3. Sanctification is effected by the Lord Jesus. "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Heb. 2:11.
4. Sanctification is effected by the Holy Spirit. "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our G.o.d." 1 Cor. 6:11.
5. Sanctification is through the Word of G.o.d. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17.
6. Sanctification is through the atonement of Christ. "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." Heb. 13:12.
7. Sanctification is perfect salvation. "But we are bound to give thanks alway to G.o.d for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because G.o.d hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 Thes. 2:13.
8. Sanctification as a cleansing removes spots, wrinkles, and blemishes from the church. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. 5:25-27.
9. Sanctification prepares men for the service of G.o.d. "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master"s use, and prepared unto every good work." 2 Tim.
2:20, 21.
Because this text is very generally misunderstood we feel like giving an explanation of it. It was long misunderstood by us. Only very recently the Holy Spirit interpreted it to our heart. One evening we asked G.o.d to give us an understanding of this difficult pa.s.sage of Scripture, and the next morning we fully understood it. It is very simple. In a great house there are vessels of gold and silver, wood and earth, some to honor and some to dishonor. This house represents man in his natural state. There are some good traits of character in most every unregenerated man, and also some evil traits. He has some honorable dispositions and some dishonorable.
Full salvation, which includes both justification and sanctification, will save and purge him from every dishonorable inclination and evil trait of character, and fit him for the Master"s use. He will be used only to the glory of G.o.d. All his fruits will be holy unto the Lord.
10. Sanctification prepares man for heaven. We have quoted from 1 Cor.
6:11. By reading the two preceding verses we learn that sanctification is necessary to the entrance of heaven.
Holiness.
There is a sweet melody in the word "holiness." We a.s.sociate it with everything that is heavenly. It is frequently used synonymously with sanctification, yet not always with all the forms of the word sanctification. On the whole there is a slight difference in the meaning of the two terms. Holiness is the consummation of the work of sanctification. By transposing a few words in Heb. 12:14 we would have it read, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Holiness is here a noun objective to the preposition without. In some translations this sentence would read, "Without sanctification no man shall see the Lord."
Sanctification is here a noun, the object of the preposition without. As nouns these words are used interchangeably.
In Jude, first verse, we have this sentence, "To them that are sanctified by G.o.d the Father." The word "sanctified" is here used as a predicate adjective, and describes the people addressed. It would not alter the meaning of the text were we to translate it thus: "To them that are made holy by G.o.d the Father." The word holy is here used as a predicate adjective, and describes the people addressed. In the sentence, "Sanctify them through thy truth" (John 17:17), the word "sanctify" is a verb, denoting action, of which we have no form of the word holiness. The word holiness can not be used as a verb. The word sanctification frequently expresses action; the word holiness never. They are synonymous when they express the pure state of man. Sanctification is the act that brings man into a holy state, which is also the sanctified state. Sanctification may be applied to the holy state, and also to the action that brings us into that state. Since the word sanctification contains action it is positive proof there is a cleansing in it.
Now we desire by a few Scriptural texts and a few suggestions to deepen the reader"s conception of the state of holiness. Everything in the realm of Christianity, or the kingdom of G.o.d, from heaven to earth is holy. Let us here give you a brief Bible lesson, kindly asking you to carefully read each text.
1. G.o.d is holy. "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." Isa. 6:1-3.
If the reader here obtains a just conception of the holy character of G.o.d it will give him an understanding of the true nature of Christianity and the manner of life of a Christian. A gentleman once asked me if it was wrong or unbecoming to a Christian to attend the present day street carnivals. We replied in about these words: "If you gain a true conception of the holiness of the Almighty you will not need to ask me such a question."
2. Heaven is holy. "Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand."
Psa. 20:6.
3. Christ is holy. "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." Heb. 7:26.
4. The angels are holy. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." Mat. 25:31.
5. G.o.d"s commandments are holy. "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. 7:12.
6. G.o.d"s arm is holy. "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our G.o.d." Isa. 52:10.
7. G.o.d"s mountains are holy. "And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of a.s.syria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." Isa. 27:13.
8. G.o.d"s hill is holy. "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" Psa. 15:1.
9. G.o.d"s name is holy. "My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever." Psa. 145:21.
10. G.o.d"s works are holy. "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Psa. 145:17.
11. G.o.d"s people are holy. "For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy G.o.d: the Lord thy G.o.d hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." Deut. 7:6.
Read Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:22; 1 Pet. 1:15; 2 Pet. 3:11.
12. G.o.d"s people are his holy temple. "If any man defile the temple of G.o.d, him shall G.o.d destroy; for the temple of G.o.d is holy, which temple ye are." 1 Cor. 3:17.
