(•J) This conscious self-consecration to the indwelling Spirit, to carry out God's will alone umler His prompting, and so to bear only * the fruit of the Spirit ' (Gal •^^■), is set forth under various ligures, but is uniformly represented as a single act— whether of breaking deiinitely with sinful habits, or of self-devotion to the Divine sway. ' Let us (once for all) cleanse ourselves (»ea(?o- pi(Ttafj.fv eovTov?) from all pollution of tieshand spirit, perfecting holiness («iriT«AoyvTe5aYcw<rut'Ji»') in the fear of (iod ' (2 Co T'). *I beseech you . . . to present (irapaa-T^<rat) your bodies a living sacrilice. hallowed, acceptable to God, as your spiritual service; and undergo, not a process of conformity to this age. but of transformation in mentnl renewal, that ye may prove what the will <)f God is — that good and acceptable and perfect will ' (Ro 12^'-). Here the process of gradual conformity to God's will is represented as following upon a definite self-surrender. In which the virtual or ideal relation to Gm!, implied in trustful accept- ance of Christ as * righteousness and sanctiiication * to the sinful soul, is consciously realized and realHrmed. As united to Christ by faith, Christians had 'died to sin.' and their ' old man ' (ohi moral personality) was crucilied with Him (Gal b-*) and virtually 'put off'; coincidently they had been 'raised together with Christ,' in the power o? a new moral jiersonalily, and hail virtually 'put on the new man which is In process of renewal unto full insight after the image of Him that created him ' (Uo 6--10, Col :ji>-U, Eph A---*). But to this, their virtual state, many neeiJed to be awakened, in order to put themselves consciously into the line of the Divine will and working, and no longer ignore the Holy Spirit's inward striving to work out, in realizeil acts, the consecrate<l attitude of their inmost being. And such awakening and real consecration— such arming for the iVay — was rather a thing of definite decision (expressed by aorists, Ro 13'*, Col 10i-, Kph C"- i^-ifl) than of vaguely pro- tracted process (expressed by presents).
(3) liut such definitive self-surrender is no prelude to a life of effortless passivity. The true altitude once definitively assumed, it is to bo reattirmed in a lifelong process of conscious acts of obedience, the grounds, bearing, and issues of which are now appreciated (Epli <P*^' '*). No longer will it be marked by fre- quent'grieving of the Spirit,' who has 'sealed' the soiil for final redemption, but by a * filling with the Spirit' (Eph 4^ .V»). In such a process the CJiristian is 'consummating holiness' (cTTtTtAwi' ayiuttrvi-rit'), being hallowed in fresh ranges of his pow- ers, even as Christ could say, ' For their sakes I hallow myself, that they themselves also may be hallowed by (the) truth ' (Jn 171a. iTj Such hallowing has no necet^sary connexion with purification from sin, but only with realization of the possi- bilities of devotion to God's will in love. It was here (hat St. Paul felt himself not yet to have attained or to have been brought to perfection.
(c) The EpiKtle to the Jhhreirs, — It was probably of this positive holiness^ resuliini; from deepened ccmsecration, that the writer to tlie Hebrews was tliinkinf^ when he spoke of the Divine discipline of Kiiftering as meant to issue in participation in the Father's holiness (l^'"). liut, on llie whole, the objective aspect of sanctiiication, that of a true covenant-relation established by the offering of the Son's holy will in Ilis life-blood, i)revails in this Kpistle. In it cleansini;, consecration, and perfecti(m* (O'-'^f IQio- "), alPrefer to the initial status of the believer (so Ac '2i\^^, cf. 2(>'-'). Ji'> one of perfect access to the Father throu;ih tlie perfect sacrifice of tlie Mediator. The piesent i>articiple, ol dyta^6p€voit does not refer to progressive sanc- tiiication, but expresses a constantly growing class, and so is equivalent to ol dytoi (2*' 10**).
{<!) St. Peter. — We have seen already how his use of 4v dytafffitf irvtvparos refers to the initial con.secration wrought and sealed by the Spirit. Similarly in 1 1* l--' ras yj/vx^s vfiuv i}yifiK6T€^ 4v tj
• Mo Ti' in't TT)VT«\tt67'riTa ^tpw^c^a l« only a seeming excep- tion ; for It refers to knowledge, not to personal characlor.
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SANCTIFICATIOX
SANCTIFICATION
Kap5ias d\XT;Xoi/s a'ya.iTjjaaTe f^recufs, a.va'yeyevvritJ.ivoL^ K.T.X., the perfect. ^7^iK6res (like anayeyefy-nix^uoi') ' refers back to the initial ai-t of consecration, of whicli iheir acceptance of baptism was tlie out- ward sign. The working out of tliis . . . remained ' (llort); and it is represented as something to be taken in hand once for all (aorist). With this accords the other pertinent passage, 1 P 1 !■''', though it has but little theoretic significance. Ilort lakes its imperative, 'become ye holy' (£7101 . . . 7enj(>7)r£), to refer to manifestation, not to essence. The thought is, ' show yourselves holy, as you are,' 'show forth in your converse with others the holiness that attaclies to your standing as consecrated by the Spirit's touch.' So, too, in 2 P ] ^ff believers are conceived to be, through the fulfilment of the pri^cioiis promises of the gospel, ' sharers in (the) Divine nature,' and separate or hal- lowed from the corruptiou of worldly desire. But progress is still requisite in order to ensure the final fruition of their calling and election. They are called diligently to add to their faith virtue, insight, self-control, patience, piety, brotherly affection, and, to crown all, love. These are re- garded as fruit, tokens of true knowledge of Christ. Their absence argues dull vision of things divine, and a forgetfulness of a man's initial cleansing from his old sins. Here the fact of progress in the experimental realization of the Divine life within is implied, but little or no theory of its rationale is given. Akin to this, in its practical point of view, seem the words in Kev 2:i" 6 4710s ayiajeriTu en : for parallelism with 6 5iKaios diKaioavvTji' TTotijcrdTti} en tends to fix its meaning as ' let the saint still (once more) act as a saint.'