06.05. The Terminology of the Christian Estate
The Terminology of Holiness By J. B. Chapman
Chapter 5 The Terminology of the Christian Estate In the promotion of Bible holiness it has been necessary to lay stress on the crises of regeneration and entire sanctification, for these crises are the essentials of the beginnings of spiritual life and of holiness in the heart. There are just the two crises, no more, no less, essential in the attainment of the blessed estate which is designated the "inheritance among them that are sanctified," and which is the goal of grace for the people of God in this world. Regeneration and justification give us the right to fellowship with God here and in heaven above; sanctification gives us preparation for these blessed privileges.
It must not be supposed, however, that the crises of regeneration and sanctification, having been passed as crises, are to remain only in the form of fond recollections. The grace of God bestowed in the crises makes permanent changes and introduces us into a new and blessed estate, an estate that is to be continuous both in confidence and in consciousness. In his chapter on "Christian Purity," in his book Purity and Maturity, Dr. J. A. Wood says:
Purity is a state or quality of being. It is the inversion of our sinful moral nature -- freedom "from all filthiness of flesh and spirit." It does not consist so much in a repetition of good acts, as, in a moral condition of the soul from which all good actions proceed; as depravity, or inbred sin, does not consist so much in vicious acts or habits, as in a state or quality which occasions those acts or habits. [1] In another paragraph of the same chapter, Dr. Wood says:
Holiness like truth, is a simple, uncompounded element or quality, and continues unchangeably the same at all times, and under all circumstances. It can never be made any thing else in its essential nature; being the absence of all moral iniquity, in whomsoever and in whatever it is predicated of, in God, angels, or men.
It is a pure nature, giving character and sweetness to our affections and activities-purity in the heart flowing through the life. It is not holy actions primarily, which make a man holy, but a holy heart which makes the actions holy; as, a pure heart must be the source or foundation of all pure passions, appetites, and activities. "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." The treasure in a "good man" is holiness or the "divine nature." "The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart." Holiness is expressive, not of an advancing process of growth, but of moral quality; and has respect mainly to the kind or quality, rather than to degree. The terms perfection and holiness, significant of completeness or entirety, are proper to this state; but are not, strictly speaking, when used in respect to growth and development, which are always incomplete and indefinite. [2] Dr. Asbury Lowrey, in Positive Theology, says:
Entire holiness is the extermination of all sin from the soul. It is a pure, unsullied heart; it is "death to sin," a "freedom from sin," a "cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." The fountain of thought, affection, desire, and impulse, is pure. [3]
Holiness
These quotations are given as tokens of the many which are available, to show that the term holiness is used to describe the estate of those who are entirely sanctified. One has said that "holiness is sanctification perpetuated." It is the word by which the estate of those from whose hearts inbred sin has been destroyed and eradicated by the sanctifying agency of the Holy Spirit is described. The word holiness is a synonym for wholeness-for soul health-and is perhaps the clearest of all expressions used in this connection. It is perhaps for this reason that the term holiness has commonly drawn the hottest fire from opposers of the grace for which it stands. Some have opposed because of a misunderstanding of the term. But many have opposed because they do understand it, and their opposition is not to the word only, but to the testimony for which it stands.
