1.10. Sanctification by Faith

CHAPTER X SANCTIFICATION BY FAITH

WE have now seen that Holiness, from beginning to fullest development, is al together a work of God in man. It is also indisputably conditional on man’s surrender to this divine inworking. For our own frequent unfaithfulness leaves no room for doubt that these divine influences are not irresistible. Otherwise our own actual experience and action would have been absolutely in accord with the will of God. Our conscience tells us that this has not been so. We therefore ask, How may I obtain, sinner as I am, in fullest measure, this divine inworking ? In John 17:17-19 Christ prays, "Sanctify them in the Truth : Thy word is Truth . . . that they may be also themselves sanctified in the Truth." Now truth, as I under stand it, is reality as comprehended in thought and expressed in words. It is a correspondence between objective existence and subjective apprehension and expression of it. Reality, thus apprehended, is here stated to be the environment of sanctification.

Now a spoken word is real to us only so far as we believe it, i.e. accept it as our own personal conviction. Hence in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 " sanctification of the Spirit " is traced to "belief of the truth." In Acts 26:1; Acts 26:8 Christ describes the purpose of the mission of Paul, "that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and a lot among the sanctified, by faith in Me." So Galatians 3:14, " that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith;" and Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 1:11 having believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Similarly Romans 1:16, " the Gospel is a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes;" and Ephesians 2:8, "ye have been saved through faith : " for salvation includes sanctification. In Galatians 2:19-20, after saying " I died to law in order that I may live for God," Paul adds, " the life which I now live in flesh, I live in faith." He thus implies that faith in Christ who gave Himself for us is the surrounding element of the consecrated life which God would have His servants live. This is in close harmony with the broad principle asserted in Mark 9:23, " all things are possible to him who believes ; " and with John 7:38-39, " He who believes in Me, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. This He spoke about the Spirit, which they who believed in Him were about to receive." Very instructive is Rom. vi. n. " In this way (i.e. like as Christ died to sin once : 5:10) reckon ye also yourselves to be dead to sin, but living for God, in Christ Jesus." This reckoning is the mental process of faith. For our own past experience contradicts flatly the reckoning which Paul bids us make. His words are therefore virtually a promise that what we reckon at his bidding God will from this moment work in us, saving us from sin and enabling us to live for Him. This promise of God, passing human thought, demands a faith like that of him who was " fully assured that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform : " Romans 4:21. And, as we stand beneath the cross of Him who died in order that we may live no longer for ourselves but for Him, and feel the constraining power of His love, we dare not hesitate. With a lowly con fidence which seems to us akin to madness, but which is commanded by God, we venture to expect that from this moment we shall experience a salvation from the power and defilement of sin and live a life of intelligent devotion to God hitherto unknown to us. The command of God, which in believing we obey, is itself a pledge that He will Himself make good in us the reckoning He bids us make. That God claims from His people unreserved devotion to Himself, and that what He claims from us He works in all who believe His implied promise, is the great doctrine of SANCTIFICATION BY FAITH ; a necessary complement of JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. For the Spirit of Holiness given to those who believe is Himself a witness of their forgiveness : and that He is given to rebels to work in them whole-hearted allegiance, reconciles their forgiveness with the holiness of God. Moreover, this doctrine implies that complete victory over sin and full devotion to God are the present privilege of all believers. For, if these blessings came through efforts of our own, they would be obtained only by gradual and slow approach. But if they are God s gifts to us, they may be ours today. For we are sure that God requires them today: and what He requires He is able and willing, and is pledged, to impart. Although not stated so formally and conspicuously as Justification by Faith, the doctrine of Sanctification by Faith is clearly implied, in its due place in the Gospel of Christ, in Romans 6:1; Romans 6:1 : for the reckoning is the process of intelligent faith ; and to live for God is holiness. So verses 19, 22 : " for sanctification r It under lies also much else in the New Testament: e.g. above, pp. 97, 98. And it has been understood by the best men in all Churches and ages ; and has been the secret of their power.

