What Is Entire Sanctification? A Simple Explanation of Christian Holiness

What Is Entire Sanctification?

Short answer: Salvation is trusting Jesus to forgive what you've done. Entire sanctification is trusting Jesus for who you are.

If you've grown up in church, you know the first part well. Salvation means Jesus forgives your sin. You trust Him with your past, and He wipes the slate clean.

But there's a second, deeper step that the Church of the Nazarene — following John Wesley — has always taught: entire sanctification. It's not a second forgiveness. It's a deeper trust.

Entire Sanctification: A Working Definition

Entire sanctification is trusting Jesus not just for what you've done, but for who you are. It's receiving His love so completely that fear has nothing left to hold onto — and love becomes the only thing left to give.

Practically, it looks like this: you stop performing love and start overflowing with it, because you're no longer trying to earn what you already have.

Why "Identity," Not Just "Behavior"?

Here's the key distinction, and it's an important one: entire sanctification doesn't create loving behavior — it's the root that behavior grows from.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear." — 1 John 4:18

We don't love others in order to become secure. We love others freely because we already are secure — fully known, fully forgiven, fully loved by God.

That's the difference between gritting your teeth to be kind and being so free from fear that kindness just happens. The first is willpower. The second is holiness.

Is This New, or Historic Christian Teaching?

This language is fresh, but the doctrine isn't. It goes back to Wesley's teaching on "perfect love" and "purity of heart," and further back to Romans 12:1 and Galatians 2:20, where Paul describes a self no longer centered on self-protection, but on Christ. The Church of the Nazarene has taught this as "entire sanctification" since its founding: a work of grace, received by faith, that cleanses the heart and frees us to love God and others without reservation.

Put Simply

• Salvation = trusting Jesus for forgiveness.
• Entire sanctification = trusting Jesus for your identity — so fully loved that you're free to love without fear.

Both are gifts. Both are received by faith, not earned by effort. Neither is about performing better — they're about trusting more.