Before Americans knew much about the Keswick Movement, churches here were dealing with the Neo-Pentecostal Movement. During the 70s, this movement made inroads into many denominations, including the CRC. Exposure to this error may have led to the later acceptance of ideologies like the Keswick Movement within reformed circles.
Rev. Jerome Julien refutes this error. My information comes from his 1973 booklet ‘The Deep Work of the Spirit’.
Another 2nd blessing
Neo-Pentecostalism also promotes a crisis experience that leads to a second blessing of the Spirit. This second blessing is only for certain Christians. They call it a “deeper spiritual experience of the Spirit”.
Like the Keswick teachers, they carve apart the work of the Spirit. The Neo-Pentecostals separate regeneration from conversion. To them, regeneration happens to all believers while conversion happens only to some.
They believe that all born-again Christians can only live ordinary lives. The Spirit lives spiritually beside the born-again believer to guide and comfort them. But the Spirit is not in them.
All of the regenerated are given only spiritual fruit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, etc. as found in Gal. 5:22-23. These fruits help them live their own lives. But spiritual fruit alone does not give them spiritual power to serve God.
For that power, the Neo-Pentecostal needs the gifts of the Spirit. How does one come by those?
A conversion crisis, of course.
Neo-Pentecostals teach the unreformed idea that conversion is a single crisis experience. In this one-time conversion experience the believer separates themselves from sin. Thus, they are available to the Holy Spirit.
Now, the Spirit dwells in this believer and gives one the spiritual gifts. These gifts are: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretations, teaching, service, exhorting, and leadership. These are found in 1 Cor. 12:8-11 and Romans 12:6-8.
This is like the Keswick idea of ‘let go and let God’. But the Neo-Pentecostals can’t lose or leak the Spirit.
The experience
The Neo-Pentecostal does not emphasize so much the Holy Spirit, but the believer’s experience of the Holy Spirit. According to these teachers, without this ‘deeper experience of the Spirit’, one’s faith is weak and limping. One’s christian life drab and meaningless.
But with this ‘deeper experience of the Spirit’, one’s faith and life vibrant.
This full life has spiritual power that enables one for real service and good works.
For the Neo-Pentecostal, the experience of this ‘second baptism of the Spirit’ is often accompanied by praising God in tongues. But it is not always with tongues.
I have come to some conclusions
Ephesians 5:18, calls us to be filled with the Spirit. But this ‘filling’ is not as the Neo-Pentecostals nor the Keswicks describe.
Teaching a special experience over daily sanctification excludes effort in obedience. It ignores the biblical teaching about self-examination. It limits the Spirit’s work to a believer’s personal experience.
Thus, it assumes that the Spirit’s work is not seen in one’s good works. It teaches that the Spirit can’t transform believers but one’s personal experience might.
Sadly, many believers don’t have a special experience or are not given some gift. These believers feel like they are missing something in their salvation, or that they still are not saved.
The root of the error
Teaching sanctification as only a single event or experience in one’s spiritual life is how these justify their ideology. They believe that there is no such thing as the reformed doctrine of progressive sanctification. There is only a possible second blessing.
Now, there is an aspect of sanctification that is a single event. Scripture has many passages that declare or indicate, something about believers. Our Lord does set the believer apart for Himself, and we have nothing to do with that.
But considering sanctification only by these passages ignores many other passages. Such passages that call believers to duty in this life as spiritually new beings.
The indicative passages (mentioned above) assert who we now are in Christ. The imperative passages assert what we are commanded to do because of who we now are. Progressive sanctification ties these imperative passages to believers.
But for the second-blessing teachers, these passages teach legalism. They are law, not gospel.
Yet, the reformed forefathers taught that we are called to obey these passages. They taught that we obey them by the power of faith. They showed that this is how we fulfill our duty before the Lord our Savior, Rom. 8:4, Rom. 13:8 & 10, Gal. 5:14.
True faith empowers true good works, Isa. 26:12; Gal. 3:5; 1 Thess. 2:13.
Separating regeneration from conversion
The Neo-Pentecostal division of the Spirit’s work teaches that regeneration merely saves believers, while conversion empowers them. And, no one needs to worry about obedience.
This also means that assurance is provided only through the special spiritual experience in one’s second blessing. And, remembering this special experience assures them during times of doubt. But scripture does not teach that assurance comes by ‘remembering’.
Also, special experiences are not biblical ways to know that one’s faith is real.
The bible teaches that even wanting salvation is evidence already that the Spirit is working in someone. That hope for salvation does not come from natural man. Both fruit and gifts of the Spirit are included with faith at regeneration. It is all His work without our aid, yet it is not apart from us.
The benefits of Christ, including spiritual fruit and gifts, are applied to believers by the Spirit through faith. Faith empowers believers to serve God. That is why the fruit of faith*, good works, is biblical evidence that one’s faith is true.
The work of the Spirit, especially in our assurance, is always joined with the Word of God, John 17:17. We do not pray for a special ‘filling’ or a special experience. Instead, we pray for the Spirit to strengthen faith and work spiritual growth in us.
Paul answers
This was indeed the issue that Paul addresses in Galatians. The believers were being taught that Paul’s teachings needed to be supplemented with something extra, a deeper experience.
Paul called it another gospel.
The Neo-Pentecostals use 1 Corinthians 12 & 13 to prove their division of the Spirit’s work: fruit vs gifts. Yet, this is the passage that exposes it as an error when read in context. The Corinthians focused too much on the special gifts. And all the while they were also bickering, fighting, and exhibiting very little fruit of the Spirit.
Paul goes on in the rest of the letter to rebuke and instruct them.
Experiencing the Spirit Himself?
It is impossible to experience the Third Person of the divine and Triune God Himself. That would involve some form of incarnation. Scripture teaches no such thing. Rather, we experience the results of the Spirit’s work in us. We experience faith. Our life-principle is entirely new and different from our old nature; we experience true joy.
We experience our relationship with God in worship. But also, through our relationships with others, especially through the communion of the saints. The Spirit’s sanctifying operation in our lives brings sweet communion among the saints.
To know whether one has the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, believers must know and use God’s Word. They must surrender to that Word. They must walk God’s way as found in that Word, Col 3:10. As we use the Word, we grow in assurance and knowledge of the truth of God. ‘Growing in assurance and knowledge’ is the definition of lively faith.
This finishes the major ideologies that teach an ‘experience’ instead of obedience.
*It is a mistake to view good works as ‘fruit of salvation’. This idea implies that good works are simply a result from salvation. Rather, good works are fruit of faith. They are outward expressions of gratitude for salvation.