While, strictly speaking, the term holiness emphasizes the negative phase -- freedom from sin -- the term perfection being rather a necessary complement, it is in ordinary use a description of all that is implied by the grace and blessings its possession involves. The fact is that no one can be just negatively holy. If holy at all, one is made so initially by the agency and incoming of the Holy Spirit, and is kept so by the administrative work of the Spirit, who continually sheds abroad the love of God in the heart. He who is emptied of sin is also filled with love and with the Holy Spirit. The testimony to holiness should always be given in such form as to give full credit to Christ, and not to bolster our human side of the matter. It is exceedingly unwise for anyone to use the form, "I am holy." Rather, the form should be, "The Lord graciously sanctifies my heart." And whatever the term used, the same order should be observed in giving God the glory. It is a rather curious inconsistency that many who draw back from the testimony, even when given by others, to the effect that God has sanctified and cleansed from all sin do not scruple to say they are fully consecrated to the will of God. And yet, come to think of it, the latter claim is the extolling of a human act or virtue, while the former is making one’s boast in the Lord. But the same bent has been observed also regarding all profession the world and worldly people honor claims of human endeavor to be good, but look askance upon one who claims to have been inwardly transformed by regenerating grace. If therefore the definite testimony to initial salvation is cause for stumbling on the part of those who have not been born again, we should not be surprised that the profession of full salvation should appear to be incredulous to those who have not themselves entered therein. And yet, in both cases, it is the obligation of the redeemed of the Lord to say so; for while some may be offended by definite testimony, some will be benefited. But indefinite testimony neither offends nor benefits. The desire to be spared classification with "holiness people" is historic. There have been and are now many who enjoy the estate of holiness who are not identified by the term holiness. But our concern is for a terminology that will be useful to those who desire to be identified, and who strive to let their joy be known. And for such a purpose we commend the term holiness ("sanctification perpetuated") as perhaps the most suited of all. Any who will turn to the blessed Book will find that, far from avoiding the word, the men of the Bible and the blessed Lord himself loved to use the term holiness in describing both obligation and privilege in the truth and grace of God.
Perfect Love
After holiness, perfect love is perhaps the most useful of the terms by which to describe the estate of the entirely sanctified. This was a favorite term with John Wesley. His opposers compelled Wesley to come to the defense of the term perfection, but there is evidence that this was not his choice. The term perfect love is scriptural, and while involving a high profession, is also becoming in modesty. It indicates much grace, but makes no claim to either superior light or outstanding advancement in growth and maturity. It is a definite and limited term-qualities highly desirable for the purpose at hand. It is definite because it indicates the absence of anything contrary to love, and limited because it describes affections and intentions only, and does not include judgment or conduct. It is just the equivalent of the "great commandment," which underlies all commandments, and which Jesus defines as loving God with all our hearts, and our neighbors as ourselves. Paul also gave the summary in epitome when he said, "Love is the fulfilling of the law," and, "The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart An analysis of perfect love is found in 1Co 13:1-13, where also the relative importance of the grace is presented in comparison and in contrast. This chapter is a summary of the qualities and factors which make up the New Testament grace, just as the Sermon on the Mount is a statement of what the New Testament Christian should be both outwardly and inwardly. These two sections (the Sermon on the Mount and 1Co 13:1-13) must be taken together, if the picture of the New Testament estate is to be full and complete. While the one is the statement of requirement, the other is the summary of enablement. In the old Discipline of the Methodist Church was the statement: "No man can keep the commandments of God, except the grace of God prevent him." The word "prevent" was used here in the obsolete sense, meaning "to go before." That is, no man can keep the commandments of God except the grace of God go before and prepare him to do so. Either intentionally or inadvertently, those who deny the possibility of perfect love as an experience also deny the possibility of keeping God’s commandments in such a manner as to be well-pleasing in His sight. And it must be admitted that it is consistent for one who denies the one of these to deny the other also. But when these two tenets of our holy faith are forsaken, Christ and the Christian system largely become the logical defenders and countenancers of sin rather than Saviour and salvation from sin.
Wesley was always careful to make it plain that it is the grace of God alone, communicated to us by His Spirit, that enables us to love God with all our hearts, and our neighbors as ourselves. He made the ability so to love, the test (subjective as it must always be) of the possession of the grace. Thus the possessor himself is the only human being who can properly judge his estate. Others are dependent upon demonstration, which must contend with so many human and circumstantial factors that one is likely to stand, in the estimation of others, either better or worse than his real estate in the grace of God warrants.
