Wesleyan Theology
Part One: Authority, Sin and
Salvation
Wesley’s Concern for
Theology
 While often quoted as stating, “…We
think and let think”, Wesley held intense
convictions concerning theology and
doctrine
 Believed that the spirit of unity to be the
essence of the Church
 Disunity destructive to the very mission
of the Church
Wesley’s Concern for
Theology
 “Whatever is ‘compatible with love to
Christ and a work of grace’ I term an
opinion,. . . (but) right opinions are a
slender part of religion, if any part of it at
all.”

John Wesley, as quote in Hildebrandt’s
“Christianity according to the Wesleys”, pp.
11-12
Wesley’s Concern for
Theology
 Essential Doctrines to John Wesley
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Original Sin
The Divinity of Christ
Atonement
Justification by Faith Alone
Work of the Holy Spirit
New Birth (Regeneration)
Trinity
Wesley’s Concern for
Theology
 Other doctrines may be considered
essential at some times, and less
essential at others
 While Wesley would seek for common
witness with members of those traditions
with whom he disagreed, he was never
prepared to surrender his perceived
truths for a theological relativism.
Wesley’s Concern for
Theology
 Wesley never contended that a clear
knowledge of doctrine necessary for
salvation.
 All persons who would teach and
preach, however, must possess such
knowledge
 All persons who sought the life of
holiness must possess such knowledge
Authority and Experience
 As a classical Protestant, Wesley
contended that Church Tradition and
Experience be subjected to the “Written
Word of God”
 Written Word of God thought to be the
only sufficient rule of both Christian faith
and Christian practice
 Homo unius libri
Authority and Experience
 Wesley demanded that his preachers
either “contract a taste for [extensive]
reading” and study or else “return to your
[original] trade”
 All other writings, however, should be
judged in light of Holy Scripture
 Wesley assumed that God wrote the
Bible
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 The literal sense is emphasized “unless
it implies an absurdity” and “if it be
contrary to some other texts; but in that
case that obscure text is to be
interpreted by those that speak more
plainly.”
 All texts should be interpreted in its total
context.
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 Scripture must be compared with
Scripture. Therefore a thorough
knowledge of the whole is necessary
 When possible, Scripture should be
confirmed by the Experiences and
Traditions of the Church
 Reason should be employed to
understand what Scripture declares and
how Truth should be declared to
humanity.
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 “Plain Truth for Plain People”
 Free from all “nice and philosophical
speculations; from all perplexed and
intricate reasonings” although such
rational and philosophical investigations
may have served the interpretative
process well.
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 Knowledge of the Ante-Nicene Fathers
 Knowledge of the Prayer Book
 Knowledge of historic Creeds
 Declarations of the Ecumenical Councils
 Tradition used as a legitimate form of
historical exegesis of text
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 Reason also used to check “private”
exegesis
“It is a fundamental principle with us (the
Methodists) that to renounce reason is to
renounce religion, and that religion and
reason go hand in hand, and that all
irrational religion is false religion>”
 Letters,
V 364.
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 Yet Reason had nothing to say
concerning the existence of God, since
reason possesses no “pre-established
principles” of Natural Theology.
 On such matters, Revelation stood as
sole authority.
 Reason can never reveal the “Unknown
God”; only Revelation can accomplish
this task, according to Wesley.
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 For Wesley, reason assists humans in
giving order to the evidence of
Revelation. In turn, tradition provides
the necessary historical boundaries for
Biblical interpretation so as to avoid
heresy.
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 The individual’s experience of the Holy
Spirit also a means of interpreting
Scripture, but must be held within
Tradition (since the Holy Spirit has dwelt
with the Church throughout the ages)
 The individual's experience of the Holy
Spirit must also be related to the
Church’s historical witness to Christ
Wesley’s Approach to Biblical
Interpretation
 “The appeal to individual experience is
ever checked and balanced by the
appeal to collective experience.”
 Workman,
H. B. (1921) from “The Place of
Methodism in the Catholic Church”, p. 306.
