The Holiness Churches

The Church of the Nazarene, The Wesleyan Church and the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana): churches born of the Methodist call to holiness, teaching that God cleanses a believer's heart wholly in a second, definite work of grace.

Church of the Nazarene, What We Believe: Statement of Beliefs and Articles of Faith

Church of the Nazarene, Manual 2023 (effective 26 January 2024), Wesleyan-Holiness Digital Library (PDF)

Church of the Nazarene, Board of General Superintendents

New Braunfels Church of the Nazarene (Texas), Plan Your Visit (one congregation's own page)

The Wesleyan Church, The Discipline 2022 (the church's own online edition; paragraph numbers as in the printed book)

Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America (1887), Internet Archive

Church of God Ministries (Anderson, Indiana), Mission & Beliefs

Church of God Ministries, Structure & Polity Task Force

Arlo F. Newell, Tell Me About HOLY LIVING (Church of God Ministries)

Arlo F. Newell, Tell Me About THE ORDINANCES (Church of God Ministries)

John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (text as revised to 1777), Wesley Center Online

Phoebe Palmer, The Way of Holiness, with Notes by the Way (New York, 1843), Internet Archive

Free Methodist Church USA, History

Daniel Sidney Warner (Wikipedia)

Association of Religion Data Archives, Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), group profile

Phoebe Palmer (Wikipedia)

Phineas F. Bresee (Wikipedia)

The Holiness churches begin inside Methodism, with John Wesley's teaching on Christian perfection. In the 1830s and 1840s Phoebe Palmer in New York made it a weekly meeting and a printed message, and in 1843 a first body, the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, left the Methodist Episcopal Church over slavery and church government and later made the doctrine its own. The Free Methodists followed in 1860. After 1867 holiness camp meetings carried the doctrine across the denominations, and out of them came the Church of God in 1881 and a string of small holiness churches that merged between 1895 and 1915 into the Church of the Nazarene. In 1968 the Wesleyan Methodists and the Pilgrim Holiness united as The Wesleyan Church.

The Methodist Episcopal Church is organized

The Nazarene Manual begins the story here: "In North America, the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1784 'to reform the Continent, and to spread scriptural Holiness over these Lands.'" Every Holiness body claims this as its beginning, and the Wesleyan Discipline tells it the same way, from the Christmas Conference in Baltimore.

Phoebe Palmer publishes The Way of Holiness

Palmer, a New York Methodist, had led the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness. In 1843 she printed her own account of how she came to what she called a "Bible Christian" life. On the title page she wrote that she would "seek only to be fully conformed to the will of God, as recorded in his written WORD." Her book speaks of "laying all upon the altar of sacrifice" and of the altar that sanctifies the gift. The Nazarene Manual names her among the leaders of the mid-century revival of holiness.

The Wesleyan Methodist Connection is organized at Utica

Orange Scott, Jotham Horton and LaRoy Sunderland withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church in November 1842 after the bishops tried to silence the call to end slavery. The organizing convention met at Utica, New York, from 31 May to 8 June 1843. The new body "avoided the episcopacy, and provided for equal ministerial and lay representation in all of its governing bodies." Its first reason for being was the fight against slavery, not holiness.

The Wesleyan article on sanctification, its neglect and its revival

The Wesleyans adopted an article on sanctification in 1844, "becoming the first denomination to do so." The Discipline then says plainly that "the doctrine and experience suffered neglect and decline among all branches of Methodism in the mid-nineteenth century." The revival of holiness made it the major tenet of the Connection. In 1883 the General Conference "adopted a resolution requiring the preaching of entire sanctification," and by 1893 new articles on regeneration and entire sanctification had been adopted.

The Free Methodist Church

"The Free Methodist Church was birthed in 1860 when Benjamin Titus Roberts, a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church, could no longer serve in harmony with their practices." Roberts called for freedom from slavery, free seats in church, freedom for women and freedom for the Spirit in public worship.

The first holiness camp meeting at Vineland

"In 1867, Methodist preachers J. A. Wood, John Inskip and others, at Vineland, New Jersey, USA, initiated the first in a long series of holiness camp meetings that renewed the Wesleyan quest for holiness around the world." The meetings carried the doctrine into many denominations and gave the movement its name.

Daniel Warner comes out, and the Church of God begins

On 22 April 1881 Daniel S. Warner "came out" of the holiness associations, objecting that they would not receive a man who held to no sect. In October he left the General Eldership at Beaver Dam, Indiana, when the elders rejected his proposals. The Church of God (Anderson) dates its own movement to "the 1880s," and the Nazarene Manual lists it among the new holiness churches of that era. Warner's call was to leave the sects and be one church.

Bresee organizes the Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles

"Phineas F. Bresee and Joseph P. Widney, with about 100 others, organized the Church of the Nazarene at Los Angeles, California, USA in 1895." They held that Christians sanctified by faith should preach the gospel to the poor. Other holiness groups had formed in New England in the 1880s and 1890s and in Tennessee and Texas, and all of them joined this one over the next twenty years.

Pilot Point

In October 1907 the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America and Bresee's Church of the Nazarene met in Chicago and took the name Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. In September 1908 the Pennsylvania Conference of the Holiness Christian Church joined them. Then, "On Tuesday morning, 13 October," at Pilot Point, Texas, the proposition "That the union of the two churches be now consummated" was moved, and "the motion to unite was adopted by a unanimous rising vote," joining the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene to the Holiness Church of Christ.

