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TheologyThe Limits of Sanctification in This Life

Rev. Charles CoffieAug 11, 202615 mins read

Introduction

Christian teaching on sanctification must hold together two convictions that are easily separated: First, God's grace truly changes people rather than merely changing their legal status. Second, believers remain finite, vulnerable, and dependent on grace until glorification. John Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection is one of the boldest Protestant attempts to preserve both convictions. He taught that Christians may be delivered from the ruling power of sinful tempers and filled with love for God and their neighbors in this life. However, he denied that such perfection produces omniscience, freedom from temptation, immunity from error, or independence from Christ. Therefore, the question is not whether Wesley expected too much from grace in the abstract but whether his account identifies the right kind of perfection and sets appropriate limits on it. Simon Chan's spiritual theology offers a valuable conversation partner because he shares Wesley's concern for real transformation while challenging stage-based, individualistic, and experience-centred accounts of holiness. Chan interprets sanctification as ongoing conformity to Christ through grace, virtue, worship, prayer, and life in the church. His approach helps identify both the enduring strengths and potential weaknesses of Wesley's doctrine. Wesley protects the possibility of decisive transformation; Chan protects its ecclesial, ascetical, and eschatological character. This study argues that Wesley teaches extensive but not absolute sanctification in this life. Believers may be perfected in love and freed from the dominion of inward sin, but they remain fallible, temptable, corrigible, and continuously dependent on Christ's atoning and sustaining grace. Chan confirms this distinction while correcting event-centred and private interpretations of Christian perfection. Therefore, a balanced doctrine should describe entire sanctification as a real and sometimes decisive work of grace that is verified and deepened through lifelong participation in the worship, discipline, fellowship, and mission of the church.

Wesley's Doctrine of Christian Perfection

Wesley's doctrine begins with the purpose of salvation. Justification pardons guilt and restores the sinner to God's favor, while sanctification delivers from sin's power and restores the image of God. Giffin shows that Wesley read Philippians 1:6 through this larger order of salvation: God begins the good work in justification, continues it in sanctification, and brings it to an eschatological completion in glorification.(Giffin, 2018, pp. 128–133) Therefore, sanctification is neither an optional spiritual achievement nor a supplement to the gospel. It is the purpose of transformation toward which justifying grace directs the believer. The content of perfection is holy love. In A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Wesley defines it as loving God with one's whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, so that no temper contrary to love rules the soul, and one's thoughts, words, and actions are governed by love.(Wesley, 1872, pp. 26–28) Lindstrom similarly concludes that Wesley's mature account combines inward and outward holiness: love for God is inseparable from love of neighbor and must become visible in obedience and action.(Lindström, 1996, pp. 130–131) Christian perfection does not imply that a believer possesses all possible forms of excellence. This is a claim about the governing orientation of the heart. This focus on affections explains why Wesley could speak strongly about deliverance from inward sin without describing a Christian as superhuman. Maddox interprets Christian perfection as a mature state in which holy tempers rule and contrary affections are driven out, even though they may return if the believer ceases to abide in grace.(Maddox, 1994, pp. 185– 188) The decisive issue is not whether temptation disappears but whether pride, resentment, unbelief, and self-will continue to govern the person. Grace establishes love as the dominant disposition from which Christian action proceeds. This account also has ethical and social implications. Simants argues that Wesley's doctrine makes the increasing love of God and neighbor the organizing purpose of Christian ethics, leading the Methodist community toward works of mercy and resistance to social evil.(Simants, 2024, pp. 111–114) Therefore, perfection that remains an inward feeling would contradict Wesley's practical theology. Holy love must become patient, just, generous, truthful, and service-oriented. The sanctified life does not involve withdrawal from the world but participation in God's restorative love for the world.

The Extent and Limits of Sanctification

Wesley's strongest claim is that grace may cleanse the heart from sin properly so called. He defines such a sin as the voluntary transgression of a known law. Christian perfection, therefore, means deliverance from wilful rebellion and from tempers contrary to love; it does not mean that every action perfectly conforms to the divine law. Wesley explicitly refuses the phrase 'sinless perfection' because it suggests freedom from involuntary transgressions, ignorance, and mistakes that remain inseparable from mortal life.(Wesley, 1872, pp. 26–28) This distinction is essential for a fair reading of his doctrine. These limits are substantial. Wesley says Christians are not perfect in knowledge, are not infallible, remain subject to infirmities, and are not wholly free from temptation. There is no absolute perfection or perfection of degree on earth, and every present attainment admits further increases.(Wesley, 1872, pp. 9–10) Lindstrom explains that even the entirely sanctified remain affected by bodily and intellectual limitations; errors in judgement can produce mistaken words and actions, omissions, and other defects.(Lindström, 1996, pp. 145–146) Schlimm develops this point by showing how Wesley can affirm both perfection and growth: because perfection is not perfection of knowledge, believers can continue to grow in wisdom, obedience, and in likeness to God.(Schlimm, 2003, pp. 124–125) Continued dependence on Christ is another decisive factor. Wesley insists that the most mature believer still needs Christ's priestly ministry and atoning blood for omissions, shortcomings, and involuntary deviations from the perfect law. The perfect branches that bear fruit only by abiding in the vine.(Wesley, 1872, pp. 26–28) Moreover, perfection can be lost and recovered, and no state of grace makes apostasy impossible.(Wesley, 1872, p. 51) Therefore, the doctrine excludes spiritual self-sufficiency. The language of attainment must always be qualified by dependence, vigilance, repentance, and growth. Nevertheless, Wesley's distinction between voluntary sin and involuntary defects creates a genuine difficulty. It protects the doctrine from the charge of naïve sinlessness, but it may appear to minimize the harm caused by sincere yet mistaken action. A person may act out of love and still wound a neighbor through ignorance, cultural prejudice, or poor judgment. Wesley does not dismiss such harm: he says it violates the perfect law and requires atonement. However, the distinction is most responsible when it produces humility and correction rather than defensiveness. The test of perfection cannot be the claimant's intention alone; it must include teachability, accountability, and observable fruit of love.