However, it is consistent for one who has the realization in his heart to profess openly that the grace of God enables him to love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. This is just as consistent as for one to profess initial grace upon the basis of the internal witness of the Spirit to his sonship and adoption. Such testimony is an indispensable factor and an effective force in the propagation of the doctrine and the promotion of the experience of holiness among the people of God. For unless there are those who consciously possess the grace, it profits little to preach the doctrine and exalt the ethics.
Christian Perfection
Christian perfection is a term synonymous with perfect love, and is so defined by authentic holiness teachers. Critics have called attention to the fact that the word Christian in this connection is a limitation, rather than an addition, and this we frankly admit. The word perfection standing alone is not unequivocal. It does sometimes mean Christian perfection, but it also sometimes includes the idea of growth and maturity, and sometimes reaches forth to resurrection perfection. The term therefore must be limited to be useful as a means of describing the estate of the entirely sanctified. A flower, for example, may be said to be perfect at any state or stage of its life, if it is at that particular stage free from disease and as well-developed as its age and circumstances of existence require. But there is another sense in which the plant is not perfect until the blossom is in full bloom. And that these two ideas are expressed by the term perfection in the Word of God and in Christian literature, no clear thinking Christian will deny. In the Scriptures the context is always the explanation, so that it is seldom necessary to be in doubt which kind of perfection is intended. But in the terminology describing the estate of the entirely sanctified, it is necessary to use the word Christian as a limiting word -- hence Christian perfection. In the Christian sense persons are perfect when their affections and purposes are both pure. We are familiar with this idea in practical things. If a parent, in the endeavor to save the life of his sick child, should accidentally give his child deadly poison, no intelligent and fair-minded person would call him a murderer. On the other hand, if a vicious and wicked parent should give his sick child good medicine, when his intention was to give poison, that parent is a murderer, even though the courts of men are unable to place blame upon him by the force of testimony. In that deeper sense, one who loves God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself is a perfect Christian in that his motives and affections are holy, even though his conduct may not meet all the requirements of the highest ethical standards of his contemporaries. Such is the frailty of the "earthen vessels" of which Paul speaks. But with these qualifying ideas in mind, the term Christian perfection serves our purpose of definition well. The perfect Christian is simply a sanctified Christian, and the sanctified Christian is one who loves God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself, being enabled to do this by the agency and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who sheds this love abroad in the heart.
Holiness, perfect love, and Christian perfection are, therefore, the three terms in the first rank for describing the estate of those who have been regenerated and sanctified wholly. They can be used without equivocation or detailed explanation. And the order of the force of these words is, I think, just the order in which we have given them in this paragraph. There is no call for any diminishment in the use of these terms, and to forsake them in any degree is to lessen the force by which the facts which they imply are brought to bear upon the minds and consciences of men.
Other Terms
We come now to another class of terms, which, although useful to the purposes of variety and the pointing out of special characteristics, are yet not as fundamental and unequivocal as those already discussed. The list includes: "the Spirit-filled life," "the more abundant life," "the rest of faith," "full assurance of faith," "perfect peace," "fullness of joy," and "abiding grace." The sanctified life is indeed a Spirit-filled life, and this term is applicable and useful in emphasizing the power and unction which are essential factors in the experience and life of holiness. Dr. A. M. Hills chose a fortunate title when he called one of his books Holiness and Power. Literalists have erred in positing a state of holiness which is like the house that was "empty, swept, and garnished." In truth, there is no such state that can in any wise be called a state of holiness. We are made holy by the baptism with the Holy Ghost -- the incoming of the Spirit in Pentecostal fullness and we are kept in a state of purity and holiness only by the Spirit’s indwelling fullness. Analogies must be used with discretion, but, as we think of it, the Holy Spirit is the Guardian of our purity. If by any means He withdraws himself from us, sin breaks in, like water through the dike, and thus to be without the Spirit is also to be without holiness.
