1.12. Growth in Holiness

CHAPTER XII GROWTH IN HOLINESS IN the New Testament we never read expressly and unmistakably of a gradual progress in sanctification. Or, if the present participles in Hebrews 2:11; Hebrews 10:14 refer to such progress, they shed no light on the upward path. The same may be said of a difficult passage, Revelation 22:1; Revelation 22:1 : " the righteous one, let him do righteous ness still more : and the holy one, let him be sanctified still more." It may be that the prophet here exhorts the holy man to a further consecration and a still higher service. But he does not indicate the steps of this advance. The reason of this silence is not far to seek. The very idea of holiness involves entirety. For God claims the whole of all we have and are. He claims every moment of our time, every penny we possess, and to be Himself the one aim of our every purpose and effort. He claims all this now; not by partial and gradual, but by immediate, surrender. And what He claims, He is ready this moment to impart. To keep this great truth before us, the writers of the New Testament were held back from speaking of partial or imperfect holiness. So we read, without any note of degree : " that she may be holy both in body and spirit," 1 Corinthians 7:34; "that it may be holy and spotless," Ephesians 5:27; "to present you holy and spotless and unimpeachable," Colossians 1:22 ; " holy in all behaviour," 1 Peter 1:15. In all these passages, the simple word holy denotes absolute devotion to God. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the adjective rendered in A.V. and R.V. wholly denotes, not the measure or manner, but either the objects or the result, of sanctification. Paul prays that God may sanctify his readers, and thus make them all-mature, i.e. bring to maturity every part of their being. He then prays that their " spirit and soul and body," i.e. their entire personality, may be so kept that no part will be defective, so that no part may be open to blame in the day when Christ will come to judge the world. The adjective which I have rendered all-mature links together, in the above passage, sanctification with the word rendered (R.V.) perfect in Matthew 5:48 twice, Matthew 19:21, Romans 12:2; Romans 12:1-21:1 Corinthians 13:10, Philemon 3:15, Colossians 1:28; Colossians 4:12, Heb. ix. u,James 1:4 twice, verses James 1:17, James 1:25, James 3:2, 1 John 4:18. The same word is in 1 Corinthians 2:6 rendered perfect, marg. full-grown ; 2 Chronicles 14:20, it is rendered men, marg. of full age\ in Ephesians 4:13, full-grown; in Hebrews 5:14, full-grown men, marg. perfect. The corresponding substantive is in Colossians 3:14 rendered perfectness ; and in Hebrews 6:1, perfection^ marg. full growth. The corresponding verb is found in Philemon 3:12, James 2:22, 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 4:17; 1 John 4:18, always rendered made perfect or perfected. This variety of rendering, and these marginal notes, are due to the fact that we have no one English word which conveys exactly the sense of the Greek word usually rendered perfect. Its meaning, however, is open to no doubt. It denotes everywhere maturity, or full growth, that which has attained its full development. This meaning is not adequately suggested by the English rendering perfect. Moreover this last word suggests to English ears a stage of development not needing, and perhaps not admitting, further progress. It therefore ought not to be used without careful guarding. And a term needing to be carefully guarded is undesirable, as always liable to be misunderstood. For the term will be remembered when the safe guard is forgotten. The term Christian maturity represents more accurately the Greek conception ; and is much less liable to misunderstanding than is the phrase Christian perfection. That the word did not in Paul s thought denote a definite stage of spiritual growth, is proved by his explicit disavowal in Philemon 3:12: "not that I have already obtained or am already made perfect" Yet in some sense he seems in 5:15 to claim perfection for himself and others : " so many then as are perfect, (or mature or full-grown) let us be thus minded." Similarly 1 Corinthians 2:6: " we speak wisdom among the full-grown ones." The sense of maturity is made conspicuous in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2, where "spiritual " men are contrasted with " babes in Christ " who must be fed, not with strong food, but with milk, The same contrast is found in 1 Corinthians 14:20, " become not children in your minds, but in wickedness be babes, and in your minds become perfect ." so Hebrews 5:12-14: "having need of milk, not of solid food. For everyone who partakes of milk ... is a babe. Solid food belongs to full-grown ones." This use of the word before us determines generally the idea conveyed by it, but leaves it on the indefinite boundary between youth and adult age. In 1 John 2:12-14 we have three stages, fathers, young men, and children : but they cannot be accurately distinguished : and no one of them can be identified with Paul s word full-grown or perfect.

