In earlier posts, we saw that Keswick sanctification is a declared spiritual state. Entering this state launches one into more spiritual passivity and effortless trust. In Keswick sanctification, one surrenders to the Spirit’s take over. The Spirit then pours, or infuses, Christ’s personal obedience into one’s self.
“Christ will think through our minds. Christ will keep the law within us! He will destroy the dominion of sin and dethrone self in us”. George Pardington, The Crisis of the Deeper Life, Harrisburg Pa. Christian Publications, n.d. P 149.
We also saw the idea of two categories of Christians. Some Keswick ‘believers’ are justified but still live in sin without sanctification. Other ‘believers’ are justified and sanctified. We also looked at their three-part formula for sanctification: ‘let go’, have a crisis, and ‘let God’.
We learned that the key to Keswick sanctification is a passive faith. It must be as passive for one’s sanctification as it is for one’s justification.
Finally, we learned that Keswick sanctification is not about the believers’ actions of obedience. Because, to the Keswick, this is legalism and ‘adding to the finished work of Christ’. Rather, sanctification is about how passive a believer’s faith is. Keswicks teach that obedience to God’s commands does not express one’s spiritual growth. Instead, the completeness of one’s surrender expresses growth.
So, we finish up with the Keswick movement by considering some other dangers with Keswick teachings.
PS, we hope you enjoy the new feature for Bible passages. Just hover over it to read it in the KJV.
Special or inner promptings
Keswick/HL thinking is a form of Romish Quietism. This holds that any, and all, thoughts, impulses, and actions on our part are the ‘energy of the flesh’. It teaches that if God will move us, it will be by ‘inner promptings’; the energy of God.
But the scriptures do not teach that the Spirit guides us to do God’s will by inner promptings. The Spirit does not ‘tug’ people in a certain direction. The Spirit does not do God’s will for us, through us.
Self-emptying
Biblical self-denial is not the same as ‘annihilation of our selfhood’ or ‘self-emptying’. Keswick teaches that it is the believer’s duty to take leave of his own personality. When believers completely surrender themselves, Christ can make all their decisions. So, Christ is responsible for what they do, not themselves. This is how they understand being ‘free in Christ’.
“If one walks in the Spirit, the Spirit carries the burden of Sin.” ~ Wm. Boardman.
Teaching which asserts the need of a mystical Christ to do everything is equal to spiritual suicide. Scripture teaches that each believer is a unique, adopted child of God. The Spirit testifies of this with our personal spirit, Rom 8:16, Gal. 4:6.
Seeking the annihilation of our selfhood so that divine life may flow freely through our physical frames is works-based theology. The purpose of self-emptying is conscious inaction. For the Keswick, it means inner and spiritual inaction. But scripture does not know of a believer being ‘empty’ or spiritual inaction.
Extra-biblical practices
Higher Life and Keswick movements do encourage their people to sit under the preaching. But this is only to learn about God. Instead, they mainly rely on annual week-long conventions to achieve their version of sanctification. This is their ‘means of grace’ that they use for sanctification.
The scriptures teach that preaching is the means of grace, not annual conventions.
Loss of the Spirit
The Keswicks teach that you can lose all, or part, of the Spirit’s presence.
But the bible teaches that all Christians receive the Spirit, Acts 2:4, Romans 8:14-17. It is true that we can grieve the Spirit, and lose the sense of God’s favor. But we cannot utterly lose the Spirit’s presence, Canons 5: 5&6.
Spurious Christians
The teaching of two tiers of Christians, can give a false assurance to fake or hypocritical ‘Christians’. The Keswick system leaves room for many of their people to simply continue their merry way in sinful patterns. It validates Christians who bear no spiritual fruit.
Keswick sanctification aims more for a sense of spiritual peace rather than repentance and real change. Therefore, it is more important to them to have a sense that their ‘heart is right’. They must re-experience their justification and know their sins are already forgiven.
Dualism
According to Keswick teacher, Roberston McQuilkin, the spiritual conflict is not between the old and new natures. Rather, it is between the ‘energy of the flesh’ and the energy of the now-indwelling Spirit. In the fight against sin, the Keswick insist on a passive faith. Such a passive faith must rely wholly on the indwelling Spirit to fight sin for them. Effort supports ‘the flesh’.
“It is by the power of the Spirit that the power of sin is counteracted. The tendency to sin remains with the believer, but the greater force of the spirit dispels this darkness of sin”. ~Wm. Boardman, Higher Life, pg 81.
This is simple dualism.
The bible teaches that while we are still on this earth, we experience two struggling spiritual principles. These principles are within our one person. In 2 Cor. 5:17, Paul says we are new creatures, not a combination of good and evil identities.
Shallow view of sin
Sin is defined as knowingly committing only outward disobedience. These sins are equated with cultural norms like smoking, drinking, dancing, hair length, makeup, etc. This is a very incomplete view of sin.
They do not teach ‘original guilt/sin’ from our representative head, Adam. Instead, you break your personal covenant with God when you sin and revert to being a carnal Christian. You need a crisis to restore that covenant.
Free will
Keswick teaching relies on one’s free will.
“Our efforts not only play no part in victory [of a holy life], they can and do effectually prevent such victory … when you exercise your free will to ‘let God,’ you are not exerting ‘effort.’”, ~Trumbull, Victory in Christ pg. 48.
This is also Pelagian. With this free will, we can then choose God, or in the case of Keswick theology, we can ‘let God’.
The Keswick idea of Spirit-filled
“In order to enter into this blessed [Spirit-filled] interior life of rest and triumph, you have to take two steps: the first [is] entire abandonment, and the second [is] absolute faith”. ~ Keswick teacher Hannah Whitehall Smith.
Note that her ‘blessed life’ is interior and not expressed outwardly by your actions, holy or not.
A summary of Keswick teachers Evan Hopkins, F.B. Meyer, and John MacNeil teach that you are Spirit-filled only when you experience a crisis of consecration. Only from when you ‘let go and let God’. But, this is man-centered, and a form of works-righteousness.
Scriptures do not teach that we acquire the Spirit by our power or through self-emptying. Rather, Romans 5:5 and John 14:16-17 teach that the Holy Spirit is given and sent, respectively.
Keswick concept of filling is akin to drunkenness and demon possession.
One figure that Robertson McQuilkin uses to describe the Spirit’s filling is alcohol. “People may have a lot of alcohol in their system and may be so affected by it that they have little control over themselves … there are many parallels between drunkenness and God-intoxication”.
“When a person was said to have a devil, Scripture meant more than the person was devilish, or characterized by devil-like thinking or behavior. It meant that Satan, and his forces were the dominant influence in that person’s life …. Since the holy Spirit, like the unholy spirits is a person, this use of the term “filled with the Spirit” would seem to be appropriate. The figurative expression would then literally mean that the Holy Spirit dominated, had full control, possessed imperious claim to the whole being, though the domination would be gracious, by invitation only, and would not, like demon possession, displace or override one’s personal choice.”
Quotes from Five Views of Sanctification, Zondervan, 1987, p. 175, 176 respectively.
You can also read a helpful article about various forms of sanctification. It is by Bob DeWaay and includes the ‘second blessing’ and ‘let go and let God’ ideas. Click here: True and False Sanctification.
