18. Sanctification a Cleansing

CHAPTER XVIII Sanctification a Cleansing "Through all my soul I feel his power, And in the precious cleansing wave I wash my garments white this hour, And prove his utmost power to save."

Since justification, from its nature and purpose, is not sufficient to remove native depravity, there is an evident need of a further work of grace in the heart of the justified believer. Personal guilt, incurred through disobedience of divine law, is of such a nature that it may be repented of by man and forgiven by God; whereas native depravity is not of such a nature that it may be either repented of or forgiven. Hence some other process than that of justification, forgiveness, or remission is necessary for the removal of this corrupt nature. A careful study of the Scriptures will reveal that only two general methods are employed in redemption. These are justification, or forgiveness, and sanctification, or cleansing. It should not be taken from this that all cleansing is confined to sanctification, for he washes us from our sins and the guilt of disobedience in his own blood (Revelation 1:5), just as he sanctifies us by his blood ( Hebrews 13:12 ) .

There is danger in the justified believer’s remaining in an imperfect state, for the tendency of native depravity is ever downward. The man who penned the lines of the old hymn was conscious of the downward tendency of depravity and of the imperfectness of the justified heart when he said:

"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;

Prone to leave the God I dove. "

Jesus was so concerned about his disciples’ receiving a more perfect work that he prayed earnestly for their sanctification (John 17:1-26). Upon hearing that Samaria had received the word of God, the apostles that were at Jerusalem sent to them Peter and John that the Samaritans who had believed might receive a more perfect experience (Acts 8:1-40). Paul earnestly desired the entire sanctification of the Thessalonian believers. Said he: "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly.... Faithful is he who calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24),

Heart purity is clearly a Bible taught doctrine. Jesus said, " Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Peter said that God put no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, "purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:8-9). Paul said, "Unto the pure all things are pure" (Titus 1:15).

Since the state of justification can not, from its very nature, remove native depravity; since it is imperatively necessary to the highest success and happiness in the Christian experience that depravity be removed; since the Bible teaches heart purity; and since cleansing is the only process other than that of justification employed in the work of redemption,-it follows conclusively that depravity may be removed, and that it must be done by a process of cleansing. In addition to the fact before mentioned, that the verb "to sanctify " means to purify or cleanse, let us notice a few texts that teach the experience of cleansing subsequent to regeneration.

"I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you as the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him,, the same bringeth forth much fruit" (John 15:15). The general facts stated in this passage are: l. Christ is tile vine. 2. His believing disciples are the branches. 3. These branches may either be barren or fruitful. 4. The Father is the vine dresser. From the foregoing we learn that it is possible for a believing disciple either to be taken away from Christ, the true vine, or to progress to a more fruitful state. The process by which the justified believer, or branch, is made more fruitful, Jesus calls "purging." It has been argued by some who wish to carry the literal figure in the spiritual idea, however, that the purging must necessarily be a mere pruning, or outward removal of hindrances to fruitfulness. This objection is invalid. Every particular of the natural illustration can not always be held to conform to every particular of the spiritual idea it represents. In the interpretation of parables and in the consideration of spiritual lessons drawn from nature, we must look for the central idea, for the fact rather than for the form. The central and spiritual ideas of the passage, simply stated, are: 1. There is in the fruit bearing branches, believing disciples, some hindrances to their bearing more fruit. 2. This hindrance God himself, the divine husbandman, removes by a process which Jesus calls purging. If there is the difference between the natural and the spiritual idea that the purging is external to the natural vine but internal to the believer it is only because that natural illustrations are often inadequate to express in technical terms every phase of the spiritual idea. Whatever technical objection may be raised to the parallel ideas, the fact remains that as the natural vine is purged to bring it to a more fruitful state, so the believer is purged that he may bring forth more fruit.

Another argument in favor of internal cleansing in this text is that the purging is done by the Father. It is a divine work wrought in the individual. Then, too, the word "purge," from Greek hathairo, when used metaphorically means " to cleanse from sin, to make expiation" (see Green’s Greek English Lexicon and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance). It is highly probable, also, from the examination of the context-the safest and surest means of ascertaining the meaning of Bible words- that Jesus by the use of this word " purge " referred to the Pentecostal experience of the disciples. In the preceding chapter (John 14:17; John 14:26) he speaks of the coming of the Comforter. In the following chapter (John 16:13) he again speaks of the Spirit of truth that was to come. Then in the seventeenth chapter of the same gospel Jesus prayed for the sanctification of his disciples, and not for them only, but for all who should believe on him through their words. Thus, the idea of sanctification, both in its positive and in its negative phases-the purging from native depravity and the infilling of the Holy Spirit-is a continuous thread of thought throughout the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of the Gospel of John. John 15:15, then, teaches a purging subsequent to our becoming branches in Christ, the true vine, or a cleansing subsequent to the experience of justification.

It is the members of the church, not sinners, who need sanctification, or cleansing. " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 25, 26). In this passage sanctification stands equal with cleansing, and both are accomplished by " the washing of water by the word. " Another notable fact brought out by this text is that it is the church, not the world, that is to be sanctified. This is a similar thought to that expressed by Jesus when he said, "Even the Spirit of truth whom the world can not receive " ( John 14:17 ) . The world needs justification and the Spirit of adoption into the divine family; the church needs the higher experience of sanctification and the reception of the Holy Spirit in the full and complete sense. Sanctification, then, is a cleansing for the church, or justified believers.

"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12). The word "sanctify" in this passage may include both regeneration and entire sanctification, the complete redemptive experience. This, however, does not affect in any way the truth that sanctification is a cleansing.

Other texts could be adduced in support of the position that sanctification is a cleansing subsequent to the experience of justification, but the foregoing is deemed sufficient. It is unmistakably clear that sanctification, both from the etymology of the word and from its use in the Bible, means a moral cleansing.