Baptistic Theologies, 2009

lity of English Evangelicalism 1918- 1939 (Carlisle, Cumbria: Paternoster, 1999), p. 27, quoting The Keswick Week 1924, p. 219. “ 4 Kargel, Sobranie Cochinenij, p. 116. Ivan Kargel and the Fulfilment of Revival 29 Without a point of conversion, Kargel doubted true salvation. In his work on Moses, he notes that Moses had a clear point of conversion when he left his Egyptian lifestyle to embrace his Jewish roots. Kargel later writes that if a person states that they ‘always believed’ this is proof that they have never truly come to God, and that their relationship with Christ has never truly begun. 25 While staying in a guest house on a trip to the Volga region in 1884, Ivan Kargel wrote, The brother, who was with me, sang a beautiful soprano and I sang bass, and so we sang the Gospel out of the Sankey songbooks. Soon the whole room was filled with Germans and Russians, and they all wanted to listen to the singing. After we had sung a bit, I began to speak to them about the joy of belonging to Christ. 26 Ivan Kargel believed that one had to be converted or revived from a life of sin by the Holy Spirit in order to understand the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. This conversion must bring a dramatic change to the life of the person, resulting in an ability to live in a new way. Kargel on the Fullness of Salvation The Oncken statement of faith, in which Kargel was schooled, contains an entire section on sanctification.“ This creed was written prior to the nineteenth century Holiness Movement and may have been influential to many German Baptists who did not align themselves with the Holiness Movement. When the Holiness Movement came to Germany, it found the most receptive audience within the Pietistic wing of the Lutheran Church. The Holiness revivals that swept into Germany in 1875 left behind small holiness groups within the Lutheran Church. Lehmann, one of the senior teachers in the Hamburg Bible School, said the first error is sinless perfection; then comes antinomianism; then Darbyism. Undoubtedly the movement impacted the German Baptists but there was little long-lasting effect. Though Kargel’s statement of faith was written after his transition to a holiness oriented theology, he did not emphasise holiness teaching in the creed. He does not have a separate section on the Holy Spirit or a section 25 Ibid., p. 281. 26 J.G. Kargel to V.A. Pashkov, 29 lh November 1884, 2/23/1-109, (fiche No. 3), Pashkov Papers. ' 7 J.G. Oncken, Glaubensbekenntnis Und Verfassung Der Gemeinden Getaufter Christen (Gew ‘Baptisten’Genannt); Mit Belegen Aus Der Heiligen Schrift, 8th (Hamburg: Kassel). ‘A holy, child-like love for God and his commands is the most important thing in sanctification and this love, which is produced, maintained and nourished in the heart by the Holy Spirit, gradually recreates the person in the image of God. We hold that sanctification should continue throughout our whole li