For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
God's will for believers is their sanctification, which plainly requires abstaining from fornication and keeping the body in holiness and honor rather than uncleanness. Sanctification means becoming holy and conformed to God in will and image and to Christ's likeness, forming a holy character in harmony with God's holy law. It begins when the sinner finds peace with God and is a progressive, lifelong daily work, accomplished through God's truth and Word by the Holy Spirit and through faith in Christ and His grace, which cannot be attained by human power alone but requires surrender and active cooperation. It requires chastity in mind as well as in words and actions, bringing appetites and passions under the control of conscience, with even married persons accountable to govern passion rather than excuse lustful indulgence. It is shown in cheerfully performing daily duties in obedience, in self-denying service to others, and in temperance of all faculties, which is the opposite of a spurious sanctification marked by noise, fanaticism, and disregard for God's law.
God's Will Declared
For this is the will of God, even the sanctification of believers. Sanctification is God's will and purpose for His people in all His dealings with them. He chose them to be holy, and He gave His Son to redeem them so that by faith in His power to save from sin they might be made holy, complete in Him, and conformed to His image through obedience to the truth and guidance by His Spirit. Their time and strength, as those created and redeemed for this end, are to be used to advance it rather than spent selfishly.
God's law tolerates no sin and demands perfect obedience, so the call to holiness continues without limit. The fitting answer is to seek ever greater holiness. Sanctification belongs to a walk that pleases God and is to be continued and increased in, and it is bound up with honor. It is practical godliness shown in daily life in keeping the commandments given through Jesus, for God has called believers to holiness and not to uncleanness, including abstaining from sexual immorality.
Nature of Sanctification
Sanctification is becoming holy through conformity to God in will, temper, spirit, thought and image, and to the likeness and example of Christ. It requires a fixed purpose engaging the full energy of the being, an intense desire to seek God, and growth toward the full stature of Christ. Self-interest obstructs this work, which depends on the direction of the Holy Spirit, the full use of one's powers, and implicit faith in God rather than reliance on human wisdom. Through living faith and union with Christ believers share in His mediation, being crucified, dying and rising with Him to walk in newness of life. The whole heart and person are set apart, refined and ennobled by God's truth as believers surrender their own will and way so God can shape them according to His likeness.
Sanctification is the forming of a holy character in harmony with God's holy law by obedience. God's law is holy and just and good, a transcript of divine perfection and the only standard of moral perfection, and a character formed by obedience to it will be holy. It is attained through the truth of God's Word and by the Holy Spirit, who guides into all truth and opens the great principles of righteousness embodied in the law. Christ is the perfect example of such a character in keeping His Father's commandments and always doing what pleases Him, and His followers are by God's grace to become like Him. Genuine sanctification comes only through obedience to the truth, not as release from obligation to keep the Father's commandments, and willful violation of one requirement destroys sanctification, silences the Spirit, separates the soul from God, and makes a profession of perfect holiness false and dangerous. This holiness is pursued through humility, confession of sin, trust in the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and longing for Christ's righteousness and grace, by which God forgives and cleanses from unrighteousness and makes the believer blameless. It is not an instantaneous work done by faith alone with no further effort required, and a sanctification marked by self-exaltation and disregard for the law of God is foreign to Bible religion. God's law is the standard of character, and those who lack holiness must learn to walk before God with a perfect heart by seeking Him, confessing sins, and allowing the Holy Spirit to soften and subdue them.
Sanctification reaches the whole person, accomplished through God's truth which is His Word and by the Holy Spirit. It purifies the conscience and the whole person, refines and ennobles the heart, purifies from iniquity, and brings conformity to God's will in thought, word and deed. It involves overcoming rebellious thoughts and feelings and receiving a new life that affects the whole person, so that the truly sanctified do not make their own opinions the standard of right and wrong but carefully guard themselves lest they fail to meet the conditions of God's promises. God's work concerns the whole person, so every part of life is to be given to Him, with the Holy Spirit working constantly to implant new life and shape character through little things, where actions form habits and habits form character.