It is an error to consider the term "Spirit-filled life" as anything other than a synonym of the sanctified life. To be filled with the Spirit is to be emptied of sin, and the means of our being emptied of sin is itself the infilling of the Spirit. So, then, whoever is sanctified wholly is filled with the Spirit, and whoever is filled with the Spirit is sanctified wholly. However, as pointed out in another instance, there is sometimes a distinction between being baptized with the Holy Spirit as the initial filling of the Spirit is properly called and being "filled with the Spirit" in the frequent outpourings which are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and known in the faithfully followed sanctified life. We protest any suggestion that the Holy Spirit can indwell a heart in His fullness without at the same time sanctifying that heart. Such an idea is a compromise that is indefensible.
Some have thought to escape the reproach of holiness profession by saying, "I do not claim simply to have the blessing; I also have the Blesser." Such a saying has no apostolic precedent, and savors of sacrilege. It should be avoided. But Paul did say, "I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ" (Rom 15:29), and that does constitute a precedent for use of the term "the blessing" as a synonym for the grace of holiness.
"The more abundant life," as a term, is derived directly from the words of Jesus, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10) And while this presentation of the gift of life in two phases or degrees does quite clearly prefigure the first and second works of grace, it is not an exact equivalent of the sanctified estate. The sanctified life is the more abundant life as compared with the justified estate, but the word "abundant" is so great in scope and indefinite in limits as to make it possible for it to involve both time and eternity for its realization.
"The rest of faith" was a favorite term with A. B. Earle, a sound holiness preacher of the Baptist communion. He was able, during a long and faithful ministry, to lead many into the reality of the grace which he used this term to describe. "The rest of faith" which he emphasized was and is reached only when the Holy Spirit comes in response to faith and gives witness to the cleansing and infilling of the soul with love. Until this stage was reached, Earle and his coadjutors urged seeking Christians to "pray on," and "seek on," until the divine assurance should be given. The estate reached by obedience to this truly scriptural instruction was the grace and experience of holiness, and was so understood by those who applied to it the very wonderful term "the rest of faith." But the term better describes a special characteristic of the state and grace than it serves as a name for the grace itself.
It has been the practice all along to allow for certain provincialisms in the terminology of Bible holiness, as the preferences of people have suggested. Therefore people have used the term that best fitted their denominational experiences, home training, and other factors that served to give content to their words. We would not criticize, but rather commend this liberality; for in the process of giving content to special terminology the truth is preached, and the reality behind all terminology is made clear.
"Full assurance of faith," or "blessed assurance," as Fanny Crosby, the blind, singing saint, called it, is not much distinguished from "the rest of faith," as used by A. B. Earle. In fact, these are but varieties of the same term, and were current in much the same circles in the time of their greatest usefulness. There can be no doubt that Fanny Crosby had in mind the definite estate of the truly sanctified when she sang, "Blessed assurance, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood," but others have followed her words and sentiment without fully discerning the definite meaning that was so clear to her.
"Perfect peace," "fullness of joy," and "abiding grace" are likewise terms that are useful to many, but they likewise describe certain characteristics of the grace of holiness rather than answer as definitions of the whole. For those who speak discriminatingly and with this understanding, these terms are proper and useful.
There are yet other terms by which this estate is designated, and for all these we rejoice. Like the glory of Solomon, so with this blessed grace, the half cannot be told. There are many who are helped by the various terms that make up the full salvation vocabulary, because the words bear special meaning in their own experiences.
Figurative Terminology And now, in the third place, we come to a consideration of the figurative terminology of Bible holiness. All language is at best but a system of signs and symbols, and its effectiveness depends upon its usefulness in impressing pictures of reality upon the minds and hearts of those who read or hear. Figures are for illustration, not for proof, and for this reason the terminology of this division is not pressed unduly. But after the truth of God’s Word is established by plain statement, the figures will be found to agree with and to illustrate the truth. It is never safe to found an important doctrine or to establish an important practice upon a type or figure, even though the figure be in the Word of God. For such doctrines and practices we have a right to expect the Bible to be plain and explicit. But having taken all the Bible says in this direct and explicit form, the types and shadows of the Bible and of Christian life and literature will be found useful for illustration and emphasis.
