TEACHING AND SCRIPTUREWhat the Holiness movement restored — and where it stopped
The Holiness movement grew out of the Wesleyan revival and went further in unfolding the truth of a subsequent work of the Holy Spirit in a person already saved. On the left — what was restored, or where the tradition stopped. On the right — Scripture. Below — the conclusion.
PART ONE
What was restored
01Sanctification after new birth
THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT RESTOREDSalvation does not end with the forgiveness of sins. God desires to cleanse and transform deeply a person who has already believed. The centre became the teaching of entire sanctification — a distinct work of God’s grace after new birth.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS1 Thessalonians 5:23–24May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit, soul and body be kept blameless. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.Hebrews 12:14Strive for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
Restored truthThis became the distinctive teaching of the Holiness movement in the nineteenth century: God does not only forgive, but sanctifies the already saved.
Forgiveness is the beginning. God desires to sanctify the believer completely.
02Entire consecration to God
THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT RESTOREDThe believer consciously gives the whole of life to God.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYSRomans 12:1–2Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God; do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of the mind.
Restored truthEntire consecration is not human strain added on top of grace, but a response to the grace by which God takes the whole person.
God calls not to partial religion, but to a life wholly given to Him.
03The cleansing of the heart
THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT RESTOREDThe Holiness movement emphasised not only the forgiveness of acts, but the inward purity of the heart.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYSMatthew 5:8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”Acts 15:8–9God gave the Gentiles the Holy Spirit and cleansed their hearts by faith.
Restored truthApostolic holiness is not only forgiven acts, but a cleansed heart. The Holiness movement restored this accent to the Church.
God cleanses not only the record of sins, but the believer’s heart.
04Baptism / filling with the Holy Spirit as a subsequent work
THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT RESTOREDThe Church of the Nazarene officially teaches that entire sanctification takes place after regeneration and is wrought through baptism with, or filling of, the Holy Spirit.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYSActs 1:4–8Those who already believed are promised: “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” and “you will receive power.”Acts 8:14–17Already believing and baptized Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit.Acts 19:1–6After the Holy Spirit comes upon them, believers speak in tongues and prophesy.
Restored truthThe Holiness movement rightly saw that the Holy Spirit’s work is not reduced to conversion. It had not yet unfolded the whole picture of Acts, but the fact of a subsequent work of the Spirit is an apostolic truth.
Baptism and filling with the Holy Spirit are not a synonym for conversion; they are a subsequent work of God in the already saved.
05Power for holy life and service
THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT RESTOREDThe Holy Spirit not only cleanses a person, but fills him with the love of God and gives power for life and service.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYSActs 1:8“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses.”Romans 5:5God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.Galatians 5:22–23The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Restored truthThe Holy Spirit gives both cleansing and power. The Holiness movement restored the expectation of power for holy life — though not yet the whole power of the book of Acts.
The Holy Spirit fills with love and gives power to live and serve, not only to be forgiven.
BEYOND THE REFORMATIONWhat was restored compared with the early Reformation
The Reformation restored especially:
justification by faith.
Wesley took the next step:
new birth → the witness of the Spirit → sanctification.
The Holiness movement formulated still more clearly:
after conversion there is a deep subsequent work of the Holy Spirit → cleansing of the heart → entire consecration → filling with the Spirit → power for holy life.
This had already come very close to the experience of the book of Acts.
THE TURNWhere they stopped
It is here that the paths of the Holiness movement and of the later Pentecostal movement diverged.
The Nazarenes bound baptism in the Holy Spirit first of all to the cleansing of the heart, perfect love and the fruit of the Spirit. Historically they consciously rejected the Pentecostal accent on other tongues as the initial evidence of Spirit baptism, and placed the main accent on fruit, not on the supernatural gifts.
But in the book of Acts the Holy Spirit’s action includes not only:
cleansing → holiness → love,
but also:
power → prophecy → tongues → healings → miracles → supernatural gifts.
PART TWO
What still remained to restore
01Other tongues as a living gift of the Holy Spirit
WHERE IT STOPPEDThe Nazarenes historically and consciously rejected the Pentecostal accent on other tongues as the initial evidence of baptism in the Spirit, and placed the main accent on fruit, not on the supernatural gifts.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYSActs 2:4The believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues.Acts 10:44–46The Spirit falls on Cornelius’ household; they speak in tongues and magnify God.Acts 19:6After the Holy Spirit comes upon them, the believers speak in tongues.1 Corinthians 14:39“Do not forbid speaking in tongues.”
Gospel truthThe fruit of the Spirit is necessary. But in Acts other tongues are part of being filled with the Spirit, not a threat to holiness.
Holiness does not cancel the gift of tongues; its absence cannot be presented as the fullness of baptism in the Spirit.
02Prophecy as the Church’s ordinary life
WHERE IT STOPPEDThe Holiness movement restored the expectation of the Spirit’s deep action in the heart, but prophecy as a living gift of the Church largely did not become the norm.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYSActs 2:17–18“I will pour out My Spirit… and they shall prophesy.”1 Corinthians 14:1“Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”1 Thessalonians 5:19–21“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things.”
Gospel truthProphecy is the norm of the Spirit’s outpouring, not a rare exception of holiness of heart.
A cleansed heart does not cancel prophecy; the apostolic response is not a ban, but testing.
03All nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit
WHERE IT STOPPEDThe Nazarenes placed the main accent on the fruit of the Spirit. The fullness of the nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit did not become the norm of church life.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS1 Corinthians 12:7–11The Holy Spirit gives a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation — to each for the common good.
Gospel truthFruit is necessary. Paul also speaks of all the manifestations by which the Spirit acts in the body.
Fruit does not replace the gifts; the apostolic Church knew both holiness and the fullness of the Spirit’s manifestations.
04Gifts of healing and miracles
WHERE IT STOPPEDPrayer and the pursuit of holy life remained, but gifts of healing and miracles as standing gifts of the Spirit usually did not become part of ordinary church life.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS1 Corinthians 12:9–10Among the Spirit’s gifts are named gifts of healing and workings of miracles.
Gospel truthHoliness and prayer are good. The New Testament also speaks of gifts by which God heals and acts supernaturally in the Church.
Healings and miracles are part of the apostolic norm, not an extra that holiness makes unnecessary.
05Discernment of spirits, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom
WHERE IT STOPPEDThese manifestations of the Holy Spirit as supernatural actions in the gathering usually did not become the norm of classical Nazarene church life.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS1 Corinthians 12:8–10To one is given a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge, to another discernment of spirits — by the same Spirit.
Gospel truthSanctification of the heart does not replace the supernatural gifts of revelation by which the Spirit serves the body.
The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge and discernment of spirits are actions of the Holy Spirit in the Church, not human insight in their place.
06The fullness of the fivefold ministry
WHERE IT STOPPEDNazarene church form largely reduced this to pastors, teachers and superintendency. Christ gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYSEphesians 4:11–13Christ gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers — until we all attain to the unity of the faith and to the fullness of Christ.
Gospel truthPastors and teachers are biblical ministries. But Paul also names apostles and prophets among Christ’s gifts to the Church.
Christ gave the Church five ministries until she comes to His fullness; to shorten that list is to narrow what He Himself established.
THE HISTORICAL TURNA decisive historical turning
The Holiness movement became the immediate soil from which the early Pentecostal movement grew.
The first Nazarenes even used the word “Pentecostal” in their name: one of the bodies that entered the future Church of the Nazarene was the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, and the united church was for a time called the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. Then the word “Pentecostal” meant first of all the fullness of sanctification and of the Holy Spirit, before the modern sense of the term.
When in the early twentieth century a new Pentecostal movement arose with an accent on tongues and gifts, the paths diverged. The Nazarenes kept:
baptism in the Holy Spirit → cleansing → holiness → love → power for service,
and the new Pentecostal movement added a particular accent on:
baptism in the Spirit → power → tongues → prophecy → the gifts of the Spirit.
The Holiness movement restored an exceedingly important truth:
God desires not only to forgive the person who has believed, but to sanctify him deeply, cleanse him, fill him with the Holy Spirit and give him power for holy life.
But apostolic fullness does not end with sanctification.
In the book of Acts the same Holy Spirit gives:
holiness + power; fruit + gifts; cleansing + prophecy; love + tongues; the character of Christ + the supernatural action of God.
So the Holiness movement became the last great stage immediately before the restoration of the fullness of the spiritual gifts in the Pentecostal revival.