One Holy Night

(During 2022, we have considered 24 various facets of the beautiful diamond that is our holiness heritage. And there are so many more facets yet to be explored…)

One holy night,

  the holy God,

                                         prompted by holy love,    

  sent His holy Son,

to redeem a broken world.

                The Son lived a holy life,

                     proclaimed a holy message,

                 and called us to holy love.

We crucified him. 

One holy day,

                                              He rose in holy glory,and is preparing a holy place,

for the people He has filled with holy love, 

                                                 and made holy by His grace.

Holiness and the Image of God

(During 2022, these bi-monthly posts are exploring various facets of the beautiful diamond that is our holiness doctrine and heritage.)

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image.” (Genesis 1:26)

The Image Recognized 

Humanity was created in the “image of God” (Imago Dei in Latin). Humans were created with unique qualities, absent in all other creatures of the earth, that mirror the divine nature of God. We were originally good, with pure hearts and the ability to intimately commune with God and each other. Created in the Imago Dei means we were innocent and pure, we were given a will and liberty to choose our way, and we had the desire and capacity to fully love God, love others, and love self. We were created holy.

The Image Ruined

The wedding liturgy refers to marriage being established “in the innocence of Eden.” Unfortunately, when Adam and Eve sin, that innocence is lost and the Image is marred. Humanity becomes separated from God. Love becomes twisted and turned inward. Adam and Eve lose their intimacy with God, without which the Image of God cannot subsist.

Guilt, shame, blame, and death enter the world. In Romans 5:12, Paul writes, “Sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned.”

When Adam and Eve sin, everything changes; everything is impacted. Creation becomes broken and disturbed. Everything now needs redeemed. Our purity, our holiness, the way we think, and choose, and love—it has all become tainted by sin. And the ruined Image has been passed along to succeeding generations.

When God’s Image within us was marred, it became difficult to recognize who we were created to be. We have had identity problems ever since.

The Image Restored

It was God who initiated the rescue plan to save us from our sin and from ourselves, and to restore His Image within humanity. He provided His Son—who perfectly reflects the Image—to be our Savior. The Imago Dei is most clearly seen in Jesus Christ.

Full salvation, including sanctification, is the restoring of humanity to the Image of God, which we recognize as Christlikeness. “Renewal in the image of God” is John Wesley’s central way of conceptualizing the doctrine of sanctification. He writes, “The great end of religion is to repair our hearts in the image of God.”

Jesus came to restore all that has been broken and marred by sin, including the Image of God within humanity. Through him, we can again bear the family likeness.

You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)

Two Types of Sin; Two Works of Grace

(During 2022, these bi-monthly articles are exploring various facets of the beautiful diamond that is our holiness doctrine and heritage.)

Two Types of Sin

There are two types of sin – the first is sin as an act; the second is sin as a condition. A person steals something. That act is sin. But the behavior does not originate in itself; it arises from a heart turned to its own desire. That condition is sin.

This first “type” of sin is an act of willful disobedience and rebellion against God. In Wesley’s words, “a voluntary transgression against the known law of God.” Sin is a transgression of God’s law – doing that which is forbidden or neglecting to do that which is required.

In theological terms, we call this Personal Sin or Actual Sin.

The second “type” of sin is sin as a condition. Adam and Eve’s personal sin – their sinful behavior – led to a sinful condition that has been passed along to each of us. We inherited the depravity that resulted from the first sin, and it has corrupted our nature and caused us to lean toward sin more than we do toward righteousness. Sinfulness has become our default setting.

In theological terms, we call this Original Sin. There are also other various terms for this “condition” – Adamic depravity, indwelling sin, original sin, and sinful nature.

Two Works of Grace

There are two types of sin, but thanks be to God, there are also two works of grace.

I am not implying in any way that there are only two works of grace. In our grace-filled heritage, we speak of prevenient grace, saving grace, growth in grace, sanctifying grace, and keeping grace. Grace is rich and multi-faceted, and when I say two works of grace, I’m not limiting in any way the expression or means of God’s grace. I’m simply affirming that there is grace for both types of sin.