"Canaan" is the best known figurative term used for describing the estate of the wholly sanctified. Canaan was the inheritance of God’s ancient Hebrew people, and the transference of the idea to the Christian dispensation is natural and easy. There is close analogy between the ancient Hebrews and the Christians of today. Martin Wells Knapp wrote a book which he called Out of Egypt into Canaan, in which he traced these similarities. Egypt was found to be a type of sin and its bondage; Pharaoh was a type of Satan; making brick without straw stood for continuing in sin after the pleasure of sin has turned into bitterness; crossing the Red Sea was likened to spiritual regeneration; life in the wilderness, up to Kadesh Barnea, pictured the justified life in which there are "twelve wells of water" (a well for each month of the year), "threescore and ten palm trees" (a tree for each year of life on earth), "daily manna," and many other graces and blessings in the favor of God. Then the crossing of the river Jordan was found to be strikingly typical of dying out to sin and the world, and Canaan was a prefigure of the Christian’s inheritance in perfect love. This general figurative picture has been pretty well adopted by teachers of Bible holiness, and there is uniformity of practice in allowing Canaan to stand for the "inheritance among them which are sanctified." The word Jordan means death, and with many it stands for physical death. Canaan, of course, stands for heaven. But there are many difficulties to overcome in such a putting, since Canaan was yet a land of conflict and battles, even though it was designed to be a land of victory. "The city foursquare" which is the eternal home of the glorified does not partake of any of these limitations.
Christian literature, and especially Christian hymnology, abounds in references to Canaan as a spiritual experience to be possessed and enjoyed in this world. On the whole, the historic evidence favors this interpretation of the figure. Christians generally sing of Canaan as they extol the joy and peace of full assurance and fellowship with God-such an estate being clearly the blessed lot of the fully sanctified.
"Beulah Land" is a figurative term for the sanctified estate. This word appears in the Scriptures (Isa 62:4), where in the marginal reading the idea is given as "married," and is in contrast with the situation of desolation. But it is Bunyan who made Beulah Land so well-known. He located Beulah as out and beyond Doubting Castle and the Slough of Despond, but yet this side of the River of Death. He said the sun shines all the time, the flowers bloom perpetually, and the situation is always pleasant in Beulah. Many, he said looked with longing eyes across the river from Beulah to the Celestial City, and some thought they could see the tower of that blessed place on certain clear days. When the time came for crossing over from Beulah to the Celestial City, Bunyan said many entered the waters with singing, and gave back to friends on the Beulah bank wonderful testimonies of the glory their eyes glimpsed as they themselves were passing on from sight. Beulah Land has therefore become a striking and beautiful type of the highest and best in the Christian experience and life. Being definite in its location and boundaries, it has no actual antitype except in the experience and life of the wholly sanctified. Every Beulah song that one ever hears is a misnomer except it be interpreted as a description of the estate of holiness. An examination of the work of the poets will substantiate this claim.
"Soul rest," a term dependent upon the analogy drawn in the Book of Hebrews between the Sabbath of God’s ancient people and the assurance of the fully sanctified, is a very valid and precious picture of certain phases of the blessed estate enjoyed by the pure in heart. Those who would weaken this symbolic use by suggesting that the Sabbath is really a prefigure of rest in heaven must explain the wording "labour . . . to enter into that rest" (Heb 4:11). Especially is the idea embarrassing when it must be acknowledged that the word "labour" harks back to the experience of the children of Israel under Joshua, when the word is "hasten." If therefore the rest that "remaineth to the people of God" is heaven, and God’s people are to hasten to enter into it, it would seem difficult for one to apply that exhortation to those whose life tenure has not yet been fulfilled. No, the true sabbath is the sabbath of holiness, where the soul is freed from sin and turmoil and strife.
