Our Heritage

"God has called us to Christianize Christianity," said the founder of the Church of the Nazarene, Dr. Phineas F. Bresee. The Church of the Nazarene is not just another denomination. Our founders believed and taught that the only reason for the existence of our church was for the preaching of scriptural holiness. This means that the Nazarene ministers and laymen must be faithful to the purposes and convictions that brought our church into existence.

Dr. Bresee included this doctrine in the first Manual of the Church of the Nazarene, clearly stating our belief about entire sanctification as a second definite work of grace.

Though it is true that our denomination's heritage had its immediate origin in the holiness movement that sprang up in the United States during the last century, its history goes much farther back. The history of the Church is the history of holiness itself. If we eliminate that element, religion ceases to be religion. As Asbury Lowrey says: "Since all moral natures are essentially alike, holiness is an indispensable fundamental principle in all levels of intelligence. Without it Christians could not be Christians, angels could not be angels, and God could not be God."

The Church of the Nazarene has its roots in several holiness movements that arose during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among them were the Pentecostal Holiness Movement, the National Association for the Promotion of Holiness, the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness, and the National Campmeeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness.

Among the names associated with the doctrine of holiness are Phoebe Palmer, John S. Inskip, and John Fletcher. Such well-known leaders of the Protestant movement as John Wesley and Charles Wesley are in the succession, as are James Arminius and many of the fathers of the Early Church such as Irenaeus, Origen, Augustine, and others.

Looking at the New Testament, we note that the holy writers clearly stated that the full salvation that God has provided for man is given in two different experiences. That is, first, there is the experience of regeneration, and subsequent to this, entire sanctification. The New Testament is full of references which tell us clearly that God has provided a "more excellent" experience for the believers. Some of the best-known references are Matt. 5:8, 48; Luke 1:73-75; Eph. 1:4; I Thess. 4:3, 7; 5:23-24; Heb. 12:14; and I Pet 1:15-16.

But the New Testament is nothing more than a depiction of the fulfillment of the symbols and figures of the Old Testament. For instance, Paul, referring to Israel's life in the desert, says that all these things are figures that are written for our admonition (I Cor. 10:1-11). Egypt represents the captivity of sin; the crossing of the Red Sea, the experience of regeneration; and the crossing of the Jordan River, the experience of entire sanctification.

Four hundred years before the law was given, God had told Abraham, "Walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1). So this is not a new doctrine. It is as old as the Bible itself.

But if we continue searching we will discover that the doctrine of holiness did not start with the Bible. This doctrine brings with it the fragrance of another world -- of God himself, for holiness is the basic attribute in which all the other divine perfections are grounded. Holiness has been and is the atmosphere in which God breathes.

What heritage we have received-holiness! What a glorious task-the preaching of holiness! What a high ideal-a life of holiness! What a holy vocation-testifying to holiness! What a great privileges -- to be sanctified wholly! What a tremendous responsibility-to "Christianize Christianity" with the message of holiness!

If we lose interest in our heritage, then we will lose the battle. And if we lose the battle, we might lose the war. Then the soldiers that we have left in the battlefield would have died in vain. Dr. Phineas F. Bresee, Dr. James B. Chapman, Dr. H. Orton Wiley, and all the rest of our sainted leaders would have fought for a dream that never became a reality. The missionaries and national workers who have spent their lives in the mission fields to carry on the cause of holiness would have done so in vain. May God help us to be faithful to our heritage. May we continue to build over the foundation that our founders established for our church. May we raise the flag of holiness and say: