No Quick Fix E-Book

Andrew David Naselli

• Herausgeber: Lexham Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 500

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Every Christian struggles with sin and wants to be victorious in the fight.Higher life theology--also known as Keswick theology--offers a quick fix for this struggle. It teaches that there are two categories of Christians: those who are merely saved, and those who have really surrendered to Christ. Those who have Jesus as their Savior alone, and those who have him as their Master as well. If Christians can simply "let go and let God" they can be free of struggling with sin and brought to that higher level of spiritual life. What could be wrong with that?A lot, it turns out. In No Quick Fix, a shorter and more accessible version of his book Let Go and Let God?, Naselli critiques higher life theology from a biblical perspective. He shows that it leads not to freedom, but to frustration, because it promises something it has no power to deliver. Along the way, he tells the story of where higher life theology came from, describes its characteristics, and compares it to what the Bible really says about how we overcome sin and become more like Christ.

Leseprobe

NO QUICK FIX

Where Higher Life Theology Came From,

What It Is, and Why It’s Harmful

Andrew David Naselli

No Quick Fix: Where Higher Life Theology Came From, What It Is, and Why It’s Harmful

Copyright 2017 Andrew David Naselli

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [email protected].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Print ISBN 9781683590460

Digital ISBN 9781577997283

Lexham Editorial Team: Elliot Ritzema, Jennifer Edwards

Cover Design: Bryan Hintz

To Jenni,

My second blessing

Contents

List of Figures

Introduction

PART 1: Where Higher Life Theology Came From and What It Is

Chapter 1

What Is the Story of Higher Life Theology?

Chapter 2

What Is Higher Life Theology?

PART 2: Why Higher Life Theology Is Harmful

Chapter 3

The Fundamental Reason Higher Life Theology Is Harmful

Chapter 4

Nine More Reasons Higher Life Theology Is Harmful

Conclusion

Afterword by John MacArthur

Appendix: A More Excellent Way: Recommended Resources on the Christian Life

Acknowledgments

Subject and Name Index

Index of Scripture

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1. Where Did Higher Life Theology Come From?

Fig. 1.2. The Wesleyan View of Sanctification

Fig. 1.3. The Pentecostal View of Sanctification

Fig. 1.4. Chafer’s Two Categories of Christians: Carnal and Spiritual

Fig. 1.5. The Chaferian View of Sanctification

Fig. 1.6. Ryrie’s Contrast between Spirit-Baptism and Spirit-Filling

Fig. 2.1. “A Spiritual Clinic”: The Early Keswick Convention’s Progressive Teaching

Fig. 2.2. Illustrations of Counteracting Sin

Fig. 2.3. Two Categories of Christians

Fig. 2.4. The Higher Life (or Keswick) View of Sanctification

Fig. 2.5. Illustrations of Sanctification as a Crisis Followed by a Process

Fig. 2.6. Illustrations of Appropriating the Gift of Sanctification

Fig. 2.7. Illustrations of Spirit-Filling

Fig. 3.1. Higher Life Theology vs. the New Testament

Fig. 3.2. Three Tenses of Sanctification

Fig. 3.3. Contrasts between Justification and Progressive Sanctification

Fig. 3.4. Phrase Diagram of Romans 6:1–23

Fig. 3.5. Phrase Diagram of 1 Corinthians 2:6–3:4

Fig. 3.6. Translations of Key Words in 1 Corinthians 2:14–15; 3:1, 3

Fig. 3.7. Two Categories in Which All Humans Fit

Fig. 3.8. The Reformed View of Progressive Sanctification

Fig. 3.9. Illustrations of Content vs. Means

Fig. 3.10. The Components of Jesus’ Metaphor in John 15

Fig. 3.11. Explaining John 15:4 with 15:7, 9–10

Fig. 4.1. Illustrations of How Christians Must Become What They Are

Fig. 4.2. Degrees of Assurance

Introduction

It is not much of a recommendation when all you can say is that this teaching may help you if you do not take its details too seriously. It is utterly damning to have to say, as in this case I think we must, that if you do take its details seriously, it will tend not to help you but to destroy you.1

That’s what the influential theologian J. I. Packer wrote about higher life theology. It has harmed many people—including me.

I TRIED TO “LET GO AND LET GOD”

I’m not sure when God first enabled me to turn from my sins and trust Jesus. I probably became a Christian when I was eight or twelve years old. In my teen years, I deeply desired to be holy. I wanted to serve God with my heart and soul and mind and strength. I didn’t want to waste my life.

When I shared my Christian “testimony” in my high school and early college years, I would say something like this: “God saved me from my sins when I was eight years old, and I surrendered to Christ when I was thirteen.” By “saved,” I meant Jesus became my Savior, and I became a Christian. By “surrendered,” I meant I dedicated myself to Jesus—I finally gave full control of my life to Jesus as my Master and yielded to do whatever he wanted me to do.

Most of the Christians I knew—especially preachers—used those categories, so I did, too. Young people in my youth groups or at summer camp commonly told their stories the same way: “I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was eight years old, and I accepted Christ as my Lord when I was thirteen.” That was the standard God-talk lingo.

There were always two steps: first you get saved; then you get serious. Too many of us Christians were saved but not serious. We were living a lower life rather than a higher life, a shallow life rather than a deeper life, a defeated life rather than a victorious life, a fruitless life rather than a more abundant life. We were “carnal,” not “spiritual.” We experienced the first blessing but still needed the second blessing. Jesus was our Savior, but he still wasn’t our Master. So preachers urged us to make Jesus our Master. How? Through surrender and faith: “Let go and let God.”

The small Bible college I attended as an undergraduate was a ministry of my church, and preachers in my college and church took this carnal-spiritual dichotomy to another level. It became their primary focus and distinctive passion. Whether the text was from Exodus, Jeremiah, Matthew, or Revelation, nearly every sermon had the same application to Christians: Be Spirit-filled. That’s the key.

At first, I genuinely tried to go along with the program, but it just didn’t work for me. During my freshman and sophomore years of college, I became frustrated, then disillusioned, and then suspicious. I became frustrated because I still struggled with sin. I became disillusioned because higher life theology seemed too good to be true. And I became suspicious because this teaching didn’t seem to fit with what I was reading in the Bible.

I appealed to one of my former pastors for guidance, and he guided me safely through this storm. He recommended books, articles, sermons, and syllabi from his seminary, and I devoured them. By the time I was a senior in college, my school’s president and vice president nearly expelled me for not embracing their two-tiered view of Christian living.