13. G.o.d"s church is a holy church. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. 5:25-27.
14. The way to heaven is a holy way. "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; ... the redeemed shall walk there." Isa. 35:8, 9.
Let us repeat: G.o.d is holy; heaven is holy; the angels are holy; Christ is holy; the Spirit is holy; G.o.d"s Word is holy; the way to heaven is holy.
Reader, we want you to picture before you a holy heaven and the holy way that leads to heaven. Read this text: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." Heb. 12:14.
Looking into the Word of the Lord we find that man was chosen to holiness.
Eph. 1:4. That G.o.d calls him to holiness. 1 Thes. 4:7. That G.o.d designed that man should serve him in holiness. Luke 1:75. That G.o.d chastens man in order that he might be partaker of his holiness. Heb. 12:10. That G.o.d purposes that man shall be saved from his sin and bear fruit unto holiness. Rom. 6:22. That G.o.d commands him to be holy in all manner of conduct. 2 Pet. 3:11. G.o.d commands him to be holy because he is holy. 1 Pet. 1:15, 16. Looking unto G.o.d"s great and holy plan in redeeming man, and the holiness of heaven, and G.o.d sitting on his holy throne, and Christ the Holy One at his right hand, and the holy angels shouting praises, how can you entertain a hope of ever entering that glorious land without holiness?
Perfection.
Many have stumbled at the command to be perfect. That finite man may be perfect in this sinful world sounds ridiculous to many unregenerated hearts. This is because they do not understand G.o.d nor his power to deliver man from sin. With the many exhortations and commands to perfection contained in the Holy Scriptures is it not singular that man will yet say, "We can not be perfect in this life"? Many people who oppose the doctrine of Christian perfection do not at all understand it. They consider it to be an end of all growth, consequently they do not understand its nature. There is a perfection of celestial beings not to be experienced by mortal man; but there is a perfection unmistakably taught in the Scriptures which Christians are privileged to experience and enjoy in this life.
Christian perfection relates to right desires and actions and purity of affections. Paul in closing his epistle to the church at Corinth says: "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the G.o.d of love and peace shall be with you."
Surely every one must concede that there is a perfection to which Christians can attain. When Christians are exhorted to be perfect is it not folly to say, "They can not be perfect"? Could we not with equal propriety say, "We can not be of good comfort"? "We can not live in peace"? "The G.o.d of love and peace will not be with us"? etc.
The apostle in writing to the Philippian brethren uses language which clearly implies that some of them had attained to the experience of perfection. He says, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Phil. 3:15. Some of them certainly were perfect. In verse twelve he does speak of a perfection to which he had not attained. This he expected to attain in the glory world. Christian perfection is a life that accords with the Holy Scriptures. Whosoever receives the correction, and reproving and the instructions in righteousness contained in the Scripture will become a perfect Christian. 2 Tim. 3:16.
Whosoever lives as the Word of G.o.d says that Christians should live, the same is a perfect man. Paul prays that G.o.d would make the Hebrews perfect.
Heb. 13:20, 21. Peter pet.i.tions the G.o.d of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after we have suffered a while to make us perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle us. 1 Pet. 5:10.
Jesus was made perfect through suffering. G.o.d chastens us that we might be partakers of his holiness. The gold and silver to be made pure and perfect must be refined in the crucible. We to reflect the beauty and glory of G.o.d must, too, pa.s.s through the refiner"s fire. The apostle Paul in writing his first epistle to the church at Corinth says: "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect." 2:6. Certainly there were perfect Christians in the church at that place. To the Ephesian brethren he says that G.o.d "gave some, apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints." 4:11, 12. Now we at once know that this work of instruction and perfection is to be accomplished in this life.
He further says, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of G.o.d, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Ver. 13. By stature is meant the height of any one. Christ is the stature or height of perfection, and we are to measure up to it. This accords with what the Savior himself said: "The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master." Luke 6:40. To the church at Colosse the apostle says: "Whom [Christ] we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Col. 1:28.
Again he says, "Epaphras who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of G.o.d." 4:12.
What Is Christian Perfection?
As we have before said, There is a perfection only attainable after the resurrection, but there is a perfection attainable in this life, and it is the nature of this perfection that we wish to understand. It is holiness of nature, right desires and actions and purity of affections toward G.o.d and man. It implies an entire consecration to G.o.d. A young man came to Jesus inquiring what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus said unto him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."
Mat. 19:21. This teaches a resignation of all to G.o.d, which is necessary that we might be refined and polished to such a brilliancy that will make us a light in the world. Christians are termed jewels in the Scriptures.
"And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels."