Can you become holy?

Over the past few weeks it has become obvious that some in my corps don't view holiness the same way I (or the Salvation Army) understand it so I thought I'd use this article to stir up some discussion.

This article was written by Chris Bounds and Keith Drury in a blog from September 2003, both professors at Indiana Wesleyan University. Please feel free to comment - I'd love your thoughts.

Can You Become a “Fully Devoted Follower of Christ?

John Wesley, like many of the early church fathers before him, preached that it is possible in this life to experience God’s power in such a way that we are actually able to live a love-filled obedient life. He taught that through God’s power we could be enabled to actually obey the two greatest commandments—loving God completely and loving neighbor as ourselves. The term for this experience has shifted through the years and has included Perfect love, the Upper Room Experience, being filled with the Spirit, baptism with the Holy Ghost, the deeper life, the higher way, Entire Sanctification, and Holiness. The current edition of this ageless notion is probably best represented in the term, “Fully devoted follower of Christ.” So what do you think? Can a person become a fully devoted follower of Christ? In this life? Is it possible? If so, how? The following are the seven answers most common in today’s church.

1. Seek now and receive by faith. Becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ is possible right now for you and you are urged to seek this life now by consecrating your all to God and receiving this second work of grace now by faith. (Historically, this has been the view of the Holiness Movement as associated with Pheobe Palmer and The Wesleyan Church.)

2. Keep seeking until you receive. a fully devoted follower of Christ is possible before death or old age, but you cannot experience it just by asking and believing—God can cleanse and fill you in His own good timing and thus you should keep on seeking until God responds with a second work of grace enabling this life of power and purity. (Although John Wesley’s teaching here is greatly debated, many scholars would contend this was Wesley’s view.)

3. Gradual growth process. While it is possible to become a fully devoted follower of Christ in this life, it can be achieved only after many years of a gradual process of spiritual growth—putting off sin and putting on deeds of righteousness through Christ’s power. By putting sins to death and moving gradually closer to Christ you can eventually—usually after many years—become a fully devoted follower of Christ. Your job now is to follow the Spirit’s leading in one area at a time. (This is the generally held position of The United Methodist Church, at least those who take seriously their Methodism, such as Thomas C. Oden.)

4. A sustainable experience with momentary lapses. Becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ can be the normative experience in a believer’s life. The Holy Spirit enables a believer to suppress the sin nature and live in sustained victory over it. However, because the root of sin remains until death, there will be moments in which sin will cloud or diminish victory. Sin or disobedience is seen as an exception, rather than the rule of Christian living. (This is the classic understanding of holiness in Keswick theology.)

5. A momentary but unsustainable experience. Becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ can be experienced in moments or short periods of life, but can’t be sustained for the long haul. There are times when a believer can truly act out of the complete love of God and the love of neighbor, untainted by selfishness and pride, but the “old man” is too strong to be completely vanquished in life. (This would represent a modern evangelical Lutheran perspective, as seen in the work of Gerhard Forde. Some scholars would argue this was Martin Luther’s position.)

6. Worthy goal but impossible dream. While it is clearly impossible in this life to ever actually become a fully devoted follower of Christ you should head that direction anyway, trusting God to deliver you increasingly from sinful thoughts, words and deeds, and gradually to empower you in love—but you will never get there: you will never become fully devoted. Holiness is a journey of devotion—not a destination you ever actually achieve. (This view represents well the position of Reformed theology and can be seen in the work of John Calvin, Reinhold Niebuhr, J. I. Packer, and Sinclair Ferguson.)

7. Holiness of Christ. All humans—including Christians—are so sinful at the core that even becoming a partially devoted follower to Christ can’t even be achieved in this life—rather true Christians should confess our sinfulness and realize that God has imputed Christ’s righteousness to us—God can’t see my sinfulness, but sees only the holiness of Christ; holiness is about Christ, not me. (While this view enjoys some degree of popularity in contemporary evangelicalism, it has not been held historically by credible and respected orthodox theologians. Some have placed Martin Luther and/or John Calvin in this camp by focusing on their understanding of imputed righteousness. It may be that because Luther, and to a much lesser degree Calvin, focused so much attention on our objective standing before God, and he was preoccupied with it, his understanding of imparted righteousness has been missed or inadvertently dismissed by his theological heirs, leading to this perspective today. Luther’s primary focus was on justification, but he does address sanctification.)
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Which do you believe? What you believe will affect how you live so think about.

I look forward to your comments.

Live holy, preach Jesus!