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The Incarnation and the Healing of our Human Nature
by Major Alan Harley

“That which is unassumed is unhealed”. So said the Fathers of the Eastern Church. Jesus is able to save us because he is one of us and one with us. He is “truly man”.

In the Eastern Church tradition Christ's redemptive work is understood in terms of healing, whereas in the Western Church the emphasis has been on its forensic significance. Randy Maddox contends that this is also the way in which Wesley understood the atonement.

Jesus assumed human nature as it truly was; human nature scarred by the Fall. He lived a holy life in the truest sense of the term but he nevertheless “humbled himself and (was) born in the (authentic) likeness of  men”  (Phil. 2:7). He was truly one of us. “the Word, though remaining what it was, became what it was not.”[1]

Why was this?  He became a partaker of our human nature (Heb. 2:14) that we might become partakers of his divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). He became like us so that we might become like him.

Not only is he homoousios with the Father, by his incarnation he is homoousios with us!

By becoming ‘flesh’ Jesus sanctified human it, making it a worthy vessel for God’s holiness.

The Word made flesh?

It is thus quite wrong to view the flesh with disgust as have some devout people in every age. Such a view drove many to mutilate the body, reject marriage, view sexual activity as intrinsically sinfully, and see the human body as an evil thing to be subjugated and as a prison house from which an early release would be most desirable.

Mind you, this God-given temple is not without its challenges. John Gowans writes:

Thanks for my body,

awesome in design,

its quick responses

bear the mark divine.

For none but God Almighty

really could

make so much magic

our of so much mud!

This earthen vessel,

made for me, to measure,

is nonetheless

a casket for a treasure

whose value I don't even

dare to guess;

whose purposes are planned

by God – no less!

Thanks for my body,

but Lord give the grace

to keep the blighter

in its proper place.

In speaking of the glory of God (i.e. His holiness, 2 Cor. 3:18) Paul reminds his readers that this treasure is indeed contained in jars of clay (2 Cor.4:6,7).

Becoming Like God

The Fathers of the Eastern Church spoke of the Christian’s ‘divinisation’ or theosis. Most Protestants have recoiled from such an idea. Among the few who haven’t was Charles Wesley. He kept alive a view which was part of the spiritual heritage of the English church, that of participation in God.[2]  In a great hymn on the Incarnation “Let earth and heaven combine”, he wrote

He deigns in flesh to appear,

widest extremes to join;

To bring our vileness near,

and make us all divine;

And we the life of God shall know,

for God is manifest below.

He appears in flesh to make us divine! That is precisely what the early Fathers taught. This is, they believed, what it means to be a partaker (lit. a ‘sharer-in’) of the divine nature.

Another hymn-writer expresses it thus,

I want, dear Lord, a heart that's true and clean

a sunlit heart, with not a cloud between;

A heart like Thine, a heart divine

A heart as white as snow;

On me, dear Lord, a heart like this bestow.

Of all the positions regarding sanctification and Christian living, the one that comes the closest to that of the Fathers and the Eastern Church is that of the Wesleys. A. M. Allchin says of the Wesley verse quoted above: “In such a hymn we see how the doctrine of the incarnation carries with it as a direct consequence the doctrine of man’s deification.” [3]

The Wesleyan understanding of holiness of life has since the late 19^th century been popularised by such writers and preachers as Congregationalist Daniel Steele, Church of the Nazarene teacher A. M. Hills, Salvationist S. L. Brengle, Methodist W. E. Sangster and  Baptist Oswald Chambers.  Designated by Wesley as ‘Christian Perfection’ and ‘Perfect Love’ it has been linked to the teaching of ‘entire sanctification’.  Christians are called to experience entire sanctification, a ‘crisis’ which enables them to lead a life of Christian perfection. Terms such as these come very close to the theosis of Eastern Church teaching. 

Unlike John and Charles Wesley, few of the popularisers of this doctrine have appreciated their indebtedness to the Eastern Fathers and the Orthodox tradition. Indeed, it was not until when, in the last century, American Wesley scholars such as Albert Outler and Randy Maddox recognised the link between Wesleyan and Patristic[4] theology that view gained acceptance among Wesleyan scholars.

A Sea-Voyage Revelation

Wesley’s contact with the Fathers of the Eastern church can be traced at least to his journey to George on board the S. S. Simmonds, in 1735.  During the trip he encountered two spiritual forces which were to have a profound influence on his thinking in later years:

The Influence of the Moravians

The first was that of the Moravian brethren on board ship, under the leadership of Augustus Spangenberg.  These earnest Christians introduced him to experiential religion, evangelical faith, and warm-hearted pietism. Each of these would become a part of what is now term Wesleyanism.

