The Oberlin Evangelist

LECTURE IX.

April 22, 1840

SANCTIFICATION--No. 9

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)

I would like to say one more thing before I conclude this series on sanctification.

It is useless to speculate what Paul believed concerning the differences between the soul and the spirit of man, when he wrote the verses that our series is based on. I believe that the prayer of Paul was for our total consecration to the service of God. I don’t need to dwell on this passage any more, except to mention some things that I believe the entire sanctification of the body implies.

(1.) Sanctification of our body implies the entire consecration of all our members to the service of God. We should regard our body merely as the instrument of our soul through which sanctification manifests itself, and by which it is accomplished.

(2.) The entire sanctification of our body also implies the entire consecration of all our appetites and passions to the service of God. In other words, all our physical appetites must be used only for the purposes that they were designed for. Our physical appetites are not to be our masters, but servants of our soul, not to lead our soul away from God, but to serve the highest interests of our physical bodies.

(3.) Entire sanctification implies the need to keep our body under, and bring it into subjection so that we will never indulge in any bodily appetite or passion simply for the sake of that indulgence. No appetite or passion should be consulted or its indulgence allowed except for the glory of God, to help fulfill our purpose in life, and to make us useful in the highest degree. Here is where people have made some serious errors. Countless souls have been corrupted; they have become slaves to their bodies. Appetites and passions have ruled. The ‘fleshly mind that is enmity against God’, has been allowed to become the law of the soul. Therefore, the Apostle Paul complained that he saw another law in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which was in his members”. (See Romans 7:23) Paul also said, “if you live according to the flesh you will die;” (Romans 8:13) that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God,” (Romans 8:8) that “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.” (Romans 7:5) “He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Gal 6:8)

In short, the Bible clearly teaches us everywhere, that one great sin of humanity is the indulgence of the flesh. Now the entire sanctification of our body implies that we deny the lusts of our flesh, that we “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts”. (Romans 13:14) Our appetites and passions must be restrained and completely brought under the control of our highest interests, to the perfection of the soul and the glory of God. The highest sense in which our body can be sanctified in this life implies:

(a) Strict temperance in all things. By temperance, I mean (1) the moderate use of things that are useful, and (2) total abstinence from things that are harmful.

(b) The highest sense in which our body can be sanctified also implies totally denying all our artificial bodily appetites. By artificial appetites, I mean all those appetites that are not natural to us before we became physically depraved through the abuse or violation of its laws. Among the artificial appetites are all those desires for various poisons, narcotics, and non-nutritious stimulants that are in use everywhere today, such as tobacco, coffee, and similar substances. All such substances are inconsistent with perfect temperance. They are worse than useless, and produce only a temporary excitement, at the expense of certain and permanent damage. They deceive mankind on the same principle that alcohol has so long deceived men, and although they may not be nearly as harmful, they are still inconsistent with the highest well being of our body and soul and therefore completely wrong. Nothing but ignorance can prevent their use as an article of diet from being sin; and when the means of knowledge are available, this ignorance itself becomes sin.

(c) Temperance implies a knowledge of, and compliance with, all the laws of our physical system. There is hardly any branch of knowledge more important to us as humans than knowledge of the structure and laws of our own existence. Nor is there hardly any subject, where people are so generally and so shamefully ignorant. People don’t seem to be generally aware that everything about their bodies is regulated by laws as certain as the law of gravity; and that a perfect knowledge of and conformity of those laws, would make permanent health as certain as the motion of the planets. The world is full of disease and premature death, and these things are spoken of as mysterious providences of God, without ever so much as dreaming, that they are the natural and certain results of the most outrageous and reckless violations of the laws of the human constitution.

(d) Temperance in all things implies correct dietary and other habits concerning exercise and rest. In other words, the kind of obedience to the physiological laws of our constitution that will promote the highest degree of physical perfection, and thus preserve it in a state that will be capable of being used by our soul to fulfill God’s will. There are times when bodily strength and the body itself may be sanctified to the interests of the soul and the Redeemer’s kingdom. There are situations where the violation of physical law may be justifiable and even a duty, where the kingdom of Christ demands such a sacrifice. Christ sacrificed His body. The Apostles and Martyrs sacrificed theirs. And, in every age, multitudes have lost their lives laboring for the kingdom of Christ. This is consistent with the highest examples of consecration. However, where the circumstances don’t demand it, the sanctification of our body implies that our strength shall not be exhausted, or any of our powers sapped or injured through neglect, by over-working our organs, or by any violation of physical laws whatever. It implies regular eating habits, as well as proper habits of drinking, sleeping, labor, rest, and exercise. In short, temperance implies a strictly religious regard for all those things that can contribute to the highest perfection of our body and soul.

