children and they are fervent in Spirit, ready to cut off a right hand or pluck out the right eye. But if we once suffer this fervor to subside, we shall find it hard enough to bring them again even to this point." -- Letter to Thomas Rankin.
"Every one, though born of God in an instant, yea, and sanctified in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows, by slow degrees, both after the former and the latter change. But it does not follow from thence that there may be a considerable tract of time between the one and the other. A year or a month is the same with God as a thousand. It is therefore our duty to pray and look for full salvation every day, every hour, every moment, without waiting until we have either done or suffered more." -Vol. vi. p. 764.
Many at Macclesfield believed that the blood of Christ had cleansed them from all sin. I spoke to these forty in all one by one. Some of them said they received that blessing ten days, some six, some four, some three days, after they found peace with God, and two of then the next day." -- Vol. iv. p. 135.
With God one day is as a thousand years. It plainly follows that the quantity of time is nothing to him. Centuries, years, months, days, hours, and moments are exactly the same. Consequently he can as well sanctify in a day after we are justified as a hundred years. There is no difference at all, unless we suppose him to be such a one as ourselves. Accordingly, we see, in fact, that some of the most unquestionable witnesses of sanctifying grace were sanctified with a Few Days after they were justified." No wonder that he exclaims, Oh, why do we not encourage all to expect this blessing every hour from the moment they are justified?" -- Vol. iv. p. 451.
Mr. Wesley wrote to Freeborn Garrettson in 1785: It will be well, as soon as any seekers find peace with God, to exhort them to go on unto perfection."
Bishop Peck says "There is surely no time fixed in the Scriptures which must elapse before the work can be accomplished. The Saviour prays for his disciples, 'Sanctify them through thy truth,' assuming that they were all at that time eligible to this great blessing Indeed, there has been such variety in the periods of entire sanctification as to show clearly that no specific time must elapse before the converted man may enter into the rest of perfect love." -- (Central Idea, p. 110.
President Mahan says: "This is the very sentiment which is invariably impressed by the Spirit of God upon the young convert in the warmth of his early love."
Rev. Luther Lee says "This progressive work may be cut short and finished at any moment, when the intelligence clearly comprehends the defects of the present state, and faith, comprehending the power and willingness of God to sanctify us wholly, and do it now, is exercised." -- Theology, p. 214
"We are generally inclined to the opinion," says Rev. J. S. Inskip, "that between our justification and sanctification there must necessarily be an extended period of many months or years, or well-nigh a lifetime. This is a most grievous error. -- Methods of Promoting Perfect Love, p. 14.
Rev. Asa Kent, late of the Providence Conference, says. "Fifty and sixty years ago, young coverts were exhorted to improve their 'first love,' while their hearts were warm, in seeking for full sanctification that this would prevent their backsliding, and secure a permanent peace within. Before I had been in society one year, my soul hungered and thirsted after a clean heart, and I was resolved never to rest without it." -- Article in Guide, 1858.
The Bible says: "Now is the accepted time, NOW is the day of salvation." The command, "Be ye holy," is in the present tense, and binding upon all believers, without regard to the length of time since their conversion. Paul wrote to heathen converts in the city of Thessalonica, not more than six months old: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Any delay of entire sanctification beyond the period necessary to acquire a knowledge of its necessity, its nature, and the conditions of its attainment, is justly chargeable upon ourselves.
To hasten over into the spiritual Canaan of perfect love is among the first lessons of the Holy Spirit gives the young convert.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Regeneration and Entire Sanctification Not Identical Part 3
15. Is the theory that the soul is entirely sanctified at regeneration, attended with serious difficulties?
It is. It involves the whole subject of Christian sanctification in inextricable difficulties. The following are some of them:
1. If sanctification is complete at justification, then every man who enjoys religion is entirely sanctified.
2. If sanctification is complete at conversion, then every Christian, to be truthful, should profess entire sanctification.
3. If all who are converted are entirely sanctified, then all the directions in the word of God, to seek holiness sanctification, or perfect love, are given exclusively to sinners.
4. If sanctification is complete at justification, then converts are not to seek for any further cleansing.
5. If sanctification is complete at justification, ministers have no right to urge Christians to "go on unto perfection," or to "cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
6. If justification and entire sanctification are inseparable, then all who feel the fruits of the flesh are in a state of condemnation.
7. If a state of entire sanctification is consistent with the struggles of pride, unbelief, impatience, jealousy, and anger (the common experience of newly justified believers), must we not infer that these must go with us to heaven? as it must be admitted that entire sanctification fits the soul for heaven.
