39
We may say that sanctification is a supernatural work of God in which the believer is
active. The more active we are in sanctification, the more sure we may be that the
energizing power that enables us is Gods power.
74
This is clearly different from the Keswick model. In Keswick thought, when we truly trust in
God to sanctify us, we stop working and surrender in passive faith. In the Reformed model,
trusting that God is at work in us moves us and motivates us to work all the harder. Again,
advocates of the Keswick view tend to be very active. Witness, for example, the high activity
levels of a ministry like Campus Crusade for Christ, that is based in large part on a Keswick
understanding of sanctification.
75
But in Keswick thought, the key to spiritual victory is
surrender and yielding to Christ, and the activities of Bible reading, prayer, and evangelism
follow as consequences. In the Reformed understanding, on the other hand, those activities are
the means and indeed the pathway to victory and spiritual transformation.
While Bruce Demarest does communicate a Reformed view of divine/human
synergy similar to Hoekema as he writes on sanctification,
76
neither he nor Dallas Willard
74
Ibid., 72.
75
See Bill Brights booklet "Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-
Filled Life?
76
Demarst writes, "Sanctification is a cooperative venture; the Spirit blesses believers
with sanctifying grace, but the latter must faithfully cooperate therewith. Faith alone justifies;
but faith joined with our concerted efforts sanctifies. . . . The biblical pattern is not that God does
some of the sanctifying and we do the rest. Rather, believers strive for holiness in every area of