Can a glutton, who dulls his senses and damages his body two or three times a day with food, consecrate himself to God in either body or soul? Certainly not! His table is a snare, a trap, and an obstacle to him. Can a gourmet, whose dainty palate dislikes every correctly prepared article of diet, and who demands that every meal should be prepared with seasonings and condiments harmful to his bodily health and his soul’s well-being, can he be in a state of entire consecration to God? No! Surely! His God is his belly. His glory is in his shame. He ‘minds earthly things’, and an Apostle would tell him, even weeping, ‘that his end is destruction’. (See Phil 3:18-19) It is appalling to see the various forms of disease and wretchedness the human race is cursed with because of their excessive disregard of the laws of their existence. The highest power of the human mind can never be developed, nor its highest perfection attained in a diseased body; and hardly anyone alive today has anything close to perfect health. Many people think that they are perfectly healthy, simply because they never saw a person who was in perfect health, and also because they don’t know enough about themselves to know that many of their own organs may be fatally diseased without being aware of it.

We have a limited knowledge of the influence of diets and other habits on the health of the body, and we understand less about how it affects our body and our mind. The state of our health usually modifies our temper and our spirit. We know, to some extent, that an acid stomach is related to worry, and that certain nervous diseases, as we call them, greatly affect the mind. But, how many of us know that all our dietetic and other physiological habits have a powerful influence in forming and molding our moral character. Through temptation, all stimulants and everything harmful to our body act on our mind through our bodily organs. Therefore, let me say in one word, since I can’t dwell on this subject any longer, that if you expect the sanctification of your body, soul, and spirit, you must become familiar with the true principles of temperance and physiological reform, and most religiously conform yourself to them not only generally but also specifically.

Let me now summarize this series of message with several brief remarks.

REMARKS.

1. Very few people today realize how important the sanctification of the body really is. Indeed unless our bodily appetites and powers are consecrated to the service of God, unless we learn to eat, drink, sleep, wake, work, and rest for the glory of God, entire sanctification is out of the question.

2. Very few people are aware of the great influence that their bodies have over their minds, and of the need to bring their bodies under the authority of their mind.

3. Few people seem to keep the fact steadily in view, that unless their bodies are rightly managed, their flesh will be such a fierce and overpowering source of temptation to them, that it inevitably leads to sin. If they indulge in a stimulating diet, and in the use of those condiments that irritate and rasp the nervous system, their bodies will naturally become the source of powerful and unending temptations towards evil and vile affections. If people were aware of the great influence that the body has over the mind, they would realize that they can’t be too careful to preserve the nervous system from the influence of every improper article of food or drink; and preserve their nervous system as they would the apple of their eye, from every influence that could impair its function.

4. No one who has an opportunity to learn more about the laws of life and health, and the best means of sanctifying his whole spirit, soul, and body, can be guiltless if he neglects to take advantage of that opportunity. Everyone must make the structure and laws of both their body and their mind the subject of as thorough investigation as their circumstances will allow. Everyone must learn more about the true principles of perfect temperance, and how they can make the most of their powers of body and mind for the glory of God.

5. From what I have said in this series, the reason why the Church has not been entirely sanctified is obvious. As a body, the Church does not believe that they can attain this state in this life. This is the best reason of all why she has not attained it.

6. From what I said, it is easy to see that the true question concerning entire sanctification in this life is, can we attain it? Some have thought the proper question is, “are Christians entirely sanctified in this life”? Certainly, this is not the question that needs to be discussed. Suppose everyone agrees that Christians are not sanctified. We can sufficiently account for this fact by considering that they don’t know it, or they don’t believe they can attain it in this life. If they believe that they can attain it, it may no longer be true that they don’t attain it. But, if God really made provision to attain this, it amounts to nothing, unless we recognize and believe it. Therefore, we need to bring the Church to see and believe that this is her high privilege and her duty. It is not enough to say that we can attain it simply because we are naturally able to attain it. This is just as true for the devil, and the lost in hell, as for men in this world. But, unless grace puts this attainment within our reach, so we can aim at it with a reasonable chance of success, there can be no more provision for our entire sanctification in this life than for the devil.