8. If sanctification is complete at conversion then every man who is not entirely sanctified is a child of the devil.
9. If entire sanctification is complete at justification, it is so in opposition to the experience of the whole Church of God, and, with slight exceptions, the whole Christian world have been seriously mistaken during two thousand years.
10. If all that are regenerate are wholly sanctified, then, whoever is convicted for full salvation, and groaning after it, is at once to infer that he was never converted, or that he is now backslidden. Thus would this heresy, if received, perplex and harass with perpetual difficulties and discouragements the very members of the church who are most deeply concerned to possess all the mind that was in Christ.
A system involving such difficulties can not be received as the truth of God, and should be regarded as anti-scriptural, and avoided as dangerous heresy.
16. If regeneration is partial and not entire sanctification, where is the limit?
Dr. G. D. Watson answers this question:-- "The Scriptures teach that in conversion the believer is always sanctified or purified back to the moral cleanness of infancy. This is the exact limit of partial sanctification, which is fixed by the Saviour himself. "Except ye be converted and become as little children." Just as pardon removes all guilt resulting from actual transgressions, so 'the washing of regeneration' removes all the impurity acquired by actual transgression. The removal of remaining original impurity is the work of entire sanctification." -- Advocate of Holiness, September, 1879.
Rev.. B. W. Gorham: "The infant, and the man in a state of assured justification before God, are alike parties to the covenant of grace, which entitles them to holiness and heaven. Both are alike free from any voluntary antagonism to holiness; and should death come suddenly to both, our covenant-keeping Lord will surely perfect that which is locking in each, even in the very article of death." -- God's Method with Man, p. 57.
17. Does a state of justification involve a desire to be holy?
It does. If a man is a Christian, and in a justified state, he has the heart of a child of God, and desires to render Him a present, full, and unreserved obedience. This is implied in the very nature of true religion. A desire for holiness is a spontaneity of the regenerate heart, and the Christian who argues against holiness will get down on his knees and pray for a clean heart, -- his regenerated heart getting the better of his head.
Bishop Peck says: "Regeneration in its lowest state loves holiness, and pants to be filled with it."
Mr. Caughey says: "A hearty desire for purity is the brightest gem that sparkles in real justification. If it be genuine, this desire is always attached to it -- as weight to lead, as heat to fire, as fragrance to the rose, as greenness to a healthy leaf -- inseparable."
It is. It involves the whole subject of Christian sanctification in inextricable difficulties. The following are some of them:
1. If sanctification is complete at justification, then every man who enjoys religion is entirely sanctified.
2. If sanctification is complete at conversion, then every Christian, to be truthful, should profess entire sanctification.
3. If all who are converted are entirely sanctified, then all the directions in the word of God, to seek holiness sanctification, or perfect love, are given exclusively to sinners.
4. If sanctification is complete at justification, then converts are not to seek for any further cleansing.
5. If sanctification is complete at justification, ministers have no right to urge Christians to "go on unto perfection," or to "cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
6. If justification and entire sanctification are inseparable, then all who feel the fruits of the flesh are in a state of condemnation.
7. If a state of entire sanctification is consistent with the struggles of pride, unbelief, impatience, jealousy, and anger (the common experience of newly justified believers), must we not infer that these must go with us to heaven? as it must be admitted that entire sanctification fits the soul for heaven.
8. If sanctification is complete at conversion then every man who is not entirely sanctified is a child of the devil.
9. If entire sanctification is complete at justification, it is so in opposition to the experience of the whole Church of God, and, with slight exceptions, the whole Christian world have been seriously mistaken during two thousand years.
10. If all that are regenerate are wholly sanctified, then, whoever is convicted for full salvation, and groaning after it, is at once to infer that he was never converted, or that he is now backslidden. Thus would this heresy, if received, perplex and harass with perpetual difficulties and discouragements the very members of the church who are most deeply concerned to possess all the mind that was in Christ.
A system involving such difficulties can not be received as the truth of God, and should be regarded as anti-scriptural, and avoided as dangerous heresy.
16. If regeneration is partial and not entire sanctification, where is the limit?
Dr. G. D. Watson answers this question:-- "The Scriptures teach that in conversion the believer is always sanctified or purified back to the moral cleanness of infancy. This is the exact limit of partial sanctification, which is fixed by the Saviour himself. "Except ye be converted and become as little children." Just as pardon removes all guilt resulting from actual transgressions, so 'the washing of regeneration' removes all the impurity acquired by actual transgression. The removal of remaining original impurity is the work of entire sanctification." -- Advocate of Holiness, September, 1879.
