The Oberlin Evangelist

Lecture II.

January 15, 1840

SANCTIFICATION -- No. 2

by the Rev. Charles G. Finney

Modernized by Cliff Collins

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” (1 Thess 5:23-24)

IV. What is implied in entire sanctification?

1. Love! Love is the sum of all that is implied in entire Sanctification. But what does this love imply? First, I will consider the kind of love that is exercised towards God.

(1.) This love must come from our will. It is not a mere emotion. By our will, I mean our heart, the very source of our soul. Emotions, or what we call feelings, are always involuntary states of mind, and, at best, they are only indirectly under the control of our will. Emotions have no moral character. In other words, feelings are not choices or conscious decisions, and therefore, they do not govern our conduct. Love, in the form of an emotion, can actually be opposed to our will. For example, we may have feelings of love contrary to our conscience, judgment, and our will. The sexes often exercise emotional love towards those to whom all the voluntary powers of their mind feel opposed, and with whom they will not associate. It is true that, in most situations, our emotions correspond with our will. But quite often, our emotions are opposed to our will.

Now, the law of God requires a voluntary state of mind; in other words, the law of God places its claims on our will. Our will controls our conduct. Therefore, God requires the love of our heart or will.

(2.) Unselfish love is one of the modifications of love that we must exercise towards God. Unselfish love is good will. Certainly, we must exercise this kind of love towards God. Our reason, our conscience, our common sense, and immutable justice all tell us that we should exercise good and not ill will towards God. It does not matter whether God needs our good will or whether our good or ill will can affect Him in any way. The question is not about what God needs, but about what God deserves.

(3.) Another modification of this love is satisfaction or esteem. God’s character is infinitely good. We must not only love Him with an unselfish love; but we must exercise the highest degree of satisfaction in His character. When you say that God is good and lovely, you say that He deserves to be loved. If God deserves to be loved because of His goodness and love, then He deserves to be loved in proportion to His goodness and loveliness. Therefore, since His goodness is infinite, we have an infinite obligation to love Him with the highest degree of satisfaction possible. The Bible confirms this by reason, by conscience, and by common sense.

(4.) Another modification of love is gratitude. Since every moral being is constantly receiving favors from God, it is self-evident that love in the form of gratitude is universally required.

(5.) We can’t overlook the fact that this love must be impartial. That is, we shouldn’t love God for selfish reasons. However, we should love Him for who He is. We should love Him with unselfish love; because His good is an infinite good. We should be satisfied with everything He does because His character is infinitely excellent. And we should love Him with all our heart; because all virtue belongs to our heart. It is obvious, that nothing short of impartial love is virtue. The Savior recognized and settled this truth. “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.” (Luke 6:32-34) These words sum up the whole doctrine of the Bible on this subject, and lays down the principle that to love God or anyone else for selfish reasons is not virtue.

(6.) Another peculiarity of this love is that this love must be supreme. Anything less than supreme love to God must be idolatry. If we love anything more than God, that is our God.

I have been surprised to learn that some understand the word supreme in a comparative sense, and not in a superlative sense. Therefore, they think that the law of God requires more than supreme love. Webster’s definition of supreme and supremely is “in the highest degree”, “to the utmost extent”. I understand the law requires as high a state of devotion, of love and actual service to God as the powers of body and mind are capable of sustaining.

Notice that God considers the degree of love to be very important. The degree of love is essential to the kind of love. If love is not supreme in degree, it is totally defective and not acceptable to God.

I will now consider the kind of love that we should exercise towards our fellow men.

(1.) It must be love from a willing heart, and not mere desire or emotion. It is very natural to desire the good of others, to pity the distressed, and to feel strong emotions of compassion towards those who are afflicted. But these emotions are not virtue. Unless we will their good as well as desire it, it is worthless. “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled’, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (James 2:15-16)

Now James fully recognizes the principle that a mere desire for the good of others, which will satisfy itself with good words instead of good deeds, is not virtue. If it were good willing, instead of only good desiring, it would produce corresponding actions; and unless it is good willing, there is no holiness in it.

(2.) Unselfish love towards others is a prime modification of holy love. It is a clear dictate of our reason, of our conscience, of our common sense, and immutable justice, that we should exercise good will towards our neighbor. We should will their good in proportion to its relative importance. We should rejoice in their happiness, and try to promote their happiness, according to its relative importance in the total picture.

(3.) Satisfaction towards those who are virtuous is another modification of holy love. I say towards those who are virtuous, because while we exercise unselfish love towards everybody, irrespective of their character, we only have a right to be satisfied with those who are holy. Exercising a satisfactory love towards the wicked, makes you as wicked as they are, because you approve of their wickedness. But to be satisfied with those that are holy shows that you are holy.

(4.) This love must always be equal. By equal, I’m not talking about that degree of love by which selfish beings love themselves for this is supreme. There is a great difference between self-love and selfishness. Self-love is an unselfish love to self or the necessary regard for our own interest. Selfishness is the excess of self-love. That is, it is supreme self-love. It is making our own happiness the supreme object of our pursuit simply because it is our own. Selfishness does not attach importance to the interests, or the happiness of others. Therefore, a selfish mind exercises supreme self-love.