"Pentecostal" is dropped from the name

"The Fifth General Assembly (1919) changed the denomination's official name to Church of the Nazarene because new meanings had become associated with the word 'Pentecostal.'" The Manual says "Pentecostal" had been "a synonym for 'Holiness'" to the founders.

The Wesleyan Church is formed

"On June 26, 1968, The Pilgrim Holiness Church and The Wesleyan Methodist Church of America were united to form The Wesleyan Church." The Pilgrim Holiness Church had grown out of the International Holiness Union and Prayer League of 1897, whose fourfold emphasis was the new birth, entire sanctification, the premillennial return of Christ and the evangelization of the world.

Phoebe Palmer

A New York Methodist who led the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness, spoke across the country and wrote The Way of Holiness (1843). She "promoted the doctrine of Christian perfection" and later edited the Guide to Holiness.

Orange Scott

A New England Methodist preacher who led the call to end slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church, withdrew in November 1842 with Jotham Horton and LaRoy Sunderland, and helped found the Wesleyan Methodist Connection at Utica in 1843.

Daniel Sidney Warner

A holiness evangelist from Ohio who separated from the General Eldership at Beaver Dam, Indiana, in 1881 and is counted a founder of the Church of God (Anderson). He held that a sanctified believer should leave the sects.

Phineas F. Bresee

A Methodist minister who organized the Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles in 1895. The Manual says he "exerted continual effort" for the union at Pilot Point and that he and Hiram Reynolds were the first general superintendents.

Anna S. Hanscome

Ordained in 1892, "the first ordained female minister in the Nazarene lineage."

B. T. Roberts

A Methodist pastor who lost his ordination credentials in 1858 and founded the Free Methodist Church at Pekin, New York, in 1860.

Who leads today. The Church of the Nazarene's Board of General Superintendents has six members: David A. Busic, Gustavo A. Crocker, Filimão M. Chambo, Carla D. Sunberg, T. Scott Daniels and Christian D. Sarmiento (Nazarene). The Manual says Nina G. Gunter became the first woman elected general superintendent in 2005, and that Sarmiento, of Colombia, was elected in 2023. The Church of God's Structure & Polity Task Force names an interim General Director and has put new bylaws to the General Assembly; the page read does not show the outcome. The Wesleyan Church's Discipline provides for General Superintendents elected by its General Conference.

The Wesleyans' own account. The Wesleyan Discipline does not hide the cost of the first century. It says that once slavery ended "many felt there was no reason for the Connection as such to continue," and that holiness was "the major tenet" only after the revival: the Connection "had formerly majored on social and political reform." That candor is worth crediting.

Where the Pentecostal churches come in. The Nazarene Manual says its founders used "Pentecostal" as "a synonym for 'Holiness'." Pentecostalism's added claim, that tongues prove the second work, is refused in the Wesleyan Discipline today (see the Holy Spirit).

Scripture is the rule of faith, but the Nazarenes read it with reason, tradition and experience, the Wesleyans and Nazarenes bind written Articles, and the Church of God has the General Assembly as its highest theological authority.

All three bodies say Scripture is the rule. The Nazarene Articles and the Wesleyan Discipline use nearly the same sentence: nothing may be required as an article of faith that is not read in Scripture or proved by it. The Nazarenes also say they "look to Scripture as the primary source of spiritual truth confirmed by reason, tradition, and experience," and the Manual says the denomination "receives the creeds of the first five Christian centuries as expressions of its own faith." Both the Nazarenes and the Wesleyans bind their members to written Articles, and the Nazarene Constitution is made so that the church may preserve "especially the doctrine and experience of entire sanctification as a second work of grace."

The Church of God keeps no creed. It says "affiliated churches are expected to hold persuasions that are in general agreement with the teaching tradition of the Church of God," and its General Assembly is "the highest theological authority."

inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith

whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man or woman that it should be believed as an article of faith

Although the Church of God honors theological freedom within the bounds of biblically-based belief, affiliated churches are expected to hold persuasions that are in general agreement with the teaching tradition of the Church of God.

The Wesleyan Discipline says Scripture is "superior to all human authority." The Nazarene Constitution adopts its Articles "In order that we may preserve our God-given heritage, the faith once delivered to the saints, especially the doctrine and experience of entire sanctification as a second work of grace."

A person is justified by faith when he repents and believes, and baptism is a sign afterward. The Nazarenes and Wesleyans allow sprinkling, pouring or immersion, and baptize infants if parents ask; the Church of God immerses believers only.

All three bodies teach salvation by grace through faith, and they are Arminian: a person can fall away. The Wesleyan Discipline says that "when one repents of personal sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that at the same moment that person is justified, regenerated, adopted into the family of God." The Nazarenes say justification comes "to all who believe on Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior."

Baptism follows salvation and does not cause it. The Church of God teaches that baptism "is not required for salvation but is the witness that we have died to sin and have been raised to new life in Christ." The Nazarenes and Wesleyans call it a sign of the new covenant. The Nazarenes say baptism "may be administered by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion," and the Wesleyan Discipline gives the same choice. Both bodies offer infant baptism to parents who ask, with dedication as an alternative. The Church of God does not baptize babies and teaches immersion.