Rev.. B. W. Gorham: "The infant, and the man in a state of assured justification before God, are alike parties to the covenant of grace, which entitles them to holiness and heaven. Both are alike free from any voluntary antagonism to holiness; and should death come suddenly to both, our covenant-keeping Lord will surely perfect that which is locking in each, even in the very article of death." -- God's Method with Man, p. 57.
17. Does a state of justification involve a desire to be holy?
It does. If a man is a Christian, and in a justified state, he has the heart of a child of God, and desires to render Him a present, full, and unreserved obedience. This is implied in the very nature of true religion. A desire for holiness is a spontaneity of the regenerate heart, and the Christian who argues against holiness will get down on his knees and pray for a clean heart, -- his regenerated heart getting the better of his head.
Bishop Peck says: "Regeneration in its lowest state loves holiness, and pants to be filled with it."
Mr. Caughey says: "A hearty desire for purity is the brightest gem that sparkles in real justification. If it be genuine, this desire is always attached to it -- as weight to lead, as heat to fire, as fragrance to the rose, as greenness to a healthy leaf -- inseparable."
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Regeneration and Entire Sanctification Not Identical Part 2
11. Does this distinction harmonize with Christian experience?
It does. All Christians are regenerated, while but few claim to be sanctified wholly. The penitent sinner seeks for pardon and acceptance, and is not concerned for the blessing of perfect love, or entire justification. After regeneration, the more clearly the light of justification shines, the more the converted soul will see its indwelling sin, and feel the necessity of entire sanctification.
Thousands of intelligent Christians, whose experience in regard to regeneration and sanctification has been clear, can testify to the following:--
1. They have had a clear evidence of justification and regeneration.
2. While in possession of this evidence, they have been convinced of inbred sin, or corruption.
3. They have sought and obtained a sensible purification of heart in which all sin was taken away, and they were enabled to love God with all the heart.
4. They have had as clear and distinct witness of the Spirit, to this "second blessing," as they ever had of justification and regeneration.
12. Does the Lord ever entirely sanctify the soul at justification and regeneration?
We do not know. Possibly this may be the case in some instances, but, certainly, is not the usual order of God. In all our acquaintance with many thousands of the purest and best Christians in all the various churches, we have yet to find a clear case of entire sanctification at conversion. While multitudes claim that their souls have been cleansed from all sin subsequent to their justification, we do not recollect a single instance of a distinct witness of entire sanctification at conversion.
Mr. Wesley says: "But we do not know a single instance, in any place, of a person's receiving in one and the same moment remission of sins, the abiding witness of the Spirit, and a new and a clean heart." -- Plain Account, p. 34.
In giving an account of Grace Paddy, who was convicted of sin, converted, and purified within twelve hours, he says: "Such an instance I never knew before; such an instance I never read a person convinced of sin, converted to God, and renewed in love within twelve hours Yet it is by no means incredible, seeing one day is with God as a thousand years." -- Works, vol. iv. p. 219.
Dr. Clarke says: "I have been twenty-three years a traveling preacher, and have been acquainted with some thousands of Christians during that time, who were in different states of grace; and I never, to my knowledge, met with a single instance where God both justified and sanctified at the same time." -- Etheridge's Life of Dr. A. Clarke.
13. How did Mr. Wesley view the idea that the soul is entirely sanctified at regeneration?
As a dangerous heresy. On its account after several long interviews with Count Zinzendorf a leading Moravian, he separated himself and his societies from all communion and fellowship with the Moravians.
"We may learn" (says Mr. Wesley) "the mischievousness of that opinion, that we are wholly sanctified when we are justified; that our hearts are then cleansed from all sin." -- Works, vol. i. p. 119.
I cannot therefore by any means receive this assertion, that there is no sin in a believer from the moment he is justified; --
"1. Because it is contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture."
"2. Because it is contrary to the experience of the children of God."
"3. Because it is absolutely new, never heard of in the world till yesterday."
"4. Because it is naturally attended with the most fatal consequences; not only grieving those whom God hath not grieved, but, perhaps, dragging them into everlasting perdition." -- Sermons, vol. i. p. 111.
Dr. George Peck says: "Would it not be a sad indication of the degeneracy of Methodism in this country, if what Mr. Wesley, under God our great founder, considered heresy, and opposed With All His Might, should be cherished as the very marrow of the gospel by the ministers and people of the Methodist Episcopal Church?" -- Christian, Perfection, p. 364.