Further light is shed on the same word in James 2:22 : " faith was working with his works, and from the works the faith was made perfect." By producing good works, faith was attaining its purpose and goal, and in this sense its full development. Similarly 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 4:17; 1 John 4:18. God s love to us, manifested in sending His Son into the world, attains its goal in us, and in this sense is made perfect, when we keep His word, love our brethren, and are saved from fear of judgment. In Luke 6:40, 2 Corinthians 13:9; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 2 Corinthians 13:1, Ephesians 4:12; Ephesians 4:1-32:1 Thessalonians 3:10, Hebrews 13:21; Hebrews 13:1-25:1 Peter 5:10 we have another Greek word denoting " ready for use " or " to equip fully." This implies progress.

Other references to spiritual growth are found in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, " we ought to thank God always about you . . . because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you all increases ; " in Romans 1:1-32. u, "that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, in order that ye may be established." So Philemon 1:6-10, " He who began in you a good work will complete it ... in order that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; that ye may approve the better things, that ye may be sincere and without stumbling, till the day of Christ, filled with fruit of righteousness." I2 Chronicles 3:12-14 Paul gives a graphic picture of his own spiritual progress : "I press on, if also I may lay hold of that for which I have been laid hold of by Christ ... I press on towards the goal for the prize ... let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded." All this implies that intense effort with a definite aim, like that of a racer, is the normal attitude of the servants of Christ. Progress is an unfailing mark of spiritual health ; stagnation, of spiritual decay. In Ephesians 4:13-14 we have again a "full-grown (or perfect) man " contrasted with babes tossed like waves and carried about by every wind of teaching : and a sublime prayer i2 Chronicles 3:14-17, marking out the direction of spiritual growth. In 1 Corinthians 14:20 we have, in contrast to mental childishness, a mental man hood or perfection : " become not children in your minds, but in wickedness be babes, and in your minds become perfect " or "full-grown" Indisputably mental development admits of progress abso lutely unlimited. For none but the Omniscient knows all things. The above New Testament teaching implies that whereas the word holy con veys one definite idea, and Sanctification by Faith marks a definite stage in spiritual thought and growth, the New Life in Christ is marked throughout by sustained progress. Each point gained is a starting-point for further advance. All this is confirmed by the experience of the servants of Christ. To learn that God claims, not only to set limits to our actions and aims, but the unreserved devotion to His work of all our powers and possessions, has been to thousands a new revelation. And when, after fruitless personal efforts to render to Him the devotion He requires, we learn for the first time that God will work in us by His Spirit and by actual spiritual contact with Christ the devotion He requires ; and when we venture to believe that He does now and will henceforth work in us this devotion to Himself; and when we find by happy experience that according to our faith it is done to us ; the experience thus gained becomes an era in our spiritual life. Henceforth we walk in a new light, and measure ourselves by a higher standard. On the other hand, it frequently, perhaps usually, happens, as in Justification so in Sanctification, that only gradually we lay hold by faith of the promises of the Gospel ; and therefore obtain by gradual approach these great benefits. But neither for Justification nor Sanctification is lapse of time needful. God is waiting to forgive now all those who turn from sin and believe His promise of forgiveness. He claims now, from all the justified, unreserved devotion : and what He claims He is ready here and now to work in them ; to save them from all sin and to breathe into the adopted sons of God the Spirit of the Only-be gotten Son to be in them the inspiration of a new life like His. We have no need to climb to Heaven or to descend into the abyss. This, Christ has done for us. We venture to believe : and, in proportion to our faith, the promised blessings are ours.

