Sanctification-3

SANCTIFICATION.

BY GEORGE P. KEELING.

Chapter 3.

WHAT SANCTIFICATION DOES.

In order to get at this point clearly we must look at the condition of man before he is saved. We clearly understand that the doctrine of sanctification as set forth in the scriptures rests upon the condition of man as truly as that of justification. The doctrine of justification deals with men as violators, or transgressors of God's laws. This doctrine sets forth the fact that by the guilty man meeting the requirements laid down in God's Word (which requirements lie in his power to meet.) God will clear from guilt and declare just the once guilty and condemned man, so that he stands before God as though he never sinned. This is all through the merits of Jesus Christ. This doctrine rests upon the fact that all have sinned. But while the doctrine teaches that all have sinned (which is the basis of justification) it also teaches in connection with this, and all mankind demonstrate the fact, that we have a corrupt fallen nature, which we bring into the world with us. This fallen nature is the basis for sanctification, just as scripturally, and as logically also, as the fact that all have sinned is the basis for justification. The doctrine of sanctification sets forth the fact that when man comes to God according to his Word he will cleanse him from the fallen nature, after which he will be just as free from that corrupt nature as he was when God first made man.

This clear and definite truth being set before people is no doubt the reason why some modern teachers try to evade the point by taking the position that man has no such thing about him as a fallen nature, and are therefore setting forth the absurd doctrine that when men are born into the world they are just as pure as Adam was when God made him. The very disposition of every child born into the world overthrows this theory, even if the Bible were silent on it. But the Book of books is not silent on this point; for it speaks out in clear and unmistakable tones. And, as God's Word is all that will stand, we will resort to it to prove the truth in these things.

In Genesis 1: 26, 27 we find that God made man in his own image. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." Here it is clearly stated that in the beginning God made man in his own image. By turning to Ephesians 4: 21 we find what it means to be created after or in the likeness of God. "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." To be made after the image of God means to be made righteous and holy. This is the way God made man, but he did not remain in this condition. The Word says again in Ecclesiastes 7: 29, "This only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." We have the sad picture of man's fall delineated in the third of Genesis and in the sixth chapter we get God's description of them a few hundred years after. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."— Genesis 6: 5.

Some one may say, "This is a description of man when he is grown up." But how do you know? God does not say so. Again you may say, "God calls them men; hence it could not apply to children. Let us turn to Genesis 8: 21. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." This tells when the evil of man's heart begins; namely, from his youth." But the Word comes out more definitely yet. "Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes on such an one, and bringest me into judgment before thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one."— Job 14: 1 to 4. Again in Job 15: 14. "What is man that he should be clean, and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?"

These scriptures we know are sometimes used by holiness-fighters to prove that we can not live without committing sin. Let us look at the true meaning of these passages. He is not speaking of him that is born of God (who the Word says does not commit sin), but him that is born of woman. These are the ones he says are neither clean nor righteous. And notice that the uncleanness and unrighteousness of persons here spoken of begins with their birth, by woman. Again, we go to Psalm 51: 5. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." This goes just as deep into the subject as it can. "I was shapen in iniquity" goes as far back as possible and shows that the iniquity spoken of is the condition wherein the very formation of the person takes place. Any one who attempts to deny that we are born with an evil bent in us will find himself at open war with the Bible. As soon as the child is old enough to do anything we see it manifesting this fallen nature. For an individual to say otherwise is proof that he is blinded by a false creed.

I heard a brother relate the following instance some time ago, which will illustrate my point. A woman who said that children do not have this fallen nature came into one of his meetings, bringing her child with her. Soon after the brother began to preach the child took hold of its mother's hand and manifested by its actions that it wanted to go home. When the mother did not start, the child began to pull and fret for her to go. As it could not get what it wanted, it began to cry and to disturb the meeting. The brother saw that the mother was much worried because of her child's conduct and that she was about to leave; so he assured her that it was all right for her to remain. But the child kept getting worse and worse until at last it prostrated itself on the floor and began to kick and scream and bump its head on the floor, working itself into a perfect rage. There was not much trouble to convince her when the brother called her attention to the fact that it was for this purpose that he wanted her to remain. We have all, no doubt, seen similar cases.

You may now ask me the question: "Will the babe be held guilty and be lost?" No. The scripture says, "Where no law is there is no transgression," and there is no law given against the infant. While the gospel does condemn that nature, it does not condemn the person, until he voluntarily yields himself to it. See Romans 8: 1 to 13. But this matter is clearly set before us in Romans 5: 12 to 18: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that [inasmuch as] all have sinned: (for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression: who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

This is a wonderful lesson. It gives a comparison of the effects of the fall of man with those of the atonement of Christ. While the whole world went down into condemnation with Adam; the whole world, is brought up to a plane of justification through Christ. Again, as the whole world went down into death in Adam (that is, spiritual death), the whole world is brought up to a plane of life in Christ. Adam is here made head of the whole world by process of natural generation, in whom the whole world have sinned. (See verse 12, margin.) So Christ is made head of the whole world in the work of salvation, or the new creation. See the 14th verse, where Adam is made the figure of him that was to come. See also 1^st Corinthians 15: 45. "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [which means Christ] was made a quickening spirit." Thus while Adam is the head of all men naturally and all are affected by his fall into sin just as naturally as the oak acorn grows an oak tree, so Christ is the spiritual head of all, and all are affected by his atonement.