Rev.. William Bramwell writes to a friend: "An idea is going forth, that when we are justified we are entirely sanctified," and "to feel evil nature after justification is to lose pardon," &c. You may depend upon it, this is the devil's great gun. We shall have much trouble with this, and I am afraid we cannot suppress it." -- Memoir.
It does. All Christians are regenerated, while but few claim to be sanctified wholly. The penitent sinner seeks for pardon and acceptance, and is not concerned for the blessing of perfect love, or entire justification. After regeneration, the more clearly the light of justification shines, the more the converted soul will see its indwelling sin, and feel the necessity of entire sanctification.
Thousands of intelligent Christians, whose experience in regard to regeneration and sanctification has been clear, can testify to the following:--
1. They have had a clear evidence of justification and regeneration.
2. While in possession of this evidence, they have been convinced of inbred sin, or corruption.
3. They have sought and obtained a sensible purification of heart in which all sin was taken away, and they were enabled to love God with all the heart.
4. They have had as clear and distinct witness of the Spirit, to this "second blessing," as they ever had of justification and regeneration.
12. Does the Lord ever entirely sanctify the soul at justification and regeneration?
We do not know. Possibly this may be the case in some instances, but, certainly, is not the usual order of God. In all our acquaintance with many thousands of the purest and best Christians in all the various churches, we have yet to find a clear case of entire sanctification at conversion. While multitudes claim that their souls have been cleansed from all sin subsequent to their justification, we do not recollect a single instance of a distinct witness of entire sanctification at conversion.
Mr. Wesley says: "But we do not know a single instance, in any place, of a person's receiving in one and the same moment remission of sins, the abiding witness of the Spirit, and a new and a clean heart." -- Plain Account, p. 34.
In giving an account of Grace Paddy, who was convicted of sin, converted, and purified within twelve hours, he says: "Such an instance I never knew before; such an instance I never read a person convinced of sin, converted to God, and renewed in love within twelve hours Yet it is by no means incredible, seeing one day is with God as a thousand years." -- Works, vol. iv. p. 219.
Dr. Clarke says: "I have been twenty-three years a traveling preacher, and have been acquainted with some thousands of Christians during that time, who were in different states of grace; and I never, to my knowledge, met with a single instance where God both justified and sanctified at the same time." -- Etheridge's Life of Dr. A. Clarke.
13. How did Mr. Wesley view the idea that the soul is entirely sanctified at regeneration?
As a dangerous heresy. On its account after several long interviews with Count Zinzendorf a leading Moravian, he separated himself and his societies from all communion and fellowship with the Moravians.
"We may learn" (says Mr. Wesley) "the mischievousness of that opinion, that we are wholly sanctified when we are justified; that our hearts are then cleansed from all sin." -- Works, vol. i. p. 119.
I cannot therefore by any means receive this assertion, that there is no sin in a believer from the moment he is justified; --
"1. Because it is contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture."
"2. Because it is contrary to the experience of the children of God."
"3. Because it is absolutely new, never heard of in the world till yesterday."
"4. Because it is naturally attended with the most fatal consequences; not only grieving those whom God hath not grieved, but, perhaps, dragging them into everlasting perdition." -- Sermons, vol. i. p. 111.
Dr. George Peck says: "Would it not be a sad indication of the degeneracy of Methodism in this country, if what Mr. Wesley, under God our great founder, considered heresy, and opposed With All His Might, should be cherished as the very marrow of the gospel by the ministers and people of the Methodist Episcopal Church?" -- Christian, Perfection, p. 364.
Rev.. William Bramwell writes to a friend: "An idea is going forth, that when we are justified we are entirely sanctified," and "to feel evil nature after justification is to lose pardon," &c. You may depend upon it, this is the devil's great gun. We shall have much trouble with this, and I am afraid we cannot suppress it." -- Memoir.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Regeneration and Entire Sanctification Not Identical Part 1
BLJ: Being regenerated, that is "born again" is not the same as being entirely sanctified.
8. Do the Scriptures teach a distinction between regeneration and entire sanctification?
They do. "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." "Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth." All these passages have reference to Christians in a regenerated state, but not entirely sanctified.
9. Does the Christian Church generally recognize this distinction?
It does. "By a consent almost universal," says Rev. Dr. Hodge, "the word regeneration is now used to designate, not the whole work of sanctification." -- According to the Scriptures, and the undeniable evidence of history, regeneration does not remove all sin." -- Systematic Theology, vol. iii p. 290.
Prof. Upham says: "The distinction which is made in the Scriptures between the two is regarded so obvious and incontrovertible by most writers, that it has naturally passed as an established truth into treatises on theology." -- Interior Life.