EVALUATING HIGHER LIFE THEOLOGY

I entered graduate school with this issue on my front burner. I wanted to go deeper, so I wrote several research papers related to the topic as I completed an MA in Bible and then worked on a PhD in theology. I met more and more people who were victims of higher life theology, and I became aware of even more people who continued to propagate it.

So when it came time to choose a dissertation topic, I decided to evaluate higher life theology. I wrote a dissertation that surveys the history and theology of that two-tiered view of progressive sanctification and then analyzes it.2 Then I lightly revised that dissertation as a book for Lexham Press: Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology.3

This book is a miniature version of my more detailed and academic work Let Go and Let God? I have stripped out most of the academic jargon and repackaged it to make it more inviting for thoughtful lay people.4 For example, I usually use the term higher life theology instead of Keswick theology since higher life theology is a more intuitive label. I also want to be careful to distinguish higher life theology from the Keswick Convention today.5 (By the way, Keswick is pronounced KEH-zick. The w is silent.)

I have become more and more convinced that the “let go and let God” approach to Christian living is a quick fix. A quick fix, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a quick and easy remedy or solution”—or negatively, “an expedient but temporary solution which fails to address underlying problems.” That’s what I think higher life theology is—an easy but temporary remedy or solution that fails to address underlying problems. And that’s why the title of this book is No Quick Fix.

WHY IS HIGHER LIFE THEOLOGY SO POPULAR?

My story is not unique. Hundreds of Christians have shared their stories with me about how higher life theology has harmed them. I have tried to do my part to drive a nail in the coffin of higher life theology, but higher life theology is by no means dead. So if higher life theology is so harmful, why is it so popular?

It is pervasive because countless people have propagated it in so many ways, especially in sermons and devotional writings. It is appealing because Christians struggle with sin and want to be victorious in that struggle—now. Higher life theology offers a quick fix to this struggle, and its shortcut to instant victory appeals to people who genuinely desire to be holy.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK?

This book is for you if you have a form of higher life theology in your background. You may embrace higher life theology enthusiastically; you may embrace it unknowingly; you may know there’s something not right about it but can’t clearly explain why; or you may reject it and would like to analyze it more penetratingly.

This book is also for you if you don’t have a form of higher life theology in your background. Higher life theology is so widespread that you will be able to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ better if you understand what it is and why it’s dangerous.

A silver lining of theological controversy is that it can help you refine how you understand what the Bible teaches. In this case, analyzing higher life theology will help you better understand the Christian life.

HOW THIS BOOK EVALUATES HIGHER LIFE THEOLOGY

This book has two parts. Part 1 tells the story of higher life theology (chap. 1) and explains what it is (chap. 2). Part 2 evaluates whether higher life theology agrees with the Bible (chaps. 3–4).

My goal is not to make you an arrogant know-it-all who pugnaciously goes on higher life theology witch hunts. My goal is to edify you by warning and equipping you. I’ll consider this book a success if it helps you understand higher life theology better so that you follow a more biblical way in your Christian walk (see the appendix). There is no quick fix.

PART 1

Where Higher Life Theology Came From and What It Is

Before we can responsibly evaluate higher life theology (part 2), we must understand it. We must listen before we critique. So part 1 tells the story of where higher life theology came from (chap. 1) and explains what exactly it is (chap. 2).

CHAPTER 1

What Is the Story of Higher Life Theology?

When I first heard people preach and teach higher life theology, I didn’t know anything about its story. My pastors and other teachers claimed the Bible teaches higher life theology, so I initially assumed that they were right and that Christians have always embraced it. Learning its history was a liberating step for me. I realized that this view is novel—that it is relatively new in the history of Christianity. It is also just one of several competing views about Christian living.

There are at least five major views that evangelicals hold on the Christian life.1 At the risk of oversimplifying them, five figures presented throughout this book attempt to graphically depict those views of Christian living, which theologians call views of sanctification (see figs. 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.4, and 3.8).2

This chapter tells the story of higher life theology by answering three main questions:

1.Where did higher life theology come from?

2.Who initially popularized higher life theology?

3.What are some influential variations on higher life theology?

The story begins with John Wesley.

1. WHERE DID HIGHER LIFE THEOLOGY COME FROM?

Figure 1.1 illustrates where higher life theology came from:

Fig. 1.1. Where Did Higher Life Theology Come From?

Higher life theology has two main influences: Wesleyan perfectionism and the holiness movement.

WESLEYAN PERFECTIONISM: PERFECT LOVE TOWARD GOD AND HUMANS

The Wesleyan view of progressive sanctification has a lot in common with higher life theology. John Wesley (1703–1791) is the father of views that chronologically separate the time a person becomes a Christian from the time sanctification begins.

Wesley taught “Christian perfection,” which he qualifies does not refer to absolute sinless perfection.3Christian perfection is a type of perfection that only Christians can experience—as opposed to Adamic perfection, angelic perfection, or God’s unique, absolute perfection. The way Wesley qualifies Christian perfection hinges on how he narrowly defines sin as “a voluntary transgression of a known law.” He limits “sin” to only intentional sinful acts. He admits that “the best of men” commit “involuntary transgressions,” for which they need Christ’s atonement, but he can still call such people perfect or sinless. When one defines sin that way, Wesley does not object to the term “sinless perfection,” but he refrains from using that term because it is misleading.4

The essence of Wesley’s Christian perfection is perfectly loving God with your whole being and, consequently, perfectly loving fellow humans. Christian perfection occurs at a point in time after you are already a Christian. Wesley labels this second work of grace as not only Christian perfection but salvation from all sin, entire sanctification, perfect love, holiness, purity of intention, full salvation, second blessing, second rest, and dedicating all your life to God (see fig. 1.2).5

Fig. 1.2. The Wesleyan View of Sanctification

Two of Wesley’s followers significantly developed his doctrine of Christian perfection. John Fletcher (1729–1785) used “Pentecostal” language to describe how Christian perfection begins the instant a believer experiences the outpouring of the Spirit, is baptized with the Spirit, is filled with the Spirit, or receives the Holy Spirit as the promise from the Father. Adam Clarke (1762–1832) used Fletcher’s “Pentecostal” language to emphasize the crisis of Christian perfection more than both Wesley and Fletcher.

THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT: MODIFIED WESLEYAN PERFECTIONISM

When Wesleyan perfectionism blended with American revivalism, the holiness movement emerged. The holiness movement began in the late 1830s and modified the views of Wesley, Fletcher, and Clarke. Two significant parts of the holiness movement were Methodist perfectionism and Oberlin perfectionism.