The Moravians trace their ancestry to Huss, and thus represent that movement which was 'Protestant' before the Reformation.

The influence of Macarius

The second was much older. Wesley spent many profitable hours reading, studying and translating the writings of Macarius of Egypt, a fourth century monk.  This voice from the ancient east was to have a profound influence on Wesley’s understanding of the holy life. Much of his subsequent writing on the subject reflected that influence. For example, Macarius wrote

As iron, or lead, or gold, or silver, when cast into the fire is freed from that hard consistency which is natural to it, being changed into softness, and so long as it continues in the fire, is still dissolved from its native hardness – after the same manner the soul that has renounced the world, and has received the heavenly fire of the Godhead, and of the love of the Spirit, is disentangled from all the love of the world, and set free from all the corruptions and affections; It turns all things out of itself, and is changed from the hardness of sin, and melted down in a fervent and unspeakable love for the Heavenly Bridegroom.[5]

Macarius was in the tradition of Athanasius rather than that of Augustine.

His understanding of “perfection” was 'eastern' rather than 'western'.

Donald Bloesch reflects this perspective:

In presenting our own position (on Christian Perfection) we must first point out there are two kinds of perfection – that of Jesus Christ, which is perfect, and that of the Christian, his own works of love, which is forever imperfect. Yet we can speak of a Christian perfection that is possible for the believer – not an ethical perfection (which Wesley referred to) but a perfection of faith. Christian perfection is an evangelical, not a legal, perfection. Its measure of is faith, not any kind of work, and at every stage it remains dependent on the forgiveness of sins. It is a spiritual maturity reflected in increasing dependence on God and the merits of Jesus Christ (cf. Heb. 5:14; 6:1). “It is”, says Forsyth, “a perfection of attitude rather than achievement, of relation more than of realisation, of trust more than behaviour.” It is the perfection of a relationship with Christ, not a perfection of conduct or character. ..... The hallmark of maturity in Christ is a boldness of faith and a freedom of love which makes our very lives a vibrant witness to the love of Jesus Christ. The fullness of perfection ever lies before us (as Wesley also recognised), but even now we can grow up and be mature in Christ.

As he moved toward an ever greater perfection, however, the Christian is ever more conscious of his imperfection. The fruits of his faith are visible to others but not to himself. In Calvin's view, “the more eminently anyone excels in holiness, the farther he feels himself from perfect righteousness, and the more clearly he perceives that he can trust in nothing but the mercy of God alone.”[6]

Prior to the Moravian and Macarian influences on Wesley's thinking there was, of course,

The Influence of Anglicanism

Much of Wesley's 'perfection' language is 'prayer book' language.

He was committed to the doctrine and Homilies of his church.

He was shaped in his thinking by Anglican divines such as William Law and his writings on Christian Perfection and Lancelot Andrewes who said that 'perfection' is to 'grow still from grace to grace.' It is, he said 'the perfection of a traveller.'

The Journey of Perfection

Here is the believer, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, on a journey. That person does not travel alone but in fellowship with God.  In this journey holiness of life is the result of an abiding relationship with the one who is our sanctification.

It is not asking for the blessing of holiness or perfection, but of living in contact with the perfect one, the Holy One of God.

Christian theology affirms both Christus pro nobis – Christ for us, and Christus in nobis – Christ in us. The Handbook of Doctrine clearly states the latter principle:

Holiness in man is possible only when Jesus, who once lived among men, lives in them in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

This transformation is concerned with what the sanctifying work of God  does in and through men by

(1)   delivering from self and sin

(2)   purifying from defilement

(3)   transforming their lives in holy love so that devotion to God takes the place of devotion to self, and wrongdoing is replaced by holy conduct.

.....holiness .... is the moral quality and character and conduct shown by those who, through the indwelling Christ, share Christ's nature and consent to be ruled by Him. (p. 151)

“Blessed are the pure in heart” said Jesus, “they shall see God.” And the converse is true: Blessed are those who (like Isaiah in the temple) see God, they shall be pure in heart.