"That there is sin in the incipient believer," says Dr. John Dempster, "is a scriptural truth, sustained by many kinds of evidence. The denial of it is a position utterly novel. It is less than two centuries old. Till that modern date, no part of the Greek or Latin churches was ever infected with it. And in the Reformed churches it was never heard of only among a few raving Antinomians." -- Sermon at Biblical Institute.
10. Does the Methodist Church teach a distinction?
She does very clearly in her Discipline, Catechism, Hymn Book, and by all her standard authorities.
1. The Discipline recognizes a state of entire sanctification as attainable subsequent to regeneration and previous to death.
Every minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church has affirmed, by his ordination vows, that entire sanctification is a distinct work, subsequent to regeneration. In the Discipline, Part II sec. 11, are the following questions: "Have you faith in Christ? Are you going on unto perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? Are you groaning after it?" These questions suppose that "perfection," or "perfect love," is distinct from and subsequent to regeneration.
2. The official Catechisms of the Methodist Church were revised by Bishop Hedding, Nathan Bangs. Stephen Olin, and Joseph Holdich, and then examined and indorsed by the General Conference in 1552. These Catechisms define Regeneration -- "The new birth of the soul in the image of Christ, whereby we become the children of God;" and Entire Sanctification -- "The state of being entirely cleansed from sin, so as to love God with all our heart and mind, and soul and strength."
3. The Hymn Book teaches a distinction. Every edition from the first, has contained a specific class of hymns on sanctification. These hymns, more numerous than those on any other subject, were written principally by the Wesleys, to define, defend, and promote entire sanctification, in early Methodism when it was greatly controverted. In the changes made in the Hymn Book from time to time during the past century, many sweet and clearly defined hymns on this subject have been left out; still our Hymnal contains a beautiful and choice selection upon it.
Speak the second time, 'Be clean.'
Take away my inbred sin;
Every stumblingblock remove;
Cast it out by perfect love."
-- Chas. Wesley --
The seed of sin's disease,
Spirit of health, remove,
Spirit of finished holiness,
Spirit of perfect love."
-- Chas. Wesley --
"Refining fire, go through my heart,
Illuminate my soul
Scatter thy life through every part,
And sanctify the whole."
-- Chas. Wesley --
4. All the leading writers and standard authorities of Methodism teach a distinction. Mr. Wesley might be quoted very largely; we will insert only a few lines from him. He says: "Sanctification begins in the moment a man is justified. Yet sin remains in him, yea, the seed of all sin, till he is sanctified throughout." -- Works, vol. vi. p. 496. See Plain Account- Sermons, vol. i. p. 124; also vol. i. p. 119.
1. Rev.. Richard Watson says: "That a distinction exists between a regenerate state and a state of entire and perfect holiness, will be generally allowed." -- Institutes, Part II. chap. 29.
2. Rev. John Fletcher says: "We do not deny that the remains of the carnal mind still cleave to imperfect Christians. "This fault, corruption or infection, doth remain in them who are regenerated." -- Last Check, p. 507-541.
3. Dr. Adam Clark said to a friend who had been misinformed in regard to his views of entire sanctification: "As to the words which you quote as mine, I totally disclaim them. I never said, I never intended to say them. I believe Justification and Sanctification to be widely distinct works." He used the term Justification as including regeneration. -- Etheridge's Life of Dr. A. Clark.
4. "Regeneration also, being the same as the new birth," says Bishop Hedding "is the beginning of sanctification, though not the completion of it, or not entire sanctification. Regeneration is the beginning of purification; entire sanctification is the finishing of that work." -- Address at N. J. Con.
5. Bishop Hamline says: "That this perfect love, or entire sanctification, is specifically a new state, and not the mere improvement of a former state, or of regeneration, is plainly inferred from the Bible." -- Beauty of Holiness, 1862, p. 264.
6. Bishop Foster says: "Regeneration is not entire sanctification; the merely regenerate are not sanctified; they are not entirely free from sin; they are not perfect in love." -- Christian Purity, p. 69.
7. Dr. George Peck says: "The doctrine of entire sanctification, as a DISTINCT WORK wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost, is the GREAT DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINE OF METHODISM. This given up, and we have little left which we do not told in common with other evangelical denominations." "The position that justification and entire sanctification take place at one and the same time, and that regeneration and entire sanctification are identical, is clearly contrary to the position taken by our standard theologians." -- Christian Perfection, p. 363.
