“Christian Theology for the Church of the Nazarene”

In chapter four of his book A Century of Holiness Theology Dr. Mark Quanstrom writes that the first doctrine that H. Orton Wiley felt was alien to an authentic Wesleyan-holiness theology “was the fundamentalist dogma concerning the inerrancy of the Scriptures.” He was against the “Dictation Theory,” which says “the authors were mere amanuenses and which lent itself most easily to an inerrant view of Scripture…” Wiley wrote, “this theory is…out of harmony with the known manner in which God works in the human soul.” Quanstrom says that Wiley preferred the “Dynamical” method. “This theory allowed Wiley to state that the Bible has a human element. ‘Not only did the Holy Spirit speak through David, David also spoke.’” Wiley believed that “the Scriptures were not necessarily free from all error,” but that “they were free from essential error.” Quanstrom goes on to say that “Another critical doctrine that Wiley felt was alien to an authentic Wesleyan-Holiness theology concerned the doctrine of free moral agency…” Wiley disagreed with Miley and Hills on the ability of mankind to obey God without the grace of God. Quanstrom says, “As a result, the ‘official’ position of the Church of the Nazarene was that salvation was dependent on free grace and not on moral ability.” Quanstrom also writes that “One of Wiley’s intentions was to make certain that entire sanctification was understood in the church as an instantaneous act, a second work of grace.” Wiley believed that sanctification was instantaneous. He believed this because “when the verb to sanctify was used in the New Testament, it was most often used in the aorist tense. This is a tense that indicated a ‘momentary, completed act, without reference to time.’” Wiley understood “progressive sanctification” as not something to replace instantaneous sanctification. Wiley rejected the idea that gradual sanctification meant that one would gradually become more and more holy. Wiley believed that progressive sanctification was “the temporal aspect of the work of grace in the heart, as it takes place in successive stages. Each of these stages is marked by a gradual approach and an instantaneous consummation in experience, and the stages together mark the full scope of sanctifying grace.” Quanstrom writes, “Progressive sanctification was to be strictly understood as the gradual approach in time toward the instantaneous sanctifying experience. Gradual sanctification, according to Wiley, was simply the growing awareness of the need for the instantaneous work of entire sanctification. […] Progressive sanctification was simply a term used to describe the successive instantaneous acts of God in the life of the believer. […] While much terminology, like initial, gradual, partial, or continuous seemed to indicate otherwise, there was only one way to be sanctified wholly and that was to be sanctified instantaneously.” Wiley uses the words “entire sanctification” to describe the complete removal of all sin. He describes this as “the utter destruction of the carnal mind.” Wiley also describes other positive results of being entirely sanctified, saying “While entire sanctification considered from the negative point of view is a cleansing from all sin, from the positive standpoint it is the infilling of divine love.” Quanstrom says that “According to Wiley, there were primarily three important distinctions that needed to be made in order to preserve the doctrine from some of the more popular misconceptions. The first was the distinction between purity and maturity.” Wiley wrote that “Purity is the result of a cleansing from the pollution of sin; maturity is due to growth in grace. Purity is accomplished by an instantaneous act; maturity is gradual and progressive, and is always indefinite and relative.” Wiley’s second distinction was the difference between infirmities and sins. Quanstrom says Wiley believed, “Intentional and voluntary sin brought guilt and condemnation and, as such, required repentance. Infirmities, however, were understood as involuntary and unintentional transgressions of the divine law and were a result of ignorance and weakness as a consequence of the fall of man.” The third distinction Wiley made was on the possibility of temptation. “Wiley held that all Christians, sanctified and not, were subject to temptation and that it was entirely consistent with Christina perfection since Christ himself was tempted.” Quanstrom concludes chapter four by saying, “As might be expected, the early Nazarene church was not too interested in defining their glorious doctrine in limiting terms. They were primarily interested in proclaiming the wonderful possibilities of this second work of grace. With Wiley, that had begun to change.”