Sanctification begins when the sinner finds peace with God and continues progressively as believers resist sin and grow toward Christlike maturity through faith in Christ and the Spirit's power. God chose His people to be holy and Christ gave Himself to redeem them so that faith in His power to save from sin may make them complete in Him. It is a progressive work throughout life in which desires and inclinations are brought into conformity with God's will. It is a continuing advance in Christian character, pursued day by day and hour by hour through self-denial within, while outward actions show that Jesus abides in the heart by faith. It is a daily, progressive work forming the soul in Christ's likeness, and knowing God's will advances it while sanctification enlarges the mind and stirs a search for truth rather than shutting the mind off from knowledge.
Sanctification means perfect love and obedience, complete conformity to God's will, unreserved surrender, and a pure, unselfish life. It is shown in Christlike love, tenderness and compassion, as the Word applied to the soul and received as truth in Jesus makes believers partakers of the divine nature and sets them apart for His service. Human effort may correct outward behavior but cannot change or purify the heart, and Christ's grace supplies the inward new life that quickens the soul and draws it to holiness.
Holiness is God's gift through Christ, not a birthright nor what another person can give. Those who receive Christ are born again and renewed in righteousness and holiness, with changed minds and loves, growing to reflect God's likeness through His Spirit.
Means of Sanctification
Sanctification comes through God's truth, which is His Word, and by the Holy Spirit who guides into all truth and opens the great principles of righteousness embodied in the law. It is attained only by obedience to the truth, for God's law is the truth and the only standard of moral perfection, and a heart truly sanctified is in harmony with its holy and just and good precepts. The Word applied to the soul and received as truth in Jesus sets believers apart for service and makes them partakers of the divine nature. This holiness is conformity to God's will in thought, word, and deed, wrought by being made holy through obedience to the truth and purified from iniquity.
It is accomplished through faith in Christ and His grace, through trust in the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and through the Spirit's power. When sinners humble themselves, confess their sins, and trust in those merits, He forgives and cleanses from all unrighteousness and makes the believer blameless. God chose His people to be holy and gave His Son to redeem them, so that faith in His power to save from sin makes them complete in Him. Holiness is His gift through Christ, and those who receive Christ are born again and renewed in righteousness and holiness with changed minds and loves.
This work requires surrender of one's own will and way so God can shape the whole heart and person, refining and ennobling them by His truth into His likeness. It is pursued through humility and confession of sin with longing for Christ's righteousness and grace, and through an intense desire to seek God with fixed purpose and the full energy of the being toward the full stature of Christ. It includes learning from Jesus to soften and subdue natural temperaments that would otherwise gain control. God carries the work forward as people submit to His control, in daily faith and the working of the Holy Spirit.
It cannot be attained by human power or wisdom alone, for human effort may correct outward behavior but cannot change or purify the heart. God supplies the power, working in people both to will and to act, while they must actively work out their salvation rather than remain passive or indolent. Sanctification requires human cooperation with the Holy Spirit, submitting to His drawing toward repentance and taking steps toward Jesus, since even repentance depends on His work. It proceeds under the Spirit's direction by implicit faith in God rather than reliance on human wisdom, with the full use of one's powers and self-interest set aside.
Through living faith and union with Christ, believers share in His mediation and are crucified, dead, and risen with Him to walk in newness of life. Faith works through love, and the death of self allows Christ to live in the believer and purifies the soul.
Call to Sexual Purity
God's will is sanctification lived out in abstaining from fornication, and the requirement is plain and definite on the very point where souls are deceived. Each person is to keep the body in holiness and honor, for the body has been purchased by God and is to be kept for sanctification and holiness after Christ's self-denying pattern. This is practical godliness shown in daily life, walking to please God and growing in that walk according to the commandments given through Jesus. It is a call to holiness rather than uncleanness, in which believers are made holy by obedience to the truth and God's Word, purified from iniquity, and brought into conformity with God's will in thought, word, and deed.
Sanctification includes consecrating the faculties to God and bringing natural appetites and passions under the control of conscience and spiritual powers. It requires chastity not only in words and actions but also in the mind. The law of chastity forbids lustful fantasies, solitary sexual vice, and sensual excess, and ignorance of its claims does not make such conduct innocent.
The marriage covenant does not make lustful or excessive indulgence sinless. Married people remain accountable to govern their passions and avoid lustful conduct. Such indulgence dishonors and harms the body, wastes health and life, and can bring suffering and premature death.
The verse was written to meet in Paul's own day the same kind of characters still met with, men professing great and new light as reformers. They gain confidence and power over honest souls desiring a higher standard, over honest dissatisfied minds, and over women of virtue, good reasoning, and good judgment, and then use that influence to deceive them into impurity. Their work is to cover impurity with garments of righteousness.