Methodist perfectionism emphasized the crisis of Christian perfection more emphatically than Wesleyan perfectionism. The person most responsible for that was Phoebe Palmer (1807–1874). Her “altar theology” promised “a shorter way” to holiness.

The term altar theology comes from the first step of Palmer’s popular three-step teaching: You must entirely consecrate yourself or totally surrender by offering yourself and all you have on the altar (Rom 12:1–2). Christ is the altar (Exod 29:37; Heb 13:10), and the altar sanctifies the offering (Matt 23:19). When you entirely consecrate yourself, you are instantly and entirely sanctified.

Palmer used “Pentecostal” language to emphasize the crisis of Christian perfection, which she argued results in power for serving God. Her views became popular through her writings and through holiness camp meetings that began in New Jersey in 1867. During these holiness camp meetings, revivalists pressed people to choose to experience the crisis of entire sanctification.

Oberlin perfectionism is similar to Wesleyan perfectionism, but it distinctively views sanctification as entirely consecrating a person’s autonomous free will to obey the moral law. Its two main proponents were Charles Finney (1792–1875) and Asa Mahan (1799–1889).6 They taught that Christian perfection begins with a crisis of Spirit-baptism that Christians should experience at a point in time after they first become Christians.

Finney embraced Pelagianism, which denies that humans are totally depraved and views them as able to obey any of God’s commands without God’s help. The preacher’s task is to persuade their autonomous free will to obey. Under the heading “Entire Sanctification Is Attainable in This Life,” Finney asserts, “It is self-evident that entire obedience to God’s law is possible on the ground of natural ability.”7

Mahan names two doctrines as the theme of his life: Christian perfection and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.8 He emphasized that unbelievers benefit from justification at conversion and that believers benefit from sanctification sometime after conversion when they are Spirit-baptized.

Mahan had both theological affinities and personal connections with both Methodist perfectionism and higher life theology. He endorsed Phoebe Palmer’s The Way of Holiness, and the Palmers published his The Baptism of the Holy Ghost (1870). After he moved to England in 1872, he helped lead the higher life movement, which immediately preceded the first Keswick Convention in 1875.

2. WHO INITIALLY POPULARIZED HIGHER LIFE THEOLOGY?

Higher life theology includes the higher life movement (1858–1875) and culminated in the early Keswick movement (1875–1920). Both movements represented a number of different Christian denominations rather than just one. Higher life theology modified Wesleyan, Methodist, and Oberlin perfectionism in a way that appealed more broadly to non-Methodists: it referred to the higher Christian life instead of Christian perfection.

THE HIGHER LIFE MOVEMENT

The higher life movement began in 1858 when William Boardman’s popular book The Higher Christian Life released, and it dissolved in 1875 when its leaders removed Robert Pearsall Smith from public ministry.

William E. Boardman (1810–1886). Phoebe Palmer, Charles Finney, and Asa Mahan strongly influenced how Boardman understood the Christian life. Boardman professed that God justified him when he was eighteen and sanctified him when he was thirty-two. The essence of the higher Christian life is separating justification from sanctification. Boardman equated Spirit-baptism with the “second conversion,” and his best-known book, The Higher Christian Life, sold over 100,000 copies in less than thirty years. He began and led the higher life movement for over a decade until a husband-wife team—Robert and Hannah Smith—overshadowed him in the early 1870s.

Robert Pearsall Smith (1827–1898) and Hannah Whitall Smith (1832–1911). Robert and Hannah Smith zealously spread their crisis experiences with others through personal conversations, public speaking, and most enduringly through Hannah’s writing. The message of her most influential book, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, is essentially two steps:

1.“entire surrender” or “entire abandonment” (i.e., “let go”)

2.“absolute faith” (i.e., “let God”)

As with Boardman, foundational to her message is separating justification (i.e., God’s declaring a believing sinner righteous) and sanctification (i.e., Christian growth in holiness), which explains why she would appeal to “carnal” Christians to surrender to the Lord, who “is able to save you fully, now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin.”9 Only some believers experience this crisis (which she identifies with Spirit-baptism). She explains,

This new life I had entered upon has been called by several different names. The Methodists called it “The Second Blessing,” or “The Blessing of Sanctification;” the Presbyterians called it “The Higher Life,” or “The Life of Faith;” the Friends called it “The Life hid with Christ in God.” But by whatever name it may be called, the truth at the bottom of each name is the same, and can be expressed in four little words, “Not I, but Christ.”10

Although The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life endures as a devotional “classic,” Robert and Hannah Smith did not have “happy” lives. The Smith family experienced a series of sad events: (1) At the height of his success as a higher life revivalist, Robert fell doctrinally and morally. (2) Robert and Hannah’s deteriorating marriage declined even further. Hannah’s intense feminism and independence, Robert’s manic-depressive nature, and Robert’s persistence in unrepentant adultery all contributed to a very unhappy marriage. (3) Robert apostatized and became an agnostic. (4) Hannah apostatized. She lost interest in the higher life, rejoined the Quakers in 1886, and embraced universalism and religious pluralism.11

While the Smiths were popular writers on their own, what “institutionalized the message of the Smiths”12 was the Keswick Convention.

THE EARLY KESWICK MOVEMENT

The higher life theology of Boardman and the Smiths captivated T. D. Harford-Battersby. Through a sermon that Evan Hopkins preached on John 4:46–50 at a meeting that Robert Pearsall Smith led in 1874, Harford-Battersby experienced his crisis on September 1, 1874. Hopkins distinguished between the nobleman’s “seeking faith” and “resting faith” in John 4:46–50, and Harford-Battersby pointed to this as the moment when his “seeking faith” became a “resting faith.” Harford-Battersby and Robert Wilson decided to hold a similar meeting in their hometown of Keswick, a small town in northwest England. They asked Robert Pearsall Smith to chair their meeting, but Smith fell from ministry just a few days before the first Keswick Convention began in 1875.

Keswick has hosted the week-long Keswick Convention each July since 1875. Dozens of people preached and taught at the Keswick Convention in its first generation (1875–1920), and all of them experienced a crisis in which they entered “the rest of faith.” What follows highlights sixteen of higher life theology’s most noteworthy and influential proponents. The first eight were convention leaders.

1–2.T. D. Harford-Battersby (1823–1883) and Robert Wilson (1824–1905): Keswick’s Founders. Harford-Battersby and Wilson cofounded the Keswick Convention in 1875. Harford-Battersby chaired the Keswick meetings from 1875 until he died in 1883, and Wilson, later Keswick’s third chairman, handled logistical details.