But some may say this fifth chapter of Romans means natural death. We deny it. If it meant natural death, then all would be raised from natural death in a state of justification of life. Hence we would have universal salvation. But the Word of God clearly refutes this theory. 1^st Corinthians 15: 21 to 23. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order." See John 5: 28, 29. "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming: in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." This sets forth the literal resurrection. And this fifth chapter of Romans does not mean a natural death, because it is held in contrast with salvation throughout the chapter and all are made partakers of it. It is true that all are made partakers of the literal resurrection, but unto a great many it is not a resurrection unto justification of life, but, on the contrary, it is to damnation, or everlasting fire, as it is elsewhere stated.

In this fifth chapter of Romans all go down to a state of condemnation and death through the sin of Adam, and all come up to a state of justification and life through Christ. But to what extent is the child affected by both? Here is the real question to be decided, and the only way to decide it is to go to the Word of God. There are two extremes that are held by two opposing parties. One extreme is, that man is totally depraved and dead in sin. Hence he can do nothing until God takes hold of him and quickens him from his dead state, at which time he will be able to believe and repent, but not until then. This is the belief of a great many, and in fact of whole sects. They hold that the child is totally depraved and dead, and until regenerated, is lost. This very doctrine was the basis for infant-baptism. Originally they fell into the deception that in the act of baptism the person was regenerated, and then brought forth the false doctrine that a child being totally depraved when born is lost unless regenerated. So infant-baptism followed as a natural consequence or matter of necessity.

       But advocates of the opposite extreme hold that the child is born perfectly pure; even as pure as Adam was when God created him. Both of these positions are false, as we will proceed to show. We admit that when man fell he went clear down. And, had there been no atonement made, he would ever have been totally depraved. But shortly after man fell, God made promise of a Savior. This is the thing under consideration in the fifth of Romans. Let us again notice it. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." — Verse 12. "For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense, death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." — Verses 15 to 17. But to what extent does this go? "Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."- Verse 18. This shows that while all went down to a state of condemnation in Adam, yet through Christ all come back to a state of justification of life. Therefore when the child comes into this world it comes under the atonement of Christ in a state of justification of life, hence it is not dead in sin; neither is it pure, as the foregoing scriptures have clearly proved. The child has a fallen nature in it, yet is innocent because it is not responsible for its conduct. It is justified because the atonement of Christ removes the guilt and condemnation incurred through the fall. Yet the fallen nature itself has not been removed; simply the condemnation and death that fell upon the entire race because of Adam's sin. Both the scriptures and the disposition of the child clearly prove the points we have made.

But some may say, "Can the carnal nature exist in a person and that person still be innocent? We answer. It can. Voluntary sin is the only sin that brings guilt. The child can not do this, because it does not know the difference between right and wrong. Hence it is incapable of the voluntary action of sin. Therefore the nature of sin in the heart brings no condemnation until the person voluntarily and knowingly yields to it. And properly it is not the nature that brings the condemnation, but the yielding to it. This is true in every case, even in the justified person who fails to meet the conditions laid down in the Word for its removal. It is not the nature that brings condemnation to the person, but his yielding to it or shrinking from its death. The depraved nature shrinks from being crucified, and when the individual yields to its shrinking he finally comes under condemnation and backslides, because he failed to yield himself wholly to God.

We will give two other scriptures in support of this. Notice first the condition of the child. "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came sin revived and I died."— Romans 7: 9. This text does not mean to teach that there had ever been a time when he was without the law as Gentiles were without it; for this was not true. He was a Jew and had been brought up under the law all his life. Hence he was never without it in this sense. But he was a child once and was incapable of understanding the law or of knowing anything about it. There came a time, however, when he awoke from this condition and became conscious of the difference between right and wrong. Here is where the commandment came. Here is where sin revived and he died. The sin here spoken of is the same referred to throughout this chapter as being the cause of all his troubles. In verse 17 he says, "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." This sin that was in him is the thing he says revived when the commandment came. This sin is what deceived and slew me. We see clearly from this that he had this nature in him while a child and was not condemned for it, but on the contrary he was alive. But as soon as he merged into a state of consciousness of right and wrong, he there met the law making its demands upon him, but the deceitfulness of this nature took the advantage of him and blinded and deceived him until it got him to yield to it, and then by the law it slew him. That is, it lured him into something of which the law said, "If ye do it, ye shall die;" and the penalty of a broken law which knew no mercy fell upon him.

Romans 8: 13 sets forth the second point to which I alluded. It speaks of the justified. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Verse 1 also teaches this point. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The term "flesh" in these places means the same thing he has been speaking of in the seventh chapter, and which he calls the carnal mind in this eighth chapter. If the justified man does not walk after this nature he shall live. But if he gives way to it he shall die. Hence he may have it in him and yet be innocent as long as he does not yield to it. As soon as he yields to it, he will die.