Choosing the society of a man of impure mind and licentious habits and calling that attraction a high and holy affinity of spirit and spiritual harmony stands condemned. That so-called affinity is spiritual wickedness in high places, the track of the old serpent bringing death to body and soul. Against it vigorous warfare with no quarter must be made.
Breaking this command comes from the unsanctified heart that is desperately wicked. Indulgence darkens spiritual vision and blunts and stupefies perception. Its guilt, corruption, and shame defile the whole man, mar God's image in man, corrupt the entire nature, derange and degrade every power, dishonor the cause of truth, and bring unhappiness and degradation joined to death and hell. When practiced under a cloak of godliness it brings the heaviest retribution, and those who profess to keep God's binding commandments yet commit fornication or adultery dishonor Him and reproach the truth with especially great guilt.
Sanctified Daily Living
Sanctification is God's will as a daily work of building character, shown in cheerfully performing daily duties in perfect obedience to that will. Day by day and hour by hour self-denial and the inward work must continue, while outward actions show that Jesus abides in the heart by faith. That outward showing appears in words and conduct that honor the Saviour and in using influence to bless others. It does not shut the mind off from knowledge but enlarges the mind and stirs a search for truth, and knowing God's will advances the work.
A sanctified life follows Christ's self-denying example and pattern of consecrated service, with the purchased body kept for sanctification and holiness. It involves walking by the Spirit and serving others for God's glory rather than living for self. It is marked by overcoming through Christ and by words of praise and thanksgiving to God and the Lamb. Cheerful, willing service itself helps reveal traits that need correction and strengthens weaknesses as part of reaching Christian perfection.
Nothing short of a life in which holiness is a delight is acceptable to God. In that life God's Word guides and tests thoughts, words, and deeds, godly company is chosen, sin is grieved over rather than enjoyed, self-love and vanity are renounced, and the person lives for God rich in good works. Sanctification means practicing the truth and cultivating and training every capability for the Lord's service. Time and strength are to be used to advance God's purpose in creating and redeeming people rather than spent selfishly.
In home, school, and church this appears as a holy influence going forth, with the grace of Christ received into the life and revealed in the character. It means decided improvement in discipline in recently opened schools, with teachers laboring together with God so that the fruit of righteousness appears in students' lives. It means parents remembering that mind, voice, influence, and all powers are God's gifts to be used in winning souls to Christ, so that each family becomes a missionary family and students grow in character and use their abilities to lead others to Christ.
Upward spiritual growth calls for every faculty to be kept healthy and used faithfully in daily consecration and service to God. This requires temperance in eating, drinking, dress, labor, and study, together with love of purity and holiness, enabling people through the truth to become sanctified. It means bringing natural appetites and passions under the control of conscience and spiritual powers, turning from self-indulgence and mastering wrong habits and practices through cooperation with God. Cultivating the intellect helps people understand God's will and use their powers to honor Him and bless others, putting all powers into loving God and neighbor. This cannot be done by human strength alone, for God supplies divine aid and works in people to will and do what pleases Him, while people must respond, submit to the Spirit's influence, take steps toward Jesus, and exert effort rather than remain passive or indolent, since even repentance depends on the Spirit's work.
Sanctification means being refined, purified, and made holy, holding fast to God and following the instruction He has given. It means exalting the truth in all works, and here that includes devoting oneself to ministry and preparing books for the conversion of souls. Through daily training and diligent labor the indwelling Spirit enables revelation of Christlikeness and growth in understanding so as to better help others, and all who walk humbly with God are sustained in this life by the grace of Christ. True sanctification is the opposite of modern spurious sanctification, which consists in religion as noise, shouting and bellowing and foaming and acting like men bereft of reason, called the power, but with no religion in it. It does not show itself in fanaticism and heresies in words and deportment among those professing to keep God's law, because such fanaticism disgusts unbelievers and causes them to cast truth and fanaticism in the same scale and count them of the same value. Being holy in accord with God's will and character requires coming into harmony with the principles that express His nature and will and show what is well-pleasing to Him, which is obedience to the law of God and the commandments, so sanctification is not an instantaneous work done by faith alone with no further effort required, and a sanctification marked by self-exaltation and disregard for God's law is foreign to Bible religion.