3.J. Elder Cumming (1830–1917): Keswick’s Exemplar. Cumming was a minister with a reputation for being irritable. When he first visited the Keswick Convention in 1882, on two separate occasions some ladies who knew him expressed that they were delightfully surprised to see him there, implying that he needed what Keswick had to offer. He experienced his crisis that week and returned to speak at Keswick for the next twenty-four consecutive years until 1906. The revivalist D. L. Moody knew Cumming before his crisis in 1882 and considered him the “most cantankerous Christian [he] had ever met.” When Moody visited Cumming in 1891, he remarked in disbelief, “Whatever has happened to Cumming? I have never seen a man so altered, so full of the love of God.” When Moody learned that Cumming had been to Keswick, he replied, “Then I only wish all other Christians would go to Keswick too, and get their hearts filled with the love of God.”13

4.Evan H. Hopkins (1837–1918): Keswick’s Formative Theologian. Hopkins experienced his higher life crisis of surrender and faith in 1873 when Robert Pearsall Smith and William Boardman were informally speaking on the higher Christian life throughout England. A few years later it was Hopkins who was preaching when Harford-Battersby entered the “rest of faith” and then founded the Keswick Convention. Hopkins did not attend the first Keswick Convention because, as a member of the council of eight who dismissed Smith after his fall, Hopkins was occupied with replacing Smith as the new editor of The Christian’s Pathway to Power (which he changed to The Life of Faith). But he appeared as a leader at the Keswick Convention for the next forty consecutive years (1876–1915). He was perhaps the single most respected and influential early Keswick leader, and he was Keswick’s most formative theologian.

5.H. W. Webb-Peploe (1837–1923): Keswick’s Orator. Webb-Peploe, an Anglican clergyman, experienced his higher life crisis in 1874, and he spoke at twenty-eight Keswick Conventions. He was a popular speaker and perhaps Keswick’s finest orator.

6.H. C. G. Moule (1841–1920): Keswick’s Scholar. Moule is the most prestigious scholar associated with the early Keswick movement. He was the principal of Ridley Hall in Cambridge (1880–1899) and the Bishop of Durham (1901–1920), and he wrote popular commentaries on Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. He initially viewed the Keswick movement unfavorably: in 1884 he negatively reviewed Evan Hopkins’s The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life. But later that year he experienced his crisis of surrender and faith after listening to Evan Hopkins preach. Moule spoke at the Keswick Convention thirteen times between 1886 and 1919.

7.F. B. Meyer (1847–1929): Keswick’s International Ambassador. Meyer experienced his first crisis in 1884 and a second in 1887, illustrating the three steps he proclaimed that people should experience: (1) conversion, (2) consecration, and (3) the anointing of the Spirit. He spoke at the Keswick Convention twenty-six times, and as one of the world’s most popular preachers, he was the worldwide spokesman for higher life theology. He authored over seventy popular books and booklets, and he helped spread higher life theology to America through D. L. Moody’s annual Northfield Conference in Massachusetts.

8.Charles A. Fox (1836–1900): Keswick’s Poet. Frequent illnesses prevented Fox from speaking at the Keswick Convention until 1879, after which he spoke every year through 1899 (except 1897). After his first convention, he gave the closing address on the final evening of each convention he attended. He was Keswick’s poet, and his best-known poem was “The Marred Face.”

The next eight people were not as prominent and regular speakers at the Keswick Convention as the eight above, but they were highly influential in spreading higher life theology.

9.Andrew Murray (1828–1917): Keswick’s Foremost Devotional Author. Murray popularized higher life theology in South Africa. He attended the Keswick Convention as a listener in 1882 and a speaker in 1895, when as a prolific author he was by far the most popular speaker. He authored over 250 devotional books.

10–11.J. Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) and Amy Carmichael (1867–1951): Keswick’s Foremost Missionaries. The Keswick Convention began to focus on both consecration and missions beginning in 1886–1887. Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, estimated that Keswick produced two-thirds of his missionaries. He experienced the higher life on September 4, 1869, after he read this phrase in a letter from a fellow missionary: “Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.”14 Taylor visited Keswick in 1883 and 1887 and officially spoke in 1893. The first missionary whom the Keswick Convention supported was Amy Carmichael, the adopted daughter of Keswick’s cofounder Robert Wilson. She served in Japan for one year and in India for fifty-six, and she wrote over thirty-five books.

12.Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879): Keswick’s Hymnist. After experiencing her crisis on December 2, 1873, Havergal became known as “the consecration poet,” and she “thus was able before her early death to write those hymnal lyrics indelibly identified with Keswick: Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace [1878] and Take my Life and let it be [1874].”15

13.A. T. Pierson (1837–1911): Keswick’s American Ambassador. Pierson did not experience his higher life crisis that identified him with the Keswick movement until 1895. He spoke at eight Keswick Conventions from 1897 to 1909, and he promoted Keswick theology in his writing and preaching, spreading it at key conferences, such as Northfield in America.

14–16.W. H. Griffith Thomas (1861–1924), Charles G. Trumbull (1872–1941), and Robert C. McQuilkin (1886–1952): Keswick’s Leaders of the Victorious Life Movement. The victorious life movement was the American version of the Keswick movement (although it was not officially connected with the Keswick Convention). It began in 1913 and promoted higher life theology for decades. Its three primary leaders were Griffith Thomas, Trumbull, and McQuilkin. Griffith Thomas experienced his crisis at age eighteen, and he spoke at the Keswick Convention four times (1906–1908, 1914). He was the featured speaker at the first victorious life conference in 1913. Trumbull experienced his crisis in 1910 and enthusiastically promoted higher life theology in America. McQuilkin experienced his crisis on August 15, 1911, when Trumbull counseled him in a conference center’s prayer room. He was Trumbull’s right-hand man until McQuilkin became the founder and president of Columbia Bible School in 1923.

3. WHAT ARE SOME INFLUENTIAL VARIATIONS ON HIGHER LIFE THEOLOGY?

Higher life theology spawned four institutions or movements that have greatly influenced American evangelicalism: the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Moody Bible Institute, Pentecostalism, and Dallas Theological Seminary. Those four successors to higher life theology each began as influential variations on higher life theology (emphasis on began as—today the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Moody Bible Institute, and Dallas Theological Seminary do not promote higher life theology like they used to).

