What
Wesleyans Believe about Sanctification
In
the spring many of my students head to interviews with their denominational
ordination board or committee. It is sometimes an encouraging and uplifting
experience. At other times it can be harrowing. The harrowing part happens when
boards expect students to have settled all doctrinal questions by age 22. Many of my students still believe they are
kids and they shouldn’t be expected to have the “final answer” on all matters
of doctrine until, say age 30 or so. This brings them into conflict with their
examination boards that are made up mostly older men who settled all questions
like this by age 19. These old men can’t understand why a 22 year old has not
made up their mind yet on matters like tongues, eternal security, entire
sanctification or inerrancy.
About
half of our students at IWU are Wesleyans so as a faculty we try to prepare
students for these interviews. In order to do this, a few years ago we started
a series of “explanatory notes” on the Wesleyan Articles of Religion. Our plan was to write a collaborative
statement of a line-by-line exposition of the denomination’s Articles of
Religion to help students prepare for these interviews. We figured the students
were used to having us explain things so we might be able to explain the
sometimes antiquated wording of the church’s statements in a way they’d
understand. So we crafted, rewrote, argued, then
finally came up with a statement explaining the Wesleyan Church’s position on
sanctification. But, like many good ideas, the whole thing had a strong start
then fizzled after explaining only two articles (Sanctification and the
authority of the Bible).
So,
since it is spring again, and since students are heading off for these
interviews again, and since I am grading papers and final exams and since I am
simply too lazy to write a fresh column these two weeks, I decided to publish
this exposition of the Wesleyan Church’s statement on Sanctification here this
week (next week I’ll publish our exposition of the denomination’s statement on
the Bible.) My apologies to the many
non-Wesleyans who read this column—but perhaps your denomination has a
statement on these two items as well-how does your statement compare to The Wesleyan Church’s statement?
As your
faculty, we know some of you are thoughtfully preparing for interviews with
District Boards of Ministerial Development (DBMD). Thus, you should be in the
process of examining yourselves seriously in relation to what The Wesleyan
Church believes. To help you, we have prepared these explanations of two
key statements from our 21 Articles of Religion. Below you will find Article 5 on the Bible and
Article 14 on Sanctification. The
Wesleyan Articles of Religion are in bold face type and our narrative
explanation is interspersed in regular type-face. We want you to understand not only what The
Wesleyan Church believes, but that we, your Religion faculty,
also stand firmly behind these statements. We
encourage you to examine these two questions in
your head and heart before meeting with your DBMD. -- The IWU Religion faculty. Spring, 2008
|
What Wesleyans Believe about Sanctification 14. Sanctification:
Initial, Progressive, Entire a. We believe that sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by
which the child of God is separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love
God with all the heart and to walk in all His holy commandments blameless.
Wesleyans not only believe that God forgives the sins of
our past, not only gives us a "not guilty" verdict as our
Judge. We believe that God actually addresses the part of us that
drives us to sin in the first place. God empowers us to beat the
temptations that come our way after we have believed. Sanctification
is the work of God in which the Holy Spirit gives Christians victory
over the power of sin and transforms us to be more like Christ. We are separated
from sin not only in the sense that we no longer need fall into
sin. We can actually exchange our "bent to sinning" for a
drive to "fulfill the righteous requirement of God" as we walk in
the Spirit and no longer in the flesh (Rom. 8:4). Wesleyans believe such power boils down to the ability to
love God with all the heart while we are still in this life.
We strongly resist the views of others who are pessimistic about the
power of God to change lives. God would not have commanded us to be
holy if He had not at the same time made it possible (1 Pet. 1:16; cf. Matt.
5:48). Some are of course prone to rankle over what it might mean to
love God with all your heart (Matt. 22:37). They might mistake
this for some absolute or "Adamic"
perfection. But we would simply ask: What decision will you make when
you are clearly confronted with the choice to obey or disobey God? Will
you eagerly make the choice for God or will you resist? Those who
constantly and eagerly choose for God are those who love God with all their
heart. If we love God with our whole heart, we will be faithful
to Him. We will walk in all His holy commandments. When we
love God completely, we will obey Him completely (John 14:15). From
time to time one might fall short of the example Christ modeled for us when
he became humanity. But we do not have
to. God does not expect us to. To live a life of love in the
imitation of Christ is the natural outgrowth of his Spirit inside us (cf.
Phil. 2:5). Living constantly and eagerly in loving obedience is possible—indeed
far more possible that the average lives of believers today demonstrate. b. Sanctification is initiated at the moment of
justification and regeneration. To Wesleyans, sanctification begins at the moment of
justification and regeneration. This work of God to separate
us from the power of sin begins when we are first saved. The Holy
Spirit takes residence in us as the decisive element in our becoming part of
the body of Christ (Rom. 8:9). We receive the Spirit of Christ that
inhabits the body of Christ and partake of Holy Spirit (Heb. 6:3). The
impurity of our past sin acts is cleansed in what Wesleyans call
"initial sanctification," and God begins to change us. Wesleyans reject the notion that it is only our legal
status before God that changes when we are saved. We believe God actually changes us at conversion as
part of a true regeneration. Christians begin to find that they are
able to resist temptation when it comes (1 Cor.