The Order of Salvation
1. Repentance (the porch of Religion)
2. Faith (the door of Religion)
3. Holiness (Religion itself)
o
“Salvation…is not what is frequently
understood by that word, the going to
heaven, eternal happiness. It is not the
soul’s going to paradise…”
The Order of Salvation
 “Salvation. . . might be extended to the
entire work of God” within the universe.
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Sermon, I, p. 41
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Hence, the individual can be in only most
infinitesimal possession of salvation
Prevenient Grace: On the
Porch of Religion
 Prevenient Grace was considered by
Wesley the “first dawning” of God within
the live of the human.
 Humankind cannot move themselves
toward God
 Humankind still responsible before God
for their own salvation
 Humankind cannot manufacture its own
salvation (Pelagianism)
Prevenient Grace: On the
Porch of Religion
 Because of Original Sin, humankind is
“dead to God”
 Prevenient Grace provides humankind
the minimal power necessary to turn
toward God while still within Original Sin.
 This power only allows humankind to
accept or refuse an initial relationship
with God.
Prevenient Grace: On the
Porch of Religion
 While other gifts of grace necessary to
move the individual toward Justification,
this initial gift provides the minimal power
for the initial “turning”
 Prevenient Grace often misidentified as
“conscience”, or so claimed Wesley.
Prevenient Grace: On the
Porch of Religion
 Prevenient Grace does not remove
Original Sin from humankind. This sin
Wesley consider absolute in nature—
there is no “cure” for Original Sin while
one remains human.
 Prevenient Grace does, however, assist
in the alleviation of relative sin (one’s
own distance from a relationship with
God).
Original Sin
 Humankind stands totally depraved
before God
 While humans may be capable of great
deeds and acts of courage, in the
presence of God they stand utterly
helpless.
 Adam designed with “Original
Righteousness”; that is, Adam was made
for personal relationship with God
Original Sin
 In the act of the Fall, Adam loses
Original Righteousness and thus distorts
the nature of human existence.
 In other words, Adam loses “moral
image”
 In its place, humankind places selfgovernment and other human limitations
on power
Original Sin
 Yet, no matter how worthy such human
endeavors appear, they can be no
substitution for a relationship with the
Divine One
 For this reason, even moral acts
performed by a sinner (human) is to be
considered sinful.
 Humankind confuses moral action with
salvation, thus moving further away from
God.
Original Sin
 All human suffer from this basic
condition
 Yet human’s natural ability to seek God
not lost, only twisted and misdirected.
 Ultimately, humanity can do nothing to
change this situation and become worthy
of standing—once again—before God.
 Humankind stands condemned before
God.
Original Sin
 It should be stated that Wesley
understood that those persons who did
not accept the gift of God’s grace would
not understand themselves as totally
corrupted and damned.
 On these basis points, Wesley was of
the same mind as the other Protestant
Reformers.
Original Sin
 Yet Wesley differed greatly with the
Calvinists on the notion of
Predestination.
 From a Calvinist standpoint, if
humankind—because of free will—could
willingly choose salvation, then human
kind could not, by definition, be totally
depraved (as demanded by Original Sin)
Predestination
 “For Jesus Christ’s sake [Mr. Wesley],
consider how you dishonour God by
denying election. You plainly make
man’s [sic] salvation depend not on
God’s free grace but on man’s free will.”
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Letter from George Whitefield to John
Wesley
Predestination
 Calvin understood that God knew from
the onset of creation all persons who
would be born into the world (hence a
predestination to life).
 Further, because of the sovereignty of
God, Calvin assumed Absolute Divine
Will as an essential attribute.
Predestination
 Therefore, God knew from the beginning
of time those persons who would accept
the gift of grace (because they could not
resist it, given the preordained order of
the world)
 Due to the depravity of human kind,
humans (like Wesley) confuse Free Will
with Divine Will (so say the Calvinists)
Predestination
 Yet Wesley rejected Predestination
because of his understanding of
Prevenient Grace.
 From Wesley’s perspective, all humans
can either submit to God’s initial gift of
grace or deny it.