Brengle said:

'I knew a man in Christ,' - that is the abiding experience. Daily, hourly, momently we are to choose Him as our Master, walk with Him, trust Him, obey Him, draw from Him our strength, wisdom, courage, purity, every gift and grace needed for our soul's life. The supply of all our needs is in Him. Our sap, our life, our leaf and fruit are from Him.

His Sanctification – and Ours

“For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they may be truly sanctified” (John 17:19, KJV)

Christ's Self-Sanctification

A return to authentic Wesleyan thought is as much a return to the beliefs of Charles Wesley as to those of his more celebrated brother. Charles Wesley’s hymn, referred to in the previous lesson, reflects Patristic thought in linking a ‘deifying’ work of grace with the incarnation. It is, thus, also a return to to thinking of the Eastern Fathers.

As suggested, Christ’s willingness “in flesh to appear” was God’s way of sanctifying it and making it an appropriate vessel for his holiness. T. F. Torrance writes

From his birth to his death and resurrection on our behalf he sanctified what he assumed through his own self-consecration as incarnate Son to the Father, and in sanctifying it brought the divine judgement to bear directly upon our human nature both in the holy life he lived and in the holy death he died in atoning and reconciling sacrifice before God. That was a vicarious activity which was brought to its triumphant fulfilment and which received the verdict of the Father’s complete approval in the resurrection of Jesus as God’s beloved Son from the dead and the rebirth of our humanity in him.”[7]

Torrance holds that through his hypostatic union[8] with the Father and by his vicarious humanity as well as his atoning death Christ gives to us both his negative righteousness (forgiveness and remission of sins), and his positive righteousness.

The latter was expressed by Christ in terms of

1. total obedience

2. perfect love for humankind

3. unbroken fellowship with his Father

Note:

1. Christ has lived a truly holy life in the flesh.

2. He was “made our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

3. We are called to share in his nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and in so doing we share in the very life of the one who said “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth” (John 17:19).

Our Sanctification, in Him

He assumed our human nature in order to heal it. The purpose of this healing work was that the image and likeness of God, defaced by sin, might be restored by grace (Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:10). 

Jesus Christ is himself that image (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3) and by participation in his life we “are changed into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18).  [discuss this verse]

Fallen humanity comes into vital contact with perfect humanity and healing takes place.

In this connection it is interesting to note that the word in 1 Thess. 5:23 which speaks of the believer’s “whole spirit and soul and body” (holokleros) appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in Acts 3:16 in describing the healing of the lame man at the temple: “the faith which is given through Jesus has given this man perfect health” (RSV).

God in Christ came to make us ‘whole’. This was no new thing. In the Old Testament God reveals himself as Yahweh Mekaddishkem – the God who sanctifies (Ex.31:13; Lev. 20:8; 21:8, 15, 23; 22:9, 16, 32; Ezek. 20:12; 37:28). Jesus, in turn, in bodily form reveals God to us (Col. 15, 19;2:9, 10). As such, he is the revelation of the God who sanctifies.

He is also the one demonstration of a human being who in every sense was entirely sanctified. 

He is thus both the sanctified  (the truly consecrated) and the sanctifier and those who are in fellowship with him share his sanctification.  God’s holiness is a treasure in human ‘containers’. Thus all the glory goes to God the sanctifier, not the person being sanctified (2 Cor. 4:7).

Thus the holiness to which we testify is his, not ours. It is the result of a relationship. It is the fruit of the indwelling life of Christ by his Spirit. Nazarene scholar Mildred Bangs Wynkoop writes

Holiness is the moment-by moment impartation of the life of Christ to the human heart. In Him, not us, is holiness

This treasure is in earthen vessels – “pots of clay.” In this, Wesley concurred. Our humanness is not a handicap, nor a matter for apology. Certainly it is not something to be discarded, either in this life or in the next. It is the human which is

1.      the basis for fellowship

2.      the means for communication

3.      the arena for displaying the reflection of the glory of God.