Now the law of God does not require or permit us to love our neighbor with this high degree of love, for that would be idolatry. But the command, “to love our neighbor as ourselves”, implies that:

(a) We should love ourselves less than supremely, and attach no more importance to our own interests and happiness than our relative value demands. So that the first thing implied in this command is that we love ourselves less than supremely, and that we love our neighbor with the same degree of love which we can lawfully exercise towards ourselves.

(b) Equal love does not imply that we should neglect our own appropriate concerns, and attend to the affairs of others. God has appointed every person a particular sphere to act in, and particular affairs to attend to. In this sphere, a person must conduct his business for God and not for himself. Therefore, for someone to neglect his particular calling under the pretence of attending to other people’s business is neither required nor permitted by this law.

We must not neglect our own families, and the nurture and education of our children, to attend to other people’s children. “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8) We must attend to these duties for God. No one is required or permitted to neglect the children that God has given to them, under the pretence of attending to other people’s families.

This law does not require or permit us to squander our possessions on the drunken, immoral, or the lazy. I am not saying that we shouldn’t relieve their absolute needs, but it must be done in such a way that it doesn’t encourage, but rather rebukes, their evil lifestyle.

This law does not require or permit us to allow others to live by sponging off our possessions, while they refuse to do anything to promote the good of others.

Nor does it require or permit us to lend money to speculators, or for speculating purposes, or in any way to encourage selfishness.

(c) But, equal love means the same love in kind and degree that God allows us to exercise towards ourselves. It is our duty to exercise a suitable regard for our own happiness. This is unselfish love to self, or what is called self-love. We must exercise this same love, in both kind and degree, to all our fellow men.

(5.) Another feature of holy love is that it must be impartial. That is, it must extend to enemies as well as friends. Otherwise, it is selfish love and comes under the rebuke of the Savior. “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.” (Luke 6:32-34)

Now observe that this test must always be applied to the kind of love we exercise to our fellow men, in order to understand if it is genuine. God’s love is love to enemies. It was for His enemies that He gave His Son. We must have the same kind of love. Our love must extend to enemies as well as friends; and if it doesn’t, it is partial and selfish.

2. Entire sanctification implies the complete conformity of our heart and life to the known will of God. It implies complete conformity to both physical and moral law as far as we know it, no matter how it is made known to us.

3. Entire sanctification implies such a perfect confidence in God that we are willing to place all events at His sovereign disposal. We have such a confidence in God that it eliminates all worry and undue anxiety about our friends, about our material or eternal interests, about the interests of the Church or of the world around us. Please understand, I believe that a state of entire sanctification is totally consistent with serious and prevailing wrestling with God for blessings, both spiritual and material, for us and the world around us. But, I believe that if we are in a state of complete conformity to God’s will, we will never so distrust His providence and grace that we will be thrown into a state of feverish anxiety over any event. We will always sweetly consent and rejoice in God’s will; in whatever way His will is revealed.

4. Entire Sanctification implies a supreme desire to glorify and serve God. This is our goal in life. We live for no lower or other goal than this. All other things that we desire are only a means to this goal. Our life and health, our food and clothing, our houses and furniture, and everything else that we possess are regarded by us as a means to this one great absorbing goal, the Glory of God.

5. Entire sanctification implies that the principle of love should have such energy that it controls every purpose and action directly or indirectly.

6. Sanctification implies an abiding sense of the presence of God. God isn’t always the direct object of our thoughts, attention, and affection, but there should be such a sense of His presence at all times that it has an important bearing on our whole lives. Everyone knows by his own experience, what it means to have some kind of sense of the presence of a person, who is not, at the time, the direct object of our thoughts. A man in the presence of an earthly prince, or under the eye of a human judge in a courtroom, would be continually awed with a sense of where and in whose presence he was, and under whose eye he was acting, although his mind might be so intensely employed conducting business that the judge or prince is not the current object of his direct thought, attention, or affection. In this sense, I suppose a sanctified soul will always have an abiding sense of the presence of God. And when the mind is withdrawn from necessary pursuits, it will naturally return to God, and be aware of His presence in a vastly higher sense than this. It will be so impressed, and melted, and affected by His presence that it can never be expressed in words, but all those who walk with God have experienced it.

7. Entire sanctification implies deep and uninterrupted communion with God. Many Christians think that communion with God is all joy and ecstasy. They always expect that sweet peace and joy, and that flowing and glowing love that the soul often experiences in seasons of communion. But, God often has seasons of fellowship and communion with the sanctified soul, where He reminds it of its past sins and follies. And, in order to keep the soul in a sanctified state, God gives the saint such a view of his past life that he is filled with unutterable shame, self-abhorrence, and contempt. Now people tend to think that this state of mind is a state of darkness. They can’t imagine that they are hiding under God’s countenance, when, in fact, they probably are never more thoroughly in the light than during such times. Perhaps, they are never nearer to God than on such occasions. True, their thoughts are not occupied with those sweet and heavenly visions that fill the mind with joy. Yet, they are occupied with considerations no less important and indispensable to keeping them in a state of holiness, than those sweet truths that, at other times, so greatly rejoice them.