Like Justifying Faith, also Sanctifying Faith has God and Christ for its PERSONAL OBJECT : so 1 Timothy 1:12, " I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard that which I have committed to Him till that day ; " Mark 11:22-23, Galatians 2:20. In each department, saving faith is an assurance, resting on the word and power and love of God, that He will fulfil in us His promise of salvation : and in this conviction the believer is at rest. They differ in their OBJECT-MATTER, i.e. in the specific promise believed. The one grasps the promise of pardon for all who believe, and thus obtains pardon : the other ventures to believe that God will Himself work in us here and now, by His Spirit, the unreserved devotion which He claims. Thousands can bear witness that in proportion to their faith this promise has been fulfilled in them.

Moreover, as Justifying Faith is impossible without repentance, i.e. an earnest purpose to forsake all sin, so Sanctifying Faith is impossible without self-consecration. For we cannot believe that God will work in us a life of which He is the one aim unless we deliberately choose such a life. Consequently, holiness involves self-consecration. This is clearly set forth in Romans 6:13, where, after bidding us (v. 11) to reckon ourselves to be living for God, Paul bids, " present yourselves to God . . . and the members of your bodies." And in 5:19 he adds, " present the members of your bodies . . . for sanctification" In ch. xii. i he enters on the topic of Christian morals by bidding, " present your bodies a living, holy sacrifice to God." We present our bodies to God when we deliberately and solemnly resolve that henceforth our lips shall speak only His message, our hands do only His work, our feet run only on His errands, and our life show forth His glory. Henceforth we look upon our bodily powers as belonging no longer to ourselves but to God. And, since our body is the only link which unites us to the world in which we live, to present our bodies, is to present ourselves. To be effective, this consecration must be accompanied by sanctifying faith, i.e. by an assurance resting upon the word of God that in spite of the allurements and threats of the world, and of our own weakness, He will maintain in us this resolve and enable us to work it out practically in the details of life. Without this faith, our resolve will be vain. Self-consecration is obedience to God s command claiming from us unreserved devotion : sanctifying faith is acceptance of the promise that what He claims He will work in us. This claim and this promise are the Law and the Gospel of Holiness.

Sanctifying Faith differs further from the faith which justifies in that the former is at once and in increasing measure verified by actual experience. Justification is the smile of a pardoning God replacing, for the justified, His righteous anger against sin : and, that God smiles on them, the justified know at first only by faith. But the new life in Christ is matter of direct experience. The sanctified are conscious of a Hand from above raising them, and breaking their previous bondage to sin : and they feel in their hearts the pulsations of a new life. They are conscious of new aims and efforts which their moral sense approves. This new and self-attested life is complete verification of the faith with which in their felt moral weakness they ventured to expect it ; and of the earlier faith with which they accepted the Gospel promise of forgiveness. For, that they have now power to do right in a measure unknown before, is complete proof that their past sins are forgiven. Thus sanctifying faith and its results both supplement and verify the faith which justifies. Compare 2 Corinthians 1:12 : " Our exultation is this, the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in God’s grace, we have behaved ourselves in the world." The three elements discussed above, viz. (i) unreserved loyalty to Christ, (2) breathed into man by the Holy Spirit,

(3) on the condition of faith, are in their nature inseparably connected. For, through our inborn bondage to sin, God s purpose that we live for Him cannot be accomplished unless by His power He work in us the devotion He claims. Moreover, if this devotion is to be in any sense our own, God s work in us must be conditioned by our own free surrender to Him : and, of this surrender, faith is the simplest form. Thus the Holy Spirit is a link connecting faith with the new life. For faith has not in itself power to save : but, to those who believe, God gives, in sovereign mercy, the divine Bearer of the power and life of God. To know this, greatly helps our faith. For we cannot doubt that the Spirit thus given is able to impart even to us the devotion which God claims. The above doctrine changes completely the whole aspect of the Christian life. It becomes now an effort to understand the will of God, and to believe that what He demands He will Himself work in us. This new aspect greatly increases our obligation to give to God that which He claims : for we can no longer plead the excuse of inability. On the other hand, it brings within our reach a devotion to God otherwise impossible and inconceivable. Henceforth we wait, in confi dence and joy, to see in our own experience the wonderful works of God.