JSL-28-Chapter Eleven:

Chapter Eleven:
Sanctification This word has been greatly abused. Modern ideas have been injected into it until it has come to stand in the popular mind for something which is not taught in the Bible, and which to sober common sense is quite unsavory. First the Roman Catholic Church led the thoughts of men away from the truth by assuming to canonize, or make saints, of only certain selected dignitaries whom she chose to esteem worthy of this high honor. In the next place, a class of Protestants, actuated by a zeal which was not according to knowledge, have identified the term with a sort of untempered religious extravagance and lofty personal pretension, which to most persons seems closely related to spiritual pride. When to this we add the brazen assumption of that modern iniquity known as Mormonism, or the “Church of Latter Day Saints,” it will be seen how difficult it must be for the masses of men to disentangle the word from the illicit senses with which it has come to be popularly associated. In each of these several errors it will be noted that the attained sanctification is limited to a certain class. Others may be good men and good Christians, but they are not saints. A distinction has been made and a line of separation drawn, unknown, as I read them, to the Scriptures. I trust, therefore, that notwithstanding the disrepute in which the doctrine as taught by men is held, the reader will consent to consider the subject de novo in the clear light of the inspired word.

Perhaps the main cause of the Protestant delusion above mentioned, as well as of the confusion and difficulty in the public mind, is owing to a failure to note that in the Bible the word sanctification, together with its kindred or equivalent terms is used to describe both a completed and also a progressive work. The first of these is accomplished in conversion. When a man becomes a Christian, when he comes out of the world, and with true faith and repentance dedicates himself to God in baptism, these very acts are sanctifying in their effect. They separate him who performs them from merely secular pursuits, and devote him to the service and glory of God. The apostles, consequently, do not hesitate to characterize such persons as saints; and in the sense in which they thus use and apply the term they certainly are saints. They are set apart and sanctified to a special work. But it will be noticed that there is no class distinction in this. What is true of one is true, and in the nature of the case must be true, of all. Whoever is a Christian is necessarily and by virtue of that fact sanctified to God. Both the old and the young, the worthy and the unworthy, those whose lives are aglow with religious fervor, and those in whom there is barely a spark of spiritual fire—each and all if they have not actually renounced their hold upon Christ and made shipwreck of their faith, are recognized and spoken of by inspired writers as “saints.” The whole church at Corinth are addressed as the “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” notwithstanding the numerous imperfections and sins which were known to be present in that congregation. In like manner he addresses “all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” The translators have unfortunately obscured the meaning of this text (Romans 1:7( by inserting after “called” the verb “to be,” which might be understood in the sense of “to become.” But this is not the true idea. As Paul wrote it, they “called saints;” called of God—called out of the world, and numbered among his holy ones. The reader may consult also the opening of the several Epistles to the Ephesians, the Philippians and the Colossians.

Now when we call to mind the manifest moral delinquencies and shortcomings in some of these Christians, and the comparative immaturity of all of them, of which the letters themselves furnish conclusive proof, the fact that, without exception or distinction, they are all designated as “saints” becomes impressive and significant. I presume the Holy Spirit used this lofty term for the reason that there is potency in it. It bears in its bosom a suggestive and forcible reminder of what every Christian is—at least in profession and relation—and therefore, what he ought to become, more and more, in his moral and spiritual life. Unhappily, owing no doubt to the perverted meaning which has been given to it, we shrink from applying to ourselves, even in thought, a term which we have come to feel is appropriate only to the loftiest ideals of virtue, while it is appropriated only by fanaticism and weakness, or by ecclesiastical bigotry and baseless pretension. But surely we may claim and should claim to be Christians—servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ; and it would be wholesome for us to remember that this claim involves that of our saintship. It would be wholesome because it would exert a restraining influence in the presence of temptation, and be a helpful incentive to a high and worthy life. Let us, then, freely recognize the fact, and strive deeply to feel it, that in some sense — it may be the very lowest that the word will bear, but still in a sense which is true and real—we are saints of God.

I do not think that we are called upon to parade this fact before our fellow-men, for our “saintliness” would be exposed to serious questions if we had to proclaim and advertise it in order for it to be known. Let it show itself in the life; let it speak in the character; let it shine before men as a light kindled and fed by the Divine Spirit; a light whose calm and steady radiance, undimmed by any fate or any fortune, so illuminates all that we do and all that we are, that others, seeing our good works, are led to glorify our Father who is in Heaven. In any case, the consciousness that we have been lifted by infinite mercy to this high plane, and that God graciously regards us as his saints, will be a daily and divine call to us to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing; while the fact that we so imperfectly fill the measure of true holiness, and so inadequately represent the true saintly character, will incite and urge us to the attainment of that which is higher and worthier. Thus the knowledge that we are saints in state and relation, will be an inducement and a stimulus to become saints in heart and life; the completed sanctification being at once the stepping-stone and the call to that which is to be evermore progressive.

If I have not overestimated the importance of the position which I have herein attempted to commend to the reader, and which, I think, is undoubtedly scriptural, it will enable him to detect the fallacy in the argument which confounds and commingles the double sense of the word sanctification, applying to the progressive (which is never perfectly realized) texts which appertain alone to that sanctification which is common to all Christians, without exception or discrimination.

I trust also that it has been made sufficiently clear that this primary and general sanctification, while in itself a high honor and distinction, is not to be rested in as a finality, but is to be utilized in the attainment of still higher degrees. The very genius and spirit of the Christian religion demand a constant improvement of the grace already bestowed, as the condition upon which we may receive new supplies, and in larger measures. There is no terminus ad quem for us in this world; no stage at which we may sit down and say it is enough. There are always heights beyond heights, and blessings beyond blessings—blessings whose affluent fullness would be too great for our present capacity, and which, therefore, await our approach to them, and our spiritual preparation to receive them. The second part of my subject, that of progressive sanctification, I hope to be enabled to present in the next succeeding chapter.