Pentecostal Sanctification

Sanctification part 5

Continuing in our review of the book, Five Views on Sanctification, we will now examine the Pentecostal Perspective according to Stanely H. Horton and the research he has done on it. His research and theology will be summarized below and then I will respond to it.

The Pentecostal perspective is mixed about when and how much sanctification occurs in a believer. The Azuza Street Mission believe that sanctification was “a second definitive work of grace” that was a necessary prerequisite to cleanse someone from “inbred sin” and make them a clean vessel prepared for the Holy Spirit to fill in the baptism of the Spirit (second-blessing). (106). The early Pentecostals continued to teach this and would say that the baptism of the Spirit was a third work of sanctification. However, many others, like Horton’s mother, could not distinguish a second definitive work in their own experience as a prerequisite for the baptism of the Spirit. Then in 1910, William H. Durham, a Chicago holiness preacher who had received the baptism of the Spirit, began teaching sanctification as the “finished work of Calvary.” This meant that all those in Christ have their sanctification completed upon conversion, that the soul is cleansed to where they become a “new creature” and so there is no subsequent sanctification work. “He or she needs only to abide in Christ, receive and walk in the Spirit, and grow in grace and the knowledge of God and Christ. The sinful nature, however, is not removed but is crucified with Christ, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed. As long as a faith relationship with Christ is maintained, that righteousness will bear fruit in practical, daily living. By sinning, people indicate that they have broken their relationship with Christ and that old, sinful nature has asserted itself and needs to be crucified by faith in the cross. Durham also called for people to grow in grace in order to perfect the inward work as they abide in Christ, to ‘desire the sincere milk of the Word,’ and to progress toward maturity.” (107). However, Horton writes that “Durham’s teaching brought a division in the Pentecostal movement, a division that continues to this day. Holiness Pentecostal groups (such as the Church of God of Cleveland, Tennessee, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church) still teach a crisis experience of sanctification as a second definitive work of grace that is prerequisite to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Those groups influenced by Durham may call for heart purity but in general see faith and the cleansing of the blood of Christ as the only prerequisite for baptism in the Spirit. The Assemblies of God, with over fifteen million adherents worldwide, is the largest such group.” (108-109).

By the Pentecostals, sanctification is seen as separating oneself from the world and its evils, and devoting oneself to God, to be consecrated to Him, yielding oneself to the Lord’s will and service (Ro 6:1-11, 13; 8:1-2, 13; 12:1-2; 1 Thess 5:23; Heb 13:12-14; 1 Pet 1:5, 15-16; Gal 2:20; Phil 2:12). Sanctification then is a progressive and practical work to be conformed into the image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18; 2 Pet 3:18; Heb 12:10, 14). But it is also a positional instantaneous work of God (1 Cor 1:2, 30; 6:11; Heb 10:10, 14; 1 Jn 1:7). They believe that sanctification involves crucifying “the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). But they also believed that if someone were to go back to walking in the flesh, they could lose their sanctification (110-114).

The Assemblies of God teach initial, instantaneous sanctification, progressive sanctification, and entire sanctification.

Instantaneous or initial sanctification is when we first believe in Christ, that faith sanctifies us and makes us holy (Heb 10:10; 13:12; 1 Cor 6:11). Like Paul, we have been crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20), we have been buried and raised with Christ with our hearts circumcised and the old fleshly nature put off (Col 2:11-12), and Christ is our righteousness and holiness (1 Cor 1:30). (115-116)

Progressive sanctification is about a continual work of grace and growth in our lives whereby the blood of Christ continues to cleanse and sanctify us (1 Jn 1:7-9; 1 Cor 3:1, 13-14; 1 Thess 4:3-4; Col 3:5-10; Eph 4:22-24; Heb 10:14-16). Horton believes that “the closer we walk with the Lord, the more we realize our need for the continued cleansing and purifying by the blood of Christ” And, sanctification is a work of God whereby we cooperate with Him in sanctifying ourselves (118). Our sanctification through the Holy Spirit “takes precedence over witnessing, evangelism, giving, and every other form of Christian service. God wants us to be something, not just to do something” (quoted in 120). Sanctification is through the Spirit (1 Pet 1:2, 15-16, 22; Acts 9:31; Ro 15:16), through the Word of God (Jn 8:31-32; 17:17; Eph 5:25-27; 6:17; 2 Cor 7:1), and these two cooperate with each other. In addition, the church with various spiritual gifts are given to us for our growth (Eph 4:11-16). Horton says that “God’s purpose in sanctification is to bring us to maturity” (121).

