W. E. Sangster identified the thirty primary texts upon which John Wesley built his doctrine. Sangster presented these texts in chapter five of The Path to Perfection.((37-52.)) The Wesley Study Bible also lists “The Thirty Texts of Wesley”1 While it could be argued that the doctrine of holiness is not restricted to these thirty texts, often the doctrine has been preached from texts which were open to debate.
Wesley felt that Methodism was raised up to “spread scriptural holiness over the land.” But he was generally considered to be preaching fanaticism. Therefore, he had to present Christian perfection apologetically and reasonably. Dennis Kinlaw wrote, “In the heat of the battle Wesley looked for the clearest, most unequivocal, most explicit statements for his apologetic.”((Kinlaw, “Old Testament Roots of the Wesleyan Message,” Further Insights into Holiness, 41.))
We may be in a similar milieu today. According to Mark Questrom, by the end of the twentieth century, there was no substantial agreement in the Church of the Nazarene over what is meant to be entirely sanctified.((Quanstrom, A Century of Holiness Theology, 174.)) In 1968 Richard S. Taylor wrote Preaching Holiness Today. He expressed concern that holiness preaching in his day was less definite and argued for the necessity of doctrinal clarity. However, Rob Staples observed in 2007, “I suspect it would be more accurate to say there were upwards of 10 to 15 views of holiness in play in the denomination at the end of the twentieth century than only the two that Quanstrom enumerates.”((“Things Shakeable,” 8.)) Staples did not enumerate all 10 to 15 views and perhaps he was exaggerating to make his point.
My point is not to focus criticism on the Church of the Nazarene in particular. At least they have allowed a dialogue to take place. In some circles, certain creedal statements function as passwords. Anyone who cannot honestly affirm the statement is suspect. And yet such statements are not always adequate and do not communicate truth to anyone beyond the inner circle. The Francis Asbury Institute intends to facilitate “knowledge and vital piety: learning and holiness combined” through this homiletical survey of Wesley’s standard texts.
The only Old Testament passage Wesley relied on in A Plain Account of Christian Perfection was Ezekiel 36:25-26, 29, which he cites four times. However, in his other doctrinal writings, he also frequently cited Deuteronomy 6:5, 30:6, and Psalm 24:4.
Wesley understood that the privileges of Christians are not restricted to Old Testament experience, “seeing the fullness of time is now come; the Holy Ghost is now given; the great salvation of God is now brought to men by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Yet he also recognized that all Scripture is inspired, authoritative, and profitable. Ezekiel combines ritual and ethical holiness in this passage.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. . . . I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the corn and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you.
Ezekiel 36:25-26, 29 NIV
In his Notes Wesley explained that sprinkle signifies both the blood of Christ sprinkled upon their conscience to take away their guilt as the water of purification was sprinkled to take away their ceremonial uncleanness and the grace of the Spirit sprinkled in the soul to purify it from all corrupt inclinations and dispositions. For Wesley, this promise constituted a covered command. This means that “those things which are promised . . . are also expected by God.” The new heart in verse 26 describes a new frame of soul, a mind changed from sinful to holy, from carnal to spiritual: a heart in which the law of God is written (Jer 31:33); a sanctified heart, in which the almighty grace of God is victorious and turns it from all sin to God. The promise of verse 29 is that God will continue to save us. Salvation from all uncleanness includes justification, entire sanctification, and meetness for glory.
Adam Clarke wrote:
Here is the salvation that is the birthright of every Christian believer: the complete destruction of all sin in the soul and the complete renewal of the heart; no sin having any place within and no unrighteousness having any place without.((Clarke’s Commentary (unabridged), 4:521))
Joseph Sutcliffe wrote, “Hence Christian holiness, and all the blessings of the new covenant are here principally implied.” Sangster himself expressed reservation that this passage provided Wesley with the support he needed for his doctrine of Christian Perfection. But Wesley argued that within this Ezekiel text the promise of cleansing from all filthiness, all uncleanness, and all idolatry implies a perfect Christian who loves God with his or her whole heart, mind, and soul after all inward sin is taken away. “No promise can be more clear.” This promise that we can be saved from all sin before we die was the foundation of Paul’s admonition found in 2 Corinthians 7:1. Dr. Kinlaw explained,
It was in the power of the Spirit of God coming upon all men that the Old Testament envisions a “new Israel,” a people after God’s own heart. As Ezekiel said, the Spirit within man would cause him to walk in God’s ways.
Charles Wesley wrote,
Purge me from every sinful blot:
My idols all be cast aside:
Cleanse me from every evil thought,
From all the filth of self and pride.
While the heart transplant Ezekiel promised describes regeneration, and there is a washing in regeneration, there are also “further benefits of redemption,” to utilize the language of Richard Watson.
Sutcliffe also connected the blessings of fruitfulness found in verse 29 with this promise of sanctification. “When the church is thus sanctified, God promises the fullness of exterior blessings. . . . The land which was desolate shall become as the garden of Eden. . . . The fertility of the earth shall correspond . . . with the righteousness of the people and with the spiritual glory with which the earth shall be filled.”((Sutcliffe, Commentary, 1:1235-6)) Bishop Edmund Janes declared in 1851, “A holy Church would soon make a holy world.”((R. S. Foster, Christian Purity, 13.))
The blessings of the new covenant:
- A new heart transformed from stony death to life and spiritual feeling is enabled by the Spirit to keep God’s commandments.
- A clean heart is a life cleansed from all sin and every idol. This results in an ever-increasing fruitfulness.
- A covenant people walking in ethical holiness results in kingdom prosperity.
- 1951-52. [↩]