My answer is that the doctrine is still developing. A key is the question, "What does holiness look like?" As some respondents to the column have said, over the years holiness preaching tended to get confused with living certain lyfestyles=holiness, and living other lifestyles=worldliness. If a person didn't identify, for instance, with the total abstinence from alcohol or tobacco issues, he or she couldn't have experienced entire sanctification. The lines got blurred between what was Biblical and what was "expected".
- Many who decry the lack of "holiness" preaching these days seem to be more bothered that there's not enough preaching of rules and that certain rituals (i.e., the altar call, the campmeeting, the multiple-service revival, etc...) have become less commonplace.
- In addition, an attitude has crept into our culture (especially in North America) that even Christians and non-Christians seem to espouse--one that says that people are basically good deep down. This flies in the face of the traditional Christian worldview that we are conceived in with natures that need cleansing from sin.
- Finally, the evolution of the word "perfection" has changed the way the doctrine is viewed. Today, if a person claims "perfection", more people than not think if perfection of PERFORMANCE, not perfection of love towards God and others. Therefore, people likely tend to shy away from using the term "perfection", not because something different occurs (or doesn't occur) today compared with 100-150 years ago, but because the meaning of the terminology to the average listener has changed.
- Here's how I have understood it. Look at Hebrews 10:14 which says in the NIV translation, "by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Now, I'm not a Greek scholar, but I tend to like this particular translation for this verse, because it implies a one-time work (sacrifice) that HAS MADE PERFECT (a completed deal) those who ARE BEING MADE (an ongoing deal) holy.
- I can understand entire sanctification only by acknowledging the functional human trichotomy of body, mind, and spirit. At entire sanctification, God indeed perfects one's spirit--endowing that person's spirit with a perfect love for God and others. In function, this righteousness of spirit is IMPARTED (not imputed), making a real change in condition from one of the person being naturally inclined towards selfishness (i.e., evil, or sin) to the person being transformed to being primarily inclined towards godliness.
- But while the spirit is indeed perfected, the body (flesh) is still subject to the fact that we live in a world that is still infected and affected by sin. While the true transformation of a person's spirit will indeed affect the way a person behaves, the truth of the matter is that the sin that surrounds the person will also influence the person's behavior. The mind is then the "battleground."
- For instance; a person may have to make a split-second decision of "Do I step in front of the person who is about to shoot that innocent person, or do I sustain my own life?" The person's spirit is self-sacrificing, but the person's body is self-preserving.
- Is that person still entirely sanctified? Yes. Can that person still make mistakes and/or even go against his/her transformed spirit and still choose selfishness over godliness? Yes. But it happens less and less as the person grows in maturity, being transformed in the renewing of his/her mind as time goes on.
- So, did the holiness movement of the 1800's miss the boat? In theory, no, but in practice, perhaps the message they preach got to be based more on outward behaviors instead of the work the Holy Spirit did to perfect that person's spirit within.
- Just my two-cents-worth.