Nevertheless, our best works are sadly defective. Frequently we mistake the best means of working out the purposes of God : and our mistakes are often due to culpable spiritual blindness, for which we stand condemned. Or in the moment of temptation, like Peter on the stormy lake, our faith fails, and we yield and sink; or like him even after the baptism of Pentecost, as is asserted in Galatians 2:11, we are unfaithful to what we know to be right and true. But for these cases, provision is made. " These things I write to you in order that ye may not sin. And if anyone sin, a Paraclete we have with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one; and Himself is a propitiation for our sins:" 1 John 2:1-2. We go at once, as penitent sinners, and humbly beg forgiveness : we stretch out our feeble hands to Him who is able and ready to save.

Moreover each day we learn better what will, and what will not, advance the purposes of God : and each day our one great purpose permeates more fully our entire thoughts and more fully directs our entire activity. Each day brings to us fresh proof of the Faithfulness, Power, and Love, of God ; and thus strengthens and widens the faith with which we lay hold of the promised blessings. Our daily submission to the guidance of the Spirit brings us more completely under His holy influence. Thus are formed habits of intelligent devotion to God. And, to those who have put on the new man, there is a progressing renewal, in the direction of clearer understanding, according to the image of Him who created us : Colossians 3:10. They who con tinue looking into the Gospel mirror are day by day transformed into the image of Christ: 2 Corinthians 3:18. To this renewal and transformation there is no limit. And, since the entire life and activity of the servants of Christ take the form of devotion to God, all spiritual progress is growth in holiness. From all this we learn that the New Life in Christ is designed by God to be sustained progress in knowledge and faith, each helping the other, and in the development of character : on the other hand, along this upward path we have found definite points of advance, each marking a new era and leading up to still further and more rapid progress. In Matthew 22:37-40, Christ sums up the whole law, quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18, in two great commands: (i) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God in all thy heart and in all thy soul and in all thy mind," and (2) " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This last, Christ makes in Matthew 5:44-48 a "perfect" pattern for imitation of our " heavenly Father." And in Romans 13:8-10 Paul declares it to be "fulfilment of the Law." All this makes whole-hearted love to God and to man obligatory to all servants of Christ; and gives it as another ideal and measure of the New Life in Christ. This " new commandment " is more difficult to obey than was the ancient Decalogue. But even in Deuteronomy 30:6 it is met by an adequate prophetic promise : "Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God in all thy heart and in all thy soul." This love to God and to those for whom Christ died is a needful complement to the devotion of all our powers to His service, as set forth in this volume. For whole-hearted devotion is possible only for those whom we love supremely : and love to God evokes love to the objects of His love, to all those embraced in His great purpose of mercy. Consequently, although love to God and holiness are not expressly associated in the Bible and are distinct elements of the New Life in Christ, they are inseparably connected. As we lay upon the altar sanctified by the blood of Christ our own poor sacrifice, it is accepted by a further revelation of God s love to us, which kindles a brighter flame of love to God and man. This love is also distinct from, though closely related to, the "perfected love" in 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 4:17; 1 John 4:18. This last is God s love to us, evoking our love to Him, and attaining its aim by transform ing our entire thought and life into love towards men. This love to God and man is breathed into us by the Holy Spirit revealing to us the significance of the death of Christ as a manifestation of the Father s love : Romans 5:5; Romans 5:8; Romans 5:1-21; 1 John 4:9-10; 1 John 4:19. " We love, because He first loved us." Indis putably this love to God and man admits of, and requires, unlimited growth, both in intensity and intelligence. This development, we shall best obtain, not by painful introspection whether and how much we love God, or man, but by con templating His infinite love to us, and remembering that the same love embraces the whole race for whom Christ died.

Such growth in love makes our devotion to God more effective. It is therefore a growth in holiness ; and a measure of our spiritual stature.