8. Entire sanctification implies a greater dread of offending God than any other evil. Supreme love implies this. We can’t say that we love God supremely, and yet not dread offending Him as much as we dread some other evil. If we love Him more than we love any earthly friend, we will not want to offend Him more than we want to offend our friend. If we love Him more than we love our selves, we should dread offending Him more than we dread any evil that should come upon us. If He is dearer to us than our own souls, we should dread remaining in sin more than we should dread the loss of our souls.

9. Entire sanctification implies subjecting all our appetites and passions to God’s will. Adam sinned because he would rather gratify his appetites than obey God’s will. This is how all people sin. This is the substance and the history of selfishness. Now, entire obedience to the law of God implies that you will not gratify any physical appetite or any strong emotions in opposition to the known will of God. But on the other hand, that “the whole body, soul and spirit” shall be held in a state of entire consecration to God. (I Thess 5:23)

10. Entire sanctification implies carefully using our time acquiring knowledge, and consecrating what we already know to the service of God.

In my last lecture, I said that the legal maxim, “Ignorance of the law excuses no one”, is true in morals to but a limited extent, and that actual knowledge is indispensable to our obligation under the government of God. I then used scriptures to prove this. I also said that in sins of ignorance, the sin consisted in the ignorance itself, and not in not doing something that we knew nothing about.

Ignorance of our duty is always a sin where we possess the means and opportunities to obtain that information. In such situations, the guilt of our ignorance is equal to all the information that was lost because we refused to accept that knowledge. Strictly speaking, our duty to do something does not and cannot attach until our mind has some knowledge of what our duty is supposed to be. Yet, if the means of obtaining that knowledge are within reach, our guilt is just as great as if we had that knowledge and didn’t obey. Therefore, courts of law are just, when they hold a citizen responsible for not knowing a law because the means for knowing that law is within their reach. Although they are not formally pronounced guilty for their ignorance, and punished for the specific offence, they are held responsible for breaking those laws they knew nothing about. However, no injustice is done to them, because their ignorance, in such cases, really deserves the punishment inflicted.

Under the old dispensation, God treated sins of ignorance as involving less guilt than sins committed against knowledge. (See Romans 5:13) The reason is obvious. The information those people had, was limited. Copies of the law were very scarce, if they existed at all. And if they existed, they were inaccessible to most of the people. So that while God held them sufficiently responsible to rely on their memories to know their duty and to search it out with all diligence, yet it is clear that they were not held as responsible as those who have higher means of information. The responsibility of the heathen was less than the responsibility of the Jews. The responsibility of the Jews was less than the responsibility of Christians; and the responsibility of Christians in the early days of the Church, before the canon of scripture was full and copies multiplied, is much less than the responsibility of Christians today.

11. Entire sanctification implies the complete annihilation of selfishness, and a practical and hearty recognition of the rights and interests of our neighbor. Let me point out what the law of God prohibits and what it requires in particular.

(1.) God’s law prohibits all supreme self-love, or selfishness. The command, “love your neighbor as yourself”, does not mean that we should love our neighbor supremely, like selfish men love themselves; but that we should first love ourselves, and pursue our happiness only according to its real value in the total picture.

(2.) God’s law prohibits all excessive self-love. It prohibits every degree of love that is not proportional to the relative value of our own happiness.

(3.) God’s law prohibits placing any special importance on any interest, simply because it is our own interest.

(4.) God’s law prohibits every degree of ill will, and all those feelings that are connected with selfishness.

(5.) God’s law prohibits apathy and indifference concerning the well being of our fellow men. However:

(6.) God’s law requires us to recognize the fact that all men are brethren; that God is the great Parent, the great Father of the universe; that all moral agents everywhere are His children, and that He is interested in the happiness of every individual, according to its relative importance. God is no respecter of persons. But as far as unselfish love is concerned, He loves all moral beings, in proportion to their capacity to receive and do good.

Now the law of God clearly takes all this for granted; and that “God has made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth”. (Acts 17:26)

(7.) It requires that we should regard and treat every being and every interest according to their relative value. In other words, we should recognize God’s relationship to the universe, and our relationship to each other, and treat all men as our brethren, as having an inalienable title to our good will, and kind deeds, as citizens of the same government and members of the great family of God.

(8.) God’s law requires us to exercise the same tender regard for our neighbor’s reputation, interest, and well being, as we regard our own. We should be as unwilling to mention his faults, as to have our own mentioned; to hear him slandered as to be slandered ourselves. In short, we should consider our neighbor as our brother.

(9.) God’s law justly reprobates any violation of the great principle of equal love, as rebellion against the whole universe. It is rebellion against God, because it rejects His authority. It is selfishness under any form; and it sets up our own interests, in opposition to the interests of the universe of God.

12. Entire Sanctification implies a willingness to exercise self-denial, even unto death, for the glory of God and good of man, if it is required. The Apostle John teaches us that we should be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren as Christ laid down His life. (1 John 3:16)