NOT PURITY, BUT LIBERTY.
We have seen that there may be said to be at least four Schools of Holiness. The Perfectionist School maintains that the whole man is sanctified, that, as Dr. Charke says, " It is the cleansing of the blood, that has not been cleansed ; it is washing the soul of a true believer from the remains of sin." The Evangelical School teaches that grace is victorious over sin, and will at last uproot it, though perfect holiness will not be attained in this life. The Faith School, unlike the two former, in a way, admits that there are two natures in the believer, and teaches that holiness is obtained by an act of faith. A new life is thought to be imparted, but the blood is said to cleanse the fountain of evil within so that not merely the stains, but the sin itself, is said to be removed, yet the person may slip back again into bondage. Indeed, this view is a kind of compromise, a mixture of the Perfectionist and Scriptural Schools. But the latter shows that the flesh is not improved nor cleansed :it is condemned and treated as that which has been judged at the cross. A new life, the life of Christ is communicated, and the believer gets deliverance, not from the presence, but from its power; and not by cleansing, but by reckoning himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The result is not purity, but liberty.
In the scriptural view of holiness all that is sought after by the other schools is obtained, while their errors are avoided. The perfection of Christ's work is so seen and accepted that the believer gets a purged conscience, and has a perfect standing before God, while the other schools are seeking this as a thing to be attained by holiness.
Indeed, Scripture gives us much more. It shows clearly the difference between the first and the last Adam ; the place of the old and the new creation is recognized ; and we get the essential features of Christianity proper , as contrasted with Judaism. It may not be seen at first, nor do the holiness advocates realize it ; but the question involves nothing less than the essential nature of Christianity itself. Strange and hard to say-not that they are not Christians, far be the uncharitable thought, but this I do say, they show that they do not see what Christianity really means, as taught by Paul.
The Perfectionist and Evangelical Schools do not show that the "old man" is met in judgment, nor that the "new man" is created in Christ Jesus, and that according to knowledge, righteousness and holiness of truth. (Eph. 4:24; 2:10; Col. 3:10.) Theirs is a Judaized Christianity, to which the epistle to the Galatians is indeed a divine answer. Both views are an attempt to put a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, of new wine into old bottles. They fail to recognize the utter corruptness of "the old" and the absolute newness of the " new man." With both schools it is virtually a man as he is, after the fall. But even if cleansed, he would still, in their reckoning, be a man in Adam, instead of a man in Christ, Indeed, Gen. Booth puts it plainly as being "re-made in Adam." This might be very good if true; but it would not be Christianity at all. These two views therefore, though based on the work of Christ, fail to give the distinct features of Christianity as taught by the apostle Paul. He teaches that the proper Christian condition is one of deliverance from the former state in Adam, and the man is freed from the bondage of indwelling sin, and waits to be freed from its presence at the coming of the Lord, or by his going to be with Him, (Rom. 5:12 ; 5:-8:23.)
With the Faith School there is some recognition of the new nature and resurrection life, and getting free from the law; but, as with both the former, there is still found the defective idea of cleansing the nature or source of evil within. The first two views deal with the whole man, and consider that he is to be cleansed and renewed. This third view allows that he gets an entirely new nature, and even talks of resurrection life; yet, "we are to receive the blood as cleansing the fountain-the very source of evil thoughts," "to wash inwardly the sin itself away, not merely the stains, but the sin itself." All this is outside Scripture. It never speaks of applying the blood to cleanse the evil nature, the sin itself, "the very source of the spring." That scripture, "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," is quoted to prove that the source, the spring itself, is cleansed. But it applies to overt acts not to the evil nature, as it says, "If we confess our sins."
The next verse also shows that it does not mean the cleansing of the source of evil in us, for, even after cleansing, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." No sin! then you have no truth on this point, that is certain. There is cleansing from the acts of sin, but the source of the acts, the evil or state of sin, is not cleansed :it is condemned, and the believer has to reckon himself dead to it.
A sin is an act, but sin is a state; and hence, strictly rendered, sin is lawlessness :it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (i Jno. 3:4 ; Rom. 8:7.) To apply the law only provokes sin into activity. (Rom. 7:9-11.) It is a present power with the believer. What he needs, in this respect, is not forgiveness nor cleansing, but deliverance. It may be that he knows that he is forgiven, and this assurance only increases his distress. As one put it to me, 'If I had not been forgiven, I would come to Christ now ; but I know I was forgiven, but I cannot understand why I am feeling so wretched and miserable." The struggle with indwelling sin has begun, and cleansing is not what is now required.
