Is It a “Second Blessing”?
“Do you believe in the second blessing?”
“To be sure I do,” answered a Christian whose reply voices the judgment of many, “but I shouldn’t confine it to a second blessing. I believe in hundreds of blessings after conversion.” Whatever may be our view of such a term as “the second blessing,” let us not lose the experience it describes by confusing these hundreds of blessings with that distinct change which comes in a life when the secret of complete victory is learned.
A noted Christian leader in England who was prejudiced against the teaching of a “higher life” was prevailed upon to hear a message on the subject. He approached the speaker, who was a friend of his, with this criticism: “That is all well enough, but you are preaching lop-sided truth. What we need is all-round truth.” “Yes,” was the reply, “but we are preaching to lop-sided Christians. When we get them into the center then we can give them all-round truth.”
Dr. Griffith Thomas, who relates this incident of the English preachers, has pointed out that “the perfecting of the saints” means literally “the adjusting of the saints.” It is as when a broken shoulder needs to be set before the blood can flow properly and the arm be used. It is this adjustment of “lop-sided Christians” which marks the great change. Those who experience the change realize that it is something different from any blessing they have received since conversion, and different from any new experience of deepening that will come in the life later.
What is this distinct change that comes in the life of the Christian?
It is clear that the Scriptures never hold before the believer two standards for the Christian life. The New Testament does recognize that Christians may walk as “carnal,” whereas their true state is to be spiritual (Gal. 6:1; 1 Cor. 3:1). It recognizes that Christians may walk after the flesh or after the Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16).