QUIETISM
[Quietism]
asserts that the Christian is to be passive (quiet) in the process of spiritual
growth and let God do everything. According to quietist teaching, the Christian
must exert no energy or effort in the process whatsoever, for feeble human
effort only hinders the working of God’s power. Quietists believe Christians
must simply surrender fully to the Holy Spirit (also called “yielding,” “dying
to self,” “crucifying oneself,” “mortifying the flesh,” or “placing one’s life
on the altar”). The Spirit then moves in and lives a life of victory through
us, and Christ literally replaces us (“it is no longer I who lives, but Christ
lives in me” – Gal. 2:20). In its extreme variety, quietism is a spiritual
passivism in which God becomes wholly responsible for the believer’s behavior,
and the believer feels he must never exert personal effort to pursue righteous
living. Quietists have popularized the phrases, “Let go and let God,” and “I
can’t; He can.”
John MacArthur
A
Balance of Faith and Effort from Our Sufficiency in Christ, 1991, Crossway
Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 195.