It is the idea of a captive needing liberty. He might be cleansed, and even taken out of the foul dungeon in which he has been confined, and still be a captive in an enemy's land. He would still need and desire liberty with a change of place:he would have both if released and brought to where he belongs. This would be deliverance. The conduct of a loyal and devoted subject might then be manifested in its proper sphere. This would be like holiness as a result.
Mark the purport of the illustration, because it explains one grand mistake common to the first three views of holiness. They confound liberty with purity, deliverance with holiness. Purity will not be obtained till we see the Lord (i Jno. 3:3), though the heart is being purified, and we purify ourselves. (Acts 15:9.) But think of a captive in the black hole of Calcutta. He might be taken out of the loathsome dungeon, and have fresh air and wholesome food, and still be a captive under his guards. Cleansing and comfort is not enough :he is a captive, and, say, a Briton :what he longs for is liberty, and to live at peace in his native land.
So the Christian should live in heavenly places, in spirit. Indeed, the purpose of all the struggling is to bring him to realize that being in Christ he is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and to learn to treat being " in the flesh" as a past condition. (Rom. 7:5.) Then he says of himself what God says about him, in virtue of his having died with Christ, he steps into liberty, and has leisure to occupy his mind with Christ where He is at God's right hand.
The holiness advocates think too exclusively of cleansing and getting Christ to suit them on earth; they overlook the stern fact of captivity, and the need of a change of sphere, that they might in heart and affection suit Christ in heaven by setting their minds on things above. They are unwittingly at war with the nature of things. Cleansing and comfort to a British soldier in captivity, or beleaguered in a foreign land, from the nature of things, cannot give him all he requires. Gen. Gordon needed more than supplies :he required deliverance from Khartoum. So the believer requires deliverance from his old condition in Adam. Cleansing, as the holiness advocates put it, does not meet the deep need of the believer who is exclaiming in bitterness of soul, "O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" Indeed, rightly understood, this very man is cleansed already, and has a new nature; but what he needs is deliverance, or freedom from a power which is holding him in captivity. He also requires to see that he is brought into his proper sphere in Christ. He realizes this translation and freedom when he sees that the power of sin was dealt with in Christ's death:he accepts that death as his own death :he sees that sins, and the nature in him, which would keep him in bondage, were both dealt with in judgment when Jesus died. Christ's blood cleansed him from the pollution of sins, while that death at the same time broke the power of sin. The cross stands in a new light. He sees that death has come between him and his own self and sins alike, and that he has a new life, in a new place, with the Holy Spirit as a new power, and the risen Savior as a new object. He is not only cleansed ; but he learns that he is delivered from his former state of bondage to sin and law, and set free under a new Master, and is living loyally in the sphere to which he belongs, in virtue of his new birth, his new nature, and in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Hence he can say, "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death." " Now being made free (as from captivity) from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Observe, too, that it is unto holiness; not a perfect state attained, but rather a starting point from which to go on to perfection in glory.
The experience in the end of Rom. 7:will be found to be a kind of crucial test of all the views of holiness. The Perfectionists makes it the experience of an unconverted man. This is out of line with the fact that the man hates evil, loves good, and delights in the law after the inward man. There is a new nature there ; but it has no power or liberty.
The Evangelical makes Rom. 7:the life-long experience of the believer, with no real deliverance til! death. The shout of thanksgiving and the emphatic words "hath made me free" set aside such a theory. Rom. 6:, 7:, and 8:are for the very purpose of showing that there is deliverance, and that the enjoyment of it is the only proper Christian experience.
The Faith School admit, and even urge, that the Christian life should be one of rest and liberty; but they teach that it is obtained by an act of faith, and overlook the importance and necessity for the breaking down, and judging, and repudiating of self, which is produced by the humbling experience of being brought to exclaim, " O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then, even after getting the blessing of holiness, as they put it, a man may be back again in the struggle of Rom. 7:every now and again. The defects of the view, in this respect, are that the man neither gets properly into Rom. 7:, so as to really learn himself; nor does he get properly out of it, so as to learn where he is brought, and what is his, as one who is "in Christ." If he does enter into liberty, as many do, he is apt to be taken up with himself and the blessing, while he enjoys it, rather than with Christ, and what is true of the believer as in Him in heavenly places.
