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Ü 1 p Pu z z l i ng Passages and Prob l ems i By R. A . TO R R EY i Exp l ana t i ons o f
and that is, when does sanctification take place? It would take pages to answer that question thoroughly accord ing to the Scriptures, so I refer you to my book, or to the volume of sermons. “ Besides giving power for service, what other effects does the baptism of the Holy Ghost have on the heart and life? Does*it effect a purification of the heart from inbred sin?” Primarily the baptism with the Holy Spirit has to do with equipment for service, but it is usually accompanied by a great moral uplift, but the expres sion, “ purification of the heart from inbred sin” is a misleading expression. I go into this at length in the sermon referred to above. “Having once received the baptism of the -Holy Ghost, can a person lose the experience?” A man may be baptized with the Holy Ghost and filled with the Holy Ghost, and afterwards not walk in the power of that experience, and thè power of the Holy Ghost not be manifested in his tes timony and service. Indeed, no matter how definitely one has been baptized with the Holy Spirit, he needs to be filled again and again. The Apostle Peter was certainly baptized with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and yet we find in Acts 4:31 that Peter was again filled with the Holy Ghost on that occasion, as he was also in Acts 4:8, so hère are three occasions when Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, (see Daily Bible Notes for Thursday, Aug. 13).
“ Is the baptism of the Holy Ghost and New Testament sanctification the same experience?” No. Let me call attention also to the fact that the Bible does not speak about “ the baptism of the Holy Ghost,” it speaks about the baptism with the Holy Ghost. “ If the baptism of the Holy Ghost and New Testament sanctification are not the same, what is sanctification? It is difficult to answer this question briefly. I have answered it at length in my book, What the Bible Teaches, in the chapter on Sanctification, and also in a sermon on Sanctification, which is now doing through the press in a book entitled, Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith, to be published by the George H. Doran Co. this summer, but will say here that not only is santifica- tion not the baptism with the Holy Spirit, but let me add, it is not the eradication of the carnal nature. The way to determine what it means is by looking up the usage in the Bible. The word “ sanctification” is used in the Bible in a two-fold sense. The first meaning of sanctify as used in the Bible, is to separate, or set apart for God, and sanctification is the process of setting apart, or state of being set apart for God. The second sense in which sanctify is used in the Bible is to separate from ceremonial or moral defilement, to cleanse, and sanctifica tion is the process of separating, or the state of being separated from ceremon ial or moral defilement. But this leaves a very important question unanswered,
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