ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JAMES AND JUDE.
James and Jude were brothers. They were also "brethren of the Lord."
Whether this expression means actual brothers, namely, children of
Joseph and Mary, or whether it means only cousins, also whether these
two men were apostles or not, are questions which I leave to the
Biblical critics. Receiving without argument their respective epistles
as belonging to the inspired canon, I am to inquire what their teaching
is in reference to the one theme of this book, that is, entire
sanctification.
James, as a writer, is intensely practical. As Bishop of Jerusalem he
presided specially over the Jewish Christian Church, and his epistle is
addressed "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad," i.e., to
the Jews of the Dispersion, primarily, no doubt, to the Christian Jews,
but also secondarily and by way of warning to the unconverted Jews.
James was "zealous of the law." He fully agreed with Paul and with
Peter that the yoke of circumcision and the Mosaic law was not to be
imposed upon the Gentile Churches, but he, no doubt, strongly insisted
that Jewish converts should be still very careful to observe the
outward law. His epistle is like Matthew's gospel, and savors strongly
of the Sermon on the Mount. As a bishop and overseer of a Jewish flock
of Christians, while he fully assented to Paul's teaching on
justification by faith, he, nevertheless, urged upon the people with
vehemence that they should show their faith by their works and that
they should be "doers of the word and not hearers only." As Paul
completely demolishes the doctrine of salvation by the works of the
law, so James in his epistle offers us an inspired and a vigorous
protest against every form of Antinomianism. Thus the two writers, both
moved by the Holy Ghost, present the two aspects of gospel truth so
plainly that he may run that readeth. "We are saved by faith, not by
works," says Paul. "Aye," says James, "but we are saved in good works,
not out of them," and we must be careful to maintain good works, not in
order to be saved, but because we are saved. Good works are necessary,
not as the ground or the cause of salvation, but as the fruit and
resultant and test of the salvation which we have received by faith.
James, therefore, is not antagonistic to, but only complementary of the
great apostle of the Gentiles.
And mark how he strikes or aims right at the mark of Christian
perfection in the very beginning of his epistle. He assures us that if
we let patience have her perfect work, we shall be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
Christian perfection, then, according to James, is perfect patience.
Christian perfection according to John, is perfect love. Christian
perfection, according to Paul, is maturity or being "thoroughly
furnished unto all good works." Christian perfection, according to
Peter, is in being established, strengthened, settled. Surely none but
a caviller will find any want of harmony between these different modes
of expression. They all imply deliverance from sin, which is always
instantaneous, and some of them imply a mature Christian character,
which is always gradual.
James gives a vivid description of inbred sin under the name of lust.
"Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and
enticed. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth (actual) sin;
and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death."
We cannot doubt that James, like the other writers of the Bible,
believed in a personal devil, for he speaks of a wisdom which is
"devilish" and if a man is enticed to sin by the natural depravity of
his heart, we must not overlook the fact that the enticement implies an
enticer, and that the wicked spiritual adversary of our race knows how
to adapt his baits to the peculiar form in which inbred sin is
strongest in each individual, and thus, if possible, to entrap and
destroy him. Depravity exists by nature in all, but in one man it is
particularly felt in the direction of covetousness, in another, of
pride, in another, of ambition, in another, of sensuality. Satan's
temptations in the first of these would most likely be something which
holds out the prospect of getting gain by sinning; in the second, it
would be something to feed his intense admiration of self, to cherish
his pride; in the third, it would be the hope of political or some
other kind of power on the condition of sacrificing principle; in the
fourth, it would be the gratification of bodily appetites as in
drunkenness, gluttony, or licentiousness. Thus the trap is set for
every man, and the trapper is wary. God save us from his wiles.