The scriptural view is the divine answer to the soul, as it presents deliverance and a deliverer, and holiness as the result. It equally condemns the continuous sinning, and the profession of living without sin. It admits that the evil nature is there unchanged, but the believer is free from its power. It makes no false distinctions as to partial cleansing, and then getting a second blessing of a clean heart, or sanctification. The one who believes, indeed, all who believe in Christ's blood, are equally and perfectly cleansed, once purged, perfected forever, and should have no more conscience of sins. (Heb. 9:and 10:) After this the believer may contract defilement in his walk, then the remedy is the advocacy of Christ and the washing of water by the Word, (i Jno. 2:i, 2 ; Jno. 13:1-11.) There is a difference between the bath and the basin, or bathing, and feet washing :the one is for the cleansing of the whole body, the other for removing defilement contracted afterward. In Scripture, the former is the washing once for all; the latter, the washing with water whenever the believer contracts defilement.
The holiness teaching confuses them together. It also overlooks deliverance, and it takes away from the perfection of a purged conscience, at the outset, by urging upon a believer a second cleansing, which is supposed to purify the source of evil within.
Many of the hymns in use are full of this injurious notion, as, for instance, when believers are taught to sing-
" Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
Charles Wesley puts it explicitly as the language of a soul seeking sanctification-
" Speak the second time, 'Be clean.'
Take away my inbred sin;
Every stumbling-block remove;
Cast it out by perfect love."
Then, on the other hand, when the blessing is supposed to be obtained, and the tendency to evil uprooted, the exhortations and warnings of Scripture to the believers are nullified. But sin in the nature is there, hence, " Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin ;" "Let not sin therefore reign;" " Mortify, therefore, your members;" "Flee also youthful lusts;" "Put off all these, anger, wrath ; " " Grieve not the Holy Spirit; " these, and all kindred exhortations and warnings to saints and men of God, are all a mistake if the fountain of evil within is cleansed and entirely eradicated. If it had been so with Peter, after being filled with the Holy Spirit, he would not have dissembled. (Gal. 2:11-14.) Paul, after being in the third heaven, would not have required a thorn in the flesh to keep him from giving way to pride. Exercise and self-judgment, as practiced and taught by Paul, were all a mistake if the tendency to evil, if the evil nature itself, is uprooted. As his teaching shows, in the most advanced believer, " the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh;" but " walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."
The flesh is ever condemned, never said to be cleansed, nor rooted out of the believer. But he is not in the flesh, though it is in him:he is in the Spirit, in Christ, and Christ in him; hence he can say, " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
This point may only be reached after a fruitless struggle to improve the flesh, or restrain self. The answer is found in Christ's death, and in reckoning himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus, and in " bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body." One might humbly submit that this guards against the erroneous tendencies, and gives all that is true in the holiness teaching, while it gives much more, and all according to " the truth ;" and it is the truth which makes free, In brief, in conclusion, usually after one has believed on Christ, and received the forgiveness of sins, he has to learn deliverance by Christ, that he may live to Christ, and wait for Christ, that, like Paul, he may say, "To me, to live is Christ." But one might add that here, briefly, some of the far-reaching principles connected with deliverance have been touched ; and it will be no surprise, no proof of the principles being unscriptural, if they are not just so clear to the mind at first sight. There is such a mass of unscriptural ideas in the minds of many on the question of holiness that it need not be wondered at if they are somewhat slow to learn. It should be borne in mind, however, that the deep need and the earnest longings of some believers have ended in their getting the experience of deliverance, though they may not be able to give the scriptural explanation of that experience. Much of this is owing to the lack of scriptural teaching on the subject; and if these papers help to open up Scripture, they will not have been written in vain. Then let the apostle's holy ambition to have Christ magnified in his body be the earnest purpose of each inquirer, and the illuminating power of the Spirit will not fail to reveal to the longing soul Christ the Lord as the Deliverer. W. C. J.
(To be continued.)