The Holiness movement believes that Full Sanctification is a subsequent event that happens after salvation. Their view is that a person can reach the state of sinless perfection. This thinking is part of the foundation of the many Pentecostal denominations and movements that arose out of the Holiness movements of the late 19th Century.
I believe that the doctrine that a person is not fully sanctified until he or she reaches a state of sinless perfection is a load of evil nonsense, and has diverted thousands of well meaning Christians from the truth about where they stand with God. Instead of enjoying what Jesus did for them on the cross, they have spent most of their lives struggling with shame, guilt and sin consciousness because of their inability to reach the state they desire.
Holiness type church leaders have been responsible for this as well, by preaching the need for reaching sinless perfection before God can fill them with the Holy Spirit, or before He can use them in ministry. I believe that these leaders are devaluing the Blood of Christ, and reaping the consequences to themselves and their congregations. They want revival, and do not get it because they are preaching false doctrine.
So when is a person fully sanctified?
I believe that a person is fully sanctified the moment they accept Jesus as saviour.
But, you might say, I accepted Jesus five minutes ago, and I still drink, smoke, touch, kick the cat when I get angry, live with my girl/boyfriend, (and any other sin you want to name). Does that mean that I am fully sanctified?
I say Yes!!!
Because full sanctification is not how you view yourself, or how any other person views you, but how God views you. How does God view a person who has accepted Christ as saviour?
He sees them as perfectly holy and clean in His sight. How is He able to do that, when they still have their bad habit patterns still there in them?
When Jesus died on the Cross, he took those sins upon Himself, and washed the sinner with His Blood, completely cleansing them from the guilt and power of those sins. This took effect the moment they gave their hearts to Christ. They are now as clean and pure as Jesus is - in the eyes of God - because He looks at us through the righteousness of Christ. As soon as someone accepts Christ, they swap their old dirty rags righteousness for the righteousness of Christ, and so, God views and reckons them as fully sanctified.
Does this mean we continue to sin?
Of course not! The Holy Spirit starts working in us to remove the areas of our lives that God does not want to stay there. So, a person loses the desire to drink and smoke, develops a conviction that the de facto relationship should turn into marriage, starts to love the cat, becomes more patient instead of angry. This process goes on throughout our lives, but it will not be complete until we are united with Christ at the second coming.
But we are not weighed down with the burden of our sin. We can go on and be filled with the Spirit, minister in power for Him, enjoy fellowship with God and others without being hindered by a sense of guilt or shame. From the monent we received Christ, we can stand before God with absolute confidence that we are totally clean in His sight.
This is the wonderful good news of the Gospel.