And as Peter tells us to lay aside inbred sin, as it exists in the form
of malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and shows itself in
evil speakings, so James tells us to lay apart "all filthiness and
superfluity of naughtiness," or "overflowing of wickedness." Ah,
beloved, most truly did Jesus say that the heart of man is a fountain
of wickedness, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts and all
actual sins; yes, there is by nature in each one of us a superfluity of
naughtiness, an overflowing of wickedness, a natural depravity, an
inbred sin, and this must be "laid apart," it must be gotten rid of by
bringing and subjecting the heart where it dwells to the fiery baptism
with the Holy Ghost, and then shall we be in a position to receive,
with meekness, the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls.
St. James speaks of the "law of liberty," and of the "royal law," the
latter being, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and both mean,
I apprehend, just what we have already alluded to as the law of love.
"Love," says Paul, "is the fulfilling of the law," and this is liberty,
and this is royalty, the freedom to do God's will because we love it,
and to have all the antagonisms to that blessed will expelled from our
hearts, and all lawful affections and passions subdued and subjected to
Him who is our King, and who reigns without a rival in our hearts.
"I worship Thee, sweet will of God,
And all Thy ways adore;
And every day I live, I seem
To love Thee more and more."
If this is not the true liberty and the true royalty, where shall we find
them? Not on earth, at least.
James does not spend words in exhorting us to seek more religion, but
he tersely defines pure religion. And that is what we want. It does not
depend upon age, nor size, nor growth. A stalk of corn may be pure as
soon as it raises itself above the surface of the ground. Another stalk
may be impure and diseased when it is many feet in height. A Christian
may seek and find pure religion and undefiled, very soon after he is
born again. Another Christian may spend years and years in seeking more
religion, and yet not become the possessor of purity of heart.
This pure religion, according to our author, consists in works of
beneficence and love as to its outward manifestations, but its true
inward principle is in keeping one's self "unspotted from the world."
Oh, that all my readers with myself, may thus keep themselves unspotted
from the world, which involves the idea of being sanctified wholly, and
in the end "may be found of Him in peace without spot and blameless."
But an objector here interposes with a quotation from James which is
supposed to preclude the possibility of living without sin. "In many
things we offend all." But this expression is not to be thus
interpreted. To make it mean that all Christians must continue in the
commission of sin to the end of their lives, would not only be doing
violence to that which is the very trend of our author's teaching,
namely, a spotless morality and a pure and holy life, but it would also
prove too much. For a little further on we read, in reference to that
unruly evil, the tongue, "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and
therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God,"
and again, "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may
obey us, and we turn about their whole body." Surely no expositor would
maintain from such language that James was a tamer of horses and a
profane swearer. The truth is, that James, out of kindness and
courtesy, includes himself among his hearers or readers, and means to
show us how liable we are to give offence through rash and ill-advised
words, and then, on the other hand, he does not fail to mention the man
who does not offend in word, and who is able, by the grace of God, to
bridle the whole body, that is, to live without sin, and whom, again,
he styles a "perfect man."
Our author further informs us that heavenly, divine wisdom is first
pure, then peaceable. The carnal Christian, or babe in Christ, would
often reverse this arrangement. He is clamorous for peace, often to the
extent that he would have a wisdom that is first peaceable and then
pure, but the Holy Ghost puts purity first, and He is always right. No
compromise must be made with error in doctrine, or evil in practice,
even for the sake of peace. But when we become possessors of a wisdom
which is first pure, then, also, the other qualities follow in proper
succession, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated and the rest.
