MILDRED B. WYNKOOP, Th.D.
(Professor, Philosophy and Religion, Travecca College)

How often ought one to "preach holiness"?

There are two extreme responses, both of which arise out of a misunderstanding of what holiness preaching is. One says, "Don't overdo it. Preach it once a month, or once a quarter, or once a year." The other says, "Preach it every time you go into the pulpit." And those who listen to him are apt to say, "We are tired of holiness. We wish our preacher would give us some food. We are 'emotionalized' into immobility."

In both cases the problem lies in the fact that holiness is interpreted too narrowly. It may mean a dry doctrinal sermon in which the bare theological bones are counted and properly located. Or it may mean a constant exhortation to a certain "experience" with no future growth beyond it. The difficulty rests mainly in the limitation of the meaning of holiness to the attainment of a second experience.

It is the thesis of this study, drawn from every specific element in it, that there is a danger of stressing methodology until the moral, personal and life relevance is almost totally obscured. Considered biblically, when this is the case, however correct it may be in stressing the crisis issues, the preaching is no longer holiness preaching. Every biblical exhortation was to a specific moral decision reaching into the farthest areas of life.

Biblical preaching will major on the content of the word holiness, pressing its demands upon the heart and life. It is basically a Christ-centered word. Every facet of the use of the word is bound up inextricably with Christ and His demands on us. And this is totally in keeping with the biblical idea of holiness as centered in God.

To major in preaching on any other emphasis, or to overstress any one element over another within the total gospel approach, is to take the risk of "running out of sky." Only this spiritual, dynamic approach is capable of extended life and infinite increase. Only the moral demands of the gospel, as given us in the New Testament, can provide an adequate preaching substance which never grows old. Under it people come into salvation, mature in it and retain a perennial interest. Any other approach to holiness ends in a dead-end street. The possibilities are soon exhausted and formalism is the inevitable consequence for lack of relevance.

A. Moralism has been tried and found wanting. Hebrew moralism is the classic example. It is easier to "keep law" than to be right. Keeping the law, however, without being right ends in the self-righteousness which is both repulsive to the on-looker and spiritually disappointing to the law-keeper. When the dynamic of holiness theology wanes, its ideals tend to be translated into a moralism which isolates people from the life in which they need most to be immersed. Moralism ends in spiritual bankruptcy.

B. Intellectualism or rationalism has "too low a ceiling." Greek philosophy is the classic example. Its passion is to capture and pre- serve in logical formulae and precise expressions every detail of the Christian faith. The genius of Greek thinking gave the Christian church its ecumenical Christological creeds. But when it failed to keep practical concerns in its range of thinking it ran into the dead-end of fruitless controversy in which the Eastern Church became entombed. It is possible to talk holiness theology into a grave. To know its content requires a corresponding obligation to do its truth. When this fails, the doctrine becomes a headstone to the grave of those who have betrayed it.

C. Works is a dead-end street. Catholicism is its classic example. Perfection that is earned by self-denial, acts of penance, and good deeds is not Christian perfection. It is superficial and spiritually barren. The whole thing ends in a legalistic system of meritorious ritual that can and has issued in moral bankruptcy. The spiritual ceiling is too low.

D. Psychological patterning also has a low ceiling. "Experience," if it be not guarded, becomes either a dismal source of truth--as in liberalism, or an irrational test of truth--as in emotionalism. Experience, or the life relevance of salvation truth, divorced from objective norms of truth, ends in a dangerous confusion about emotional states. Any preoccupation with psychological states must end in false tests of the true and a virtual denial of moral life. In the interest of a wholesome presentation of the message of holiness it must be said that there is a danger of emphasizing the psychological aspect of experience so largely that the moral relevance is almost obscured.

None of these approaches can maintain the spiritual dynamic of the New Testament gospel message. All of them begin in a truth, but tend to reach the climax of their truth and then decline. If they are to survive, they must be maintained in some unspiritual way. The ceiling is too low again. There is no "future." They run out of spiritual sky. Only the spiritual and moral approach characteristic of the New Testament message continues to throb with life century after century, and--more miraculously--throughout the expanding life of a person. The true holiness message does not exhaust itself in issues which are discarded by a growing psyche. Maturity cannot outdate it. Properly preached, "holiness" has no ceiling. It is as big as the future and more challenging than the deepest capacity any person can possibly fully explore.