We believe that justification is the gracious and judicial act of God by which He grants full pardon of all guilt and complete release from the penalty of sins committed, and acceptance as righteous, to all who believe on Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior.

when one repents of personal sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that at the same moment that person is justified, regenerated, adopted into the family of God, and assured of personal salvation through the witness of the Holy Spirit

Baptism is not required for salvation but is the witness that we have died to sin and have been raised to new life in Christ.

The Wesleyan Discipline, ¶290, gives the reason for infant baptism: since children "are born into this world with natures inclined to sin, and yet the prevenient grace of God provides for their redemption during the period before reaching the age of accountability," parents "may testify to their faith in God's provision by presenting their small children for baptism," while others "may present their children for dedication." The Church of God says "We do not baptize babies because we practice “believer” baptism," and its pamphlet on the ordinances: "Since it is a clear symbol of being buried and resurrected, immersion in water is the scriptural mode of baptism." On falling away, the Wesleyans say "it is possible to fall into sin," and the Church of God says free will allows a person to "reject God's will, thereby forfeiting salvation."

The Supper is a sacrament and a remembrance for believers. The Nazarenes and Wesleyans set it at least once a quarter; the Church of God lets each congregation choose its own time.

The Nazarenes invite "those who have faith in Christ and love for the saints" to the table "as often as possible," and the Manual requires only that it be administered "at least once a quarter," with pastors encouraged "to move toward a more frequent celebration." The Wesleyan Discipline sets the same minimum, "at least once each three months," and its ritual encourages each church to hold it "at least once each month." The Wesleyans call the Supper "a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death" and say that to those who receive it humbly, "God communicates grace to the heart."

The Church of God says its congregations keep communion "in a variety of ways and various times." It teaches that the bread and cup are symbols of Christ's body and blood, taken in remembrance and in hope of His return. Its own pamphlet says some Christians take it each week and others each quarter.

The Lord's Supper should be administered at least once a quarter. Pastors are encouraged to move toward a more frequent celebration of this means of grace.

The Lord’s Supper shall be observed in each local Wesleyan church at least once each three months.

Congregations in the Church of God practice communion in a variety of ways and various times.

The Nazarenes, Article XIII: "Those who have faith in Christ and love for the saints are invited by Christ to participate as often as possible." The Wesleyans, ¶242: "the Lord’s Supper is made a means through which God communicates grace to the heart." The Church of God, pamphlet on the ordinances: "Some Christians partake of Communion each week. Others observe it once each quarter or at other significant celebrations in the church year."

The Nazarenes and Wesleyans are governed by assemblies, districts and elected general superintendents, not bishops. The Church of God calls itself a movement and names its General Assembly its highest theological authority.

None of the three has a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal sense. The Nazarene Manual says its government is "representative--neither purely episcopal nor wholly congregational." The General Assembly "shall elect by ballot from among the elders of the Church of the Nazarene six general superintendents." The Wesleyan Church's General Conference elects "from among the ordained ministers" one or more General Superintendents, "the general spiritual and administrative leader(s) of the Church," for a four-year term. The Wesleyans, from their start in 1843, avoided the episcopacy and gave laymen equal seats with ministers.

The Church of God calls itself a movement, and its General Assembly "remains the highest theological authority." The Nazarenes name the offices of elder and deacon as open to women, and the Church of God says women may fill "any position or role in the church."

In polity it is representative--neither purely episcopal nor wholly congregational.

The General Conference shall elect by ballot from among the ordained ministers one or more General Superintendent(s), who shall be considered as the general spiritual and administrative leader(s) of the Church.

The General Assembly remains the highest theological authority of the Church of God.

The Nazarene Manual, ¶25.4: "The General Assembly shall elect by ballot from among the elders of the Church of the Nazarene six general superintendents." On the pastor in a Wesleyan church, the Discipline says he is "called by the local church conference and appointed by the district conference." The Church of God: "women as well as men may experience the calling and gifting of God for any position or role in the church."

Worship is built on singing, prayer, the preaching of the Word and the sacraments. The Wesleyan Discipline permits only a language the congregation can understand. The Church of God washes feet as an ordinance; the sources read are silent on instruments.

The Nazarene Manual asks every member to be present at "the regular Sunday School, the Sunday morning and Sunday evening preaching services, and the midweek prayer meeting," and lists attending "the public worship of God" and "the ministry of the Word" among the means of grace. A New Braunfels Nazarene church describes a service that opens with a worship team leading the music, followed by a sermon from a pastor. The Wesleyan Discipline requires that "only a language readily understood by the congregation is to be used in public worship." Its ritual provides hymns for the reception of members and for the Supper.

The Church of God keeps three ordinances: communion, baptism and foot washing. The pages and Manuals read do not say whether any of these bodies uses instruments in worship, and the Nazarene Manual has no rule on them. This chart does not guess.

To be present at the regular Sunday School, the Sunday morning and Sunday evening preaching services, and the midweek prayer meeting of the church, unless providentially hindered.

only a language readily understood by the congregation is to be used in public worship

The Church of God recognizes three ordinances: communion, baptism, and foot washing.

The Nazarene Manual, ¶21.1 (7), on the means of grace: "Attending faithfully all the ordinances of God, and the means of grace, including the public worship of God (Hebrews 10:25), the ministry of the Word (Acts 2:42), the sacrament of the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-30)." The New Braunfels page: "Services begin with the Worship Team leading the church in music - song lyrics are projected onto the screens so you can sing along and/or engage with worship however you feel most comfortable." The Church of God, on foot washing: "The ordinance of feet washing reenacts the servant example that Christ established during the Passover meal in John 13:1-17."

