Entire Sanctification - Re-articulating Wesley's view Biblically AND in No Uncertain Terms

Entire Sanctification or the Second Blessing propagated by the Holiness movement is quite a biblical concept that Christian's blinded by classical (Hellenistic) theology will unfortunately never understand until they are willing to shed their theologies in favor of the plain message of the Bible.

It is a sorry state that even Wesley and the Nazarene Church could only describe it but not clearly define it therefore tempting arguments from classicists (who believe in forensic justification by faith) to misunderstand the concept, erect weak straw men in their counter-arguments, and destroy them.

When one honestly synthesizes the whole of Wesley's teaching on this, Wesley comes up hermeneutically sound (and in fact, flawless) but lacks the theological articulation to define it so that it is not misunderstood.  If articulated properly and still misunderstood by the naysayers, then the issue would simply be that the theological foundations of both are different and probably adverse to each other.  The issue would then revert to which belief is Biblically sound, that is, supported by a preponderance of scripture (including the Old Testament) and contradicted by almost no alternative Scripture.

A counter-example of that last statement is the Calvinist doctrine of the Perseverance of the saints. Whereas the only way that doctrine can make sense in the Calvinist perspective is to make God entirely or almost entirely responsible for perseverance of the saints. Although that makes sense logically, it is not biblical as one would be hard-pressed to find any verse which does not AT LEAST IMPLY that perseverance is entirely man's responsibility WHENEVER that word, "persevere" is mentioned in Scripture.  Yes, they may find alternative scripture that seems to imply otherwise, but NOT when the actual word, "persevere", is mentioned. They also presume the highly illogical and false premise that once a person becomes a Christian, he loses his free-will and can no longer decide to rebel against God. Being sealed with the Spirit does NOT in any way negate man's free-will. Free will is man's privilege of being created in God's image and free will is his until his death.

Let me also point out that Wesley practiced very HONEST and SOUND hermeneutics. In fact, he is one of those responsible for opening my eyes to honest and unbiased interpretation when I used to believe classical theology and Calvinism with a passion but with all their Hellenistic bias. Here are a few examples:

1. Wesley's take on "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" (Matt 5:8). He correctly derived that since all the "blesseds" in the Beattitudes were adjectives about the present, that being "pure in heart" is a possible mindset (or heart-set) for the Kingdom child TODAY. Hence, he correctly proposed that the state of being pure in heart will enable one to "see" (Gk:horao  in contrast to blepo or optanomai which have stronger emphasis on visibility with the eyes) God where the Greek word can mean either "see with the eyes" or "perceive with the mind".
2. Wesley's exegesis of Matthew 5:48, " You therefore must be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect", includes the correct proposal that since the "therefore" is a conclusion to the previous examples of how a Kingdom child is to behave (naturally), then it follows that being perfect is something that SHOULD BE accomplished in this life and not in heaven. He further insinuates that God would NOT give a command which can only be fulfilled in the after-life since that would make the command irrational or ridiculous.  I would add that the Great Communicator communicates simply and without complication. He will not issue a command that cannot be followed, otherwise it will make Him look unreasonable and ridiculous, God forbid.

Here is what I propose to articulate Entire Sanctification but it necessitates a unbiased and thorough understanding of the Book of Romans.  After this discussion, you may freely junk every other definition you have heard or read about entire sanctification and just stick to this one.

1. Sanctification is NOT a stage of Salvation as commonly taught by classical theologians. Sanctification is part of the whole Salvation package where Sanctification (and Glorification) are "proofs" of Justification. Hence Romans 8, and specifically verse 9 clearly implies that someone who is NOT sanctified or does not show sanctification has REALLY NEVER been justified at all, plain and simple!
2. Entire Sanctification is the Christian's state of mind as described in Romans 8 but CAN NEVER HAPPEN unless the Christian first reckons his old self DEAD to SIN as described in Romans 6 and further passes through a period of defeat and brokenness as described in Romans 7. 
3. Note that whereas Sanctification and Glorification are packaged with Justification by Faith by Paul, he was careful to differentiate the experience of justification in Romans 5 from each experience of denying self (Romans 6), of brokenness (Romans 7), and finally of entire sanctification (Romans 8). Hence, Romans 8 being the mindset or state of mind and heart and description of Entire Sanctification, this strongly implies that entire sanctification is indeed to be experienced in this life and not in the after life
4. Based on Romans 8, entire sanctification is that state of mind and heart where the propensity to be holy is natural instead of the propensity for the flesh and/or evil. Based on Romans 6 and related Pauline verses in Ephesians and Colossians, it is the state AFTER and ONLY AFTER the old self is shed off and reckoned dead to sin. Based on Romans 7, it is the state AFTER and ONLY AFTER a period or the experience of brokenness where self-centeredness and pride is significantly dealt with.
5. Entire Sanctification is no different that the experience of being Filled and Empowered by the Holy Spirit. Many preachers teach that if you want to be filled with or by the Holy Spirit, simply ask it or believe it by faith BUT that biblically DOES NOT work. The Holy Spirit WILL NOT fill a Christian whose old self is very much alive, that is a ridiculous and unbiblical concept.
6. The work of God in the redeemed is TRANSFORMATION and NOT reformation.  Entire Sanctification is the experience of experiencing the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and not just slow reformation. God's actions are obvious Divine interventions. They occur as instantaneous events, that is why we call them MIRACULOUS in the first place.  Hence a former heavy smoker like me after transformation may socialize with other heavy smokers without being the least tempted to smoke. To stretch that farther, someone may offer me a smoke, I may even puff some but I will not seek the habit anytime after UNLESS I intentionally go back to the practice again. This is in contrast with say, former alcoholics who try to remove any semblance of alcohol from their sight so as not to be tempted to go back to the habit. Now, that is the self-effort of reformation and not the divine miracle of transformation.
7. True sanctification and/or holiness cannot be forced by self-effort. In fact, all Pauline accounts regarding this concept teach that holiness is the natural propensity of the new self or the born-again self. Evil is the natural propensity of the old self. Having said that, sanctification accomplished by the believer simply by getting out of the way of the work of the Holy Spirit. Stated another way, get the old self out of the way of the Holy Spirit working on the new self. The presence of resistance to the work of the Holy Spirit is a sign of NOT being entirely sanctified and the old self being pretty much alive and kicking. The absence or weakness of any resistance to the the filling and transforming work of the Spirit is the state of ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION.

To wrap this topic up, throw away all those straw men arguments regarding whether entire sanctification is a false doctrine or not. It is a biblical doctrine and just a slightly different perspective from the traditional concept of being filled by the Holy Spirit according to Ephesians 5:18.

Note, however, that the traditional teachings on how to be filled by the Holy Spirit may be faulty and borderline unbiblical because it is being taught up to today WITHOUT the necessity of self-denial and brokenness. Many teach that all we need is to appropriate the filling of the Holy Spirit by faith. That will not work when the old self is in the way. It must be denied, mortified and broken first. Then and only then will the filling of the Holy Spirit by faith be realized.

The other faulty teaching about being filled by the Holy Spirit is that it is not taught that it should result in either an obvious manifestation of charismata (gifts of the Spirit) or at the very minimum the karpos or fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,23. If there are no evidences of either gifts or fruit, anyone who claims the fullness of the Spirit is just deceiving themselves.

To differentiate, however, whereas the goal of being filled with the Spirit is the temporary empowerment to perform a work of ministry, the goal of entire sanctification is transformation into the Image of Christ. A true Kingdom child should aspire for BOTH, for entire sanctification because that is the will of God, and for the filling of the Spirit in order to be useful to Christ and to His Body, the Church.