THE CHRISTIAN AND MISSIONARY ALLIANCE: FOUNDED BY A. B. SIMPSON

A. B. Simpson (1844–1919) founded two nondenominational mission agencies in 1887 that merged in 1897 as the Christian and Missionary Alliance. It was not technically part of the higher life movement but was sympathetic with it. Simpson, who authored over one hundred books, experienced his higher life crisis in 1874 when reading Boardman’s The Higher Christian Life. His view of sanctification was similar but not identical to the Wesleyan and Keswick views.16 He viewed sanctification as the Christ-filled life, which begins at a crisis that occurs at a point in time after one has already become a Christian. At this crisis, a Christian is filled or baptized with the Holy Spirit. But unlike Pentecostalism, Simpson did not believe that speaking in tongues is an evidence of that crisis.

MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE: LED BY D. L. MOODY, R. A. TORREY, AND JAMES M. GRAY

Moody Bible Institute began in 1889 as the Bible Institute for Home and Foreign Missions of the Chicago Evangelization Society. In March 1900 (after Moody’s death in December 1899), its name changed to Moody Bible Institute. It emphasized practical Christian ministry, and it became an internationally influential force in evangelicalism through its faculty, graduates, and ministries such as Moody Press. Moody Bible Institute’s first three leaders enthusiastically spread elements of higher life theology.

1.D. L. Moody (1837–1899) emphasized that Christians must experience a crisis of Spirit-baptism after their conversion. He testified that he received the baptism of the Spirit just after the great Chicago fire in 1871 while walking on Wall Street in New York City. Although Moody never entirely or exclusively embraced higher life theology, he was publicly sympathetic with it and allowed it to spread at his popular Northfield Conferences.17 He passionately emphasized that Christians should be baptized with the Holy Spirit in order to have power to serve God and others. Other leaders who followed Moody by emphasizing Spirit-baptism or Spirit-filling as the key for “power for service” include A. J. Gordon, A. T. Pierson, C. I. Scofield, R. A. Torrey, and James M. Gray.

2.R. A. Torrey (1856–1928) was superintendent of Moody Bible Institute (1889–1908) and laid the foundation for its curriculum. He was one of Moody’s closest friends and pastored Chicago Avenue Church (1894–1906), which the church renamed Moody Church in 1908. Torrey shared speaking platforms in America with many Keswick speakers, such as F. B. Meyer, and he spoke at the Keswick Convention in 1904 on his most passionate subject: how to receive the baptism of the Spirit. Torrey further accented what Moody emphasized: Spirit-baptism is a crisis that occurs after a person is already a Christian, and it results in power for service. Early Pentecostal literature quotes Torrey more frequently than it quotes any other non-Pentecostal.

3.James M. Gray (1851–1935) began lecturing at Moody Bible Institute in 1892 and remained there until his death. He served as dean (1904–1923), president (1923–1934), and president emeritus. He was sympathetic with Moody and Torrey’s view of sanctification, but he did not view Spirit-baptism as a separate experience that occurs after conversion. He emphasized Spirit-filling as the secret key to victorious living and Spirit-anointing as the means for power in service.

PENTECOSTALISM: A PRODUCT OF WESLEYAN PERFECTIONISM, THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT, HIGHER LIFE THEOLOGY, A. B. SIMPSON, D. L. MOODY, AND R. A. TORREY

Pentecostalism, according to most church historians, began on December 31, 1900. Charles Fox Parham (1873–1929), a teacher at Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, laid his hands on Miss Agnes Ozman that day, and she soon began speaking in tongues. Within days, Parham and many other students also experienced what they believed was the initial evidence of Spirit-baptism.

Pentecostalism maintains that believers should experience Spirit-baptism after conversion and initially demonstrate this by speaking in tongues. Pentecostals are divided regarding whether Spirit-baptism happens at the sanctification crisis or at a later time. Thus, some call Spirit-baptism “the second blessing” (see fig. 2.3) and others “the third blessing.” The three blessings are (1) the crisis of conversion for salvation, (2) the crisis of sanctification for holiness, and (3) the crisis of Spirit-baptism for power in service (see fig. 1.3).

Pentecostalism’s roots include Wesleyan perfectionism (Wesley, Fletcher, and Clarke), Methodist perfectionism (Palmer and the camp meetings), Oberlin perfectionism (Finney and Mahan), the higher life movement (Boardman and the Smiths), the early Keswick movement (especially F. B. Meyer, Andrew Murray, A. T. Pierson, and A. J. Gordon), and the theology of A. B. Simpson, D. L. Moody, and R. A. Torrey. Common to all these leaders and movements is affirming two distinct crisis events—one for conversion and one for a special sanctification. Higher life theology played a crucial role in forming Pentecostalism, which subsequently dwarfed higher life theology in size and influence.

Fig. 1.3. The Pentecostal View of Sanctification

DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: BASTION OF THE CHAFERIAN VIEW OF SANCTIFICATION

The higher life and Chaferian views of sanctification are similar but not identical. The higher life view predated and highly influenced the Chaferian view, named after Lewis Sperry Chafer, who cofounded Dallas Theological Seminary in 1924.18 Dallas Theological Seminary is probably the most influential factor for the prevalence of a Keswick-like view of sanctification in modern evangelicalism. Three theologians have been most influential:

1.Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871–1952) was the protégé of C. I. Scofield (1843–1921). After Scofield died, his former church in Dallas called Chafer to pastor them; Chafer accepted, and the church changed its name to Scofield Memorial Church. You cannot understand Chafer apart from Scofield.

Scofield embraced higher life theology, and his famous Scofield Reference Bible “more or less canonized Keswick teachings.”19 Believers are in one of two distinct categories: (1) those who are not Spirit-filled and (2) those who are Spirit-filled. The first are powerless, and the second are powerful. But unlike Moody, Torrey, and Meyer, he insisted that Spirit-baptism occurs at conversion for all Christians.

In 1924, Chafer cofounded Dallas Theological Seminary (called Evangelical Theological College until 1936). He cofounded it with W. H. Griffith Thomas, one of the early Keswick movement’s leaders. For the previous decade, Chafer had been contemplating the need for a seminary sympathetic with the Bible conference movement’s teaching, especially higher life theology.20 Although Chafer had earned no formal theological degrees, he served as both the school’s president and professor of systematic theology from 1924 until his death in 1952.

At the beginning of each school year, Chafer presented a series of lectures on consecration as the prerequisite for the seminarians to be effective in their studies. He also taught a course on this subject entitled “Realization of the Spiritual Life” as part of the theological curriculum for first-year students. His lectures promoted higher life theology, and the essence of his lectures is in his book He That Is Spiritual, which “became popularly known as Victorious Life Teaching or Keswick Theology.”21 He opens his book by delineating three distinct categories into which all humans fall:

1.natural (unconverted)

2.carnal (converted but characterized by an unconverted lifestyle)

3.spiritual (converted and Spirit-filled)

People may experience “two great spiritual changes”—“the change from the ‘natural’ man to the saved man, and the change from the ‘carnal’ man to the ‘spiritual’ man.”22 “By various terms the Bible teaches that there are two classes of Christians.” Figure 1.4 records Chafer’s contrasts verbatim,23 and figure 1.5 depicts the Chaferian view of sanctification.

