deeply enmeshed in sin, in the light
of God's grace we discover grace is
greater than our sin. At that point,
faith blooms and brings to light our
shortcomings, failures and remorse,
which we acknowledge before God.
God's grace saves us from the
penalty and guilt of our sin and
reconciles us from the relational
separation from God that sin
occasioned. This happens because
Christ paid the penalty for our
wrongdoings and brings us by grace
to share in His very nature. As we
are cleansed from sin, God's grace
makes possible our new life in
Christ. We are saved by the justify-
ing grace of God and experience His
initially sanctifying grace.
sin get busy in the church. If
salvation means getting saved from
sin in order to go to Heaven, then
faith becomes a bus stop religion.
There is no further progression. We
remain immature and underdevel-
oped as we wait for God's glory bus
to Heaven. Carnality reigns as we
become victims of old habits. We
surrender to temptation and
regress to sin.
and growth in grace through
deepening acquaintance with God.
Reconciled with God, we may be
restored to holiness by God's
acquainting grace. A deeper, purer
life is possible, bringing us to the
sanctifying grace of Wesleyan
holiness teaching.
God. Life becomes both intimate
and limitless in holiness of heart
grace. John Wesley called the
grace-filled acquaintance process
the Via Salutis, the "Way of Salva-
tion." Salvation Army holiness
teaching proclaims Wesley's under-
standing of God's Way of Salvation.
to the Father except through Me"
who remain in me, and I in them,
will produce much fruit" (John
15:6). The Salvation Army empha-
sizes that we cultivate the fruit of
the Holy Spirit and the fruit of
sanctified service through our
profound love of God and others.
to remaining in an intimate faith
relationship with Christ, where His
continuing grace is at work in us.
its teaching of holiness in the
Wesleyan spirit. The first eight
doctrines cascade through God's
four), to humanity's problem (five),
to justifying grace and initial
salvation as God's response to our
dilemma, sin and death (six, seven
and eight). Doctrine nine teaches
the process of holiness, what
theologians call synergistic sanctifi-
cation. This involves spiritual
formation through obedience and
growth by God's grace, increasing
our resemblance to Christ by
intimacy with Him in dynamic,
interactive ways. In light of doc-
trine nine, our exposure to means
of grace (i.e. prayer, Scripture,
worship, fellowship with mature
Christians, fasting) is key to our
ever-deepening journey to know
Christ. Doctrine 10 makes clear
that intimacy with God, the privi-
lege of all believers, is character-
ized by purity of heart and comes
from encountering Him and allow-
ing God to fill each heart and life
with His essence, holy love.
tion with salvation from sin only.
God's grace and blessing are
limitless. We continue the journey.
The Holy Spirit perfects His
likeness in us. Our capacity to be
filled with the Spirit, who does
more through us than we could ever
imagine, grows. We are being
perfected in His likeness for service
to the praise of His glory.
reason for our optimism. We adhere
to Wesleyan holiness in teaching,
ministry and mission.
of Word & Deed and President
Emeritus and Senior Fellow at
Trinity Western University, lives
in Wilmore, KY.
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