 Wesley contended that it was God’s
desire to bestow grace on the wretched.
Back to Original Sin
 So what is unique about Wesley?
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Rejection of Predestination
Link of Prevenient Grace to Original Sin
Notion of God as source of unlimited love
and unlimited justice
Humans live as “First Adam” until the
“Second Adam” (Christ) delivers us from
our fallen state.
Three Situations of Humanity
1) Natural Man
2) Man Under the Law
3) Man Under Grace
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As recorded in Wesley’s “The Spirit of
Bondage and Adoption” (1739)
Situation of Natural Man
 Natural man exists in a “state of sleep”,
totally ignorant of God
 Natural man stands on the edge of “the
pit”; that is, damnation
 Natural man may find comfort in his own
wisdom and goodness but is deceived
by pride
 Goodness and wisdom never replaces a
relationship with the Divine
Situation of Natural Man
 Through Prevenient Grace (conscience)
Natural Man can be brought under the
Law of God as reveal by Scripture and
the Holy Spirit
 For this reason, Wesley believed in
preaching only the Law to the sinners
and saving the Gospel for those who
have experienced grace.
Situation of Natural Man
 Repentance becomes the “porch” of the
House of Religion
 Repentance occurs when the sinner
accepts the gift of Prevenient grace and
remains receptive to addition grace from
God through the mediating presence of
the Holy Spirit (that divine nature of
Christ that remains active in the world)
Situation of Natural Man
 To repent, one must accept themselves
as a sinner who possesses no ability to
save themselves from damnation.
 Such acceptance may bring the “fruits”
of repentance (changed behaviors and
perception)
 For Wesley, the fruits of repentance must
emerge before faith.
Situation of Natural Man
 Again, please note that Wesley places
total emphasis on Prevenient Grace (and
not the preaching of the Gospel) to bring
the sinner into the state of repentance.
 Believed that “Natural Man” at the point
of repentance must be judged on the
basis of his inward response to God’s
gift of grace and not by any good works.
Moving Toward Justification
 Justification can be defined as being
relieved of the guilt (but not the
condition) of Original Sin through
allowing Christ to work within ones life.
 Justification cannot be earned; it stands
as Divine Forgiveness of the guilt of
Original Sin and the personal awareness
of how far short one stands from the
righteousness of Christ.
Moving Toward Justification
 For Wesley, repentance considered a
“species of faith” that emerges before
faith itself
 One who is repents:
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Consciously accepts Christ
Possesses a sense of forgiveness
Actions of “leaving off from evil, doing
good, and forgiving one another”
Moving Toward Justification
 But a theological problem emerges: It
appears that Wesley advocates a mix of
Justification by Faith (by accepting
unearned, unmerited Grace of God) and
Justification by works (changed
behaviors after repentance but prior to
Justification)
 At this point Wesley differs greatly from
the other Protestant reforms
Moving Toward Justification
 In an attempt to reconcile this tension,
Wesley often described two types of faith
that emerge in the life of the early
Christian:
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Repentance Faith
Justifying Faith
Repentance Faith
 The faith of a servant
 Occurs before Justification
 Prevenient Grace provides motivation to
begin to amend one’s ways and to look
for God
 Naturally some good works may result
from such motivation
 These works differ from the good works
of the sinner
Repentance Faith
 These works are only remotely
necessary for justification since they
serve as “fruits of repentance”
 Repentance faith (inward response plus
fruits) stands as a human’s free
response to God’s initial gift of
Prevenient Grace and a desire to receive
additional grace.
Justifying Faith
 Faith of a child in a parent
 Repentance works does not gauge the
readiness of a person to receive this
type of faith
 Instead, God gauges one’s readiness to
enter a new level of intimacy and
relationship by allowing Christ to work
through them
Justifying Faith
 Wesley also maintained that one would
need to be conscious of the fact that it
was through faith (that is, the gift of
grace from God) alone—and not the
good works that occurs while engaged in
repentance faith—that one was now
ready to enter a deeper relationship with
God through Christ.