Fig. 1.4. Chafer’s Two Categories of Christians: Carnal and Spiritual

Category 1: Carnal

Category 2: Spiritual

Those who “abide not”

Those who “abide in Christ”

Those who “walk in darkness”

Those who are “walking in the light”

Those who “walk as men”

Those who “walk by the Spirit”

Those who “walk after the flesh”

Those who “walk in newness of life”

Those who have the Spirit “in” them, but not “upon” them

Those who have the Spirit “in” and “upon” them

Those who are “carnal”

Those who are “spiritual”

Those who are not [“filled with the Spirit”]

Those who are “filled with the Spirit”

Fig. 1.5. The Chaferian View of Sanctification

2.John F. Walvoord (1910–2002) served in leadership roles at Dallas Theological Seminary from 1935 until his death.24 He perpetuated Chafer’s Keswick-like view of sanctification. Carnal believers must surrender “once and for all” by accepting Christ “as Lord,” resulting in the start of “progressive sanctification.” He agrees with the Keswick perspective in Five Views on Sanctification, but qualifies that the only point that could use more clarity is to distinguish Spirit-baptism as a once-for-all-time act at conversion and Spirit-filling as the secret “means of transforming the Christian life.”25

3.Charles C. Ryrie (1925–2016) “dedicated” his life to God after he met with Chafer on April 23, 1943. He later taught systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary (1953–1958), served as president of the Philadelphia College of the Bible (1958–1962), and returned to Dallas Theological Seminary to serve as chair of the systematic theology department and dean of doctoral studies until he retired (1962–1983).

Like Walvoord, Ryrie promoted a Keswick-like view of sanctification by emphasizing “dedication,” a once-for-all-time crisis that is never repeated and transitions believers from being carnal to spiritual.26 He views the “Let go and let God” slogan as a quietistic, improper emphasis for the Christian life in general because “in the matter of progressive sanctification there is a part that the believer plays which he very definitely must not let go of.” But the slogan “is a perfectly proper emphasis when it concerns the matter of dedication.”27

Ryrie contrasts Spirit-filling with Spirit-baptism in seven ways (see fig. 1.6).

Fig. 1.6. Ryrie’s Contrast between Spirit-Baptism and Spirit-Filling28

Baptism [of the Spirit]

Filling [of the Spirit]

Occurs only once in each believer’s life

Is a repeated experience

Never happened before day of Pentecost

Occurred in the Old Testament

True of all believers

Not necessarily experienced by all

Cannot be undone

Can be lost

Results in a POSITION

Results in POWER

Occurs when we believe in Christ

Occurs throughout the Christian life

No prerequisite (except faith in Christ)

Depends on yieldedness

The Chaferian view of sanctification is directly related to the so-called Lordship salvation controversy.29 The controversy in 1919 between Chafer (Chaferian) and Warfield (Reformed) repeated itself in the 1950s with Steven Barabas (Keswick) and John Murray (Reformed) and again in the late 1980s and the 1990s with Ryrie (Chaferian) and John MacArthur (Reformed). Ryrie’s chapter “Must Christ Be Lord to Be Savior?” answers the question with a dogmatic No:

The importance of this question cannot be overestimated in relation to both salvation and sanctification. The message of faith only and the message of faith plus commitment of life cannot both be the gospel; therefore, one of them is a false gospel and comes under the curse of perverting the gospel or preaching another gospel (Gal 1:6–9), and this is a very serious matter. As far as sanctification is concerned, if only committed people are saved people, then where is there room for carnal Christians?30

The controversy erupted again in 1988 with MacArthur’s The Gospel according to Jesus.31Zane Hodges and Ryrie each responded to MacArthur,32 and MacArthur responded to Hodges and Ryrie.33MacArthur’s first work argues that the Gospels teach that one must repent to be saved and that good works and continuing to believe in Jesus are the necessary fruit of saving faith, and Hodges argues that neither the Gospels nor the rest of the Bible supports that. Hodges contends that the only condition for salvation is intellectually believing and that other elements such as repentance and surrender are heretical additions to the gospel that result in salvation by works rather than by faith alone. Hodges denies that a person who believes in Christ must continue believing to possess eternal life—someone who previously believed in Christ can “drop out” of the Christian life, just as a student can drop out of school.34

Ryrie, though not as extreme as Hodges, also argues that neither the Gospels nor the rest of the Bible supports that one must repent to be saved or that good works and continuing to believe in Jesus are the necessary fruit of saving faith. His main argument is that God requires only that people believe in Jesus Christ for him to save them. He argues that Christians may be in a lifelong state of carnality and may even become unbelieving believers; those who once believed are secure forever—even if they turn away.35 Hodges and Ryrie distinguish between salvation and discipleship based on how Chafer adopted and adapted the categories of carnal and spiritual Christians from higher life theology.36

These debates have continued within evangelicalism. More recently, Wayne Grudem and John MacArthur (once again) have helpfully addressed this controversial issue.37

CONCLUSION

This chapter has been a short way of telling the story of higher life theology—where it came from, who initially popularized it, and four influential variations on it. It is important to understand this story before critiquing higher life theology.

But before we begin to critique it, we must answer one more question: What exactly is higher life theology? The next chapter explains its essence.

CHAPTER 2

What Is Higher Life Theology?

We will evaluate higher life theology in chapters 3–4, but before we can do that, we must know what it is. One helpful way to explain higher life theology is to present it in five steps. These five steps correspond to the five days of sequential, progressive teaching at a typical early Keswick Convention (see fig. 2.1). A week at a Keswick Convention focused on the Bible and Christian fellowship. It was supposed to be like a spiritual resort—or more accurately, like a spiritual hospital. One leading Keswick historian describes those weeklong Keswick meetings as “a spiritual clinic” to help restore Christians who were spiritually sick or wounded.1

Fig. 2.1. “A Spiritual Clinic”: The Early Keswick Convention’s Progressive Teaching

Day 1:

Monday

Day 2:

Tuesday

Day 3:

Wednesday

Day 4:

Thursday

Day 5:

Friday

The diagnosis: sin

The cure: God’s provision for victorious Christian living

The crisis for the cure: consecration

The prescription: Spirit-filling

The mission: powerful Christian service (especially foreign missions)

Everything this chapter asserts is what higher life theology affirms. Even the illustrations come directly from higher life teaching. (It would get tiresome to keep repeating phrases such as “According to higher life theology.”) This chapter presents higher life theology without evaluating it; chapters 3 and 4 evaluate it.