The Spirit sanctifies the believer in a second work called the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Nazarenes and Wesleyans refuse tongues as its proof, and the Wesleyans and the Church of God hold that the gifts continue.

The Nazarene Articles name the second work the "baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit," and say it "comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit." They do not name tongues as its proof. The Wesleyan Discipline says in so many words that "it is contrary to the Word of God to teach that speaking in an unknown tongue or the gift of tongues is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit or of that entire sanctification which the baptism accomplishes," while it "believes in the miraculous use of languages and the interpretation of languages in its biblical and historical setting."

The Church of God says that "the gifts of the Holy Spirit are active and in place in the body of Christ," and that it reads tongues as the ability to speak another language to spread the gospel, "or as a private prayer language used for personal edification."

It is wrought by the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service.

it is contrary to the Word of God to teach that speaking in an unknown tongue or the gift of tongues is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit or of that entire sanctification which the baptism accomplishes

The Church of God historically has interpreted the gift of tongues as God giving an individual the ability to understand or speak another language for the purpose of furthering the gospel, or as a private prayer language used for personal edification.

The Wesleyan Discipline: "The Wesleyan Church believes in the miraculous use of languages and the interpretation of languages in its biblical and historical setting," and "believes that the use of an ecstatic prayer language has no clear scriptural sanction." The Church of God: "We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are active and in place in the body of Christ." The Wesleyans define the gift of the Spirit as "the Holy Spirit himself" to be "desired more than the gifts." A footnote in the 2022 Discipline reports Memorial 52, passed by the North American General Conference in 2022, which would rewrite ¶265 (10) to affirm speaking, praying or singing in tongues, "whether done privately or publicly"; it "will not be ratified until the Caribbean (2023) and Philippines (2026) General Conferences take action." The rule quoted here is the text in force in that edition.

Christ will return personally; the dead will rise and be judged, the righteous to everlasting life and the impenitent to hell. The Church of God teaches that Christ already reigns and will not set up a thousand-year kingdom; the Wesleyans hold that His return is imminent.

The three bodies teach that Christ will return in person, that the dead will be raised and that all will be judged. The Nazarene Articles say "He will come again in glory and power" and that "the finally impenitent shall suffer eternally in hell." The Wesleyan Discipline calls His return "personal and imminent" and teaches the bodily resurrection "of the just unto the resurrection of life, and of the unjust unto the resurrection of damnation."

The Church of God differs sharply on the kingdom. It says it "has historically stood firmly in the Amillennial camp," and that it does "not teach that Jesus will return to earth and set up a throne on earth for 1000 years."

He will come again in glory and power to establish fully the kingdom of God that He proclaimed and initiated in His life and ministry.

We believe that the certainty of the personal and imminent return of Christ inspires holy living and zeal for the evangelization of the world.

The Church of God has historically stood firmly in the Amillennial camp

The Nazarenes, Article XVI: "glorious and everlasting life is assured to all who savingly believe in, and obediently follow, Jesus Christ our Lord; and that the finally impenitent shall suffer eternally in hell." The Church of God: "We do not teach a future battle on horseback called Armageddon." The Pilgrim Holiness Church, a parent of The Wesleyan Church, declared a "premillennial and imminent return" in 1897; the 2022 Discipline's article speaks only of a personal and imminent return.

Entire sanctification, a second work of grace

After conversion, God cleanses the believer's heart from inbred sin in one definite act received by faith. The Nazarenes and Wesleyans bind it in their constitutions; the Church of God teaches it in its pamphlets.

This is the doctrine the family was made to carry. The Nazarene Articles define it as "that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity." The Wesleyan Discipline describes a gradual sanctification that "prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification which is wrought instantaneously." The Church of God does not name it in its statement of beliefs, but its pamphlet Tell Me About Holy Living teaches that "sanctification is an instantaneous experience." The Nazarene Constitution asks it of every member: those who join "shall be, or earnestly desire to be, cleansed from all indwelling sin."

The teaching comes from John Wesley. He held that a believer "may be dying to sin for some time; yet he is not dead to sin, till sin is separated from his soul; and in that instant he lives the full life of love." He refused the phrase "sinless perfection," because he counted as sin "properly so called" only "a voluntary transgression of a known law." Phoebe Palmer made the gift something to claim at once. "Yes, brother, there is a shorter way!" she wrote: lay all upon the altar, believe that "The altar sanctifieth the gift," and be holy "so long as kept inviolably upon this hallowed altar." None of these bodies teaches that the sanctified cannot sin or cannot grow. The Nazarenes speak of "a marked distinction between a pure heart and a mature character."

We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.

This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification which is wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin.

While sanctification is an instantaneous experience, it is also a continuous growth in grace

he may be dying to sin for some time; yet he is not dead to sin, till sin is separated from his soul; and in that instant he lives the full life of love.

And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment. For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.

They are right that God wills His people holy through and through: Paul prays that God "sanctify you wholly" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). But Scripture places the believer's sanctification at the cross and at the start, not in a second crisis: "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). It also tells believers that the struggle with sin goes on: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John 1:8), and "in many things we all stumble" (James 3:2). Wesley could speak of an instant in which sin is gone only by counting as sin "properly so called" nothing but "a voluntary transgression of a known law," while the Law counted a man guilty "though he knew it not" (Leviticus 5:17). A second work that no apostle names is not a doctrine any church may bind, yet the Nazarenes ask it of everyone who joins.