Holiness preaching grapples with moral issues and includes the secondary matters, such as methodology, only insofar as these help to relate the moral imperative to human experience. But even here, great care needs to be exercised. It is not the task of a preacher to convict his listeners of sin, particularly the ultimate forms of sin which lie so deep in the human heart that only the Holy Spirit can uncover them (John 16:8). Wesley had a good word for us here. To the question, "In what manner should we preach sanctification?" he answered,

Scarce at all to those who are not pressing forward; and to those who are, always by way of promise; always drawing. rather than driving (Italics mine).

It is not the task of the preacher, moreover, to tell anyone where and when this inner cleansing is to take place. In the zeal for "results" there has grown up a patterned methodology which is pressed with so much urgency as to dangerously threaten the real issues, namely, "If you come to the altar today you will go home 'sanctified."' A spirit of haste dissipates the spirit of depth. Dwayne Hildie speaks significantly to this important consideration thus:

This invitation was further implemented by an enthusiastic corps of altar workers who followed pretty much a set pattern which would include proper instruction, encouragement, singing--nearly always ending in an exhortation to 'take it by faith.' But if we project human methods on the seeker to the extent that he really does not pray through, we send him home with an empty heart and with no real work done. We can only estimate his reaction and disappointment when, within forty-eight hours probably, he can discern not one bit of difference in his life. (2)

The moral commitment is so deep, so personal, and so intimate that no human being can accompany another into the depth of that act. No humanly structured haste can do more than hinder the solid, painstaking way of the Holy Spirit with a human heart. It takes time for the "I" to divest itself of its self-righteous garments. Or, it takes time for the "I" to push past the impersonal things with which it identifies itself into a naked self-awareness capable of the kind of commitment to Christ that will change the whole atmosphere of the self.

Preaching holiness is preaching Christ. Preaching Christ is pressing upon the heart that kind of truth which Jesus pressed. If there is one way to describe it, it would be the challenge to straight thinking. It has been argued that it was the manner of Jesus' preaching that gave offense. He claimed to be the authority and that was not palatable to the ecclesiastical mind. But, as John Baker said, it was rather His deliberate policy of driving men back to the point of self-examination, beyond their conventional attitudes, beyond their prejudices and their proneness to deceive themselves and to make excuses for their behavior. (3)

Baker makes a strong and acceptable point of this matter. Christ was constantly doing and saying things that would force a reappraisal of personal motivation. "On each point Christ puts the emphasis where it was rarely put--upon the inner thought and motive preceding the action." He broke good rules--failing to wash before eating, for example-- in order to attack the loose thinking of His age. He called no one to follow Him under false pretenses. "He gave them no theories to swallow whole--He lived with them so they could thoroughly examine His claims."(4)

But Christ's most telling exposures had to do with the more subtle forms of self-deceit--those which covered unholy motives with worthy ideals. Jews desired and prayed for the kingdom, but Jesus showed them in parable and preaching that a pious desire apart from a clean heart and an accompanying personal commitment was hypocrisy. Christ wanted to save men and women, but He could not do that until they became honest with themselves, stopped making excuses, and gave up their pretenses. 'That was why he put such emphasis on straight thinking." (5)

Preaching Christ is, also, preaching the deepest continuing moral responsibility for a life of Christian expression--not only in words (how formal they can become), but in action. Love is the atmosphere of holiness, and love is the expenditure of the self. In the best sense of the word, holiness cannot happen in a moment. It may begin in a moment, but as love cannot mature without expression, so holiness, which is love, cannot exist apart from the life expression of it.

The biblical approach to that crisis, which in holiness theology is called "the second work of grace," constitutes the heart of the Christian gospel. No psychological methodology, theological terminology, or mathematical designation can obscure the stark moral meaning of crucifixion with Christ.

The Scripture passages demanding a ''putting off" of sin, a "putting on" of the new man, or requiring obedience from the heart, or a presenting of the self as a living sacrifice, are not mere advisory admonitions but the very essence of the gospel appeal. Forgiveness is never considered the summum bonum of the Christian life. The New Testament is largely and principally written to Christian believers, and it is not all comfortable reading. Biblical reading gives us the impression that great danger exists that the grace of God may be received in vain, that the Spirit may be grieved, that the sin of our first parents may be repeated in us. The urgent calls to self-purging, pursuing sanctification, perfecting holiness, yielding to God, bringing thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, and many others, are not to be lightly regarded. If not heeded, they all carry serious consequences.

