Scriptural Sanctification - Media Sabda Org

hearts' by availing ourselves of the regenerating Spirit. Paul uses the adhortative form, 'let us
cleanse,' instead of the exhortatory form, 'cleanse ye,' simply to soften the command by including
himself.
"The doctrine of this passage is that the faith which appropriates the Sanctifier is a momentary,
act, lifting the soul out of all outward or carnal, and inward or spiritual, sin. Had the process of
sanctification been like washing a mud statue -- a continuous and never completed work, as some
teach -- Paul would not have failed to express this idea by using the present tense, 'Let us be
continually cleansing,' etc. While the Wesleyan doctrine of instantaneous sanctification is taught by
the aorist tense in this verse, the seemingly paradoxical Wesleyan doctrine of progressive
sanctification is also taught by the present participle, 'perfecting holiness,' etc. This word
['perfecting'] in this passage is defined in Bagster's Greek Testament Lexicon thus, 'to carry into
practice,' 'to realize.' The perfect inward cleansing instantaneously wrought by the Holy Spirit
through faith is to be constantly and progressively carried forward into all the acts of daily life, as
the moral discrimination becomes more and more acute with the increase of knowledge."
That is the cleansing or healing process -- the subjective work -- is instantaneously wrought by
a baptism, while the life of holiness proceeding therefrom grows and improves as knowledge and
skill increase.
Take 2 Timothy ii. 21: "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto
honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good As Dr. Steele
suggests, "purge" here is in the aorist tense, and expresses a definite and momentary act, while
"sanctified" and "prepared" are in the perfect tense, implying the permanent and finished result of
the one act of purging, by which we are made or are fitted for use or service. And the doing "every
good work" is the stream or life of holiness, proceeding from the completed process of purging or
cleansing, and which may continually afterwards enlarge and grow.
Take the oft-quoted passage in I Thessalonians v. 23. On this passage Dr. Steele has the
following:
"And the very God of peace, once for all, sanctify [aorist] you wholly, and your whole spirit, and
soul, and body be preserved [initial aorist, to mark the beginning in the heart of the power that keeps
the believer]. The nicety of Paul's grammatical knowledge is seen in verse 2: 'Brethren, pray
[present] for us. Greet [aorist] all the brethren with a holy kiss.' The praying was to be continuous,
the kissing momentary."
We would stress the teaching of Paul in this well-known passage. Notwithstanding the repeated
efforts to break its force in support of the theory of instantaneous and entire sanctification,
subsequent to regeneration, we insist that it clearly sustains this theory, and for the following
reasons:
1. These Thessalonians had been regenerated, were already the subjects of a partial sanctification.
Paul had said to them: "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our