DAY 1. THE DIAGNOSIS: SIN

Sin is why some Christians are spiritually sick or wounded. Sin is an indwelling tendency or law, and you can’t eradicate it in this life. The only way to conquer sin is to continually counteract it; the only law that can counteract the law of sin in the Christian (Rom 7:23) is the law of the Spirit in Christ (Rom 8:2); and the only way for the law of the Spirit in Christ to counteract the law of sin in the Christian is for the Christian to abide in Christ. Figure 2.2 summarizes several illustrations that higher life teachers use to clarify this “law of counteraction.”

It is not possible to be sinlessly perfect, but it is possible to live without “known sin.” The decisive factor in successfully counteracting sin is whether you allow the Holy Spirit to counteract your sinful nature. “Christians need not sin, and if they allow the Holy Spirit to ‘operate invariably’ they will not sin.”2

DAY 2. THE CURE: GOD’S PROVISION FOR VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIVING

FUNDAMENTAL PROPOSITION: THERE ARE TWO CATEGORIES OF CHRISTIANS

The cure for sin is based on the fundamental proposition that there are two categories of Christians (see fig. 2.3, which uses higher life theology’s own labels).

Fig. 2.2. Illustrations of Counteracting Sin

The law of sin in the Christian

The law of the Spirit in Christ

The law of counteraction

Dark room

Light from a candle

Light counteracts darkness only when the light abides in the dark room.

A rod attached to lead sinks in a tank of water.

The rod floats in a little life-belt.

The life-belt counteracts sinking only when the rod abides in the life-belt.

A man in the sea would eventually sink to the bottom.

The man in a life-belt would float on the surface.

The life-belt counteracts sinking only when a man abides in the life-belt.

Peter sinks when trying to walk on water.

Peter walks on water through Christ’s power.

Christ’s power counteracts sinking only when Peter gazes on Christ.

A hot-air balloon without gas rests on the ground.

The hot-air balloon soars above the ground when hot gas inflates it.

The hot gas counteracts gravity’s effect on the hot-air balloon only when the gas abides in the balloon.

Iron by itself is black, cold, and hard.

Iron in the fire is red, hot, and malleable because the fire is in the iron.

Fire counteracts iron’s blackness, coldness, and hardness only when the iron abides in the fire.

A particular young lion is savage and blood-thirsty.

The lion is tame when in the presence of its keeper.

The keeper counteracts the lion’s savage nature only when the keeper abides in the lion’s presence.

Fig. 2.3. Two Categories of Christians

Category 1

Category 2

Carnal

Spiritual

Justified but no crisis of sanctification

Justified and crisis of sanctification

Justification actual (factual); sanctification possible

Sanctification actual and experiential (functional)

Received Christ by faith as your righteousness

Received Christ by faith as your holiness

Free from sin’s penalty

Free from sin’s power

First blessing

Second blessing (followed by more blessings)

First stage

Second stage

Average

Normal

Constant defeat

Constant victory

Expect defeat, surprised by victory

Expect victory, surprised by defeat

Life in the flesh

Life in the Spirit

Not abiding in Christ

Abiding in Christ

Have life

Have life more abundantly

Spirit-indwelt

Spirit-baptized and Spirit-filled

Spirit-indwelt

Christ-indwelt

Christ is Savior

Christ is both Savior and Lord

Believer

Disciple

Out of fellowship/communion with God

In fellowship/communion with God

Headship: “in Christ” positionally

Fellowship: “in Christ” experientially

The self-life (Rom 7)

The Christ-life (Rom 8)

Spiritual bondage

Spiritual liberty

Duty-life

Love-life

Restless worry

Perfect peace and rest

Experientially pre-Pentecost

Experientially post-Pentecost

No power for service

Power for service

Virtual fruitlessness

Abundant fruitfulness

Stagnation

Perpetual freshness

Feebleness

Strength

Lower life

Higher life

Shallow life

Deeper life

Trying

Trusting

The life of struggle/works

The life/rest of faith

The unsurrendered life

The life of consecration

The life lacking blessing

The blessed life

Liberated from Egypt but still in the wilderness

In the land of Canaan

The Christian life as it ought not be

The Christian life as it ought to be

There are three distinct types of people:

1.Non-Christian (natural)

2.Christian in category 1 (carnal)

3.Christian in category 2 (spiritual)

The way to help non-Christians is to evangelize them so they convert and become Christians. The way to help Christians in category 1 is to teach them higher life theology so they experience a crisis that moves them from category 1 to category 2. That crisis or “second blessing” for the Christian is sometimes “as clearly marked as his conversion, in which he passes out of a life of continual feebleness and failure to one of strength and victory, and abiding rest.”3 This experience “has been called by various names”: “the second blessing” (Wesley), “the higher Christian life” (Boardman), “the rest of faith,” “the life of consecration,” “the life of faith,” and “the blessed life.” But it is simply “the Christian life, as it ought to be, but seldom is.”4 If you don’t understand higher life theology, you can’t move from category 1 to category 2.5

PROBLEM: WRONG VIEWS ON SANCTIFICATION RESULT IN DEFEAT (CATEGORY1)

Defeat (i.e., category 1) characterizes the “average” Christian—largely because they believe wrong views on sanctification. Here are three of those wrong views.

1.Automatic growth. Sanctification is not automatic. Believers do not automatically progress in sanctification like programmed robots. This view insufficiently accounts for Christian backsliding.

2.Synergism. This view of sanctification is incorrect because it claims a Christian grows by diligently using the means of grace with God’s help—that is, both God and the believer work. But God does everything and the believer does nothing. The believer’s own strength is not only insufficient for sanctification; depending on that strength offends God.6

3.Eradication of the law of indwelling sin. Both the Wesleyan view (i.e., God completely and instantaneously eradicates the indwelling sin tendency) and the Reformed view (i.e., a Christian gradually mortifies sin but not completely until glorification) are wrong. A Christian does not gradually become less sinful; sin is an indwelling tendency that does not change. Like a barrel of dry gunpowder that could explode at any moment under the right conditions, as a Christian you can fall into the same kind of sin at any moment of your life—whether you just converted or have been a Christian for seventy years.7

SOLUTION: SANCTIFICATION BY FAITH RESULTS IN VICTORY (CATEGORY2)

The correct view is “sanctification by faith,” which results in victory (i.e., category 2). Defeat characterizes the “average” Christian, but victory characterizes the “normal” Christian. (Sanctification refers to what happens starting at the crisis. See fig. 2.4.)

