Hello Brother Robert,
I have spent close to a year pressing into Jesus for insight into "Entire Sanctification." I have read much about this but it's actually something that one has to enter experientially. It's entire in the sense that the power of sin is cut off entirely or wholly as stated in [b]1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.[/b]
My own knowledge at this point is doctrinal and I have yet to enter into his rest as the author of Hebrews puts it. I'm trusting Jesus to finish this work in my heart.
The word sanctify means to be made holy. This doesn't occur by self effort or through adhering to a set of rules. Justification is by faith and sanctification is by faith alone. If we walk in the Spirit, this will require obedience to the Holy Spirit but it's not a rigid set of rules. This topic was initially confusing to me as well because the terminology is used differently by different pastors and denominations.
I would encourage you to read this online book that I believe Greg has included on this site but it's a little hard to read. It's entitled "The Rejected Blessing" by Jim Kerwin. The modern pentecostal movement initially taught that one must be entirely sanctified hence the phrase common to Azusa Street "saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost." It's available here: [url=http://www.parbarwestward.org/frmRejected.htm]The Rejected Blessing[/url]
The great Methodist preacher and author J.A. Wood wrote a wonderful book entitled "Perfect Love." You can read it online in a couple of places but here's one: [url=http://www.raptureready.com/resource/wood/wood.html]"Perfect Love"[/url]
What is entire sanctification or Christian perfection?
[b]Negatively, it is that state of grace which excludes all sin from the heart. Positively, it is the possession of pure love to God. "Blessed are the pure in heart." "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart." In the grace of justification, sins, as acts of transgression, are pardoned. In the grace of sanctification, sin, as a malady, is removed, so that the heart is pure. In the nature of the case, the eradication of sin in principle from the human heart completes the Christian character. When guilt is forgiven in justification, and all pollution is removed in entire sanctification, so that grace possesses the heart and nothing contrary to grace, then the moral condition is reached to which the Scriptures give the name of perfection, or entire sanctification. Though the leading writers of our Church define this gracious state in different phraseology, there is an essential agreement among them; their disagreements are more in infelicities of expression than in real differences, and more speculative than fundamental.[/b] Their essential agreement will be seen in the following quotations:
1. [b]Mr. Wesley says: "Both my brother [Charles Wesley] and I maintain, that Christian perfection is that love of God and our neighbor which implies Deliverance From All Sin."[/b]
[i]"It is the loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This implies that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in the soul; and that all the thoughts, words, and actions are governed by pure love." -- Vol. vi. p. 500.[/i]
"It is nothing higher, and nothing lower than this -- the pure love of God and man. It is love governing the heart and life, running through all our tempers, words, and actions." -- Vol. vi p. 502. -- [b]"Certainly, sanctification (in the proper sense) is an instantaneous deliverance from all sin."[/b] -- Vol. vii. p. 717.
2. Ray. John Fletcher says: [b]"It is the pure love of God and man shed abroad in a faithful believer's heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him. to cleanse him, and to keep him clean, 'from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit,' and to enable him to 'fulfill the law of Christ,' according to the talents he is intrusted with, and the circumstances in which he is placed in this world."[/b] Last Check, p. 567.
3. Dr. A. Clarke: [b]"What, then, is this complete sanctification? It is the cleansing of the blood, that has not been cleansed; it is washing the soul of a true believer from the remains of sin."[/b] -- Clarke's Theology, p. 206.
4. Rev. Richard Watson says: "We have already spoken of justification, adoption, regeneration, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, and we proceed to another AS DISTINCTLY MARKED, and as graciously promised in the Holy Scriptures. This is the entire sanctification, or the perfected holiness of believers. "Happily for us, a subject of so great importance is not involved in obscurity."
The reader will note the declaration of Mr. Watson, that this subject "is not involved in obscurity." Of the nature and extent of Christian purity, Mr. Watson says: [b]"By which can only be meant our complete deliverance from all spiritual pollution, all inward depravation of the heart, as well as that which, expressing itself outwardly by the indulgence of the senses, is called 'filthiness of the flesh.' "[/b] -- Institutes, vol. ii. p. 450.
5. Rev. Joseph Benson: [b]"To sanctify you wholly is to complete the work of purification and renovation begun in your regeneration."[/b] -- Com. I Thess. v. 23.
6. Bishop Hedding says: [i]"The degree of original sin which remains in some believers, though not a transgression of a known law, is nevertheless sin, and must be removed before one goes to heaven, and the removal of this evil is what we mean by full sanctification."[/i] [b]"Regeneration is the beginning of purification. Entire sanctification is finishing that work."[/b] -- Sermon.