Jesus was man, God incarnate, the ideal man, not the idealised man. In his own person he brought God and man together and showed us what man ought to be and can be by the grace of God.[9] 

As Brengle put it

Holiness is a great blessing. It is the renewal of the whole person in the image of Jesus. It is the utter destruction of all hatred, envy, malice, impatience, covetousness, pride, lust, fear of man, love of ease, love of human admiration and applause, love of splendour, shame of the Cross, self-will, and the like. It makes its possessors 'meek and lowly of heart', as Jesus was, patient, kind, full of forbearance, full of pity, benevolent, and zealous in every good word and work. [10]

The Incarnation, Human Nature and Holiness

The Russian, Metropolitan Anthony, says

All holiness is God's holiness in us; it is holiness that is participation and, in a certain way, more than participation, because as we participate in what we receive from God, we become a revelation of that which transcends us. Being a limited light, we reveal the Light .... There is an absolute objectivity both to holiness and to the spirituality which is expressed in it. Spirituality is that of the Spirit.; didn't St. Paul tell us that it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us to say: “Abba, Father”? Doesn't he mean that it is the Holy Spirit, God Himself, who shapes in us the knowledge of God? And, furthermore, there is no other holiness than that of God; it is as the Body of Christ that we participate in holiness, in Christ, and in the Holy Spirit.[11]

Holiness and Humanity

By living a truly human life ‘in the flesh’ Jesus was, in effect, saying that human existence and human nature are the contexts in which holiness is to be expressed.

The Christian is not to live in dualistic existence. The sacred and the secular are to be one.

But is such a life possible? Given the variables and the vagaries of human nature, can a truly holy be lived on earth by anyone other that Jesus? The Wesley brothers, although calling their generation to a life of holiness, were somewhat diffident in terms of their own testimony to such a life. Charles Wesley wrote

The purest saint that lives below

Doth his own sanctity disclaim,

The wisest owns I nothing know,

The holiest cries, I nothing am.

Or as John Gowans expressed it:

I've not seen many saints,

but here and there

I've stumbled on a few.

They were transparent souls.

Windows, no more,

by which your light shone through.

Their burning faith has singed me

now and then!

They often shame my faithlessness,

but when I comment on their beauty

as I spot it,

They seem surprised. They do not know

they've got it.

J. Sidlow Baxter stated:

 Inwrought holiness through 'entire renewal of the mind' certainly is both restoration to moral fullness of health and an elevation to high plane impossible of attainment by merely human struggling; but instead of its being a high level from which we look down, conscious of an exalted superiority, it humbles us with a prostration deeper than any ever caused by the heart-breaking repentance of a prodigal returning from his wallowing in the mire. Why? Because, on that higher level of holiness through 'entire renewal of the mind', we see as never before, 'with unveiled face', the 'heavenly vision', of the ineffable, all-holiness and all-loveliness of Jesus; the very 'glory of God in the face of Jesus of Jesus Christ' (2 Cor. 4:6); the one ultimate attraction of all holy heart-longing; the solitary, absolute all-perfection in the universe; the one-and-only, all-eclipsing, ever-alluring GOAL which ever fills the gaze of all the truly sanctified. When once, through inwrought holiness, we have seen that exquisite Goal, we never again talk about our own holiness, much less of 'perfection'! - for the nearer we get to that beatific Goal, so the more do we realise how far we are from it. The more truly we may approximate to that perfection, the less  conscious of it we are, and the more humblingly conscious we are of our own imperfection.”[12]

Wesley’s doctrine of holiness has been misunderstood by some of his most devout followers. For him holiness was perfect love. He inscribed “God is love” on his coat-of-arms. His favourite book was 1 John with its call to be “made perfect in love”. He consistently defined holiness and entire sanctification in terms of “pure love – love expelling sin and governing the heart and mind of the child of God.’

This is where the later Wesleyan ‘legalists’ got it wrong. Love gave way to moralism. True holiness, which is true love, cannot drive Christians away from sinful people; it must drive them to embrace such people and share with them the Good News. True love cannot be judgmental and critical of others.

Holiness and Holy Love

A holy life is, in all its dealings, a reflection of 1 Corinthians 13.  It is Christ-like. Jesus crossed the accepted boundaries and befriended those considered to be beneath contempt by the religious crowd.

‘Holiness’ people who claim much in terms of God’s holiness but display little in terms of his holy love fail to recognise sin in their own lives. They have settled for external issues as did many of the Pharisees, whilst failing to observe ‘the weightier matters’ (Matt. 23:23).

They are not bad people; they are people impaired by ‘blind spots’. They just cannot see the beam in their own eye.  W. E. Sangster writes

If the critics of this doctrine have exaggerated the danger, and fastened their attention on the sad and rare calamities rather than on the blameless and lovely lives of those who have adorned the doctrine, it still remains true that the danger is there, that sin is peculiarly horrible in those who claim perfection, and that it is not to be set down simply to the common frailty of men. There is a particular reason for this particular phenomenon.