Fig. 2.4. The Higher Life (or Keswick) View of Sanctification

It helps to specify sanctification’s basis, nature, means, result, and agent.

1.On what basis? The basis for sanctification is union with Christ. The key text is Romans 6. All believers are positionally united to Christ, so it is possible for them to live the victorious Christian life.

2.What is it? The nature of sanctification is threefold: (1) gift, (2) crisis, and (3) process. Sanctification is a gift that a believer must willingly receive. It begins with the crisis of consecration, and what follows is a process (see fig. 2.5).

Fig. 2.5. Illustrations of Sanctification as a Crisis Followed by a Process

Crisis

Process

The beginning point of a line

The rest of the line

Stepping onto a train

Traveling on a train

Matriculating into a school

Receiving instruction at the school

Taking a photograph

Developing the photograph

Setting a dislocated ankle with instant relief

Walking with the healed ankle

Enthroning a king

The king ruling

While wrestling with the Lord, Jacob ceased resisting (i.e., he yielded or surrendered or “let go”), and he clung to the Lord for a blessing (i.e., he exercised faith or “let God”).

Jacob (now Israel) lived honestly rather than deceptively.

The Israelites crossing the Jordan River

The Israelites living in the land of Canaan

Jesus completely, immediately cured people.

Those people remained cured.

Peter wept bitterly after denying the Lord.

Peter began living a powerful Christian life.

Believers must experience the crisis before the process can begin. The Greek word translated “present” in Romans 6:13, 16, 19, and 12:1 is in the aorist tense-form, which supports that this “presenting” is a once-for-all-time act of self-surrender. But Christians may need to repeat that yielding “if, having presented ourselves, we have afterwards withdrawn the gift.”8 “The act of consecration” is “done once for all” but still must “be done over and over again” “in the sense of restoration” or “confirmation.”9 This yielding is not necessary for justification, but it is necessary for sanctification. Christians often make this decisive step of yielding immediately after hearing a sermon on the crisis of sanctification.10

3.How? The means of sanctification is appropriating (i.e., choosing to make use of) the gift by faith alone—not by effort or struggle. Popular phrases for this concept are “sanctification by faith” and “holiness by faith.” Figure 2.6 illustrates the difference between a Christian’s (a) having a position and (b) appropriating that position.

Fig. 2.6. Illustrations of Appropriating the Gift of Sanctification

Having a Position

(Sanctification Is Possible)

Appropriating That Position

(Sanctification Is Actual)

You live as if you are poor even though you have a large checking account.

Live as if you are rich by using your wealth.

You are enslaved even though the government has proclaimed you are free.

Become free by acting on what the government proclaimed.

The nobleman sought Jesus to heal his son (“seeking faith”).

The nobleman believed that Jesus had healed his son (“resting faith”).

You own a large estate but don’t know about the treasures beneath the surface (e.g., mineral wealth).

Discover and use the wealth you already possess.

God will enable Christians to do what he commands, but unbelief limits God’s enabling.11 “The will is our main and chief impediment.”12 All Christians are united to Christ, but not all experience spiritual power because “the great hindrance—that which lies at the root of every other—is unbelief. We limit God by our unbelief.”13 Christians are unable to deliver themselves, and God is unable to deliver Christians unless they freely choose for God to deliver them. Trumbull compares it to conversion: “God can save no man unless that man does his part toward salvation.” That is, a human’s will must “voluntarily and deliberately decide to take what God offers us.”14 And once a Christian appropriates their position and makes sanctification actual, their free will is the only instrument that can keep allowing God to deliver them.15

4.With what result? The result of sanctification is spiritual power. All Christians are united to Christ, but they must appropriate spiritual power through faith. When a Christian’s faith increases, “the power will flow in.”16 Christians without the power of the Holy Spirit are like a train without an engine or like a power tool without electricity.

5.By whom? The agent of sanctification is the Holy Spirit, who imparts Christ to the believer. The Holy Spirit opposes a Christian’s other indwelling power: the flesh (Gal 5:16–18).

DAY 3. THE CRISIS FOR THE CURE: CONSECRATION

“No crisis before Wednesday” was a common saying at the early Keswick Conventions because the first two days (Monday and Tuesday) laid the groundwork for the crisis of consecration. Since sanctification is a crisis plus a following process, it is important to focus on how to experience the crisis so that the process may follow. “What are the conditions of this Victorious Life? Only two, and they are very simple. Surrender and faith. ‘Let go, and let God.’ ”17 Believers enter the higher life through a crisis experience—the “twin door” of “surrender and faith.”18

STEP 1: “LET GO” (SURRENDER)

It is at this point in time that Christians completely give themselves to Jesus as their Master. “Letting go” includes surrendering to God every habit, ambition, hope, loved one, possession, as well as yourself.

Any victory over the power of any sin whatsoever in your life that you have to get by working for it is counterfeit. Any victory that you have to get by trying for it is counterfeit. If you have to work for your victory, it is not the real thing; it is not the thing that God offers you.19

It is not by straining and struggling that this blessed condition is brought about; it comes by a very real dedication of ourselves to God for this very purpose, and with this as the special end and aim in view. Just lie quietly before Him. Open all the avenues of your being, and let Him come in and take possession of every chamber. Especially give Him your heart—the very seat of your desires, the throne of your affections. Yield all up to Him, and the Lord will enter, bringing with Him all the riches of His grace and glory, turning your life of duty into a life of liberty and love.20

STEP 2: “LET GOD” (FAITH)

After you “let go,” you must “let God.” First you surrender, then you exercise faith.

The secret of complete victory is faith: simply believing that Jesus has done and is doing it all. Victory is entered upon by a single act of faith, as is salvation. Victory is maintained by the attitude of faith. But suppose the believer having experienced the miracle of victory over sin through trusting his Lord’s sufficiency, comes, somehow, to doubt that sufficiency? At once his victory is broken, and he fails. This is possible at any moment.… They say at Keswick, “If you should fail, shout Victory!” Not with any idea of denying the reality of the failure, but in recognition of the fact that Jesus has not failed, and that there may be instantaneous and complete restoration through faith in His unimpaired sufficiency.21

DAY 4. THE PRESCRIPTION: SPIRIT-FILLING

When you experience a crisis of consecration (i.e., you “let go” and “let God”), you are Spirit-filled. Continuing to be Spirit-filled is the only way to spiritually grow and to avoid relapsing to category 1 (see fig. 2.3