06.06. Appendix

The Terminology of Holiness By J. B. Chapman

Appendix GLOSSARY OF TERMS

INTRODUCTION

Webster says of a definition that it is "a description of a thing by its properties,’ and "it is designed to settle a thing in its compass and extent." According to this no essentially new definition is called for unless some new property has been discovered. On this premise, Dr. Steele observes that in the natural sciences new definitions are constantly needed, as new discoveries are brought to light. But in philosophy and theology, new discoveries are rare, and new definitions are rare also. Therefore there is no call for a new vocabulary or terminology of Bible holiness, for the content of the subject is just the same now as when the fathers attempted to describe it.

Noah Webster grew up under Calvinistic influences, but there is no evidence that theological bias affected his work as a lexicographer. Theological lexicographers may be of the type who make definitions to suit their doctrines, or they may inadvertently give the meanings which they themselves hold rather than the definitions that are in common use. For this reason, the secular lexicographer is the safer of the two. In this glossary we have endeavored to be faithful to the English Bible and the English language.

GENERAL TERMS FOR BIBLE HOLINESS The four terms: holiness, sanctification, perfect love, and Christian perfection are synonymous, when used in their general sense, and are defined as follows:

SANCTIFY -- (1) To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy, religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow. (2) To make free from sin; to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution; to purify.

SANCTIFICATION -- The act of making holy; the state of being sanctified or made holy. Theological-the act of God’s grace by which the affections of men are purified or alienated from sin and the world and exalted to a supreme love to God. Also the state of being thus purified or sanctified. -- Webster’s Dictionary.

SANCTIFY -- To make holy or clean, either ceremonially or morally and spiritually; to purify or free from sin . . In theology, the act of God’s grace by which the affections of men are purified and the soul is cleansed from sin and consecrated to God . . . Conformity of the heart and life to the will of God. -- Century Dictionary.

SANCTIFY -- (1) To make holy or sacred; to separate, set apart or appoint to a holy, sacred, or religious use. (2) To purify in order to prepare for divine service, and for partaking of holy things. (3) To purify from sin, to make holy. -- Imperial Dictionary.

SANCTIFY -- To free from the power of sin; to cleanse from corruption; to make holy . . . Sanctification: (1) The act of sanctifying, or purifying from the dominion of sin. (2) The act of consecrating or setting apart to a sacred end or office; consecration.

SANCTIFY -- (1) To make holy or sacred; to consecrate . . . (2) To make holy or godly; to purify from sin. -- Worcester’s Dictionary.

SANCTIFY -- To make holy; render sacred or morally or spiritually pure; cleansed from sin . . . Sanctification: Specifically in theology, the gracious work of the Holy Spirit whereby the believer is freed from sin and exalted to holiness of heart and life. -- Standard Dictionary.

SANCTIFY -- To make holy or sacred; to consecrate or set apart; to purify from sin . . . Sanctification: Technically, an operation of the Spirit of God (Rom 15:16; 2Th 2:13; 1Pe 1:2) on those who are already in Jesus, i.e., are united to Him by faith (2Co 1:2), by which they are rendered increasingly holy, dying to sin and living to God, to righteousness and to holiness (Rom 6:6, Rom 6:11, Rom 6:13, Rom 6:19; 1Th 5:23; 1Pe 2:24) -- American Encyclopedia.

SANCTIFICATION -- The act of divine grace whereby we are made holy. -- Methodist Catechism.

SANCTIFICATION -- In the proper sense, is an instantaneous deliverance from all sin, and includes an instantaneous power then given always to cleave to God. -- John Wesley.

SANCTIFICATION -- In its beginnings, process, and final issues is the full eradication of sin itself, which, reigning in the unregenerate, coexists with the new life in the regenerate, is abolished in the wholly sanctified. -- Pope’s Theology.

HOLINESS -- (1) Perfect moral integrity or purity; freedom from sin; sanctity, innocence. (2) State of being hallowed or consecrated to God, or His worship. -- Webster’s International Dictionary.

HOLY -- (1) Set apart to the service of God; applies to persons and things. (2) Morally pure, free from all stain of sin (persons). (3) In the New Testament the original Greek word is used technically to designate all justified believers and is translated "saints," or holy ones.

HOLINESS -- The state of (1) consecration to God; (2) Moral purity.

SANCTIFY -- (1) To hallow, to consecrate to religious uses. "I sanctify myself" (Jesus). (2) To make pure, to cleanse from moral defilement. "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly" (St. Paul). (3) Sanctified. In the New Testament used technically to designate the justified. SANCTIFICATION, HOLINESS -- the act of making holy. -- Dr. DANIEL STEELE in Love Enthroned.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION -- The term entire sanctification is twofold: first, it denotes a complete work of grace, beyond which or adding thereto there is left nothing to be done, so far as the act or state of moral cleansing is concerned. . . . Secondly, the term entire is used to distinguish this state of grace from partial or initial salvation, received at regeneration. -- D. Grant Christman in The Etymology of Holiness Terms.

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION -- The term Christian perfection as used is synonymous with holiness and entire sanctification. -- D. Grant Christman.

PERFECT LOVE -- The term perfect love implies an initial stage of love implanted in the heart by the Holy Spirit at regeneration, but completed, purified, perfected at the moment of entire sanctification. -- D. Grant Christman.

PERFECT LOVE -- The term perfect love is expressive of the Spirit, and temper or moral atmosphere in which the wholly sanctified and perfect Christian lives. -- J. A. Wood.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION -- Entire sanctification is that act of the Holy Spirit whereby the justified soul is made holy. -- Binney’s Compend.

COMPLETE SANCTIFICATION -- What, then, is this complete sanctification? It is the cleansing by the blood of that which has not been cleansed; it is washing the soul of a true believer from the remains of sin. -- Adam Clarke.

COMPLETE SANCTIFICATION -- Complete sanctification is the pure love of God and man shed abroad in the faithful believer’s heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him, to cleanse him and to keep him clean from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. -- John Fletcher.

WHOLLY SANCTIFIED -- To sanctify you wholly is to complete the work of purification and renovation begun in your regeneration. -- Joseph Benson.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION -- Entire sanctification is a second definite work of grace wrought by the baptism with the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer subsequently to regeneration, received instantaneously by faith, by which the heart is cleansed from all inward corruption and filled with the perfect love of God. -- DR. A. M. Hills, in Scriptural Holiness.

PERFECT HOLINESS -- This finished work of salvation from sin we call entire sanctification, or perfect holiness. It is known by various titles and phrases in the Bible; such as "perfection," "sanctification," "perfect love," "pure in heart" "dead to sin," "crucified with Christ," "Christ liveth m me," "mind of Christ," "partakers of the divine nature," "free from sin," "filled with the Spirit," "loving God with all the soul, mind and strength," "cleansed from all sin and from all unrighteousness," "cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit," "perfecting holiness in the fear of God," "sanctify you wholly," "that the body of sin might be destroyed," "that he might destroy the works of the devil," "purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver," "from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." -- Dr. Asbury Lowrey, in Possibilities of Grace.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION -- This work of entire sanctification is a definite experience, a mighty work of grace, wrought by God in the life of the Christian in response to his faith. It is an experience that marks a definite second Crisis in the spiritual life, purifying the heart, filling the life with the Holy Spirit, bringing a spiritual wholeness to life and the heart into full devotedness to God. -- Dr. D. Shelby Corlett, in The Meaning of Holiness. THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST -- The baptism with the Spirit and entire sanctification are synonymous terms. Both include, and have as their principle, moral cleansing, but the baptism of the Spirit places emphasis on the positive side of the experience, while moral cleansing denotes the negative side. -- D. Grant Christman.

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT -- The great positive work of this experience is the baptism with or fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in this work of entire sanctification accepts and fills His temple, the body or life of the individual Christian, which is entirely dedicated to God. It is an abiding fullness, a vital fullness, which is maintained as the Christian lives in the Spirit. "There is a fullness of the Spirit," says Dr. Daniel Steele, "which must imply entire sanctification -- the permanent gracious presence in the soul of the Holy Spirit in His fullness, not as an extraordinary gift, but as a person having the right of way through soul and body, having the keys to even the inmost rooms, illuminating every closet and every crevice of the nature, filling the entire being with holy love." -- Dr. D. Shelby Corlett.

TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH BIBLE HOLINESS

SIN -- Sin exists in the soul after two modes or forms: (1) In guilt, which requires forgiveness or pardon; (2) In pollution, which requires cleansing. -- Adam Clarke.

SIN -- By sin, I understand inward sin; any sinful temper, passion, or affection; such as pride, self-will, love of the world, in any kind or degree. -- John Wesley, in "Sin in Believers."

DEPRAVITY -- Depravity denotes the sinful perversion of nature which has come down to every member of the human race from the sin of Adam. Other terms having the same meaning are: pollution, defilement, corruption, and degeneracy.

ORIGINAL SIN -- The term original sin, like "old Adam," and "Adamic nature," is used to describe the source from which the defilement of nature proceeds, and to point out that it is the same in nature now as that which was inoculated into the hearts of our first parents.

INBRED SIN, INHERENT SIN, INNATE SIN -- Speaking of these terms, Harmon A. Baldwin, in The Carnal Mind, says: "The first term refers to the fact that sin is inherited; in the last the possibility might remain that the sin originated with the person who possesses it; while in the second there may be a strong intimation that sin can never be removed. Thus, when Adam fell his heart was filled with innate sin, but we, his children, possess inbred sin." THE OLD MAN -- In addition to its reference sometimes to the old mode of life, the term "old man" refers sometimes to the depravity of the human heart. The Scriptures say: "The old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." The sinful nature is called "the old man" because of its age, being coeval with out personal existence, and dating back to the fall of man.

CARNAL MIND, CARNAL NATURE, CARNALITY -- "Carnal has reference to the fleshly tendency of sin," says Baldwin. Wesley used the term "carnal mind" to represent the depravity that remains in the heart of the justified. To be dominated by the carnal mind is to be "carnally minded," and thus to be without grace. But the remains of carnality may still cleave to imperfect Christians, even to such an extent that, as Paul said of the Corinthians: "I could not speak to you as unto spiritual."

ERADICATION -- "Eradication denotes that the sin-principle, left in the regenerate but dealt with in the act of entire sanctification, is removed, and not weighted down or suppressed." - D. Grant Christman. The word eradicate is not found in our English Bible, but the meaning it bears is expressed by all those scriptural passages which represent sin as being "put off," "crucified," "destroyed," "purged," "cleansed," etc. Dr. A. M. Hills says: "Now, there are twelve verbs (in the original) in the Old and New Testaments which teach God’s method of dealing with this internal, indwelling sin. They all unite in declaring that He will ’crucify’ it, ’kill’ it, ’destroy’ it, ’eliminate’ it, ’burn’ it, ’take it away’ from the soul. And what is more, no other kinds of verbs are used when describing God’s method of dealing with this foe of his dwelling in our hearts."

INFIRMITIES -- "Infirmities denote the impaired natural powers, resultant from the fall and actual sinful conduct, but which are wholly freed from sin at entire sanctification, and although still impaired, in their purified state are consistent with a fully sanctified life." -- D. Grant Christman.

CONSECRATION -- Consecration is the act of a regenerated person, not that of a sinner. It denotes dedication to God as the free act of the Christian concerned. It is the willing, determined setting of one’s self apart to God and His service, and in its full sense, implies that this is done without reservation or limitation. Consecration is sanctification as a human act. That is, to sanctify one’s self is to consecrate himself to God, and thus to bring himself into the place where God can sanctify him by purifying him by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Divine sanctification, which is purification, rests upon human sanctification, which is consecration, as its prerequisite. To say that sanctification means consecration and nothing more is parallel with saying that justification and regeneration are just repentance and faith and nothing more. But neither of such statements, both of which rule out the supernatural phase, is true. God does respond to the faith of the repentant sinner and pardon his sins and make him alive in Christ. Likewise, He responds to the consecration and faith of the truly regenerated believer and purifies his heart and fills it with perfect love.