If all you do is insist that we can attain this state by simply using our natural ability, you are toying with people’s souls. The real question is, “has grace brought this attainment so within our reach that we can reasonably expect to experience it in our lifetime”? On the ground of natural ability, both wicked men and devils have the power to be entirely holy. However, their unwillingness to use this power properly is so strong, that they never will use this power properly, unless God’s grace influences them to do so. Therefore, the real question is whether the provisions of the gospel are sufficient, that, if the Church fully understands and receives this offered grace, she might attain this state.

7. We can see how irrelevant and absurd the objection is that, because the Church has not attained this state, we can’t attain it. Why, the fact that they don’t believe they can attain it, no more proves that they can’t attain it, than the fact that the heathen have not embraced the gospel proves that they will not embrace it when they hear it.

8. You can see the need to forcefully preach and insist on this doctrine, and to call it by its true scriptural name. It is astonishing to see the extent of the tendency among people to avoid using scriptural language, and cling to the language used by such people as Edwards, and other great and good theologians. They object to the terms perfection and entire sanctification, and prefer to use the term entire consecration, and other terms that are common in the Church.

Now I won’t argue over the use of words; but still, it appears to me, to be very important, that we use the language of scripture and insist that we be “perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect”, and be “sanctified wholly body, soul, and spirit”. This appears to me to be very important, because if we use the language that the Church is used to using on this subject, she will misunderstand us, as she has done, and will not understand what we really mean. That this is true is clear from the fact that most of the Church today will be alarmed when we use the terms perfection and entire sanctification, but they will neither express nor feel any such alarm if we speak about entire consecration. This demonstrates that they don’t understand that these words mean the same thing. And although I understand that they mean the same thing, yet I find that I have to use the terms perfection and entire sanctification, to get them to understand my real meaning. This is Bible language. This is unobjectionable language. And since the Church understands that entire consecration means something less than entire sanctification or Christian perfection, it seems to me to be very important, that ministers should use words and terms that will draw the attention of the Church to the real doctrine of the Bible on this subject. And I would submit the following questions with great humility to my beloved brethren in the ministry. Are you aware, that Christians have entirely too low an idea of what is implied in entire consecration? Don’t you think it would be useful and best to use words and terms, when you address them, that will call their attention to the real meaning of the words that they use?

9. Young converts are not even allowed to think that they can live, even for one full day, without sin. Generally, they have been taught that they should not expect to live for one day without sin any more than they should expect immediate translation, body and soul, to Heaven. They have never known any other way than to go on in sin, and no matter how shocking and distressing the need for victory over sin has appeared to them in the passion of their first love, still they have looked on their walk as an unalterable fact, that to be in bondage to sin is expected as long as they live in this world. Now with this kind of doctrine, with conviction in the Church and ministry so ripe, settled, and universal, the most the grace of God can do for the souls in this world is to get them to repent and then let them live and die in a state of sinning and repenting. It is not surprising that the state of religion is the way it is today!

10. Basically, the Church has lost sight of Christ in some of His most important relationships to us. The Church knows Him as a pardoning, justifying Savior, but few know Him as a Savior who actually indwells and reigns in our hearts. I was shocked by a remark that was made a few years ago by a dearly loved brother, who, for a long time, had been depressed and weighed down with a great sense of his own sinfulness. He saw no way of escape. During an evening meeting, the Lord so revealed Himself to that person, that it completely overcame the strength of his body, and his brothers had to physically carry him home. The next time I saw him, he exclaimed to me with a sorrow I will never forget, “Brother Finney, the Church has buried our Savior”. Now, it is true that the Church has become awfully alienated from Christ. The Church has largely lost the knowledge of who He is and what He should be to her. And a great many of her members, I have good reason to know, in different parts of this country, are saying with deep and overpowering emotion, “They have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they have laid Him”. (See John 20:1-2)

11. For a long time, the Church with all her orthodoxy has been much closer to Unitarianism than she has imagined. This remark may stun some of my readers, and you may think it smells like criticism. But, beloved, I am sure I say this in no such spirit. These are sober words of truth. So little has been known about Christ, that, if I am not completely mistaken, there are multitudes in the orthodox churches, who do not know Christ, and who in heart, are Unitarians, while in theory, they are orthodox.

