Holiness is Wholeness: According to the Scriptures (1Thessalonians 5:23)


This is THE verse for the idea of entire sanctification. It is also THE verse around which is much confusion in the use of words to clearly communicate. Around this verse swarms a large number of words including holy, full, perfect, complete and entire. They are all used loosely to mean largely the same thing. Because God promised that His word would not return to Him void, we must look at this verse and clearly communicate what he meant to communicate.


In this context, John Wesley, the foremost Methodist in all of history, formulated his famous combination of "entire sancification." He also added to this what he thought was a near synonym, the words, "perfect love." The core of Wesley's message is grasped in these words with a heavy emphasis on the word love.


I think it is important to clarify the use of some central words in biblical translation. I think that rather than think of holy, full, perfect, complete and entire as synonyms, we need to grasp their differences when used consistently in translation. Only then can I describe how I think we should grasp the meaning of 1 Thessalonians 5:23.


Think of holy in whole, full in amount, perfect in relationship, complete in action, entire in thing. Or think of a holy whole, a full amount, a perfect relationsship, a complete action or an entire thing. Contrast this to a profane (or partial) whole, an empty amount, an imperfect relationship, an incomplete action, or the portion of a thing.


My help comes from the Lord says David. And I agree. And where I see God has helped his people is through Charles H. Spurgeon in understanding holiness as wholeness. I see the same through Luther in understanding fullness to be an amount. I see the same through Hooker in understanding perfect as a relationship. I see it again in the book of James, as a book of wisdom, in understanding complete to refer to action. And finally, I see it through Wesley who correctly recognized entire to be the best translation alongside of holiness or sanctification.

But Wesley's lack of clarity was to use perfect as nearly synonymous, when biblically it is a word about relationships and not about things like entire. These words are not synonymous because their primary meanings place the first in the context of relationships and the second in the context of things. These are separate categories.

I agree with Paul that people do not respond unless the message or sound is clear or distinct. I think the confusing of so many words in theology that are not confused in the bible has caused us to lack a clear call to transformation or change in our entire lives. We must be moved to complete action and reach to that perfect (not necessarily ultimate) goal of clarity in communication. May God bless the clarity of His word and remove our theological confusion.


In Christ,

Pastor Jon