The acts of sin need to be forgiven – there is grace for that! The sin condition needs to be cleansed – there is also grace for that!

The first work of grace addresses personal sin. Jesus’s death and resurrection accomplishes our salvation.  Our acts of sin are forgiven. When we confess our sins and place our faith in Christ, God’s grace provides forgiveness for our acts of sin, and pardon from the moral and spiritual penalty of those sins.

The second work of grace addresses our sinful condition and results in our entire sanctification. While the acts of disobedience (for which we are personally responsible) need to be forgiven, the inclination toward sin (Adamic sin, which we have inherited) needs to be cleansed. This work of grace is also made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection, and by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. When believers surrender themselves fully to God, they are filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to live lives pleasing to God.

The first work of grace accomplishes our justification, regeneration, and initial sanctification; the second work of grace accomplishes our heart cleansing, Spirit-filling, and entire sanctification. 

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 his son, cleanses us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7

Two Baptisms

(During 2022, these bi-monthly posts are exploring various facets of the beautiful diamond that is our holiness doctrine and heritage.)

Two Baptisms

I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. - Matthew 3:11

 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. - Acts 1:5

There is a photo of my water baptism in my office. In it, I’m walking toward the shore after being immersed in a creek. My pastor – Rev. O. C. Rushing – is standing in the middle of the creek with Howard Bennett, a lay leader in the church who was assisting him. Ed Midcap, who held a local license at the time and later became a pastor, and his father, are helping me out of the water. Not pictured in the photo, but present on the creekbank, are my family and other members of the church who had gathered to celebrate the baptisms. A middle schooler at the time, I had confessed my sins, found new life in Christ, and was making a public profession of my faith in Jesus.

Several years after my water baptism, I was baptized again, this time not with water but with the Holy Spirit. The occasion was a fall revival at Mount Vernon Nazarene College. Dr. Edward Lawlor, General Superintendent Emeritus, was preaching. That morning the Holy Spirit convinced me of my need to surrender everything to Jesus, especially my self-centeredness.

There is the baptism of John using water, and there is the baptism of Jesus Christ using the Holy Spirit and fire. This baptism with the Holy Spirit has been long associated with entire sanctification. 

What happens when believers are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire?

Purity. There is a purification associated with fire baptism. To be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to have our hearts cleansed. Water cleanses some things, but fire cleanses things which water cannot.Malachi 3:3 promises the “messenger of the covenant” will sit as “a refiner and purifier of silver.” Thefire of this second baptism is symbolic of deep cleansing – the kind of cleansing experienced when precious metals are purified. Refiners watch the silver in the crucible, keeping the flame burning until all the dross has come to the top and been skimmed off. When the refiner can see his or her own face in the silver, the job has been done – the metal is pure. When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, the Refiner can see his own image – Christlikeness – in our soul.

Power. To be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to be empowered for living victoriously and for effective witnessing. Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). At Pentecost, the disciples of Christ are marvelously transformed from fearful, overly sensitive, selfish persons, to fearless, united, Spirit-filled witnesses.

Filling. To be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). In Ephesians 5:18, Paul urges, “Be filled with the Spirit.” Every born-again believer knows the Holy Spirit, but there is a fullness of the Spirit known only to those who have made a total surrender to Him.

Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire?

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,

One holy passion filling all my frame;

The baptism of the heav’n descended Dove-

My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.

(Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart, words by George Croly)

Perfect Love

 (During 2022, these bi-monthly posts are exploring various facets

of the beautiful diamond that is our holiness doctrine and heritage.)

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have

confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him.

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear.”  (1 John 4:16-18)

“We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God,

subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin,

or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God,

and the holy obedience of love made perfect.”

(Manual, Church of the Nazarene, Article X)

There are at least three kinds of love: if love, because love, and anyhow love. Some people will love you if you are worthy, or because you are good. God’s kind of love is anyhow love. This is the kind of love to which Jesus calls us. To follow Jesus means our unconditional love will be evident. This anyhow love is how the world recognizes we are people of God. 