8. Rev. Wm. McDonald: "Regeneration and entire sanctification are not received at one and the same time, except, perhaps, in a few extraordinary cases, if, indeed, the case ever occurs." -- New Testament Standard, p. 44.
9. Bishop Thomson, at the West Virginia Conference, in his last clerical address a few days before his death, said: "The justified and regenerate discover in themselves the remains of the carnal mind. If you accept the theory that you are sanctified when you are justified, if you find the remains of sin after you experience regeneration, you will be led to a melancholy conclusion. The opposite view, that we cannot be made pure, is equally pernicious."
10. Dr. Raymond, in his "Systematic Theology," says: "Entire sanctification is not usually, if ever, contemporary with regeneration. Regeneration is, in most cases of Christian experience, if not in all, initial sanctification, not complete, perfect renewal. The regenerated person is not, at the moment of regeneration, wholly sanctified." -- Article on Sanctification.
11. Rev. Dr. Lowry says: "The position is supportable, on Scripture grounds, that true believers, born of the Spirit, and loving God, may be, and ordinarily are, the subjects of a residuum of inherent sin." -- Positive Theology, p. 234.
12. Bishop M. Simpson says: "Sanctification is not regeneration." -- "Methodism differs from Moravianism in that it does not hold regeneration and entire sanctification to be identical." -- Christian Perfection, in Encyclopedia of Methodism.
These citations might be greatly multiplied; those given are sufficient to indicate the voice of the church on this question.
8. Do the Scriptures teach a distinction between regeneration and entire sanctification?
They do. "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." "Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth." All these passages have reference to Christians in a regenerated state, but not entirely sanctified.
9. Does the Christian Church generally recognize this distinction?
It does. "By a consent almost universal," says Rev. Dr. Hodge, "the word regeneration is now used to designate, not the whole work of sanctification." -- According to the Scriptures, and the undeniable evidence of history, regeneration does not remove all sin." -- Systematic Theology, vol. iii p. 290.
Prof. Upham says: "The distinction which is made in the Scriptures between the two is regarded so obvious and incontrovertible by most writers, that it has naturally passed as an established truth into treatises on theology." -- Interior Life.
"That there is sin in the incipient believer," says Dr. John Dempster, "is a scriptural truth, sustained by many kinds of evidence. The denial of it is a position utterly novel. It is less than two centuries old. Till that modern date, no part of the Greek or Latin churches was ever infected with it. And in the Reformed churches it was never heard of only among a few raving Antinomians." -- Sermon at Biblical Institute.
10. Does the Methodist Church teach a distinction?
She does very clearly in her Discipline, Catechism, Hymn Book, and by all her standard authorities.
1. The Discipline recognizes a state of entire sanctification as attainable subsequent to regeneration and previous to death.
Every minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church has affirmed, by his ordination vows, that entire sanctification is a distinct work, subsequent to regeneration. In the Discipline, Part II sec. 11, are the following questions: "Have you faith in Christ? Are you going on unto perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? Are you groaning after it?" These questions suppose that "perfection," or "perfect love," is distinct from and subsequent to regeneration.
2. The official Catechisms of the Methodist Church were revised by Bishop Hedding, Nathan Bangs. Stephen Olin, and Joseph Holdich, and then examined and indorsed by the General Conference in 1552. These Catechisms define Regeneration -- "The new birth of the soul in the image of Christ, whereby we become the children of God;" and Entire Sanctification -- "The state of being entirely cleansed from sin, so as to love God with all our heart and mind, and soul and strength."
3. The Hymn Book teaches a distinction. Every edition from the first, has contained a specific class of hymns on sanctification. These hymns, more numerous than those on any other subject, were written principally by the Wesleys, to define, defend, and promote entire sanctification, in early Methodism when it was greatly controverted. In the changes made in the Hymn Book from time to time during the past century, many sweet and clearly defined hymns on this subject have been left out; still our Hymnal contains a beautiful and choice selection upon it.
Speak the second time, 'Be clean.'
Take away my inbred sin;
Every stumblingblock remove;
Cast it out by perfect love."
-- Chas. Wesley --
The seed of sin's disease,
Spirit of health, remove,
Spirit of finished holiness,
Spirit of perfect love."
-- Chas. Wesley --
"Refining fire, go through my heart,
Illuminate my soul
Scatter thy life through every part,
And sanctify the whole."
-- Chas. Wesley --
4. All the leading writers and standard authorities of Methodism teach a distinction. Mr. Wesley might be quoted very largely; we will insert only a few lines from him. He says: "Sanctification begins in the moment a man is justified. Yet sin remains in him, yea, the seed of all sin, till he is sanctified throughout." -- Works, vol. vi. p. 496. See Plain Account- Sermons, vol. i. p. 124; also vol. i. p. 119.