Gradual Growth and Instantaneous Transformation

A major interpretive debate concerns whether entire sanctification is primarily a process or an instantaneous second work of grace. Wesley frequently held both together. Sanctification begins with new birth, grows gradually, may culminate in a decisive cleansing of the heart, and continues to increase thereafter. Campbell describes this synthesis as a combination of Protestant justification by faith, the Eastern emphasis on participatory transformation, and the conviction that holiness is God's imparted gift rather than human moral achievement.(Campbell, 2013, pp. 58–63) Collins emphasizes the instantaneous aspect. He argues that a purely processive account makes perfection a permanently receding horizon. If the transition from an impure to a pure heart ever becomes actual, it has a first moment, even when the person cannot identify it. Collins therefore calls entire sanctification a qualitative 'threshold transformation' preceded and followed by growth.(Collins, 2007, pp. 293–295) These readings preserve Wesley's confidence that grace can do more than produce endless approximations. Maddox assigns greater weight to gradual and therapeutic patterns. He acknowledges Wesley's claim that entire sanctification may occur instantaneously but concludes that Wesley's most characteristic concern was progressive growth in responsive cooperation with empowering grace.(Maddox, 1994, pp. 188–190) Maddox also questions the biblical warrant for a distinct witness of entire sanctification. His interpretation guards against reducing Christian life to the pursuit of one extraordinary event. Both concerns are important. Collins rightly warns that gradualism can become a theological excuse for permanent captivity to sinful patterns. Maddox rightly warns that eventism can turn holiness into a spiritual status and neglect the slow formation of character. Wesley's own insistence that the perfect may grow in grace 'to all eternity' prevents the instantaneous work from becoming final arrival.(Wesley, 1872, p. 51) The most coherent position is that decisive grace establishes a new ruling disposition, which is progressively embodied in the whole person through time, spiritual practice, suffering, correction, and participation in the Christian community. The Pentecostal interpretation sharpens this debate further. Maddox distinguishes the historical gift of the Spirit at Pentecost from the later proposal that every believer should recapitulate Pentecost through a standard post-justification baptism, equated with Christian perfection. He argues that Wesley affirmed the sanctifying Spirit of Pentecost but resisted making a personal experience the universal form of perfection.(Maddox, 1999, pp. 78–81) This caution is especially useful when an instantaneous experience becomes the measure by which Christians rank each other.

Chan's Spiritual Theology

Chan provides a framework for evaluating whether Wesley's doctrine preserves both the present power of grace and the continuing character of Christian formation Chan approaches sanctification within a broader theology of spiritual progress. He argues that justification and sanctification are logically distinguishable but should not be treated as chronological levels in which one group has outgrown the other. Stage-based schemes can produce truncated spiritualities that define themselves by a distinctive experience and look down upon Christians who have not 'arrived.'(Chan, 1998, pp. 88–89) This critique does not deny the possibility of transformation. Chan describes sanctification as both an initial reorientation toward God and a continuing discipline of repentance in which grace forms Christlike virtues.(Chan, 1998, pp. 88–89) Chan's account strongly supports Wesley's definition of perfection as love. He treats Christian perfection as a relative attainment of God's purpose in this life, not as an absolute or sinless perfection or a fixed accomplishment that excludes growth. Love may become whole and governing, while knowledge, wisdom, and capacity continue to increase.(Chan, 1998, pp. 97–99) In this respect, Chan confirms that Wesley's doctrine is coherent only when perfection is qualitative rather than exhaustive. Chan's most important contribution is ecclesial. Becoming a better Christian is not a private self-development process but rather growth in the body of Christ with other members. The 'me and my God' mentality contradicts the nature of Christian existence because baptism, Eucharist, prayer, and fellowship locate the believer within a visible community.(Chan, 1998, pp. 110–112) Even apparently private sins injure the body, and individual virtues are meant to create a better church rather than merely better religious individuals.(Chan, 1998, pp. 121–122) This ecclesial vision reshapes the means of sanctification in two ways. Spiritual exercises such as worship, prayer, Scripture reading, self-examination, and service arise from incorporation into the church and function as a means of grace. They are not techniques for producing impressive spiritual personalities; their goal is to achieve union with God and faithful responsibility within creation.(Chan, 1998, pp. 125–126) Chan's Pentecostal theology adds that intense experiences of the Spirit must be interpreted within the larger Christian tradition. A dramatic inbreaking of grace may be authentic, yet it must be followed by ascetic formation, perseverance through dryness and suffering, and an accountable ecclesial life.(Chan, 2000, pp. 73–76)