God's will for believers is their sanctification, which plainly requires abstaining from fornication and keeping the body in holiness and honor rather than uncleanness.
Sanctification means becoming holy and conformed to God in will and image and to Christ's likeness, forming a holy character in harmony with God's holy law.
It begins when the sinner finds peace with God and is a progressive, lifelong daily work, accomplished through God's truth and Word by the Holy Spirit and through faith in Christ and His grace, which cannot be attained by human power alone but requires surrender and active cooperation.
It requires chastity in mind as well as in words and actions, bringing appetites and passions under the control of conscience, with even married persons accountable to govern passion rather than excuse lustful indulgence.
It is shown in cheerfully performing daily duties in obedience, in self-denying service to others, and in temperance of all faculties, which is the opposite of a spurious sanctification marked by noise, fanaticism, and disregard for God's law.
God's Will Declared
For this is the will of God, even the sanctification of believers. Sanctification is God's will and purpose for His people in all His dealings with them. He chose them to be holy, and He gave His Son to redeem them so that by faith in His power to save from sin they might be made holy, complete in Him, and conformed to His image through obedience to the truth and guidance by His Spirit. Their time and strength, as those created and redeemed for this end, are to be used to advance it rather than spent selfishly.
God's law tolerates no sin and demands perfect obedience, so the call to holiness continues without limit. The fitting answer is to seek ever greater holiness. Sanctification belongs to a walk that pleases God and is to be continued and increased in, and it is bound up with honor. It is practical godliness shown in daily life in keeping the commandments given through Jesus, for God has called believers to holiness and not to uncleanness, including abstaining from sexual immorality.
Nature of Sanctification
Sanctification is becoming holy through conformity to God in will, temper, spirit, thought and image, and to the likeness and example of Christ. It requires a fixed purpose engaging the full energy of the being, an intense desire to seek God, and growth toward the full stature of Christ. Self-interest obstructs this work, which depends on the direction of the Holy Spirit, the full use of one's powers, and implicit faith in God rather than reliance on human wisdom. Through living faith and union with Christ believers share in His mediation, being crucified, dying and rising with Him to walk in newness of life. The whole heart and person are set apart, refined and ennobled by God's truth as believers surrender their own will and way so God can shape them according to His likeness.
Sanctification is the forming of a holy character in harmony with God's holy law by obedience. God's law is holy and just and good, a transcript of divine perfection and the only standard of moral perfection, and a character formed by obedience to it will be holy. It is attained through the truth of God's Word and by the Holy Spirit, who guides into all truth and opens the great principles of righteousness embodied in the law. Christ is the perfect example of such a character in keeping His Father's commandments and always doing what pleases Him, and His followers are by God's grace to become like Him. Genuine sanctification comes only through obedience to the truth, not as release from obligation to keep the Father's commandments, and willful violation of one requirement destroys sanctification, silences the Spirit, separates the soul from God, and makes a profession of perfect holiness false and dangerous. This holiness is pursued through humility, confession of sin, trust in the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and longing for Christ's righteousness and grace, by which God forgives and cleanses from unrighteousness and makes the believer blameless. It is not an instantaneous work done by faith alone with no further effort required, and a sanctification marked by self-exaltation and disregard for the law of God is foreign to Bible religion. God's law is the standard of character, and those who lack holiness must learn to walk before God with a perfect heart by seeking Him, confessing sins, and allowing the Holy Spirit to soften and subdue them.
Sanctification reaches the whole person, accomplished through God's truth which is His Word and by the Holy Spirit. It purifies the conscience and the whole person, refines and ennobles the heart, purifies from iniquity, and brings conformity to God's will in thought, word and deed. It involves overcoming rebellious thoughts and feelings and receiving a new life that affects the whole person, so that the truly sanctified do not make their own opinions the standard of right and wrong but carefully guard themselves lest they fail to meet the conditions of God's promises. God's work concerns the whole person, so every part of life is to be given to Him, with the Holy Spirit working constantly to implant new life and shape character through little things, where actions form habits and habits form character.