Entire sanctification is still a term occasionally used within Pentecostalism but it does not mean perfectionism. But to them, they see it as a life of continual victory over sin whereby the work of Calvary becomes effectual and sin is no longer a dominating force. William Menzies allowed that a believer could be dominated by either the flesh or the Spirit. Horton says, “the end or goal is never fully attained in this life. The believer is never free from temptation, and the old nature is still able to make demands” (124). Albert Hoy sees Romans 7:16-25 as the struggle between the sensual man and the spiritual man. However, other Assemblies of God writers would disagree and say that the sensual man is not a believer in this passage. However, “they would still agree that we have a continuing struggle and a continuing need to crucify the flesh, the sinful nature, in this life. At the same time, they would emphasize that through the Holy Spirit we are able not to sin, even though we never come to the place where we are not able to sin” (125).

Zenas Bicket emphasizes the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit in the work of sanctification and clarifies what exactly that is and is not. To be truly sanctified, we must rely on the Spirit and the Spirit must do the work. But sanctification is not inevitable through the passing of time and nor is it achieved through making efforts to be godly through one’s own strength. Many Christians make the effort and then afterwards ask God to bless it. But that is not how it is done. It can only be done through the Spirit’s strength (128).

Regarding the baptism of the Spirit with speaking in tongues, Horton writes that “the Assemblies of God and most other Trinitarian Pentecostals recognize the baptism in the Holy Spirit as an experience distinct from regeneration. We do not say that a person who has never spoken in tongues does not have the Holy Spirit working in his or her life.” In this way, the baptism of the Spirit is a post-conversion experience (128-129). Some may say that speaking in tongues is the outward evidence of the baptism of the Spirit but others would say it is not required. They also note that Acts 1:8 emphasizes power for service, not regeneration; and this experience occurred at the beginning (at Pentecost) and therefore, is not a climactic experience of sanctification (130-131). Horton acknowledges that most of the Christian life is carrying out the work of the Lord “without spectacular interventions” and “the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not of itself a sanctifying experience” (132). He also does not view the chief aim of the Christian life as the purification of ourselves but rather, we grow in grace in service to God and service to others. He mentions how the vessels of the tabernacle were not holy merely because they weren’t used for anything profane or ordinary. They were holy because they were used in service to God. Likewise, “we are saints, not merely because we are separated from sin and evil, but because we are separated to God, sanctified and anointed for the Master’s use.” Also, the gifts of the Spirit do not come automatically but through active obedient faith (132).

The Assemblies of God writers still believe that the inherited tendency to sin still remains while Holiness Pentecostals believe that a second definitive work of grace entirely removes this tendency to sin, making it easier to live a holy life (134).

My response to the Pentecostal perspective:

I believe that Spirit baptism happens at conversion for all people according to the interpretation of the biblical texts. However, I do not believe that all believers have the present experience of what Pentecostals call the baptism of the Spirit; of which I would call, the second blessing or the filling of the Spirit (according to Acts). This may come with or without tongues but it is a profound experience of the love, joy, and peace of God that fills the heart with these things and with the passion of God (the fire of God). These things fill the heart to overflowing and it brings great boldness and power in the Spirit to serve God by reaching out to people or doing what God has assigned them to do. I would agree with Horton that this experience is mainly for serving but I also think it is a relational type of intimacy along with being a means of sanctification in the sense of prohibiting someone from sinning so long as they’re experiencing God. I would call this experience a means of grace but it is not progressive sanctification. That is, certain sins and impurities of character, will not simply be eliminated from this experience of the Spirit. Character still needs to grow in grace, humility, understanding, wisdom, and temperance, among other things. I also believe that the second blessing is more something that happens to certain believers at certain unspecified times where the Spirit moves as He wills, and empowers whomever He chooses at whatsoever time He decides to or not to. It might be something someone experiences for a day, a week, a few weeks, or it may sustain for a long time. It may also vary in degree. This filling experience can happen during ministry, fasting, prayer, studying the Word, being water baptized, or listening to someone preach. When some people pray for it, it comes. When others pray for it, nothing happens. In my own experience and from what I’ve heard, there really seems to be no rhyme or reason for why one person receives it and another does not or why it comes and then fades away.

