We come to know Christ through the heart, not merely through the mind. We do not truly know Jesus until we love him; and the more we love him, the more closely we know him.
The more we study the perfect character of Jesus, the more we admire him, just as studying Michelangelo’s works can make us admire him more. But admiration is not love. Admiration does not set the affections burning like a furnace; it does not drive the soul forward through loss and labor, self-denial and persecution, all the way to the martyr’s stake. As Christ’s character unfolds its splendor under the long, earnest gaze of the student, that student may grow aesthetically through contact with so much moral beauty. He may also become more firmly settled in his theological beliefs about the divinity of the man of Nazareth. And yet, in his own heart, he may still be refusing to receive and enthrone Christ as his rightful king.
We can go a step further and say that growth in grace, while it is accompanied by increasing power to avoid outward acts of sin, does not have the power to destroy the spirit of sin itself, commonly called original sin.
In fact, as we move on from conversion, the presence of that inward sin becomes more and more clearly and painfully revealed. This is why, especially in Calvinistic writings, true piety is often measured by self-abhorrence. The more complete the consecration, the more vile eminent saints seem to appear in their own eyes. This standard of piety is a distinctive mark of deeply devout souls who were taught to believe that there is no deliverance from inborn depravity before the grave. To them, a piety that is not self-loathing and self-condemning seems as contradictory as a piety that is not penitent. Yet the sinless Jesus gave the astonishing example of an impenitent piety. So may those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb stand forward, even here on earth, as examples of a piety that glorifies God without self-vilification? Does God receive the highest glory from us when we keep declaring that the blood of Christ cannot reach the root of evil in our nature? If not, then the self-loathing kind of piety—like that of David Brainerd in his early ministry, when he saw so much corruption in his heart that he wondered the people did not stone him out of the pulpit—is only an early and undeveloped form of piety, one that does not reflect the highest honor on its Author.
Across all ages, the experience of the Christian world has been that the converted soul never simply outgrows this taint in its texture and substance. The Church has believed this so strongly that many have claimed the spirit of sin cannot be cured in this life. On the other hand, thousands have testified that, through faith in the all-cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, they were instantly, completely, and permanently delivered from all those inward tendencies toward sin that had caused them so much pain. They could affirm, with the now-translated Cookman two years before he "swept through the gates," — "I, Alfred Cookman, am washed in the blood of the Lamb."
Here, then, are two groups of witnesses: the whole body of imperfect believers, testifying to the presence of inward corruption that they do not completely outgrow, and a significant number who fully trust in Christ, declaring by both word and life that they were instantly delivered from "the body of this death." Both groups point to the same truth: depraved inclination in the justified soul is not outgrown by spiritual development, but killed by the power of the Holy Spirit through a specific act of faith.
Yet this spiritual growth is the necessary preparation for the destruction of inborn sin. The power of the Holy Spirit works only through faith, and this faith becomes possible only when we are conscious of our need to be cleansed from every inward tendency toward sin. That consciousness is awakened as our spiritual perception grows clearer under the illumination of the Holy Spirit. As Dr. Tyng says, "There is no calendar containing the length of time necessary for the conversion of the sinner," so there is also no fixed time limit for this preparation for the work of entire sanctification. It may come an hour after regeneration, or the soul may be so slow to grasp its privileges in Christ Jesus that years and decades pass before "faith grasps the blessings she desires."
We do not deny that new believers may, and often do, gradually weaken and put to death the remains of sin that linger in them after justification. What we do affirm is that the complete removal of inbred sin, after this period of decline, comes through the direct energy of the Sanctifier, whose help is specifically sought. This is his great work in the order of salvation. His glory he will not give to another. "The Lord God is a jealous God." The Spirit of Truth will not allow growth or development to take over his role or wear his honors. That is why the moment of entire sanctification is usually marked by a clear demonstration of the power of the Holy Ghost, making it the most wonderful and memorable event in the soul’s history on this side of glory. We do not deny that there may be successive operations of the Holy Spirit, or baptisms, culminating in the grand finale — the extinction of sin and the fullness of God.
Rev. John Fletcher says:
Should you ask how many baptisms or effusions of the sanctifying Spirit are necessary to cleanse a believer from all sin, and to kindle his soul into perfect love, I reply, that the effect of a sanctifying truth depends upon the order of the faith with which that truth is embraced, and upon the power of the Spirit with which it is applied. I should betray a want of modesty if I brought the operations of the Holy Ghost and the energy of faith under a rule which is not expressly laid down in the Scriptures. If one powerful baptism of the Spirit 'seal you unto the day of redemption, and cleanse you from all [moral] filthiness,' so much the better. If two or more be necessary, the Lord can repeat them.
I may, however, venture to say, in general, that before we can rank among perfect Christians we must receive so much of the truth and Spirit of Christ by faith as to have the pure love of God and man shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us, and to be filled with the meek and lowly mind which was in Christ. And if one outpouring of the Spirit — one bright manifestation of the sanctifying truth — so empties us of self as to fill us with the mind of Christ and with pure love, we are undoubtedly Christians in the full sense of the word.
Mr. Wesley says:
The generality of those who are justified feel in themselves more or less pride, anger, self-will, and a heart bent to backsliding. And till they have gradually mortified these, they are not fully renewed in love. God usually gives a considerable time for men to receive light, to grow in grace, to do and to suffer his will before they are either justified or sanctified. But he does not invariably adhere to this. Sometimes he 'cuts short the work.' He does the work of many years in a few weeks; perhaps in a week, a day, an hour. He justifies or sanctifies both those who have done or suffered nothing, and those who have not had time for a gradual growth either in light or grace. God may, with man's good leave, do the usual work of many years in a moment. He does so in a great many instances. And yet there is a gradual work before and after that moment. So that one may affirm that the work is gradual, another that it is instantaneous, without any manner of contradiction.
The quotation above hints that all persevering believers may be entirely sanctified before death, even without a conscious act of faith. Our confidence on this point rests on the Divine promises made to those who stand in covenant relationship with God. God has pledged himself to give eternal life to the persevering believer: "This promise involves all the qualifications requisite to admission to a holy heaven. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perfect (ἐπιτελέσει) it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. 1:6.
This is a revision of Chapter 18 of Love Enthroned: Essays on Evangelical Perfection (1875 revised 1908) by Daniel Steele, completely rewritten with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. While some PDF scans of this book may be found at the Internet Archive, a more readable digital edition (PDF) of the 1908 version is available here at a nominal cost: Love Enthroned.
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