Within the last couple of years, I have been deeply impressed with the fact that so many professing Christians are coming to the ripe conviction that they never knew Christ. This has been happening regularly here. I doubt whether there is a minister in the land who will present Christ as the gospel presents Him, in all the fullness of His official relationships to mankind, who will not be shocked and agonized with developments that will assure him that the great majority of professing Christians do not know the Savior. I have often agonized over the question, what I should think about the spiritual state of those who know so little of the blessed Jesus. That none of them have been converted, I dare not say. Yet, that they have been converted, I am afraid to say. I would not want to “quench the smoking flax or break the bruised reed” for anything in the world, or say anything to stumble or weaken the feeblest lamb of Christ; and yet my heart is in agony, my soul is sick; my bowels of compassion yearn over the Church of the blessed God. (See Matt 12:20) Oh, the dear Church of Christ! What does she know in her present state of gospel rest; of that “great and perfect peace” they have whose minds are stayed on God? (Isaiah 26:3)

12. If I am not mistaken, there is an extensive feeling among Christians and ministers, that much is not known, that should be known and may be known about the Savior. Many are beginning to find that the Savior is to them “as a root out of dry ground, having neither form nor comeliness” (See Isaiah 53:2). Many are beginning to see that the gospel that they hear is not to them “the power of God unto salvation” from sin (Romans 1:16); that it is not to them “good tidings of great joy”. (Luke 2:10) It is not a peace-giving gospel for them. Many are feeling that if Christ has done for them all that His grace is able to do in this life, then the plan of salvation is sadly defective and Christ is not a Savior suited to their needs. Many are discovering that the religion that they have is not suited to the world that they live in; that the gospel does not and cannot make them free. Instead, it leaves them in a state of perpetual bondage. Their souls agonize. They are tossed back and forth without a resting place. Multitudes are beginning to see that they don’t understand many passages in both the Old and New Testaments; that the promises seem to mean much more than they have ever realized, and that the gospel and the plan of salvation as a whole, must be something very different from what they now understand. There are great multitudes all over the country, who are seeking more earnestly than ever before, after a knowledge of that Jesus who is to save His people from their sins.

Not too long ago, I was told a fact, which illustrates the agonizing state of mind that many Christians are in concerning the present state of many of the ministers of Christ. The brother, who was the subject of his narrative, told me this personally. A sister in the church he preached in, became so aware that he did not know Christ as he should know Him, that she became full of unutterable agony. On one occasion, after he had been preaching, she fell down at his feet with tears, begging him to exercise faith in Christ. At another time, she was so impressed with a sense of his deficiency in this respect, as a minister, that she addressed him in the deepest anguish of her soul, crying out, “Oh I shall die, I shall certainly die, unless you will receive Christ as a full Savior”. And when she attempted to approach him, she sunk down helpless, overcome with agony and travail of soul at his feet.

There is a great struggle in the minds of multitudes, that the Savior may be more fully revealed to the Church; that the present ministry may fully know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, and be made conformable to His death.

13. If the doctrine of these messages is true, you can see the immense importance of preaching sanctification clearly and fully in religious revivals. When the hearts of converts are warm with their first love, then is the time to fully acquainted them with their Savior. Then is the time to hold Christ up in all His offices and relationships to break the power of every sin. Then is the time to break them off forever from all self-dependence, and to lead them to receive Christ as a present, perfect, and everlasting Savior.

14. Unless Christians take this course, their backsliding is inevitable. You might as well expect to roll back the waters of Niagara with your hand, as to stay the tide of their corruption without a deep, thorough, and experiential acquaintance with the Savior. And if they are thrown on their own watchfulness and resources for strength against temptations, instead of being directed to the Savior, they are certain to become discouraged and fall into constant bondage.

But before I conclude, I must mention our indispensable need to be willing to do the will of God, in order to rightly understand this doctrine. If a man is unwilling to give up his sins, to deny himself all ungodliness and every worldly lust, if he is unwilling to be set apart wholly to the service of the Lord, he will either reject this doctrine altogether, or only intellectually admit it, without receiving it into his heart. It is dangerous to consent to this or any other doctrine of the gospel, and not reduce it to practice.