 A bit of doggerel underscores the challenge of anyhow love:

 To love mankind, to me’s no chore; My problem is the man next door!

 To walk in love with saints above, Oh, that will be wondrous glory. To live below with those we know— Well, that’s another story!

When Jesus tells us to “be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect,” the context is his command for us to love God, love neighbor, and love enemy (Matthew 5:43-48).  Perfect love is loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and loving neighbor as self. Neighbor-love seeks the well-being of others. It is benevolent, kind, and genuinely concerned. Love for neighbor becomes the fruit of our love for God.

Perfect love does not imply perfect practice or ideal expression or flawlessness. Rather, it means that such love is not self-seeking, or mixed with carnal motivations. Wesley understood the root of all sin to be self-will, or love turned inward. Wynkoop asserts that the essence of sin is love locked into a wrong center. In sanctifying grace, our inward-focused desire is replaced with an outward-focused love.

If the negative side of entire sanctification is the removal of sin, the positive side is the renewal of love. To be entirely sanctified is to be made pure from sin and perfect in love.

Today, more than ever, the world needs to see this kind of love at work.  If people are to be convinced of the reality of transforming grace, the evidence that will turn their heads and hearts will be the love shown by fully-committed followers of Jesus.

Holiness without love is no holiness at all. Hearts made holy display entire devotion to God and genuine concern for neighbor. This is “Love divine, all loves excelling,” as Charles Wesley phrased it. This is perfect love.

The Witness of the Spirit

(During 2022, these bi-monthly posts are exploring various facets of the beautiful diamond that is our holiness doctrine and heritage.)

A fond memory from my early years is the singing of the saints in the church attended by our family. When I learned to read music – both words and notes – the hymns of the church came alive. One of the songs the congregation most loved to sing was “It Is Well with My Soul.” Saints with names like Batson, Duncan, Crane, Stewart, Hawkins, VanCamp, and Ward would lift their voices, singing from hearts filled with assurance. It was not rare for the singing of such songs to result in spontaneous testimonies of God’s grace.

How do you know that you are entirely sanctified? Or, for that matter, how do you know that you are saved? How do you know that it is well with your soul?

The Witness of the Spirit – commonly known as the doctrine of assurance – is one of Wesley’s most distinctive contributions. Wesley describes it as the Spirit of God’s direct impression on his soul of the certainty of being accepted and loved by God.

Acts 15:8-9 is the most significant passage on the Witness of the Spirit – “God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit.” The writer to the Hebrews also makes a strong statement regarding assurance: “By one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us” (Hebrews 10:14-15). The numerous “we knows” in 1 John are also helpful, especially where we read, “And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” (3:24).

This is the doctrine of assurance – we know that we know that we know. 

The Manual of the Church of the Nazarene addresses the Witness of the Spirit in several places:

9.3. We believe that justification, regeneration, and adoption are simultaneous in the experience of seekers after God and are received by faith, preceded by repentance; and that to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.

10. Entire sanctification is provided by the blood of Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by grace through faith, preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.

20.7. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the new birth, and also to the entire sanctification of believers.

925. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the new birth and to the subsequent work of heart cleansing, or entire sanctification, through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

God will assure us that the deeper work of entire sanctification has been accomplished. Just as the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God, the Spirit also assures us that God has purified our hearts. When believers give themselves fully to God and by faith receive the grace of entire sanctification, the Holy Spirit directly witnesses that the work of grace has been accomplished. Wesley taught that besides the direct witness of the Spirit to our own hearts, there is an indirect witness from the “fruit” of our life. But the direct witness is primary. When your heart has been transformed, no one knows it better than you.

Do you have such assurance, such absolute certainty? You can! Such assurance leads to peace of heart and mind that passes all understanding.

But it’s real, it’s real! O I know it’s real!

Praise God the doubts are settled, For I know, I know it’s real!

(Chorus of “It’s Real.” Words by Homer L. Cox)