Wesley's answers, weighed. Wesley met 1 John 1:8 by saying "The tenth verse fixes the sense of the eighth," so that "we have no sin" means only "we have not sinned." But John wrote both lines and made them different. "We have no sin" is a claim about the present, and "we have not sinned" a claim about the past. Then he adds, "these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father" (1 John 2:1), and the "we" includes the apostle. Wesley met James 3:2 by saying the "we" means "Not the Apostles nor true believers," only teachers bound for condemnation. But James counts himself among the teachers, "we shall receive heavier judgment" (James 3:1), and says "we all stumble." His definition of sin is the deepest point. Scripture calls unknown faults sin too: "Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults" (Psalms 19:12). A doctrine that stands only when sin is redefined does not stand on the text.

Palmer's altar. Palmer began with the right rule, to "seek only to be fully conformed to the will of God, as recorded in his written WORD." But her "shorter way" rests on "The altar sanctifieth the gift," which she took from Matthew 23:19. There Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for their rules on oaths: "Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?" It is not a promise that whoever lays all on an altar is made holy. The New Testament's altar is Christ's own sacrifice: "Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12). That blood sanctifies every believer, "once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). No second offering of ourselves is needed to receive it.

Their best texts. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is a prayer about the day of Christ: that God keep His people "without blame at the coming of our Lord," as He "will also do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Paul has already prayed that the Lord "make you to increase and abound in love" (1 Thessalonians 3:12), which is growth. Hebrews 12:14 commands us to "follow after" the sanctification, which is a pursuit, not a date. Romans 6 is the strongest. "We who died to sin" (Romans 6:2) is a real, decisive break with sin. But Paul places it where every Christian meets Christ: "all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death" (Romans 6:3). The break comes at the start, and it belongs to all, not to a consecrated few. The apostles still tell such people to "grow in the grace" (2 Peter 3:18), and Paul says long after his conversion, "Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect" (Philippians 3:12).

What is fair to credit. These churches refuse to let grace excuse sin (Romans 6:1-2), and they call every believer to a heart wholly given to God. Their teachers deny that the doctrine claims sinless perfection. The Nazarene Articles say the sanctified must still grow and may lose the grace by neglect, and the Church of God says "sanctification does not make sin impossible." That brings them close to the text's own picture. The fault is the second crisis, and binding it. The Nazarene Constitution exists to preserve "especially the doctrine and experience of entire sanctification as a second work of grace," and the Wesleyans' General Conference required the preaching of it in 1883.

Women as elders and pastors

The Nazarenes affirm the right of women to be elected and appointed to every place of leadership, including elder and deacon. The Church of God says women may fill any position or role in the church.

The Nazarene Manual affirms "the historic right of women to be elected and appointed to places of leadership within the Church of the Nazarene, including the offices of both elder and deacon." The first woman in its lineage was ordained in 1892, and Nina Gunter was the first woman elected a general superintendent, in 2005. The Church of God teaches that "women as well as men may experience the calling and gifting of God for any position or role in the church." The Wesleyan Discipline says no member may be kept from local church leadership "on the basis of ancestry, color, or gender"; the parts of it read for this chart do not set out its rule on ordaining women. Among the family's older bodies, the Free Methodist Church traces its beginning to a call for "freedom for women to serve in all roles in the church including pastoral ministry."

The Church of the Nazarene supports the right of women to use their God-given spiritual gifts within the church and affirms the historic right of women to be elected and appointed to places of leadership within the Church of the Nazarene, including the offices of both elder and deacon.

We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are active and in place in the body of Christ and that women as well as men may experience the calling and gifting of God for any position or role in the church.

But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. For Adam was first formed, then Eve;

The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly.

I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae:

The apostles' churches honored the service of women: Paul commends "Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church" (Romans 16:1), and Priscilla with Aquila "expounded unto him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26). But the office of elder is set in men. Paul writes, "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man" (1 Timothy 2:12), and grounds it in creation, "For Adam was first formed, then Eve" (1 Timothy 2:13), not in a custom of Ephesus. The elder, the "bishop," must be "the husband of one wife" and "apt to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2), and Titus is to appoint elders where "any man is blameless, the husband of one wife" (Titus 1:6). To ordain women as elders and pastors, as the Nazarenes and the Church of God do, goes past the pattern the apostles set.

The Nazarene Manual makes the strongest case it can. It says that in Christ "no human being is to be regarded as inferior on the basis of social status, race, or gender," citing Galatians 3:26-28, and it calls Paul's words to Timothy an "apparent paradox" beside texts that "commend female participation in spiritual leadership roles." The first point is true: "there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28) is the ground of equal standing before God. It does not erase the difference of offices, and Paul, who wrote both letters, did not see a conflict. The other texts the Manual names show women who prophesied (Acts 21:9), served (Romans 16:1) and "labored with me in the gospel" (Philippians 4:3). That is real work in the gospel, and it should be honored. None of them is called an elder or a bishop, and none sets aside the qualification Paul gives for that office.

A written rule of holy living

The Nazarenes keep a Covenant of Christian Conduct and the Wesleyans their Guides and Helps to Holy Living: written calls to abstain from alcohol, tobacco and gambling, among other things. The Church of God, which keeps no roll, sets no such code.