"The heavenlies" or "heavenly places," an expression Paul uses in Eph 1:3 and in Eph 6:12 (where it is translated "high places"), is undoubtedly a figure representing the sanctified estate. It is not of heaven that the apostle here speaks, but of a spiritual estate that is like unto heaven. We have the idea in the song, "Where Jesus is, ’tis heaven there." And the testimony points unfailingly to the life of one who has been delivered from actual and inbred sin and is in the enjoyment of the grace and blessing of full salvation.
"The mountain-top experience" is the experience of Bible holiness. The figure pictures one who has by grace arisen from the plains of the justified life to the holy mount of entire sanctification. This putting is familiar, especially in the sacred songs which have sprung up, in which the poets have tried to help us describe the glories of the sanctified estate.
There are many other figurative expressions both in the Bible and in the literature and hymnology of the Church that sanctified Christians delight to use in their endeavor to share the good news of full salvation. Just as every good person in the Bible is a type of Jesus, the supreme embodiment of all goodness, so every word and every figure which presents a wholesome and satisfying picture of the Christian estate helps to describe holiness of heart and life.
Holiness, perfect love, and Christian perfection are the three unequivocal terms for describing the estate of the sanctified. These words have been given full content by the careful and conscientious labors of "holy men of old" whom the Spirit of God inspired to give us our holy Bible. They have been made familiar by a long list of worthies adown the Christian centuries, and now can be used in confidence and clarity by us today. We are thankful for the labors of those who have gone before us, for they have left us a rich and ready vocabulary which is well understood by Christians generally. In this, as in other matters, we "stand upon the shoulders of the fathers," and by such means become "the true ancients," and co-laborers with all who have made it their calling to "spread scriptural holiness over the land."
We claim as a heritage that long list of terms which describe in part, or represent in measure, the grace and estate of those who are sanctified, and we pledge ourselves to use these ready instruments in the blessed task of "telling to the world around what a glorious Saviour we have found." Even those terms of the second rank when used understandingly, are capable of both clarifying the theme and enforcing its urgency. Who is there that does not like pictures? Who is not intrigued by the possibility of obtaining an inheritance in a spiritual Canaan, a land more fruitful by many fold than that which was given to the tribes of Israel "beyond Jordan"? Who does not thrill to the invitation to "come over into Beulah Land"? "Illustrations are windows to let in the light" And while we would not make our walls all of windows, we are thankful for the light that shines through the windows of the history of God’s ancient people, and through the examples and testimonies of all the saints of the ages past. Being sure that ours is a spiritual inheritance, we find consolation in the assurance that no age of the past offered better things to its children than are the possessions of those today who will "follow on to know the Lord." We do not envy Abraham his dreams, nor Joshua his visions. We know in truth the spiritual meaning of the fire-touched lips of Isaiah. Even the holy apostles who walked with the Master in the days of His flesh were taught to look forward to the fullness of the Spirit’s baptism which is the normal heritage of all God’s people in this blessed dispensation. To be saved from the guilt and pollution of sin and to be filled with the love of God, to have His love made perfect in our hearts-there is nothing better than this until we shall see His face in heaven.
Oh, the joy of sins forgiven!
Oh, the bliss the Blood-washed know!
Oh, the peace akin to heaven, Where the healing waters flow!
Even though words cannot express content fully, we are thankful for their help. And when words have done their full part, we are happy still to be able to say of the grace and blessing of Bible holiness, "It is better felt than told."
ENDNOTES 1 J. A. Wood, Purity and Maturity (North Attleboro, Mass.: Published by the author, 1882), pp.23 f.
2 Ibid., pp.24 f.
3 Asbury Lowrey, Positive Theology (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1853), p. 241.