"In-n-Out" Fanatics?

If things don't go from out to in, they go from in to out, or perhaps just stay completely within.  This was the case with the fanatics of Luther's day and ours, who like medieval monastics sought God by a mystical sinking into the self or with a supposed direct relationship to the Spirit.  But by following this in to out pattern, biblical spirituality is overturned: what should be the inner gifts of the Spirit become instead mere spiritual gifts to be improved by particular exercises and a specific piety (and thus are not really gifts but habits that we develop for ourselves.)  Then the Sacraments become mere commands to be carried out by us, the Scriptures become a rulebook for making life godlier, and the duties of personal piety begin to pile up.  Luther recognized this reversed directional pattern in his opponent Andreas Karlstadt, saying he "wants to teach you not how the Spirit comes to you, but how you are supposed to come to the Spirit."  Luther eventually went on to diagnose the attempt to move from inside ourselves to God as the confusing of law and gospel; it was even possible, he criticized the fanatics, to tie up the Spirit under the letter of the law.


Excerpt Taken From:  
The Spirit, the Spirits, and the Letter
By Jonathan Mumme
(Modern Reformation Magazine)