If a man is convinced that he is free from all sin: if, moreover, by some freak of faith he is convinced also that to doubt his freedom from sin is dishonouring  to God and tantamount to disbelieving the Bible, he will necessarily be less likely to recognise the presence of sin when it rises in his soul. With his own hands he has built a wall between himself and self-knowledge. He puts a bandage around his eyes whenever he looks inwards, though when he looks outwards on others it often appears that his eyes are not only unbandaged but sharp with censoriousness.[13]

The answer to such distortions is to understood both that the Incarnation made possible the living of a holy life ‘in the flesh’ and that Jesus Christ, in his incarnate state, gave us an example of what it is to be holy.

But more, it is to be 'transformed' into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor.3:18; Rom.12:1,2).

As Charles Wesley sang,

Visit then this soul of mine

pierce the gloom of sin and grief,

fill me, Radiance divine,

scatter all my unbelief;

more and more Thyself display,

shining to the perfect day.

Holiness as Incarnational

Bonhoeffer wrote:

The antithesis between the world and the Church must be borne out in the world. That was the purpose of the incarnation. That is why Christ  died among his enemies. That is the reason and the only reason why the slave must remain a slave and the Christian remain subject to the powers that be.[14]

Worldly Holiness

Holiness is to be lived out in the world. It is not other-worldly in the sense that it cuts us off from the world around.

Christ is the one person who was truly human. Sin is not an essential part of authentic humanness; we were made in the image of God.

He engaged fully with his society. He was criticised for so doing.

His life was not one of rules, but relationships. He showed us that true righteousness is love for God and love for people, and in these the law is fulfilled.

A cursory study of the Gospels leaves us in no doubt as to the disparity between ‘Christ-likeness’ and  the harsh, legalistic and often joyless religion evidenced by some who profess to be 'sanctified wholly'. Calvin wrote:

Christians certainly ought to display more than a smiling face, a cheerful mood, and polite language when they practice charity .... Christians ought to imagine themselves in the place of the person who needs their help, and they ought to sympathise with him as though they themselves were suffering; they ought to show real mercy and humaneness and offer their assistance as readily as if it were for themselves.[15]

The model for the holy life is that of Jesus. He truly put into practice that of which Calvin speaks. His life displayed some distinctive qualities:

l        In the face of suffering He was moved with compassion (Matt. 9:36, etc.)

l        In his relationships with the non-religious “He was a friend of publicans and sinners” (Matt. 11:19, etc.)

l        In the context of such 'worldly' associations he was 'without sin' (Heb. 4:15).

Holy Humanity

By his assuming human flesh he 'sanctified' the human body as a worthy vessel for the holiness of God.

“In the days of his flesh” Christ lived a life marked by

l        total obedience to the Father

l        utter purity of life

·        self-denial and humility (Phil. 2:1-8)

·        a servant heart  (John 13:1-15)

·        compassion for people in need – both spiritual and physical need (Matt.9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mk. 6:34; 8:2, etc.)

·        Peace and joy (John 14:25; 15:11)

·        A genuine capacity to befriend people, including, children, the irreligious, society’s ‘rejects’ (Matt. 11:19; Mk. 10:14; Lk. 7:34; 18:16; 19:2f, etc.)

In other words, his was a holiness measured in terms of

1. its relation to God (obedience and purity)

2. its relation to others (compassion and service)

3. its relationship to one’s self (peace and joy)

Holiness, as seen in Jesus, is not some vague 'spirituality', but positive goodness lived out in a human life in the context of a real world.

Frederick Coutts defined holiness in terms of the 'fruit of the Spirit' (Gal. 5:22, 23). This 'fruit' is seen by many as a 'description' of Jesus. It consists of

Love (agape)

Joy (chara)

Peace (eirene)

Patience (makrothumia)

Kindness (chrestotes)

Goodness (agathosune)

Faithfulness (pistis)

Meekness (prautes)

Self-Control (egkrateia)

In all of these qualities, Christ by his Spirit is the prime mover. They are fruit, not works.  They are made real within the context of a relationship (John 15). He draws us to such a life, and keeps on drawing us. As Brengle put it

God loved us with a great and everlasting love and with loving-kindness He is ever drawing us away from sin to Himself. He has loved us out of our sin, and He would love us into holiness ...... The call to holiness is the wooing of a great Lover seeking to draw His loved one into perfect love and fellowship with Himself. Holiness is love made perfect – love so filling the heart and mind and soul that sin is expelled and the great Lover is enthroned in peace and purity and power where sin had reigned.[16]

Holiness as Participation in God

“His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:3,4 RSV).