1. Rev.. Richard Watson says: "That a distinction exists between a regenerate state and a state of entire and perfect holiness, will be generally allowed." -- Institutes, Part II. chap. 29.
2. Rev. John Fletcher says: "We do not deny that the remains of the carnal mind still cleave to imperfect Christians. "This fault, corruption or infection, doth remain in them who are regenerated." -- Last Check, p. 507-541.
3. Dr. Adam Clark said to a friend who had been misinformed in regard to his views of entire sanctification: "As to the words which you quote as mine, I totally disclaim them. I never said, I never intended to say them. I believe Justification and Sanctification to be widely distinct works." He used the term Justification as including regeneration. -- Etheridge's Life of Dr. A. Clark.
4. "Regeneration also, being the same as the new birth," says Bishop Hedding "is the beginning of sanctification, though not the completion of it, or not entire sanctification. Regeneration is the beginning of purification; entire sanctification is the finishing of that work." -- Address at N. J. Con.
5. Bishop Hamline says: "That this perfect love, or entire sanctification, is specifically a new state, and not the mere improvement of a former state, or of regeneration, is plainly inferred from the Bible." -- Beauty of Holiness, 1862, p. 264.
6. Bishop Foster says: "Regeneration is not entire sanctification; the merely regenerate are not sanctified; they are not entirely free from sin; they are not perfect in love." -- Christian Purity, p. 69.
7. Dr. George Peck says: "The doctrine of entire sanctification, as a DISTINCT WORK wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost, is the GREAT DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINE OF METHODISM. This given up, and we have little left which we do not told in common with other evangelical denominations." "The position that justification and entire sanctification take place at one and the same time, and that regeneration and entire sanctification are identical, is clearly contrary to the position taken by our standard theologians." -- Christian Perfection, p. 363.
8. Rev. Wm. McDonald: "Regeneration and entire sanctification are not received at one and the same time, except, perhaps, in a few extraordinary cases, if, indeed, the case ever occurs." -- New Testament Standard, p. 44.
9. Bishop Thomson, at the West Virginia Conference, in his last clerical address a few days before his death, said: "The justified and regenerate discover in themselves the remains of the carnal mind. If you accept the theory that you are sanctified when you are justified, if you find the remains of sin after you experience regeneration, you will be led to a melancholy conclusion. The opposite view, that we cannot be made pure, is equally pernicious."
10. Dr. Raymond, in his "Systematic Theology," says: "Entire sanctification is not usually, if ever, contemporary with regeneration. Regeneration is, in most cases of Christian experience, if not in all, initial sanctification, not complete, perfect renewal. The regenerated person is not, at the moment of regeneration, wholly sanctified." -- Article on Sanctification.
11. Rev. Dr. Lowry says: "The position is supportable, on Scripture grounds, that true believers, born of the Spirit, and loving God, may be, and ordinarily are, the subjects of a residuum of inherent sin." -- Positive Theology, p. 234.
12. Bishop M. Simpson says: "Sanctification is not regeneration." -- "Methodism differs from Moravianism in that it does not hold regeneration and entire sanctification to be identical." -- Christian Perfection, in Encyclopedia of Methodism.
These citations might be greatly multiplied; those given are sufficient to indicate the voice of the church on this question.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
How May a State of Entire Sanctification Be Retained? Part 2
BLJ: We conclude today with the remaining answer to this question. The church needs holiness. Too many Christians today have left the ancient landmarks that the Scriptures provide and this has led to acceptance of many moral failures and confusion in the church. This includes the meaning of marriage, the sanctify of life, and the maintaining of moral absolutes.
7. You must read the Holy Scriptures daily.
The word of God is the voice of the Spirit. It is grieved when the truth is neglected or disobeyed. The Bible is soul-food. Perfect love will require nourishment daily. If you do not feed it with Bible truth it will die. Holiness furnishes a strong appetite for spiritual aliment. Those who have been the clearest in perfect love are those who have paid the greatest attention and deference to the word of God. The Bible is a well of living water. You will need to draw water daily out of
7. You must read the Holy Scriptures daily.
The word of God is the voice of the Spirit. It is grieved when the truth is neglected or disobeyed. The Bible is soul-food. Perfect love will require nourishment daily. If you do not feed it with Bible truth it will die. Holiness furnishes a strong appetite for spiritual aliment. Those who have been the clearest in perfect love are those who have paid the greatest attention and deference to the word of God. The Bible is a well of living water. You will need to draw water daily out of
this well of salvation; you can never drink it dry. The Bible is your chart and compass, and you will have occasion to examine it daily.