Listen, again, to the stern moralist and preacher of holiness, "Cleanse
your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded." Here,
again, we can but thankfully admire the perfect accuracy of the Holy
Ghost, as regards the method of full salvation. To cleanse the hands is
to obtain pardon and absolution for what we have done, and it is always
the first work of the unsaved man to repent and seek the forgiveness of
his sins. When this forgiveness has been obtained, then his hands are
cleansed, but he may still be double-minded. He may still be unstable
in all his ways. His spiritual course may still be zig-zag. His life
may still be a series of sinning and repenting, and sinning again and
repenting again, till he cries out in his misery, "O wretched man that
I am, who (not what) shall deliver me from this body of death?" And
then James's prescription comes home to him, "Purify your hearts, ye
double-minded." Seek and obtain the blessing of entire sanctification,
and, henceforth, with one mind and one purpose, run joyfully in the way
of Christ's commandments. Justification first and entire sanctification
afterwards. First cleanse your hands, then purify your hearts. And with
this agree the words of the Psalmist, "Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place?" "He that hath clean
hands," that is, whose sins have been pardoned, "and a pure heart,"
that is, who has been sanctified wholly. The teachings of the Holy
Ghost are marvelously harmonious in the Old Testament and the New.
Finally, James assures us that the "prayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." And not only physical but
spiritual blessing may be received in the same way for "If he have
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." His conclusion is that
"The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working,"
R.V., but I prefer to regard the Greek participle in the original as in
the passive voice, and then the meaning would be, as suggested by Dr.
S.A. Keen in his Faith papers, "The prayer of a righteous man being
energized" (by the Holy Ghost) "availeth much."
I should understand the "prayer of faith," therefore, to be a prayer
begotten in the heart of the believer by the Holy Ghost, and with the
prayer is communicated also the corresponding faith, and when this is
the case, the answer is sure. Faith, in this use of the word, is a
special gift, and may be given to some and withheld from others, also
given at one time and withheld at another, just as God in His infinite
and unerring wisdom may decide. This kind of faith is one of the
special gifts of which we have an account in the 12th of 1st
Corinthians, and differs, therefore, from the grace of faith or the
power of believing the gospel unto salvation when it is presented,
which is given to all men, and for the exercise of which, by actually
believing, all are held responsible. "He that believeth shall be saved,
and he that believeth not shall be condemned."
And it is Jude, the brother of James, who exhorts his readers to pray
in the Holy Ghost, the very same kind of praying which James calls the
prayer of faith, and about which Paul also declares that "the Spirit
Himself also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for
with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God."
A Holy Ghost prayer, therefore, such as Jude alludes to, is a prayer
that is energized by the Holy Ghost. It is not the Holy Ghost who does
the groaning, but He causes the heart of the consecrated believer to
groan, by kindling those intense desires after some specific blessing,
which often are, indeed, too deep for clear expression by utterance,
and with the groanings, also, the faith is given, which takes hold of
God's Almightiness for the answer. Such prayers do, indeed, move the
hand that moves the world, and whether it be for the healing of the
sick, or the conversion of sinners, or the entire sanctification of
believers, or the supply of temporal needs, or anything else which the
Holy Spirit may suggest, the blessing is sure to come.
I am not forgetting that the assistance of the Holy Spirit is needed,
and that it is obtainable in all true prayer, but ordinary prayer must
be founded upon the promises of God and an exercise of will power to
believe those promises, and therefore, it must be accompanied, in order
to be effectual, by ordinary faith, the act of believing. Extraordinary
prayer must be inspired directly by the Holy Spirit, and the gift of
faith must come directly from Him. So that we have ordinary prayer,
ordinary faith and ordinary results in the one case, while in the
other, we have extraordinary prayer, extraordinary faith and
extraordinary results. Praise the Lord.
Jude tells us that as Christian believers we are to "hate even the
garment spotted by the flesh," that is, to keep entirely clear of all
the pollutions of sin, symbolized by the garment of the leper which was
regarded as unclean, and which passage, when spiritually interpreted,
must mean the unspotted holiness of the true Christian. And as to the
question of one's ability to live without sin, he commits us to the
care of Him who is "able to keep us from falling," the very thing we
need and which we cannot do for ourselves, and "to present us faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." First, then, we
are to be sanctified wholly, then kept from falling by the power of
Christ through the indwelling Spirit. Finally, presented without spot,
blameless and faultless in the presence of God's glory in heaven. And
this is the gospel according to Jude.