These verses set forth the essence of the New Testament concept of a holy life. They speak of

1.      the provisions for such a life (“divine power.....”)

2.      the essential nature of such a life (..”godliness..”)

3.      The objective of such a life (“..... his own glory and excellence...”)

4.      The promises pertaining to such a life (“...precious...promises..”)

5.      The negative feature of this life (“...escape corruption...”)

6.      The positive feature of this life (“....partakers of the divine nature...”)

Such a life is one of Holy Communion – koinonia – a sacramental life in which the inward and spiritual grace expresses itself in the outward and visible sign of godliness in everyday living. It is a life that truly has been “baptised into Christ and put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).

Lancelot Andrewes (1556-1629) wrote

Now to be made partakers of the Spirit, is to be made 'partakers of the divine nature'. That is this day's work. Partakers of the Spirit we are by receiving grace, which is nothing else but the work of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of grace. Grace into the entire substance of the soul, dividing into two streams; one goes to the understanding, the gift of faith; the other to the will, the gift of charity, the very bond of affection. The tongues to teach us knowledge, the fire to kindle our affections. The state of grace is the perfection of this life, to grow from grace to grace, to profit in it. As to go still forward is the perfection of traveller, to draw still nearer and nearer to his journey's end.[17]

Russian Orthodox scholar Michael Pomazansky says

Holiness consists not only in the absence of evil or sin; holiness is the presence of higher spiritual values, joined to purity from sin. Holiness is like the light, and the holiness of God is like the purest light. God is the ‘one alone holy” by nature. He is the source of holiness for angels and men. Man can attain to holiness only in God, ‘not by nature, but by participation’ (St Cyril of Jerusalem).[18]

 Jesus Christ, God incarnate, invites us into such a ‘participation’ (John 15). He has sanctified human flesh and human nature so that they may ‘contain’ God’s holiness as a treasure in a vessel of clay (2 Cor.4:7).

In that ‘participation’ the fruits of holiness spring forth (Jn. 15:2; Rom. 6:21; Gal. 5:22,23; Eph. 5:9; Phil.1:11;  Jas. 3:18).  Brengle speaks of this 'participation' in terms of an intimate union between Christ and the believer. He wrote:

Jesus said, “I and my Father are one,” and it is his loving purpose that you and i shall be able to say that too, and say it in this present time, in the face of the devil, and in holy, triumphant defiance of a frowning world, and of a shrinking flesh.

There is a union with Jesus as intimate as that of the branches and the vine, or as that of the various members of the body with the head, or as that between Jesus and the Father. This is shown by such Scriptures as that in which Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches,” and in His great intercessory prayer, where He prays, “that all may be one in Us.” This union is, of course, not physical, but spiritual, and can be known to the one who has entered into it by the direct witness of the Spirit; but it can be known to others only by its effects and fruits in the life.[19]

Spiritual fruit is the result of  this 'participation' (cf. John 15). The growth of fruit is

1. Natural

2. Gradual

3. Imperceptible

4. Observable

What are the marks of such a life?

1. It is a life in which prayer is central.

2. It is a God-conscious life

3. It is a life committed to the path of godliness (see 2 Peter 1:5-9)

4. It is a life lived in mystic union with Christ. Elmer Colyer wrote:

When you think of the times in your life when you are the most fully aware of the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the communion of the Holy Spirit, are you not the most fully personal and fully human being God has created and redeemed you to be, though this is only a foretaste of what is to come? Is it not the case that all of Christ and all of you are fully compatible? And does not this propel you out of self-centredness into love for and relations with God and others?[20]

Entire sanctification is a relationship with Christ - “all of Christ and all of you.” It replaces self-centredness with love.

In such a life, a life evidencing the fruit of the Spirit, God’s holiness again is “made flesh”, making it possible for people of every age to say, as they observe the lives of Christ’s followers, “and we beheld his glory …. full of grace and truth.”

Metropolitan Anthony writes

…just as God became man, just as His holiness was present in the flesh in our midst, living, acting and saving, so now, through the mystery of the Incarnation, the Church participates in the eternity, in the holiness of God, and at the same time in the salvation of the world. The holiness of the Church must find its place in the world in an act of crucified love, in an active and living presence. But essentially, it is the holiness, the presence of God, that we should manifest in the world. This is our vocation. This is what we are for.[21]