All of these urgent exhortations drive one to the place of total moral commitment. The dangers relative to probation are great enough without the added hazard of an uncommitted heart which is itself impurity and which is always the source of enmity against God. Probation does not end with the new birth. To maintain a committed heart is the responsibility of those under probation.

Commitment completes moral experience. Moral integration is in preparation for the temptations of the enemy which can precipitate spiritual breakdown. We are told that very few German Christians maintained their integrity under the torture of the Russian prison life. However that may be, none of us knows how he might react to the sudden shock or prolonged testing which in some form awaits us in life. It is not the strong will that prevails, but the heart that has met the full force of Christ's demands. The relatively low level on which many Christians meet their "waterloo" testifies to the shallow commitment they have made.

The crisis of which we speak is that moment to which the Holy Spirit drives us in his relentless searching of our motives when we meet a deeper test of fidelity to Christ than any other we will meet in life. No self-induced emotion on the matter will do. Only the Spirit can show us the true motivation of our hearts. Only He can prompt a right response from the chastened heart. In this hour we are able to see the depth of ugliness in self-love and a more frightening sight we will never see. In this illumination one is made more, not less, dependent upon the continuing mercy of God. A care and sensitivity never before known replaces any measure of self-assurance that the freedom of the Christian life may have produced.

The continuing cost of that freedom is an ever-deepening commitment commensurate with the ever-new expansion of personality and its capacities. When Wesley talked about a "moment by moment cleansing," he meant that this deep alignment with God's will had to be maintained, preserved intact, guarded carefully, and not left to disintegrate by default.

We have an example of this testing in our Lord Himself. The temptation experience was a part of the learned obedience. He met everything in that wilderness experience that He would meet in the course of his ministry. The "guy lines" were drawn tight. If there were flaws in them, they would show up. When we notice the thrust of each approach of Satan and relate it in Christ's later ministry we can see the areas of stress and know much about the key spots in the redemptive purpose. No Christian can expect to enter the full responsibility of service who has not himself been "led of the Spirit into the wilderness," there to be tested to the limit.

It is no wonder then that the preacher's message as he preaches Christ has to do with more than simply the privileges of the gospel. It has also its deepest responsibility.

Among the several basics of holiness preaching are the following:

A. Present Christ. Press the claims of Christ, His love, His sacrifice for sin, His absolute Lordship. These must be made a living reality in the practical life. Press this, with all it means on everyone, sinner and saint alike. It is Christ who saves, He who calls, and He who convicts of sin and invites to discipleship and Christian service. No biblical preaching can by-pass Christ. It is Christ who validates, gives perspective to and sets the bounds around holiness preaching.

B. Press for a personal moral encounter with God. There is a place out alone with God, where each person must face for himself the issues of his moral and spiritual life. In that place he cannot order the procedure or determine the rules. The final obedience is to God, not to men. All the conflicting clamor of human advice and human norms of approval must be stilled in the presence of Him with whom we have to do. Moral life must begin here, and cannot begin until a high price has been set on spiritual integrity. This means that we dare not barge into that intimate encounter which we are arranging for others with our interpretation of God's requirements. We have done what is demanded of us when we have patiently cleared the way and led the feet of needy men into the presence of God. "Judge for yourselves whether we should obey God or men."

C. Hold up the Cross. There must come a death to self, but we must be careful that it is the right cross at the heart of our preaching and not one of our own making. There is a cross for the preacher, for he must have a clean heart in order to preach a clean, selfless, winsome message. His cross will keep him criticized and tender. It is a two-edged sword cutting both ways. It is not true that holiness makes Christianity too hard, but it is often true that the uncritical and undiscerning holiness preacher makes it hard in the wrong places and in the wrong ways. There is a cross for the hearer, but it must be the cross that Jesus presents. Let the human barriers to God be torn down in order that the sin barriers may be disclosed. It is Jesus who says, "Follow me." Let His voice be heard.