15. A lot of evil has been done by those who have claimed to embrace this doctrine in theory, but rejected it in practice. Their spirit and temper have been such that it has led those who observe them to conclude that the tendency of the doctrine of sanctification is bad. Some, who claim to have experienced the power of this doctrine in their hearts, have greatly disgraced religion by exhibiting anything but an entirely sanctified soul. But why, in a Christian land, should this be a stumbling block. When the heathen see people from Christian nations, who claim they adopt the Christian system, exhibit on their shores and in their countries the spirit that many of them do, they conclude that this is what the Christian religion does to people. To this, our Missionaries would reply that those people are only nominal Christians; that they only think they are Christians, but they are not real believers. Should thousands of our church members go and mingle with these so-called Christians, they might reply to the Missionaries, “these are not merely nominal believers. They say they to have experienced this Christian religion in their own hearts”. Now how would the Missionaries reply? Why, they would say, “yes, they claim to be Christians; but they really don’t know Christ. They are deceiving themselves with a name to live by, but they are dead in trespasses and sins”.

I am astonished, that in a Christian land, it should be a stumbling block to many, because most of those who claim to receive and to have experienced the truth of this doctrine, exhibit an unchristian spirit. What if the same objection were brought against the Christian religion; against any and every doctrine of the gospel; because the great majority, perhaps even nine tenths of all professing believers and receivers of those doctrines were proud, worldly, selfish, and exhibited anything but a right spirit? Now we could truthfully make this objection to the whole professing Christian Church. But, would the conclusion of such an objection be accepted in Christian lands? Who does not know the ready answer to objections like these? The doctrines of Christianity do not sanction such conduct. No one, who possesses a true Christian spirit or conduct, believes such nonsense. True Christianity hates their objections.

Now suppose the response is that a tree is known by its fruits, and that such a great majority of professing Christians could not exhibit that kind of spirit, unless it were the tendency of Christianity itself to produce it. Now, who here today would not reply by saying that the state of mind and course of conduct that appears so unchristian, is the natural state of a person uninfluenced by the gospel of Christ? Who would not say that in these situations, because of unbelief, the gospel has failed to correct what was already wrong, and it did not need the influence of any corrupt doctrine to produce that state of mind.

It appears to me, that those who object to the doctrine of sanctification because some or many who claim to receive it, have exhibited a wrong spirit, believe that the doctrine produces this spirit, instead of realizing that a wrong spirit is natural to men. The problem is that, through unbelief, this doctrine has failed to correct what was already wrong. They reason as if they believe the human heart needs something to produce within it a bad spirit, and as if a belief in the doctrine of sanctification has made men wicked, instead of recognizing the fact, that they were already wicked and that, through unbelief, the gospel has failed to make them holy.

16. Don’t think that I believe or admit that many, who have professed to receive this doctrine into their hearts, have actually exhibited a bad spirit. I must say that, from my observations, it has usually been the opposite. I am fully convinced that if I have ever seen Christianity and the spirit of Christ manifested in the world; I have seen it in those who profess to believe and receive the doctrine of sanctification into their hearts.

17. It is very important, that the ministry and the Church should come to a full and proper understanding of this doctrine and embrace it. Oh, it will be like life from the dead. The proclamation of the doctrine of sanctification is now regarded by multitudes as “good tidings of great joy”. Everywhere we go, we get glorious testimonies that souls are entering into the deep rest and peace of the gospel. We get reports that they are awaking to a life of faith and love; and instead of sinking down into Antinomianism, they are notably more unselfish, more loving, more active, more holy, and more useful than ever before; and their lives are notably more prayerful, more watchful, more diligent, more meek, more sober-minded and more heavenly. This is the character of those I have been acquainted with, who have embraced this doctrine. I say this for no other reason than to relieve the anxieties of those who have heard very strange reports about the tendency of this doctrine, and are now afraid to embrace it.

18. I have not discussed this subject in the detail that I might and would have done, if I didn’t have so many other cares and responsibilities. I had to write this in the midst of the excitement and labor of a religious revival. I don’t feel that I have exhausted the subject, or so ably defended it as I could have done, if I been under different circumstances. But, dearly beloved, under the circumstances, I have done what I could, and thank my Heavenly Father that I have been spared to say this much in defense of the great, leading, central truth of revelation, the ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION OF THE CHURCH BY THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST.

Now, blessed and beloved Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1) “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.” (I Thess 5:23-24)