Did Bible Scholarship Contribute?

Keith, I wasn't sure if the "Bible scholar" argument has played much of a role at all, especially at the popular level. I'm not sure if WTS has any affect at all on most holiness grass roots people.

But one line in your post did catch my eye: "I wonder if boomer-scholars gleefully tossed entire sanctification overboard..." It reminded me of something Chris Bounds has said about WTS in terms of entire sanctification, namely, that they've spent the last thirty years mainly bashing the idea of entire sanctification rather than re-presenting it or translating it. I know that Bob Lyon's late 80's paper on Acts had a big impact on me at Asbury--the very one Dieter attributes a good deal of damage to the preaching of the doctrine. But I suspect it had more impact on the Nazarenes than on many Wesleyans.

I'm not sure if we could reel Acts back into service if we wanted to (although I hear Earl Wilson rallied the troops at the Indiana South Camp Meeting). But I think we can make an incredibly strong case for victory over sin from the New Testament that goes against the current Zeitgeist. And I think we can make an experiential argument for a moment of full surrender/burial of self subsequent to conversion for most. And I think it only follows logically that you can't have the maximal power of God in your life unless that has taken place.

To me, that adds up to an argument for a decisive moment of entire sanctification. What it lacks is status limited to a "second" (since it could be third, fourth, or first) and in theory it could happen in more of a process than a moment.