A Constructive Evaluation

Wesley and Chan approach sanctification from different but complementary starting points. Wesley's primary concern is soteriological: he asks how completely saving grace can cleanse and renew the believer in this life. Chan's primary concern is spiritual and ecclesiological: he asks how transformation is formed, sustained, and discerned within the life of the church. Wesley therefore supplies a strong account of the possibility of holy love, while Chan provides a fuller account of the practices and community through which such love becomes embodied and tested. Their differences concern emphasis rather than a fundamental disagreement about the transforming purpose of grace. Chan both confirms and corrects Wesley. He confirms Wesley's position by rejecting the assumption that Christian maturity means mere moral improvement or legal acceptance without transformation. Sanctification is grace-enabled conformity to Christ, and love is its central virtue. He also confirms Wesley's limits: perfection is relative, progressive, and dependent on God rather than absolute, infallible, or complete. Chan corrects common Wesleyan and Pentecostal distortions by relocating holiness in the church. Entire sanctification should not function as a private possession or badge of spiritual superiority. Claims to perfect love require communal discernment and must be tested for patience, reconciliation, truthfulness, generosity, endurance, and care for the weak. This correction is consistent with Wesley's own social practices, even if later presentations of the second blessing sometimes became individualistic. Wesley, however, also corrects Chan. Chan's criticism of stage models can be read too broadly if it weakens expectation for decisive deliverance. Some sinful patterns are not merely immature habits that can be managed indefinitely. Addictions, bitterness, domination, and selfwill may require radical surrender, through which the Spirit establishes genuinely new freedom. Collins is right that Christian nurture should not make transformation forever future. The church should pray and labor for breakthroughs while refusing to confuse breakthroughs with completion. A constructive synthesis of Wesley and Chan can be expressed through four qualifications. First, sanctification is decisive but non-final: grace can establish love as the ruling disposition, yet glorification alone removes every consequence of sin and mortality. Second, it is personal but ecclesial: the Spirit transforms persons as members of Christ's body through communal worship, discipline, and mission. Third, it is received but practiced: no exercise earns holiness; yet, grace becomes embodied through repeated acts of obedience and mercy. Fourth, it is confident but humble: believers may testify to deliverance, but their testimony remains accountable to Scripture, the church, and the fruit of love.

Implications for Discipleship and Ministry

This synthesis has direct pastoral implications. Churches should preach a salvation strong enough to transform entrenched desires, not merely to pardon them. Simultaneously, ministers should avoid promising immunity from temptation, emotional struggles, bodily weaknesses, cultural blindness, or errors. Such promises burden sincere believers and encourage concealment when experiences fail to match testimonies. Therefore, discipleship should combine invitation and formation. Believers should be invited to full surrender and to trust God for cleansing love, while also being formed through the ordinary means of grace: Scripture, prayer, Eucharist, fasting, Christian conference, works of mercy, and mutual accountability. A claimed experience of perfection should be received neither cynically nor uncritically by the Christian community. Wesley's own counsel to examine tempers, words, and actions over time is pastorally wiser than immediate certification of a spiritual status.(Maddox, 1994, pp. 188–189) Finally, perfect love must be measured by its social fruits. A congregation growing in holiness will become more truthful about harm, more willing to repent, more hospitable across differences, and more active in serving its neighbors. Simants's ethical reading of Wesley is therefore not an addition to sanctification but one of its necessary tests. The love that fills the heart must become the love that does no harm, does good, and remains faithful to God and the neighbor.(Simants, 2024, pp. 120–121)

Conclusion

John Wesley believed that Christians can experience deep and decisive sanctification in this life. By grace, the heart may be cleansed of the ruling power of sinful tempers and filled with love for God and one's neighbor. However, this perfection is not absolute. The sanctified remain limited in knowledge, vulnerable to temptation, capable of mistakes, dependent on Christ, responsible for growing, and able to fall. Wesley's doctrine is therefore better described as perfection in love than as sinless perfection. Simon Chan strengthens this account by showing that sanctification is a lifelong, ecclesial, and ascetical participation in the life of God. Chan prevents decisive experience from becoming private status, while Wesley prevents formation from becoming endless postponement. Together, they affirm the present power of sanctifying grace while locating every Christian attainment within the church's continuing pilgrimage toward final glorification

Bibliography

Rev. Charles Coffie

Rev. Charles Coffie

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