There’s a sense in which I might recommend someone to seek it because it is noble to desire God, desire freedom from sin, to desire a closer connection with God, and empowerment to help others more easily and effectively. However, on the other hand, it is very spiritually unhealthy to be desperate for God all the time and your desperation alone isn’t going to convince God otherwise in something He has already decided is not the right time. So I’m not saying to seek it or not seek it but in whatever circumstance, learn to live according to the measure of grace God has given you at the time. God may be wanting to refine your character or help you learn what it is to walk by faith so that you may later be a better vessel prepared for the power that God may decide to give you. That could even be why your prayers don’t seem to work anymore and the experience you have in the Word of God have seemed to dry up. But in that situation, you still have faith, and so you need to learn to walk by faith to overcome. God may be gracious to some people in supernaturally responding to their prayers in taking away certain sin struggles they were having but just because it worked for them, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same for you. Maybe God is preparing you for something else to be a help for somebody else. To do that, you may have to learn another method, another way like faith to find your victory. Having said that, don’t put all your stock in one method. Diversify your focus to refine your character, devotion to God, and love to others.

In addition to what Horton has written, there are a few things which I think he left out. The Pentecostal movement might label these as sanctifying works: Casting out demons, cancelling curses, and speaking in tongues. They see speaking in tongues as a personally edifying spiritual heavenly prayer language to God. It is supposed to build up the fire of God’s love, joy, and fire in the heart so that one is full of the Holy Spirit and the fleshly desires are suppressed. Other Christians may experience something similar to this but in a lesser degree like reading the Word or singing praise songs to God. But tongues can be a much more profound experience than that. But even so, having such an ability to fuel the fire isn’t much good if you don’t use it. It also is not a replacement for growing in sanctification with one’s faith and character. For this reason, even Pentecostal pastors are liable to morally fail in big and horrendous ways like adultery, sexual abuse, inappropriate relationships, pride, embezzlement, fraud, etc. If you just use spiritually emotional experiences as a crutch and as a replacement for true growth in godliness, then you’re not actually growing. You’re just suppressing what is under the surface. So, who are you really when the emotional high fades?

Within charismatic circles, there is not full agreement on whether or not Christians can have demons or be cursed. Though, there are certainly many people who give testimonies of their Christian journey where they were delivered from a curse or a demon. It also seems to be the most common consensus in those circles that this is possible. However, the point of this article is not to go on about that subject because it is a very lengthy subject to discuss. But it certainly remains an area where many people have experienced breakthrough and healing so I thought I would mention it. But in either case, I believe that faith in the truth is sufficient for spiritual breakthrough and they would benefit in pursuing truth and faith to find lasting victory over sin rather than being on this circular cycle of cancelling curses and casting out or binding demons only to regress back in sin again and then to repeat the cycle. If the cycle continues to repeat like that, they would be wise to find another method that brings lasting or more sustaining results.

Like Horton described, I do believe it is possible for a genuine believer to lose their sanctification. I suppose what he means by this is that a believer can backslide and regress the progress that they previously made. The reason why this is possible is because believers are susceptible to temptation and the progress they had made was made by the Spirit at work in them and so it was the Holy Spirit’s good works that were manifested rather than their own works. For those that don’t abide closely to God, those good works can diminish and some fruits can become rotten. Regression then, is a failure to yield to God and abide in Him so that the spiritually powerless state of one’s humanity becomes manifest. Victory over sin, then, is not just about character, it’s about allowing the power of God to flow through us.

I like how Horton pointed out that the filling of the Spirit (baptism of the Spirit) is about God’s Spirit coming to empower people for service to God and this is a grace freely given to advance God’s kingdom. Since it happened at the very beginning of the church and even brand new believers got this experience, we can tell that this isn’t something that necessarily occurs with progressive sanctification. It’s less about proving yourself worthy, dedicated, and yielded to God, and more about the Spirit moving as He wills for His purposes and God’s glory. However, there is certainly a culture within Pentecostalism where this second blessing comes through fasting, prayer, and keeping yourself from sin (that’s from the Pentecostal Medley song). So, in their experience, there is certainly a necessary aspect of yieldedness for God to fill you; and that does seem to be a reflection of Ephesians 5:18 about being submitted to God to be continually filled with the Spirit. However, I’m not sure if this instance in Ephesians is the same kind of filling as that in the book of Acts. Nonetheless, I do maintain that the Pentecostals continually experience something of the Spirit that most other Christians do not. Why that is the case, remains a mystery to me. But I do know that we are all universally one body of Christ. Each denomination has their own function in the world to make Christ known. Some people contribute in depth teaching of the Word of God and others contribute their zeal for God to show God’s heart. Likewise, some are focused on helping the poor, others on adoption, others on helping young pregnant mothers make good choices, and others with evangelism, etc. Not one group is better than the other but we all have our role to play with whatever God has gifted us with and where He has placed us.

Here are some other related articles to check out:

Piety or Pietism?

Romans 7 is Not What You Think

How to Walk by Faith