D. Press for Decision, clear, clean and sharp. The very structure of moral life demands decisiveness. It is not always easy to explain which of the many, crises in life is "second." But when under the guiding and prodding of the Holy Spirit the deepest self is brought face to face with God and the responsible decision of the self is a "yes" to God and His will, not simply as a sentiment but as a life motivation, and the Holy Spirit "takes over" with our deepest consent, the denotation "second" seems strangely appropriate. It is a different kind of response than the first. Each represents phases of the moral life. One is an acceptance of the responsibility of being in Christ and in grace.

E. Press for a continuing commitment. The need for decision in ever-increasing and significant moral crises never ends. As personality enlarges and comes into new perspectives, as character develops, as temptation strikes with subtle force, as the expanding self creates new situations demanding moral responsibility, as the whole of life is seen to need spiritualization, new tensions are created which must be met with the same watch-care with which the first was met. Spiritual and moral deterioration sets in at the first careless moment. Cleansing is maintained only in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Holiness is not merely something "possessed" but a relationship to be maintained by a life of love to God and man. "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death," said Paul. Death in the moral realm, as in the natural world, is held back by that strange integrating power called life. But when life ceases disintegration begins, both in the natural world and in the moral and spiritual realms as well. We must "walk in the Spirit" or forfeit life.

F. Exhort to Growth in Love. Love is necessary to the maintenance of holiness. The dimension of love, which is the practical dimension of holiness, cannot be neglected. Love is enlarged by use. That takes time and practice. It changes the whole perspective of life's values. It mellows, beautifies, and enriches the personality. Where love is lost, holiness is lost. Love is the adhesive power in human relations. It must increase or be forfeited. The test of holiness is love. It is a very practical and objective test, and the test which must often be applied to holiness profession. The deepening of love is an effective check on one's own testimony. It reveals progress in holiness or heralds its absence.

It will be seen that nothing is lost by a biblical presentation of holiness. The questions relating to the "second crisis" tend to dissolve in the dynamic of the moral appeal, but nothing of the decisiveness and victory of "second" is lost. The questions relative to perfection fall away when the moral nature of God's continuing demands of the expanding and maturing personality is understood. When ''cleansing from all sin" is seen in its relation to a total commitment to God and the abiding of the Holy Spirit, the crude, materialistic or arrogant features of carnal humanity become less a barrier to its meaning. When love is seen to be the necessary atmosphere of a holy heart and actually its description, the harsh, legalistic, self-righteous pretensions are rejected and holiness becomes the desirable and desired will of God.

The "last word" is an intensely personal word. I have a deep rebellion, a "beef," against the critics of the Christian religion. It is said that to be a Christian requires an inhibition of life and vitality and creativeness. But Christian faith is not a negation of life. Rather, everything we find in the Bible suggests that God is trying to liberate us from sin, failure, false ideals, low ceilings, smallness, and individualism. God wants us, in this life, to live fully, creatively. Being good is not simply not doing some things, but living out the dynamic of God's purpose.

A. A pure heart is essential. Without it Christianity is a smothering of life's impulses and grace would be an enemy of normal personality. There is a basic urge to self expression without which wholesome personality is impossible. An impure urge is death. God does not merely suppress the urge to evil. He cleanses the heart of double motives.

There is a cross in the Christian life, but the cross is not an end of the self. It is an end of the sin that shackles the self and blocks the way to goodness. The cross is always at the beginning of life. The whole of real life lies beyond it.

Rather than Christ curbing our personal development, He requires that we put our whole personality to work. This puts a new light on our Christian faith. It is not a retreat but a moral obligation to advance.

B. Christ will not let me rest. In His presence I cannot relax and rest on any supposed belief in Him which dulls moral sensitivity. He will not let me settle for less than my best--not yesterday's best but today's best. When I have done a job He confronts me with a bigger task--one too big for me. When I am selfish, He rebukes me until it smarts. When I am insensitive He has a way of prodding my conscience into activity. When I cry and pray for a little heaven in which to go to heaven, He shows me the hell in which other people live. It is not time for heaven yet.

C. Purity is not an end in itself. Purity permits the personality to live in full expression of love to God and man. It is the power of a single-hearted devotion and must be kept intact by a daily fellowship with God.

(1) John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (Chicago: Christian Witness Company, n.d.), p.32.

(2) Dwayne Hildie, The Preacher's Magazine (Kansas City, Missouri: The Beacon Hill Press, 1958), p.14.

(3) John Baker, The Expository Times, March, 1956, p.179.

(4) Loc. sit.

(5) Ibid., p. 181.