The Holiness churches hold that a heart made holy will show in conduct, and the two larger bodies write the conduct down. The Nazarene Manual's Covenant of Christian Conduct calls members to "abstain from drinking alcohol," to abstain from tobacco and other intoxicants, to shun lotteries and gambling, and to avoid entertainment that would "undermine God's standard of holiness of heart and life." It offers as a test the rule Susanna Wesley gave her son: "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things... that thing for you is sin." The pastor explains its "requirements" to everyone who asks to join, and the Manual adds, "We recognize that other Christian traditions may respond to these issues differently."

The Wesleyan Discipline writes its Guides and Helps to Holy Living into the Constitution. Those admitted to membership "commit themselves" to keep them, including abstaining from gambling, from alcohol, tobacco and drugs, and from "membership in secret societies and lodges," and local officers must meet them. The Church of God keeps no formal membership and sets no such list. Its pamphlet on holy living says that "The outward evidence of sanctification is not a life of monastic isolation or an attitude of religious pride."

We call our people to abstain from drinking alcohol, thereby witnessing to the world.

Those admitted to membership in our churches commit themselves to demonstrate their life in Christ in such ways as to:

The outward evidence of sanctification is not a life of monastic isolation or an attitude of religious pride.

but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.

And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;

It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth.

If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

This deserves plain credit. Peter commands, "be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living" (1 Peter 1:15), and few churches press that command on their members' daily conduct as these do. Scripture forbids drunkenness, "be not drunken with wine" (Ephesians 5:18), and Paul commends giving up wine for a brother's sake: "It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth" (Romans 14:21). As a free witness of love, which is how the Nazarene Manual frames its call, the rule stands on the text. But where it becomes a written condition of membership, it binds what Scripture left free: Paul told Timothy to "use a little wine" (1 Timothy 5:23) and warned against rules of "Handle not, nor taste, nor touch" that are "the precepts and doctrines of men" (Colossians 2:21-22).

What the rules get right. Most of the Nazarene and Wesleyan lists are plain New Testament duties: honesty, sexual purity, care for the poor, faithful worship and stewardship. Drunkenness is named among the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:21), and a church that warns against gambling and addiction protects its people. The Nazarene Manual says its people abstain "in response to the biblical mandate to love others" and so that its congregations may be "an environment of safety" for those who struggle with alcohol. That is Paul's own reasoning in Romans 14.

Where they go further. Romans 14 is written to the one who abstains as much as to the one who does not: "let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him" (Romans 14:3). A brother's freedom may be laid down for love, but a church may not make the laying down a term of fellowship. The Nazarene "requirements" explained to every candidate and the Wesleyan commitments written into the Constitution go past what the apostles bound. The Church of God, which sets no list, is nearer the text on this point.

Foot washing as an ordinance

The Church of God keeps three ordinances, communion, baptism and foot washing. The Nazarene Manual's rites do not include foot washing.

The Church of God says: "The ordinance of foot washing has been practiced by the church since it was first instituted by Christ." It reads John 13:1-17 as the Lord's own command, "the servant example that Christ established during the Passover meal," and teaches that "The Church of God recognizes three ordinances: communion, baptism, and foot washing." The Nazarene and Wesleyan sacramental rites in the Manual and Discipline provide for baptism and the Lord's Supper only.

The ordinance of feet washing reenacts the servant example that Christ established during the Passover meal in John 13:1-17.

If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.

Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she hath brought up children, if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if she hath washed the saints’ feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if she hath diligently followed every good work.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The Church of God takes the Lord's words seriously, and that deserves credit: "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet" (John 13:14). The question is what the churches of Acts did with it. They are shown "breaking bread" and "the prayers" (Acts 2:42), and Paul lists washing "the saints’ feet" among the good works of a widow (1 Timothy 5:10); no apostle sets foot washing beside baptism and the Supper as a rite of the assembly. The Lord's example is humble service to a brother, and a church that washes feet in that spirit does as He asked. Calling it a third ordinance puts a rite where the apostles' churches show a service.

The Supper has its own words ("this do in remembrance of me," 1 Corinthians 11:24) and its day (Acts 20:7). Baptism has its command (Matthew 28:19-20) and its meaning (Acts 2:38). Neither the Lord nor an apostle gives foot washing such words, a day or a meaning in the assembly. The Church of God does not say foot washing saves or forgives sin, which keeps it clear of ritual error; the fault is only that a good work has been lifted to the level of the two ordinances.

No formal membership, and a movement not a denomination

The Church of God keeps no formal membership and says it is a movement, not a denomination; the Nazarenes and Wesleyans keep rolls and written Articles.

The Church of God says: "We do not have formal membership but believe that salvation makes each person a member of God's family." It adds: "We do not imagine ourselves to be a denomination or institution, but a movement." This goes back to Warner's call in 1881 to leave the sects. The Nazarenes keep a membership covenant and the Wesleyans a membership ritual with constitutional conditions.

We do not have formal membership but believe that salvation makes each person a member of God's family.

We do not imagine ourselves to be a denomination or institution, but a movement.

praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.

Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them that are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?

For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.