7. Dr. George Peck says: [b]"By being saved from all sin in the present life, we mean being saved, first, from all outward sin all violations of the requirements of the law of love which relate to our outward conduct; and, secondly, from all inward sin all violations of the law of love which relate to the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will."[/b] -- Christian Perfection, p. 65.
8. Rev. Luther Lee says: [b]"Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement has power to cleanse from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, which is justification, but are washed entirely from it's pollution, freed from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts, and to walk in his holy commandments blameless."[/b] -- Theology, p. 211.
9. Bishop Foster says of the person entirely sanctified, that he is in a state in which he will be entirely free from sin, properly so called, both inward and outward." [b]"The process of this work is in this order: beginning with pardon, by which one aspect of sin, that is actual guilt, is wholly removed, and proceeding in regeneration, by which another kind of sin, that is depravity, is in part removed, terminating with entire sanctification, by which the remainder of the second kind, or depravity, Is Entirely Removed."[/b] -- Christian Purity, p. 122.
This statement of Bishop Foster is most admirably expressed, and presents the truth with much clearness. [b]Regeneration removes some sin or pollution, and entire sanctification removes the corruption which remains after regeneration.[/b] This will be seen, from the authorities given, to be the Wesleyan idea of entire sanctification.
10. Bishop J. T. Peck: [b]"In the merely justified state we are not entirely pure. ... But in the work of entire sanctification, these impurities are all cleansed away, so that we are wholly saved from sin, from its inward pollution."[/b] -- Central Idea, p. 52.
11. Dr. John Dempster, in an admirable sermon on Christian Perfection, before the Biblical Institute, said: [b]"Do you then demand an exact expression of the difference? It is this: the one (regeneration) admits of controlled tendencies to sin, the other (entire sanctification) extirpates those tendencies. 'That is, the merely regenerate has remaining impurity the fully sanctified has none."[/b]
12. Bishop D. W. Clarke: [b]"Entire sanctification implies an entire cleansing of the soul from its moral defilement, and the plenary endowment of it with all the graces of the Spirit of -- Beauty of Holiness,[/b] May, 1857.
13. Binney's Theological Compend defines holiness as -- "That participation of the Divine Nature, which excludes all original depravity, or inbred Sin, from the heart." ... [b]"Entire sanctification is that act of the Holy Ghost whereby the justified soul is made holy."[/b]
14. Bishop Simpson says: "Christian Perfection is a term used by Methodists to denote a state of grace implying purity of heart, or a heart cleansed from all sin." ... [b]"Sanctification is that act of the Holy Ghost whereby the justified man is made holy."[/b] -- Encyclopedia of Methodism.
15. Rev. B. W. Gorham: [b]"Entire sanctification is the complete purification of the heart, resulting, through the blood of Jesus Christ, from the pervading presence and governing power the Holy Spirit, continually possessing and occupying the nature, and subduing all things therein unto himself."[/b] -- God's Method with Man, p. 170.
16. The German United Brethren Church say: [b]"By perfect holiness we understand the separation and purification from all inhering sin, after regeneration, by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and the filling of the heart with the love of God the Holy Ghost."[/b]
17. Rev. Wm. McDonald says: [b]"It is the removal from our moral natures, through faith in Christ, all sinful desires and tempers, -- all pride, anger, envy, unbelief, and love of the world; and the possession in these purified natures of the unmixed graces of faith, humility, resignation, patience, meekness, self-denial, and love."[/b] -- Scriptural Views, p. 23.
18. Noah Webster defines sanctification -- "The act of making holy, ..... the state of being thus purified or sanctified.' [b]"To sanctify, its a general sense, is to cleanse, purify, or make holy, ... to cleanse from corruption, to purify from sin."[/b]
19. The Methodist Catechism says: [b]"Sanctification is that act of divine grace whereby we are made holy."[/b] This definition follows that of regeneration. Catechism No. 111. is more explicit:-- [b]"What is entire sanctification?" " The state of being entirely cleansed from sin, so as to love God with all our heart and mind and strength."[/b]
It has been asserted that there is much disagreement and confusion in the teaching of the Church in this regard, and that a new formula of this doctrine is needed. The foregoing quotations from our chief writers show how completely they agree with each other. If desired, this list might be greatly extended, and an equal accord shown respecting the essential particulars of the doctrine.
There is another wonderful resource online entitled [url=http://www.enterhisrest.org/]Enter His Rest[/url]. I discovered that men such as John Wesley, Charles Finney, Oswald Chambers, Smith Wigglesworth, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, and many others believed and experienced "entire sanctification."
There's much more to be said but there's a lot of stuff to chew on...