10:13). They may still struggle with temptation, but they find
themselves largely victorious in that struggle through the power of the Holy
Spirit. They find that the Holy Spirit has begun perfecting them, even
though they might still wrestle with the tug of sin. c. From that moment there is a gradual or progressive
sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in
a more perfect obedience to God. Wesleyans do not believe sanctification ends at
conversion. From the moment of regeneration the Spirit begins the process
of transforming our attitudes, interests, and actions daily. What
used to be a struggle increasingly becomes an easy choice, so that we may
find former temptations lose their power to bring us constant defeat.
Wesleyans call this process of inward transformation and outward
conformity to Christ gradual or progressive sanctification. Some move in this direction more quickly than others, but
such movement is evidence of the Spirit in our lives (e.g., Gal. 5:16).
We reject the notion that we remain "at the same time saint and sinner,
as long as we are always repenting." Certainly the Christian may
still sin from time to time. From time to time they may still fail
to love God with all their heart and not live in full obedience. But
the Christian grows in grace and in a more perfect obedience to God.
God's grace is leading them toward a consistent and pervasive victory over
sin. d. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification
which is wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living
sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, being
effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all
inbred sin. The crisis of entire sanctification perfects the believer in love
and empowers that person for effective service. Wesleyans believe that God's work of sanctification is
"not just in part, but the whole." God will not be satisfied
until believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and
acceptable to God, and do so entirely (our part). Only when we have
completely consecrated ourselves to God will we be able to experience the
"fullness" of the Holy Spirit and full power over sin and
temptation (God's part). The progressive sanctification of the Spirit thus leads to
the crisis of entire sanctification. The Holy Spirit has
sanctified us gradually as we have gradually surrendered parts of our lives
to God. In response, the Spirit has been transforming us gradually in
our attitudes, interests, and actions in progressive sanctification. But
full surrender requires a decision at a point in time. And thus in
response, entire sanctification is wrought instantaneously by
the Spirit at God's pleasure after we consecrate ourselves entirely to
God. It takes place through faith in Jesus Christ, for it
is possible to be fully surrendered and not have the faith that God will do
it. Similarly, one might have the faith that God can do it but not be
fully surrendered to where He will do it. The result of such sanctification is not only victory over
temptation, which we should have experienced from conversion. The
result is more than victory over temptation in some or most areas
of our lives. But we now can experience an ease of victory over
temptation in all aspects of our lives due to the constant, positive empowerment
to do the good we want to do (cf. Rom. 7:19). God perfects the
believer in love and empowers that person for effective service. We
truly can become "fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ"! We cannot do any of these things in our own power.
Part of the crisis is the realization that we are powerless on our own
against the stubborn power of sin over and within us—the inbred sin
humanity has inherited from Adam. Only through faith in Jesus Christ
can it happen, through a baptism with the Holy Spirit so that
we can love and obey God with our whole heart. Wesleyans believe this work of God is not only possible;
it should be the norm. We are optimistic about the power of God to
transform a Christian into what God calls us: to fully love and obey
God and love our neighbor as ourselves. God would not have suggested
that our bodies, souls, and spirits might be sanctified completely unless it
was actually possible (1 Thess. 5:23). Living
constantly and eagerly in loving obedience is not only possible; it is
the normal expectation of the New Testament. e. It is followed by lifelong growth in grace and the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Wesleyans teach that "entire sanctification"
does not produce a life without room for improvement. Even a Christian
who is totally consecrated and full of love for God and others should
experience lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Wesleyans see a difference between
entire sanctification and Christian maturity. It is possible for a
person to be full of love and obedience to God yet still not have the wisdom,
experience and knowledge typical of a fully mature Christian. Thus a fully consecrated and entirely sanctified Christian
still grows, learns, and develops throughout the rest of life. New
areas arise that the believer will need to surrender to God. No one is
static, and our identities as human beings are constantly changing and
developing. But the believer has "settled the question," and
can gladly surrender these new dimensions of life to God as they arise. f. The life of holiness continues through faith in the
sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences itself by loving obedience to God's
revealed will. Wesleyans believe that growth in the life of holiness
does not happen by our own effort. We grow and mature through
faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ. Wesleyans believe
that all holiness is a result of Christ's work, not our own. We must
never fall into the error of thinking that we try to be holy or that
obedience is something we work at. It is the power of the Holy
Spirit that maintains us, and only in relationship to Him can we continue to
love God and our neighbor with our whole heart. What is the evidence of entire sanctification? This
work of God evidences itself by loving obedience to God's revealed will.
It does not evidence itself in a particular look or even in a specific
set of convictions a person has or does not have. The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self control. The person whose life evokes this kind of
fruit is the person who is full of the Holy Spirit, a person who lives in
full obedience to God's known will. Signed, Your IWU Professors, Spring 2008 |
So what do you think? How does YOUR denomination’s position differ from this? How does YOUR own doctrine differ? Do you
agree with anything here? How would
YOU revise this statement?
During
the first few weeks, click here to comment or
read comments
Keith Drury April 13, 2010
Companion
article What
Wesleyan Believe about the Bible