Holiness Part 6

5. THE FOURTH CONDITION OF ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IS FAITH; that is, the act of simple heart-trust by which the soul commits itself to God and believes that He does now sanctify according to His promises.

‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful [to His own promise] and just [to the suffering and agony of His Son, which purchased the blessing] to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (I John i. 9).

‘Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you’ (Ezekiel xxxvi. 25).


‘He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make inter cession for them’ (Hebrews vii. 25).

(a) Faith for Sanctification, or Sanctifying Faith, is of the same kind as Saving Faith. Neither new nor stronger faith is necessary, but the same faith exercised for a different object.

(b) Sanctifying Faith involves the intellectual belief that God is able, is willing, and has promised, to sanctify. But it goes beyond this to the heart-trust which believes that God does now sanctify. Thus it is present faith.

(c) Faith for deliverance from sin can manifestly only be exercised when the previous conditions are fully complied with, for without conviction of sin deliverance would not be sought, while any holding back in renunciation or consecration would naturally condemn, and

'If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God’(1 John iii. 21).

(d) Sanctifying Faith speaks somewhat as follows: ‘I do here and now commit myself fully to God; I believe that He receives me, that the Blood of Jesus Christ, according to God’s promise, does now cleanse me from all inward sin, making me pure in heart before Him, and I believe that He will keep that which I now commit to Him.’

(e) The foundation or ground of Sanctifying Faith is God’s promises and His faithfulness-not feelings, upon which many try to base it.

‘Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed’ (John xx. 29).

6. ASSURANCE OF ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IS GIVEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

‘Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God [Sanctification being one of these]’ (I Corinthians ii. 12).

‘Hereby know we that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us’ (I John iii. 24).
‘Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit’ (I John iv. 13).

Usually assurance is given as soon as faith is exercised, but sometimes faith is tested by assurance being withheld for a time. In such a case the person should maintain his consecration and his faith in God’s promises until the assurance comes, like Abraham, who patiently watched and protected his sacrifices until God rewarded his obedient faith by appearing to him in the form of fire (see Genesis xv.)

7. SANCTIFICATION IS THE WORK OF GOD. Man’s consecration and faith do not sanctify; they are simply conditions upon which God’s sanctifying grace is given.

8. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION TAKES PLACE INSTANTANEOUSLY — in the same sense that death takes place instantaneously. A man may be dying for some time, but he does not die until the instant his soul is separated from his body; then he lives the life of eternity. So a person may be some time reaching the point of entire freedom from sin, but he is only dead to sin when sin is separated from his soul, and at that instant he lives the full life of love.

9. THE ENTIRELY SANCTIFIED ARE KEPT ONLY BY GOD, who, by His Spirit, dwells within them and produces ever increasingly in their lives His own blessed ‘fruits’ (see Galatians v. 22, 23). They must, however, do their part by continuing their consecration and trust, and by using God’s appointed means for spiritual growth, such as prayer, Bible-reading, testimony, responding to the Spirit’s voice within, and submitting in all things to God.

‘Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine no more can ye, except ye abide in Me’ (John xv. 4).

‘That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith’ (Ephesians iii. 17).

‘Being filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ’ (Philippians i. II).

‘Kept by the power of God through faith’ (I Peter i. 5).

(Taken from the 1922 Doctrine Book complete and unabridged)