The Call to Christian Perfection

Whether Christian Perfection is attainable in this life is a question of first importance. There is a perfection that is not. The final perfecting of grace awaits its consummation in glory. This is the perfection to which St. Paul said he had not yet attained, but to which he was ever pressing forward as the great end for which he was apprehended in Christ Jesus. That is the perfection of finality, whereas Christian Perfection is one of adjustment and completeness. It does not even imply maturity, much less finality. Christian Perfection is neither physical nor mental. It is in the heart, the motive, and the will. Can the love of God be perfected in the soul in this life? God commands it and expects it. The experience is described by a variety of terms, but they all represent the same truth from different aspects. Wesley spoke of it as Entire Sanctification; a term which is scriptural and intelligible. No honest believer in the Bible can deny the necessity for sanctification. Without it no man can see the Lord. Therefore, it must be attainable before the manifestation of God to the soul. There is nothing in the death of the body that can perfect the work of sanctification in the soul, and the Scriptures give no hope of purgatorial perfecting. If Christian Perfection is attainable at all it must be in the conditions of our present life.