Theology of Holiness: Part 6c: Sanctification

This is the last section on sanctification. Remember, in the other two sections, what sanctification is and why it is important was examined. This final section examines a bit of how sanctification may come about within a human being. The question has been whether it is a relatively short or long process. Can we make it come about when we choose or is all of that up to God himself? Sanctification, while largely a Wesleyan distinctive, has been discussed from a range of denominational foundations from Lutheran to Baptist. As I am from the Wesleyan tradition, that is the perspective that receives the most consideration. This means that I would consider sanctification to be possible in this life. In other words, we can live free from the weight and need to sin, in this lifetime. What a thought!!

There is dispute as to how entire sanctification is brought about. There are three camps with three different views. They are divided as proponents of: the shorter way, the middle way and the long way. The shorter way, as it is called, finds its roots in the teachings of Phoebe Palmer during the nineteenth century. It was her belief that God would not command us to be something we could not be. She also believed that God was willing to perform this action at her request. "It was thus she became assured it was her privilege to know when she has consecrated all to God, and also to know that the sacrifice was accepted" (Schenck, 2006, MIN543 lecture). For her, "the shorter way… is one of total responsiveness to God's grace" (Schenck, 2006, MIN543 lecture). Additionally, "entire sanctification is a simple synergism in which the work of consecration and faith by a Christian is met immediately with deliverance from the inner propensity to sin by the Holy Spirit" (http://cbounds.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_cbounds_archive.html) . The advocates of this position are numerous within the Wesleyan denomination today, as they have been since Palmer's time.
Probably the most popular proponent of the shorter way in the Wesleyan Church today is Keith Drury. For Drury, entire sanctification is "a crisis event for believers which occurs instantaneously when a believer makes an entire consecration, reaching out in faith to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit" (Drury, 2004, p.182). After the work of entire consecration is completed by the person, God will instantaneously grant entire sanctification to the person, if the person receives this gift in faith. "There are two parts to sanctification: God's part and ours. God alone works in us to sanctify us. But he does so with our cooperation" (Drury, 2004, p.104). In dealing with the issue of why a person has not received entire sanctification, Drury writes: "Why don't you have it? Is it because God is withholding it? No. It is because you have not totally and completely given yourself over to God, in complete consecration. This is your part" (Drury, 2004, p.108).
For me, the shorter way of coming to entire sanctification is akin to a "name it, claim it" type of mentality. "So it is that you can say, "Fill me now" and God's sanctifying work will be done" (Drury, 2004, p.179). This line of thinking about sanctification was also espoused by Wilbur Dayton. His feeling toward receiving sanctification as quickly as possible was made clear: "Why wait? Ask and receive" (Dayton as cited in Wilson, 2000, p.190). As DeNeff says, "this is holiness at the drive-through window" (DeNeff, 2004, p.90). "The agonies of self-examination and self-denial… are suddenly compressed into a few minutes around the altar" (DeNeff, 2004, p.90). The shorter way seems to make God our servant rather than the other way around. To view him as simply waiting for us to consecrate in faith, is to me, to cheapen the grace and work of the Holy Spirit, who alone convicts the person of their sin. "If Wesley was right, we cannot choose the day of our sanctification any more than we can choose the day of our natural death" (DeNeff, 2004, p.129). I cannot agree with Drury's sentiment that if we have not, we ask not. It is God's pleasure to work on his own schedule. While I appreciate the passion and zeal for entire sanctification that Drury presents, I do not share his approach.
The second way, the middle way, is the approach to entire sanctification that I find myself in agreement with. As stated by DeNeff, "sanctification is possible in this life, but it does not necessarily happen just because we consecrate ourselves. It is not only more of commitment that leads to a crisis of entire sanctification, but less of sin and selfishness as well. It can happen, but it usually takes longer than we think" (2004, p.127). "Christians actively seek entire sanctification, availing themselves of the various means of grace, waiting for God's grace capable of creating faith to appropriate it. Thus, a person cannot be entirely sanctified at any given moment, but only in those times and places in which God's grace is being made available that can create such faith." (http://cbounds.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_cbounds_archive.html). It is through discipline, duty and daily examination that entire sanctification comes. In other words, "she cannot be entirely sanctified merely because one day she decides she should" (DeNeff, 2004, p.131).
The third way, the longer way, is the approach to entire sanctification that views it as "something that very few will attain in this life and only at the end of life" (Schenck, 2006, MIN543 lecture). "The movement toward this state of perfection can only be brought about by growth in grace, knowledge, wisdom, experience, and the practice of spiritual disciplines. As such, entire sanctification is not really seen as a possibility for new converts, but only for those who have diligently followed Christ for many years" (http://cbounds.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_cbounds_archive.html). Because "holiness is qualitative rather than quantitative" (Schenck, 2006, MIN543 lecture), much time, effort and suffering must occur before entire sanctification can be attained. This was the road to entire sanctification that Wesley took in his most pessimistic writings (Schenck, 2006, MIN543 lecture). While I have sympathies along these lines, I cannot fully agree with this viewpoint.
Whether sanctification exists as an incomplete entity or as an entire one, I believe that it is attainable. Whether the road to sanctification is short, medium or long, I believe that it is attainable during my own lifetime. For Wesleyans, "sanctification is viewed as involving a deeper work of the Holy Spirit, or as a second work of grace, characterized as a crisis experience, that is both a goal and a possibility in this life" (Sawyer, 2006, p.575 & 354). For me, entire sanctification and freedom from willful sin in this lifetime is a possibility and I can enjoy it, to paraphrase Schenck. This life can be summed up as: "the intent of Wesley's doctrine of sanctification is that we are to live habitually from and in the sense of the divine presence" (Suchocki as cited in Maddox, 1998, p.54).