The shorter way involved an inner act of faith in which Palmer placed all on
the alter and believed that she received the blessing of holiness she desired.
Palmer lays all on the altar in an inner act of entire consecration, surrendering
her whole life to God. Convinced that God has accepted this sacri¿ ce, she
realized this must mean she is now entirely his, which is to say entirely
sancti¿ ed. Rather than seeking evidence of holiness in her experience,
she simply believed that God had granted her the promised blessing of
holiness. Hence in the Holiness tradition,
sancti¿ cation comes about in fundamentally
the same way as justi¿ cation: by faith alone,
not works. The basis of sancti¿ cation is thus
not an outward activity of obedience but an
inward surrender, consecration or offering
up of the heart.
Palmer had a very inÀ uential way of
listening to what she called the “Spirit’s
leadings” in her heart. The practice requires
discernment, since some suggestions
are actually temptations, not from the Spirit. The practice of listening for
the “Spirit’s leadings” has since become very widespread throughout
evangelical Protestantism.
Holiness teachings were inÀ uential outside Methodism, affecting groups
that did not accept perfectionism, such as the Keswick movement. For the
Keswick teachers, sin remains in us, but believers can claim victory over
it—not by active effort but by yielding to God’s will and “be ¿ lled with the
Holy Spirit.” Hence a typical Keswick slogan is “Let go and let God.” Fully
yielded Christians can expect to be guided by the Holy Spirit so as to ¿ nd
God’s will for their lives.
Pentecostalism grew out of Holiness traditions where the “baptism of
the Holy Spirit” was the crucial term for the second blessing of entire
sancti¿ cation. The baptism of the Spirit is contrasted with baptism by water.
The key biblical passages used to support the idea of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit are the same ones used to support the practice of con¿ rmation in
The possibility of
Christian perfection is
incompatible with the
Lutheran conviction
that Christians are
always at the same time
righteous and sinners.