Archive: What Does it Mean to Be Holy?

In the second of a two-part series, Robert Coleman, professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, issues a summons to holiness

In view of the unspeakable blessing of the life of divine grace, one would think that the body of saints would constantly herald the beauty of holiness. Yet, strangely, this does not seem to be the case. It is not that the truth is denied; it is just that other things appear to be more appealing. The church, under the illusion of relevance, tends to accept the world’s agenda of concerns. Inevitably, then, more mundane and humanitarian interests take precedence over the demanding claims of the lordship of Christ.

The presentation of holiness and sanctification will be considerably enhanced by a careful exposition of Scripture. I am afraid that in Wesleyan circles, to our shame, far too much emphasis has been given to the recitation of personal testimonies to the neglect of solid biblical exegesis. I am convinced this deficiency is one reason holiness teaching is so often compromised.

Human experiences help illustrate the power of the written Word, but only the authoritative Word of God can focus the full reality of holiness. The muting of this central truth of Scripture in the private and public witness of the church, whatever the tradition, reflects a tragic displacement of priorities.

Danger In a Defensive Posture

Bound up with this confusion is an inordinate fear of fanaticism which, unfortunately, some misguided people associate with holiness. Just the thought of this message conjures images of wild emotionalism or anti-social behavior.

Please do not misunderstand. I am not suggesting that we should endorse every harebrained zealot that crowds under the holiness umbrella. Clearly there are many strange fellow travelers, but this is something over which we have scant jurisdiction. Let us be careful that, in our desire to be removed from these perceived excesses, we do not become defensive and divert our energy from our cause.

This is a failing all too common today in the so-called “holiness movement.” We spend too much time protecting ourselves from embarrassment—pointing out that we are not this and we are not that—until we become more astute in maintaining an appearance of respectability than in being confident in our own experiences.

Any time that we become more concerned with self-preservation than with proclamation, we have lost our advantage in the mission of Christ True holiness needs no defense; it will vindicate itself when seen in its own beauty.

Resistance Of the Flesh

This is not to say that the holy life will elicit popular acceptance from the masses. By its nature holiness will always have an uphill battle with the flesh, since it cuts across the grain of the carnal mindset. If we are overly sensitive to what people think, there will be little preaching of holiness.

For this reason it should not seem surprising that in Wesley’s day there were many among his followers who “little insisted on” this message.[1] The same problem was seen in response to Francis Asbury’s ministry. He noted that “sanctification and Christian perfection” were not “commonplace subjects”—a fact, incidentally, which caused him to resolve to “make them the savor of every sermon” he preached.[2]

The situation is aptly described by Benjamin Lakin, an itinerant Methodist minister who made the following entry in his diary under the date March 15, 1814:

I have been making some inquiry into the cause of the gloom that is on the minds of professors and the decline of religion. Lately an old Brother observed that he had observed for some time our preaching to begin with the fall of man, the redemption by Jesus Christ, repentance and justification by faith, and here we stopped, and for a long time he had not heard the doctrine of sanctification enforced. I immediately began to make my observation on experiences that I hear, for a considerable time have observed them go as far as justification and there stop and no talk of sanctification. I have further observed that professors have lost that bright experience (at least too many of them) of their acceptance with God they once had, and rest too much on general determinations to serve God. And as I have reason to thank God that there is as little immoral conduct among us as I could expect among so large a body, I concluded the following causes have produced this effect: (1) The confused state of affairs and the interest every man takes in the event of war, (2) We have preached the gospel but have been deficient in enforcing the doctrine of sanctification, and (3) the people stopped in a justified state without pursuing holiness. Immediately [I] set about a reform in myself and began to preach and enforce the doctrine of holiness by showing the state I found the people to be in, and the need of perfecting holiness in the fear of God.[3]

Holiness In Church Growth

What can be detected in this faithful circuit rider’s account underscores the continuing need for renewal of our first love if the priorities of the kingdom are maintained. This becomes increasingly imperative in the succeeding generations of any revival movement, of which Methodism is a prime example. By and large the holiness teaching of Wesley became diluted, as well as slighted, as the nineteenth century progressed; and the doctrine of entire sanctification met with increasing resistance from the hierarchy of the church. The tensions from this conflict, combined with other conditions, resulted in the formation of various new holiness denominations and contributed to the rise of the modem Pentecostal movement.

Many stalwart exponents of the holiness doctrine remained in the established church, but, bereft of institutional support, their influence has been marginal in shaping policy of mainline Methodism for more than 100 years. The loss of this emphasis has been progressively apparent in the ministry of the church, of which the erosion of evangelistic effectiveness and the corresponding membership decline are only symptomatic evidence. On the other hand the dissident holiness groups (many of which came out of Methodism), imbued with a revival, have generally manifested a higher degree of commitment and a sustained increase of disciples as a by-product.

There are numerous factors to consider in church growth, of course, but a shared quest for heart holiness certainly must be included among them. Whenever this scriptural truth has been lifted up in word and deed the blessing of God has been obvious in evangelism despite buffetings from the world. Any time this principle of growth is compromised, degeneration, while not immediately apparent, inevitably follows in the long term.