Sanctification begins when the sinner finds peace with God and continues progressively as believers resist sin and grow toward Christlike maturity through faith in Christ and the Spirit's power. God chose His people to be holy and Christ gave Himself to redeem them so that faith in His power to save from sin may make them complete in Him. It is a progressive work throughout life in which desires and inclinations are brought into conformity with God's will. It is a continuing advance in Christian character, pursued day by day and hour by hour through self-denial within, while outward actions show that Jesus abides in the heart by faith. It is a daily, progressive work forming the soul in Christ's likeness, and knowing God's will advances it while sanctification enlarges the mind and stirs a search for truth rather than shutting the mind off from knowledge.
Sanctification means perfect love and obedience, complete conformity to God's will, unreserved surrender, and a pure, unselfish life. It is shown in Christlike love, tenderness and compassion, as the Word applied to the soul and received as truth in Jesus makes believers partakers of the divine nature and sets them apart for His service. Human effort may correct outward behavior but cannot change or purify the heart, and Christ's grace supplies the inward new life that quickens the soul and draws it to holiness.
Holiness is God's gift through Christ, not a birthright nor what another person can give. Those who receive Christ are born again and renewed in righteousness and holiness, with changed minds and loves, growing to reflect God's likeness through His Spirit.
Means of Sanctification
Sanctification comes through God's truth, which is His Word, and by the Holy Spirit who guides into all truth and opens the great principles of righteousness embodied in the law. It is attained only by obedience to the truth, for God's law is the truth and the only standard of moral perfection, and a heart truly sanctified is in harmony with its holy and just and good precepts. The Word applied to the soul and received as truth in Jesus sets believers apart for service and makes them partakers of the divine nature. This holiness is conformity to God's will in thought, word, and deed, wrought by being made holy through obedience to the truth and purified from iniquity.
It is accomplished through faith in Christ and His grace, through trust in the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and through the Spirit's power. When sinners humble themselves, confess their sins, and trust in those merits, He forgives and cleanses from all unrighteousness and makes the believer blameless. God chose His people to be holy and gave His Son to redeem them, so that faith in His power to save from sin makes them complete in Him. Holiness is His gift through Christ, and those who receive Christ are born again and renewed in righteousness and holiness with changed minds and loves.
This work requires surrender of one's own will and way so God can shape the whole heart and person, refining and ennobling them by His truth into His likeness. It is pursued through humility and confession of sin with longing for Christ's righteousness and grace, and through an intense desire to seek God with fixed purpose and the full energy of the being toward the full stature of Christ. It includes learning from Jesus to soften and subdue natural temperaments that would otherwise gain control. God carries the work forward as people submit to His control, in daily faith and the working of the Holy Spirit.
It cannot be attained by human power or wisdom alone, for human effort may correct outward behavior but cannot change or purify the heart. God supplies the power, working in people both to will and to act, while they must actively work out their salvation rather than remain passive or indolent. Sanctification requires human cooperation with the Holy Spirit, submitting to His drawing toward repentance and taking steps toward Jesus, since even repentance depends on His work. It proceeds under the Spirit's direction by implicit faith in God rather than reliance on human wisdom, with the full use of one's powers and self-interest set aside.
Through living faith and union with Christ, believers share in His mediation and are crucified, dead, and risen with Him to walk in newness of life. Faith works through love, and the death of self allows Christ to live in the believer and purifies the soul.
Call to Sexual Purity
God's will is sanctification lived out in abstaining from fornication, and the requirement is plain and definite on the very point where souls are deceived. Each person is to keep the body in holiness and honor, for the body has been purchased by God and is to be kept for sanctification and holiness after Christ's self-denying pattern. This is practical godliness shown in daily life, walking to please God and growing in that walk according to the commandments given through Jesus. It is a call to holiness rather than uncleanness, in which believers are made holy by obedience to the truth and God's Word, purified from iniquity, and brought into conformity with God's will in thought, word, and deed.
Sanctification includes consecrating the faculties to God and bringing natural appetites and passions under the control of conscience and spiritual powers. It requires chastity not only in words and actions but also in the mind. The law of chastity forbids lustful fantasies, solitary sexual vice, and sensual excess, and ignorance of its claims does not make such conduct innocent.
The marriage covenant does not make lustful or excessive indulgence sinless. Married people remain accountable to govern their passions and avoid lustful conduct. Such indulgence dishonors and harms the body, wastes health and life, and can bring suffering and premature death.
The verse was written to meet in Paul's own day the same kind of characters still met with, men professing great and new light as reformers. They gain confidence and power over honest souls desiring a higher standard, over honest dissatisfied minds, and over women of virtue, good reasoning, and good judgment, and then use that influence to deceive them into impurity. Their work is to cover impurity with garments of righteousness.
