Preface

Christian holiness has three aspects. There is a grace to receive, a style of life to be lived, and a truth to be under­stood. It is with the truth or doctrine of holiness that we are here concerned, together with some of its implications for life.

The doctrine of Christian holiness is the conviction that, within the limitations of our humanity, the sanctifying grace of God is sufficient to free the Christian heart from the power and presence of inner sin, to fill it with pure love for God and man, and to impart power for Christian life and ser­vice in this present world. The provision for this gift of grace is found in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, and its dy­namic is the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of this little volume is to interpret the theory and practice of holiness in some of its biblical, histori­cal, theological, psychological, and sociological facets. It is an attempt to do what we are charged to do in 1 Pet. 3: 15-16, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ."

Christians have a twofold task in relation to their faith. The task is, first, proclamation. It is, second, interpretation. We must proclaim the truth to those who have never heard. But we must also explain the truth to those who have heard but need to understand it more adequately.

Candor compels us to confess that we have generally been stronger on proclamation than we have on explanation. We have insisted to all who would hear that the will of God is their sanctification. We have not always been as clear as we might in telling them what it means to be sanctified. There is a vast difference between explaining a truth and explaining it away. Some calls for "reinterpretation" seem not so much the desire for better understanding as the wish to get rid of the truth entirely. But we must be in­terpreters, not corruptors. We are to be translators, not transformers, of the truth. We are to explain and apply the doctrine, not change its content.

Like a city set on a hill that may be approached from dif­ferent directions and by different paths, the full truth of Christian holiness must be sought in a variety of contexts.

The approaches considered here are not the only in­terpretations that might be given. But they represent areas in which most of the major questions arise for which we are commanded to give an answer to those who ask.

W. T. PURKISER