The Church of God is right about the main thing: it is the Lord who adds, for "the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved" (Acts 2:47), and no council or roll makes a Christian. It is also nearer the New Testament in refusing a human name and a human creed; Paul asks, "Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:13). But the church in Acts knew its people, counted them (Acts 2:41), chose men "from among you" (Acts 6:3) and judged "them that are within" (1 Corinthians 5:12). A congregation that keeps no roll has no sure way to know whom it is to teach, to warn and, if need be, to put away. Its own General Assembly, which is "the highest theological authority," and the expectation that churches hold "the teaching tradition of the Church of God," shows that it cannot do without a body of teaching and a standard of fellowship.

Warner's cause was unity, and the apostles did write against divisions (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). But the movement has its own assembly, pamphlets and name, and says in the same breath that it is not a denomination. The New Testament gives the answer to a party name: the disciples "were called Christians" (Acts 11:26), and the congregations were "the churches of God" (1 Corinthians 11:16), with elders in each (Acts 14:23).

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Holiness churches began as a call back to the Bible against a cold church, and they have kept a hunger for a holy life that many churches have lost. Where they stand nearer the pattern than most, they are credited plainly. Where they stand further, that is said too, and the verdict on entire sanctification, the doctrine they were made to carry, is set out in full after the wall.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition.

The Nazarene Articles and the Wesleyan Discipline lay down the right rule: nothing is "to be enjoined as an article of faith" unless Scripture contains it or proves it, which is the Bereans' way, "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). They break their own rule where it matters most. The Nazarene Constitution is made to preserve "especially the doctrine and experience of entire sanctification as a second work of grace," and the Wesleyans require it to be taught; yet no passage says that a second work must follow conversion. The Nazarenes look to Scripture "confirmed by reason, tradition, and experience," and the Church of God lays its "teaching tradition" beside the Bible. We are to "learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6), and a doctrine of experience, bound by a constitution, goes beyond them.

The Church of God stands nearest here. It has no written creed, but it expects churches to hold "the teaching tradition of the Church of God," and the General Assembly is the "highest theological authority." That is still a human court set over the text. The Nazarene rule is good and is not kept. Article IV says nothing may be required as an article of faith that Scripture does not contain, and Article X requires a second work that Scripture does not name. Palmer began rightly. Her motto was to "seek only to be fully conformed to the will of God, as recorded in his written WORD." Applied to her own altar teaching, that rule would have turned it back.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

They are right that faith and repentance come first, and right that baptism is for believers; the Church of God stands nearest the pattern on both and on immersion. The Nazarenes and the Wesleyans take the water from Peter's command and call it a sign. Scripture says baptism is "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), that Saul was told to "be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16), and that in it we are "buried therefore with him" (Romans 6:4). The Church of God says baptism "is not required for salvation," which moves it to the far side of forgiveness, and the Nazarenes and Wesleyans add sprinkling, pouring and infants, none of which is in the apostles' churches.

What they hold rightly. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by merit, and they call sinners to repent and to trust Christ. Falling away. The Wesleyans say "it is possible to fall into sin" after regeneration, and the Church of God says a person may forfeit salvation. That belief in a real, continuing obedience is nearer the New Testament (Hebrews 3:12-14) than the doctrine that a believer can never be lost. Where they fall short. Mark 16:16 puts faith and baptism together before salvation. The Wesleyan reason for infant baptism, that grace covers the child, is right about the child and wrong about the water: the New Testament never baptizes one who cannot believe.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

The Supper is for believers, taken in remembrance of the Lord's death, and the Nazarenes invite their people to come "as often as possible" and press pastors to more frequent observance, which is the right direction. But Scripture shows the disciples assembling "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7), and the Lord's Supper belongs to every Lord's Day. A rule of "at least once a quarter" in the Manual and "at least once each three months" in the Discipline sets the floor far below the pattern, and even the Wesleyan hope of once a month falls short of every first day. The Church of God, which leaves the time to each congregation, binds nothing, and its pamphlet names the weekly custom as one of the practices.

The Church of God's refusal to bind a rule leaves its churches free to return to the first day; the Nazarenes' and Wesleyans' written minimums keep them away from it. The Lord's command to do this "in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24) has an apostolic example behind it, and Acts 20:7 gives the day. The Wesleyan statement that the Supper is "a means through which God communicates grace to the heart" is a fuller claim than "remembrance" and goes beyond the apostles' words. Credit: none of the three makes it a sacrifice, none puts a priest between the table and the believer, and the Nazarenes invite all who believe.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

They have done what many churches would not and set no bishop over the elders: the Nazarene general superintendents are elected "from among the elders," and the Wesleyan Connection gave laymen an equal seat in 1843. The pattern is still a plurality of elders over each congregation: "elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), "the elders of the church" at Ephesus (Acts 20:17), and "bishops and deacons" at Philippi (Philippians 1:1). The Wesleyan pastor is one man, "called by the local church conference and appointed by the district conference," and in both bodies districts and general assemblies rule above the local church. The Church of God sets its General Assembly over its congregations as the highest theological authority, and opening the eldership to women goes past the text as well.

The elders are to exercise oversight "not of constraint, but willingly," and not "lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:2-3). Peter tells them to tend "the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2), and no apostle sets a district or general officer over churches to appoint their pastors. The Wesleyan Connection saw the problem in the Methodist bishops in 1843 and removed the bishop, but it did not return to the elders of each church. Credit: the Nazarene refusal to be "purely episcopal" and the Wesleyan equal seat for laymen are real steps toward the text.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

What these sources describe is what the apostles' churches did: the Word read and preached, prayer, singing and the Supper. The Wesleyan rule that "only a language readily understood by the congregation is to be used in public worship" is exactly Paul's: "in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding… than ten thousand words in a tongue" (1 Corinthians 14:19). The New Testament speaks of "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19) and names no instrument in the church's worship. The sources read are silent on whether these bodies use instruments, and the Manuals set no rule against them. Where a congregation adds them, it adds what the apostles' churches are not shown to have had.

