As we have been discussing George Fox of late, and there has been some disagreement over what he taught exactly concerning sanctification or rather entire sanctification, I thought that it would be interesting to see whether his teaching is in accordance with scripture and therefore whether ours is or not, and whether the accusations about him, in calling him a heretic, stand the test.
George tells us in his Journal that "At last they asked me whether I was sanctified. I said "Sanctified? Yes, for I was in the Paradise of God” They said had I no sin "Sin?” said I "Christ my Saviour hath taken away my sin and in Him there is no sin” They asked how we knew that Christ did abide in us I said "By His Spirit that He has given us” They temptingly asked if any of us were Christ I answered "Nay, we are nothing, Christ is all” They said "If any man steal is it no sin?” I answered "All unrighteousness is sin”. (Journal)
Fox made it clear that he was not talking about being sanctified as a ‘position’ nor that the blood of Jesus hides our sins and God does not see them. He said that all unrighteousness in actions is sin, but further, that the ‘holy men’ pleaded for holiness in HEART and life, and conversation here’ (Journal) He was in agreement with the Apostle John in his first letter, who said in 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you, he that doth righteousness IS righteous, even as He is righteous. There is no imputed righteousness, the doctrine over which the Puritans refuted Fox. It is an imparted righteousness.
It is real practical holiness in thought and action which the ‘preacher of righteousness’ (Apocalypse of the Word, Douglas Gwyn 25) as Fox called himself and testified of himself :-"As He is so are we IN THIS PRESENT WORLD, and that the saints are made the righteousness of God, that the saints are ONE in the Father and the Son, that we shall be like Him, that all teaching which is given forth by Christ is to bring the saints to perfection even to the stature and fullness of Christ, this the scripture doth witness and this I DO WITNESS TO BE FULFILLED” (Journal 135) This message, as he went about preaching, produced a violent reaction:- "The world swelled and made a great noise like great raging of the sea. Priests and professors, magistrates and people were all like a sea when I came to proclaim the Day of the Lord amongst them and to preach repentance to them” (Journal 33)
The ‘Day of the Lord’ is the message in 1John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth because (v5) God is light and in Him is no darkness at all and that (2:6) he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked and (3:6) Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him neither known Him. "Hating the light, you hate Christ” (Journal 135) This put paid to the error on the subject of sanctification, that we are in Christ if we are hoping for sanctification at some time in the future, or as some think, we will gradually sin less and less until one minute we have no control over our thoughts or we have reduced down to having just one sinful thought occurring, and then, lo and behold, the sinful thought will occur no more. Actually no one has ever testified to it happening like this. At 60 70 and 80 years of age, believers still are waiting.
Fox and John are both clear, if we sin then we are not in the light and the Day of Judgement is near. It comes when we are presented with this message and we must make a decision in the same way that men and women had to make that decision when Fox brought them the message. Will we accept it as the truth and know that God has spoken? If we do not then we have chosen our path and it is the path of darkness, without knowing the cleansing of Christ inwardly. Fox believed that there was only one Day of the Lord.
Some find this verse in 1John 8, If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us and try to justify their position through it.
We must not wrest this verse out of the context of the book and the chapter in which it is written if we want to understand John. 1John was written to counteract the heresy which was affecting the church (and still is).
The apostle is declaring to the whole world, his disapprobation of the doctrines maintained by Gnostics. The Gnostics, taught that man, could be righteous in spirit and still sin in the flesh, (which is nowadays recognized by 'imputed righteousness' which Fox taught against) contended that the apostles had added commandments not given by Christ concerning the doctrine of sanctification. John devotes the greatest part of his epistle to the confirmation and enforcement of his doctrine.
*The basis of this error i.e. that a believer can still be in Christ and sin was made popular and spread through the Protestant and Catholic church by Augustine.Fox and the Quakers (and others at various times) saw this notion as unscriptural as it was taught also during the early centuries of the church, but was always opposed amongst those who did not wish to turn from their sins.
If we look at verses 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in chapter 1,
6, If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth.
[b] 7, But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from ALL sin
(BUT)
8, If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us
(BUT)
9, If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
(BUT)
10, If we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us
We can see that John is comparing walking in the light to walking in darkness i.e. walking in the flesh compared to walking in the Spirit. He is describing two different opposing states which correspond perfectly with the teaching of the Apostle Paul when he talks about 'carnal' or fleshy believers against those who were walking in the Spirit... In verses 7 and 9, John says that the benefit of walking in the light are:-
1)We have fellowship with one another in the unity of the Spirit (agreement)
2)By confessing our sins we will be forgiven
3)We will then be cleansed by the blood of Jesus from all unrighteousness and sin.
Whereas if we walk in the flesh:-
1)We are deceived and remain in our sin
2)There is no truth in us
3)We make God a liar by denying our need for forgiveness.
So John is saying that it is only when we are walking in the darkness that we are blind to our need of coming to Christ for His cleansing from ALL sin. The letter is to believers and not un-believers as stated previously. And believers can fall into the error of walking in the flesh as Paul demonstrated to the Galatians who thought that they could go on to maturity or perfection through the works of the law and not through faith.
Those who were being misled by the Gnosticism and today by the preachers of 'positional righteousness' were walking in darkness because they were still sinning and did not see their need of the cleansing which can be provided by Christ alone. So they thought that they had no sin to be dealt with and were acceptable as they were, but John says that they walk in darkness. But if we see our need for cleansing from ALL sin and come to Christ (again) for forgiveness, then He will be able to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness (not just the sin in question please note) So it is these ones who are saying wrongly that they have no sin not the ones who have come to Christ and HAVE been cleansed from ALL unrighteousness.
John goes on in the rest of his epistle to show that those who do carry on in sin (but say they have no further need of cleansing) are NOT in CHRIST. He stresses his point against the Gnostic heresy Little children let no man deceive you, he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous 3:7 and this is the test i.e. as He is righteous so must we be not just in position or as a hope for the future but as a present reality that we must be as Christ, without sin if we are walking in the light.
But whoso keepth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected 2:5
My little children these things I write unto you that ye sin not 2:1
Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not whosoever sinneth not hath not seen Him neither known Him 3:6
He that commiteth sin is of the devil 3:8
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin 3:9
So we see that George Fox and the early Quakers, held a testimony which was in accordance to the writings in John 1