8. To retain the blessing of perfect love, you must constantly aim at growing in grace.
There is no standing still in religion. If we are not advancing we are retrograding. Many people have lost the witness of the Spirit by not pressing after a greater fullness. Christian holiness secures the best possible preparation for growth in grace; and there are heights and depths, and lengths, and breadths of the love of God, to which we must be constantly aspiring. If we do not press after them, we shall be likely to go backward and lose what we have before attained.
John Wesley wrote to Adam Clarke: "Last week I had an excellent letter from Mrs. Pawson, a glorious WITNESS of full salvation, showing how impossible it is to retain pure love without growing therein."
9. You must live constantly under a sense of the presence of God.
Always remember, "Thou, God, seest me!" You are watched and seen every moment by an eye a million times keener than the eyes of angels -- the infinite eye of the all-seeing God. If you knew that a legion of angels were watching you every moment, how careful you would be to act aright! Remember you are always in God's immediate presence.
10. You must lead a life of prayer.
You must be a man of prayer. Pray early in the morning, and, if possible, remain some time on your knees with God. This will prepare you for the day. Pray often, and then prayer will become a delight. Stay with God in prayer -- stay until he melts you, and then stay when you are melted, and plead with him, and he will answer, and you will be transformed, renewed, and strengthened.
11. You must labor faithfully for the salvation of sinners.
It is the nature of' perfect love to long for the salvation of souls; and if you do not go out with God for the salvation of men, your love will cool into apathy and indifference, and you will lose the evidence of entire sanctification altogether. When your heart yearns over sinners, go to God and pray; then go to sinners with manly sympathy, and you will find it an excellent means of grace t your soul. It will be a holy oil that will anoint you. You must also seek to lead saints into this grace.
Mr. Wesley says: "One great means of retaining what God has given, is to labor to bring others into this grace, and to profess it to all mankind."
12. To retain it, you must oppose sin of every name and kind, without any compromise.
Like your Lord, you are to show it no quarter, at any time, or anywhere, either in or out of the church. In respect to sin and holiness, it is eternally true that "No man can serve two masters."
8. To retain the blessing of perfect love, you must constantly aim at growing in grace.
There is no standing still in religion. If we are not advancing we are retrograding. Many people have lost the witness of the Spirit by not pressing after a greater fullness. Christian holiness secures the best possible preparation for growth in grace; and there are heights and depths, and lengths, and breadths of the love of God, to which we must be constantly aspiring. If we do not press after them, we shall be likely to go backward and lose what we have before attained.
John Wesley wrote to Adam Clarke: "Last week I had an excellent letter from Mrs. Pawson, a glorious WITNESS of full salvation, showing how impossible it is to retain pure love without growing therein."
9. You must live constantly under a sense of the presence of God.
Always remember, "Thou, God, seest me!" You are watched and seen every moment by an eye a million times keener than the eyes of angels -- the infinite eye of the all-seeing God. If you knew that a legion of angels were watching you every moment, how careful you would be to act aright! Remember you are always in God's immediate presence.
10. You must lead a life of prayer.
You must be a man of prayer. Pray early in the morning, and, if possible, remain some time on your knees with God. This will prepare you for the day. Pray often, and then prayer will become a delight. Stay with God in prayer -- stay until he melts you, and then stay when you are melted, and plead with him, and he will answer, and you will be transformed, renewed, and strengthened.
11. You must labor faithfully for the salvation of sinners.
It is the nature of' perfect love to long for the salvation of souls; and if you do not go out with God for the salvation of men, your love will cool into apathy and indifference, and you will lose the evidence of entire sanctification altogether. When your heart yearns over sinners, go to God and pray; then go to sinners with manly sympathy, and you will find it an excellent means of grace t your soul. It will be a holy oil that will anoint you. You must also seek to lead saints into this grace.
Mr. Wesley says: "One great means of retaining what God has given, is to labor to bring others into this grace, and to profess it to all mankind."
12. To retain it, you must oppose sin of every name and kind, without any compromise.
Like your Lord, you are to show it no quarter, at any time, or anywhere, either in or out of the church. In respect to sin and holiness, it is eternally true that "No man can serve two masters."
You must know no exceptions, either in high places or in low, in great things or little things, among enemies or friends. Your duty is plain --"ABSTAIN FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL."
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