The Methodist movement began with the call to “spread Scriptural holiness across the land.” But what is “Scriptural holiness”? Is it a legalistic list of do’s and don’t’s? A mysterious, unapproachable attribute of God? Is it even possible for human beings to become “holy”? From January 14-February 18, 2025, leading Wesleyan scholar and WBS professor Dr. Chris Lohrstorfer unpacks the biblical development of the idea of holiness, showing how the whole history of salvation leads up to the giving of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ in order to enable us to become holy just as God is holy. Along the way, he unfolds the inner theology of the Trinity, showing that holiness is an attribute of God that is ultimately demonstrated in self-giving love. Thus, the call to holiness is not legalistic but an inner transformation of the heart that results in the same fruit of self-giving love being demonstrated in the lives of those who follow Jesus. Both profoundly insightful and imminently practical, previous students under Dr. Lohrstorfer consistently say things like, “I wish I had understood this sooner—the whole Bible makes more sense to me now, I have a better grasp of who the Holy Spirit is, and it is changing my life!”