Weakness Of Contemporary Methodism

Here, I believe, is a glaring fallacy in the United Methodist Church. Much of the talk today about church growth strategies is simply too shallow to develop the necessary spiritual resources for dynamic reproduction. Attention seems to center on better sociological understanding, programs of outreach, training in management and the like. All of these are helpful, but the great theological and spiritual issues in sanctification are largely ignored. Ecclesiastical rhetoric is confused with godliness.

We have all seen the old television commercial featuring a haggard little lady looking at a hamburger. With an expression of bewilderment on her face, she asks, “Where’s the beef?”

I think her predicament might be somewhat analogous to the feeling persons looking for the substance of the Wesleyan revival in our churches experience today. Where is the “beef” of holiness, that ingredient of Christian experience which Wesley described as “religion itself”? Even in institutions founded to propagate holiness I have sometimes wondered, “Where is the unabashed, forthright witness to this most distinctive Methodist doctrine?” Oh yes, one recognizes references here and there—code words such as “second blessing” or “perfect love”—intended to convey an association with tradition. But upon closer examination it often turns out that the hamburger is mostly bun.

Facing Up To Carnality

Why do holy people and the institutions they build drift away from the holiness mandate?

Doubtless there are many reasons, but the heart of the problem, I believe, is the pervasive tendency of the flesh to take the course of least resistance. Unless this human characteristic is persistently overcome through the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, the deceitful nature of carnality, ever lurking in the shadows of disobedience, will stealthily arise to take control. Consent to its leavening influence may be so gradual and refined as to be undetected at first. After all, do we not need times to relax and enjoy the pleasures of the world? Do we always have to deny ourselves recognition and advancement in order to bear the cross of Christ? Why should we have to bring the Great Commission into every aspect of our lifestyle?

Such questions may seem innocent enough, but carnality has a beguiling way of turning our responses into self-indulgence. All too easily we pamper ourselves under the guise of God’s blessing, failing to measure our lives by the pattern of our Lord. Holiness is an exacting standard, and as the values of Christ’s kingdom become clearer, we will be more able to identify with the publican who cried, “Lord, have mercy on me!” Quibbling over hair styles and forms of dress will not be the issues. When we see ourselves with more Christlikeness, I expect that we will become far more sensitive to worldliness, materialism, prayerlessness, disregard of the oppressed and indifference to the lost multitudes who have never heard the gospel.

Here we must be utterly honest with ourselves, and with God’s help we must relentlessly seek day by day to bring our lives into conformity with His holiness. If we try to trim the corners and excuse a few favorite shortcomings, carnality reigns in our hearts.

The Incontrovertible Witness

A dear friend, when being examined for admission into a Methodist Conference, was asked by the Board of Ordained Ministry: “Are you wholly sanctified?”

Detecting a spirit of skepticism yet wanting to be helpful, he replied, “Don’t you think that you are asking the wrong person? My wife is sitting outside in the lobby. Why don’t you talk to her?”

What a Solomonic response! It is not the creed you profess that convinces other persons of holiness; it’s the life they see. I will never forget the closing service of the World Congress on Evangelism in the great Kingresshalle of Berlin, Germany, in 1966. Billy Graham was speaking on the need in Christian work for “a gentleness and a kindness and a love and a forgiveness and a compassion that will mark us as different from the world. The Christian minister,” he said, “is to be a holy man.”[4]

To illustrate his point he told of the conversion of Dr. H. C. Morrison, the founder of Asbury Theological Seminary. He described a day when farm worker Morrison was plowing in a field. Happening to look down the road, he saw an old Methodist circuit rider coming by on a horse. The young plowman had seen the preacher before, and he knew him to be a holy man. As Morrison watched the saint go by he could feel the power of the preacher’s godly presence way out there in the field. Such a sense of conviction for sin came over Morrison that, fearful for his soul, he dropped on his knees; and there, alone between the corn rows, he gave his life to God.

As he concluded the story Billy Graham earnestly prayed, “Oh, God, make me a holy man—a holy man.”[5]

That is the prayer, I trust, that speaks the yearning of all our souls. Upon its answer is the hope of revival in the United Methodist Church.

FOOTNOTES

[1] John Wesley, The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, IV, p. 149. In this letter Wesley went on to observe that when such neglect was common “there is little increase, either in the numbers or the grace of the hearers.”

[2] Francis Asbury, Journal, Monday, March 1, 1803, quoted in Francis Asbury’s America, compiled and edited by Terry D. Bilhantz (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), p. 82

[3] Benjamin Lakin, Journal, in William Warren Sweet, Religion on the American Frontier, IV, The Methodists, 1783-1840, A Collection of Source Materials (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946), p. 249.

[4] Billy Graham, “Stains on the Altar,” One Race, One Gospel, One Task, ed. by Carl F. H. Henry and W. Stanley Mooneyham I (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1967), p. 158.

[5] Ibid., p. 159.