41
convinced that there are indeed eternal consequences of failing to make substantial progress in
sanctification or spiritual formation. Those in the Keswick movement are less clear. McQuilkin
argues that it may be possible to be an unsurrendered Christian (the so-called ,,carnal
Christian"),
77
but he also affirms that there is "no biblical basis for any assurance of salvation"
for those who "continue to reject the known will of God and are comfortable in that condition."
78
Dallas Willard does speak to the necessity of spiritual formation, saying that
Spiritual formation is not something that may, or may not, be added to the gift of eternal
life as an option. Rather, it is the path that the eternal kind of life ,,from above naturally
takes. It is the path one must be on if his or hers is to be an eternal kind of life. [DW, 59
emphasis original].
Yet, the emphasis that can come through is that ones soul satisfaction and ones experience of
intimacy in relationship to God are all that is at stake in the issue of spiritual formation.
Important as these realities are, the issue of whether issues of eternal consequences are at stake
needs to be explored.
CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have examined two important contemporary evangelical
treatments of spiritual formation Dallas Willards Renovation of the Heart and Bruce
Demarests Satisfy Your Soul. After comparing and contrasting them, we looked at their
relationship to three crucial theological models of sanctification the Reformed, Wesleyan, and
Keswick models. We have seen that both spiritual formation and sanctification speak of the
77
McQuilkin, "The Keswick Perspective," in Five Views on Salvation, 170.
78
Ibid., 162.