Credit. The Wesleyan Discipline protects the congregation from speech it cannot understand, the Nazarene Manual asks for faithful public worship and the ministry of the Word, and the Nazarene Sunday School, Sunday evening service and midweek prayer meeting are sound uses of the church's time; the apostles' churches met often, "day by day" (Acts 2:46). What this chart cannot say. The research found no statement in any of these bodies' documents on instruments, so none is charged to them.

for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.

And God, who knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us; and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

The Nazarenes call entire sanctification "the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit," and so take the apostles' promise (Acts 1:5), given with signs at Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius, and make it a second cleansing for every believer. The text will not carry that. When God gave the Spirit to the Gentiles He was "cleansing their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:8-9) at their first belief. The Wesleyan Discipline rightly refuses to call tongues the proof of that baptism and bars an unintelligible language in public worship (1 Corinthians 14:19, 27-28). But the Wesleyans and the Church of God hold that miraculous gifts continue, while the word that confirmed the gospel "by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers" (Hebrews 2:4) was given through the apostles, and the prophecies, tongues and knowledge of the age of revelation "shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Credit. The Wesleyan article that the gift of the Spirit is "the Holy Spirit himself" and "is to be desired more than the gifts" is right, and the Church of God's reading of tongues as a real language for the gospel matches Acts 2, where each heard in his own language. The two faults. The first is to name the Spirit's baptism as a second work in the heart; in Acts it fell on the apostles (Acts 2:1-4) and on Cornelius's house (Acts 11:15-17), each time as a sign to a watching company. The second is to teach that the gifts go on, when the signs confirmed the word "at the first… through the Lord… by them that heard" (Hebrews 2:3-4). The Wesleyan Discipline's rule on tongues is better than most, but a pending change to it (Memorial 52) would open the door wider.

who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.

On the last things they hold the main frame of the New Testament, and they hold it in plain words: the Lord "shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11), the dead will be raised, and there is a judgment with a life to come and a punishment. The Nazarene Articles say the finally impenitent "shall suffer eternally in hell," and the Wesleyans teach "the resurrection of life" and "the resurrection of damnation," following John 5:29. The bodies differ about the thousand years, which Revelation 20 makes hard, and they should not make it a test of fellowship. Scripture says "of that day and hour knoweth no one" (Matthew 24:36), and it is right to refuse to name a date, as the Wesleyans' call to holiness and witness in the light of an imminent return does.

The Church of God teaches that the kingdom is already in the hearts of God's people and that Christ will not set up a thousand-year throne on earth; the Pilgrim Holiness Church, a parent of the Wesleyans, was premillennial from 1897. Revelation 20:1-6 is the passage at issue, and it has divided faithful readers for centuries. What binds is plainer: He will come, the dead will rise, and all will stand before Him (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Credit goes to all three for putting that at the front. The fault, where one exists, is in asking more than the text asks.

The Holiness churches hold much that Scripture also holds, and it should be said plainly. They confess one God in three persons, Christ truly God and man, who died, rose and will return to judge the living and the dead. They hold the Bible to be the Word of God, and the Nazarenes and Wesleyans say in their founding documents that nothing is to be required as an article of faith that Scripture does not contain. They preach repentance and faith and a salvation that changes a life, and they refuse to let grace become an excuse for sin. They call every Christian to be holy in heart and in conduct, as Peter commands, "be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living" (1 Peter 1:15), and few churches press that command harder. The Church of God immerses believers only, refuses a creed and refuses a human name for the church. The Nazarenes and the Wesleyans have no bishop over the elders, and the Wesleyans from 1843 gave laymen an equal place. The family fought slavery from its first generation, ordained a woman in the Nazarene lineage as early as 1892, and carries the gospel to the poor.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Holiness churches stand nearer the pattern than many on the holiness of the Christian life, on the authority of the written word they profess, and on the plainness of their worship. They stand short in five places: the doctrine they bind beside the Bible, the baptism of a believer, the Supper on the first day, the shape of church government, and the claims they make for the Spirit. Entire sanctification, taught as a second crisis and written into constitutions, is a doctrine of human experience the apostles never taught. Baptism is a burial for the remission of sins, and sprinkling, pouring and the baptism of infants lose both the burial and the believer. The Supper belongs to every first day of the week, and a minimum of four times a year is not Acts 20:7. The churches of Acts had a plurality of elders over each congregation, and no assembly or superintendent above them. And the Spirit's baptism was the promise to the apostles, with the gifts that confirmed the word, and not a second cleansing for every Christian.

These are not the failings of people who despise the Bible. Phoebe Palmer wrote on her title page that she would "seek only to be fully conformed to the will of God, as recorded in his written WORD," and that is the right way to begin. The answer to the Holiness churches is not to doubt the hunger for holiness but to carry it to the end: to be buried with Christ in baptism, to break the bread on the first day of the week, to take elders in every church, and to bind no one by any experience that Scripture does not name. "Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

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