Choosing the society of a man of impure mind and licentious habits and calling that attraction a high and holy affinity of spirit and spiritual harmony stands condemned. That so-called affinity is spiritual wickedness in high places, the track of the old serpent bringing death to body and soul. Against it vigorous warfare with no quarter must be made.
Breaking this command comes from the unsanctified heart that is desperately wicked. Indulgence darkens spiritual vision and blunts and stupefies perception. Its guilt, corruption, and shame defile the whole man, mar God's image in man, corrupt the entire nature, derange and degrade every power, dishonor the cause of truth, and bring unhappiness and degradation joined to death and hell. When practiced under a cloak of godliness it brings the heaviest retribution, and those who profess to keep God's binding commandments yet commit fornication or adultery dishonor Him and reproach the truth with especially great guilt.
Sanctified Daily Living
Sanctification is God's will as a daily work of building character, shown in cheerfully performing daily duties in perfect obedience to that will. Day by day and hour by hour self-denial and the inward work must continue, while outward actions show that Jesus abides in the heart by faith. That outward showing appears in words and conduct that honor the Saviour and in using influence to bless others. It does not shut the mind off from knowledge but enlarges the mind and stirs a search for truth, and knowing God's will advances the work.
A sanctified life follows Christ's self-denying example and pattern of consecrated service, with the purchased body kept for sanctification and holiness. It involves walking by the Spirit and serving others for God's glory rather than living for self. It is marked by overcoming through Christ and by words of praise and thanksgiving to God and the Lamb. Cheerful, willing service itself helps reveal traits that need correction and strengthens weaknesses as part of reaching Christian perfection.
Nothing short of a life in which holiness is a delight is acceptable to God. In that life God's Word guides and tests thoughts, words, and deeds, godly company is chosen, sin is grieved over rather than enjoyed, self-love and vanity are renounced, and the person lives for God rich in good works. Sanctification means practicing the truth and cultivating and training every capability for the Lord's service. Time and strength are to be used to advance God's purpose in creating and redeeming people rather than spent selfishly.
In home, school, and church this appears as a holy influence going forth, with the grace of Christ received into the life and revealed in the character. It means decided improvement in discipline in recently opened schools, with teachers laboring together with God so that the fruit of righteousness appears in students' lives. It means parents remembering that mind, voice, influence, and all powers are God's gifts to be used in winning souls to Christ, so that each family becomes a missionary family and students grow in character and use their abilities to lead others to Christ.
Upward spiritual growth calls for every faculty to be kept healthy and used faithfully in daily consecration and service to God. This requires temperance in eating, drinking, dress, labor, and study, together with love of purity and holiness, enabling people through the truth to become sanctified. It means bringing natural appetites and passions under the control of conscience and spiritual powers, turning from self-indulgence and mastering wrong habits and practices through cooperation with God. Cultivating the intellect helps people understand God's will and use their powers to honor Him and bless others, putting all powers into loving God and neighbor. This cannot be done by human strength alone, for God supplies divine aid and works in people to will and do what pleases Him, while people must respond, submit to the Spirit's influence, take steps toward Jesus, and exert effort rather than remain passive or indolent, since even repentance depends on the Spirit's work.
Sanctification means being refined, purified, and made holy, holding fast to God and following the instruction He has given. It means exalting the truth in all works, and here that includes devoting oneself to ministry and preparing books for the conversion of souls. Through daily training and diligent labor the indwelling Spirit enables revelation of Christlikeness and growth in understanding so as to better help others, and all who walk humbly with God are sustained in this life by the grace of Christ. True sanctification is the opposite of modern spurious sanctification, which consists in religion as noise, shouting and bellowing and foaming and acting like men bereft of reason, called the power, but with no religion in it. It does not show itself in fanaticism and heresies in words and deportment among those professing to keep God's law, because such fanaticism disgusts unbelievers and causes them to cast truth and fanaticism in the same scale and count them of the same value. Being holy in accord with God's will and character requires coming into harmony with the principles that express His nature and will and show what is well-pleasing to Him, which is obedience to the law of God and the commandments, so sanctification is not an instantaneous work done by faith alone with no further effort required, and a sanctification marked by self-exaltation and disregard for God's law is foreign to Bible religion.