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biblical emphasis that guards against the cancer of self-reliance. And this concept of surrender is
also important to Dallas Willard, especially as he speaks about the call of Christ to lose our lives
for his sake that we may find them in him. Christians must "give up the project of being the
ultimate point of reference in their life," or in other words, "they must surrender" [DW, 65]. Yet
the relationship between the passive and active dimensions of faith is an area that is worthy of
deeper discussion in evangelical thought on spiritual formation, lest we drift into the errors of
either a self-reliant activism on the one hand or an overly-passive quietism on the other.
(4) The nature of the synergy between Gods grace and human action also needs
to be explored. We have already seen that both Demarest and Willard affirm a fundamentally
synergistic relationship between purposeful human actions involved and the gracious, initiatory
work of God in the process of spiritual formation. But the precise nature of that action is not
explored. Hoekema, on the other hand, explores this issue, citing the crucial text Phil 2:12-13.
Vs. 12 speaks of what Hoekema calls our "responsible participation" in that it calls believers to
"work out" the saving grace which God has so graciously worked in them. But the basis of that
activity is spoken of in vs. 13 (note the introductory gavr); it is the work of God in us to will and
to act according to his good pleasure. Hoekema says, "God works in us the entire process of our
sanctification both the willing of it and the doing of it. The harder we work, the more sure we
may be that God is working in us."
73
He shies away from using the word "cooperation," lest we
conceive of the work of sanctification being ultimately divided God doing some and we doing
the other parts. Rather we work precisely because God is at work in us. Hoekema sums up,
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Hoekema, "The Reformed Perspective," in Five Views on Sanctification, 71.