Many of you don't know Danielle - or "IvorySing." (By the way, this is a great nickname for her if you've heard her sing.) She is a very deep sister in Christ whom I came to know over a year ago. She and her family are incredible; you'll all enjoy meeting them in Heaven. Now that you know her, I'm going to address her curiosity to "entire sanctification."
Danielle, I'm not going to argue with you because I think people who argue over doctrine are talked about in 1 Timothy 6 in a negative light. However, we're all wrestling with this issue of sin. To talk about entire sanctification completely from its biblical derivative would take an incredibly long blog or a brief, possibly inappropriate attempt at explanation. I'm going to go with the latter. (Sorry for all the big words you may encounter. Doctrines that are difficult to explain bring them out in me.)
Living a sinless life comes into play in the Bible at Creation. The Father created a perfect world without sin. Thus, His plan was a world with no sin. Note that He did not create a world without the possibility of sin. The sinless and perfect Adam and Eve were still tempted and still sinned. Thus begins the story of the Bible - God and people love each other; people give into temptation to sin; people are separated from God; God provides a way out; people are restored to sinlessness (forgiveness and eventually freedom from the bent to sin); God and people love each other again without sin.
That is a very simple take on the salvation story, but sinlessness was God's plan from the beginning and continues to be now. The terms "entire" and "sanctification" come together in thoughts that derive from Scriptures like 1 Thessalonians 5:23. It says, "May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This verse is the one verse that puts simply what we're all trying to say with entire sanctification. This word "blameless" is a much better way to look at what we're talking about than sinless. It means that we cannot be blamed for our past sins and sinful origins.
Does this help? (I'm sure that AP or another genius can say it better, but let's stick with this for now.)
5 comments:
lynn, of course, does a great job. i just have one other angle to add.
a favourite description of entire sanctification for me has always been "perfect love." perfect not in the sense of flawless, but in loving completely and purely (i.e., without ulterior motives). i always liked kierkegaard: purity of heart is to will one thing. can we will simply to love for the other's sake? that is the question of ES...
Danielle, you should listen to AP. (If you are in DofH this semester, remember the phrase "to will one thing." Don't ask why, just remember it until April.)
Secondly, our sin hasn't taken away God's sovereignty. Perhaps one reason sin is so bad is that it is in violation to God's sovereignty. God is still sovereign, and sanctification is the process of bringing us from a life outside of God's sovereign plan into a blameless life of perfect love.
We cannot become sovereign, as you know, because we're not God and our salvation doesn't come from us.
But sinlessness isn't really an entire sanctification issue, right? I'm pretty sure I have my theology-according-to-Gavel-and-other-really-smart-people+Bible correct here. Our INITIAL sanctification empowers us not to sin, though we will still want to and be prone to. Our ENTIRE sanctification removes the WILL ("bent") to sin.
You're right, Sister, that we are forgiven of our sins when we first become Christians (i.e. initial sanctification). Yes, we are sin-free at that point, so to speak. When I talk about sin-free, I am talking about freedom from the "bent" or propensity to sin. In other words, I'm talking about a blameless life.
As usual, my older sister is correct and keeps me on the straight and narrow. :)
the language changes from negative to positive. we are free NOT to sin at initial sanctification. we are empowered to love at entire sanctification. if love is perfect, then there has been removed the desire to sin (which can remain, but need not be submitted to).
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