26
"Christian perfection," the hope of "salvation for all willful sin."
45
Yet since Wesley did not
understand Christian perfection to be absolute or total or angelic perfection and since he did
admit to degrees of on-going growth even after the experience of entire sanctification,
46
perhaps
the Wesleyan view is not as far from that of Demarest and Willard at this point as might be
originally thought. However Demarest, especially is more in line with Reformed thinking than
Wesleyan is that he views the on-going life of the growing Christian as involving a continuing
struggle against the remnants of indwelling sin, and the old nature which Christians still possess"
[BD, 211]. Thus, according to Demarest, "the victorious life [of the Christian] is a striving
towards victory rather than a matured possession of victory."
47
The newness the believer
45
Ibid., 15.
46
For a statement from Wesley explaining in what sense sanctified Christians are perfect
and in what sense they are not, see his sermon"Christian Perfection" (1741) in John Wesley, ed.
Albert C. Outler (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 254-271. See also Dieter, "The
Wesleyan View," in Five Views on Sanctification, 13-15 and his quotation from Wesleys Plain
Account of Christian Perfection (Ibid., 45-46).
47
Demarest, "Transformed into His Likeness," 411. Sinclair Ferguson also argues that
the sanctified life is not one of quietness, but one in which conflict is inherent. This conflict may
result from our being in Christ yet still living in the world, from the opposition of Satan and his
demonic forces, and because of internal conflict with the flesh. Ferguson writes, "All that is true
for me in Christ has not yet been accomplished in me by the Spirit. I live in the Spirit, but I also