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Outstmiding Doctrines of John Wesley's Theology

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Outstmiding Doctrines of John Wesley's Theology OUTSTMIDING DOCTRINES OF JOHN WESLEY’S THEOLOGY by William B. Burton Submitted in Partial Fulfillment ofthe Requirements for the Bachelor of Divinity Degree Interdenominational Theological Center May 1965 ~ TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION . 1 II. SALVATION BY FAITH • 3 III. CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE 8 IV. CHRISTIAN PERFECTION 12 V. CONCLUSION 14 BIBLIOGRAPHY I. INTRODUCTION I was not impressed with John Wesley when I first read his biography. I readily concluded that he was “over-protected,” a “mother’s boy,” and an “imprisoned” person, when I read of how his mother’s dominance influenced his thinking. I further suspected that Wesley was somewhat “neurotic” due to his strict up-bringing and his devotion to this parental influence. Thus, my primary judgment about John Wesley’s personality and significance was nega tively critical. However, after further reflection and thinking, my estimate of Wesley changed. No longer do I categorize Wesley’s personality with the wretched, torn, and despaired personalities of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche; but I find Wesley’s influence to be a “golden chain” of genius which hangs from his pocket with genuine historical, theological authority. After taking a closer look at John Wesley, I now feel that deep down within him, there was truly a genuine desire to be a Christian in God’s sight and to do God’s will. Wesley was struggling for salvation that would fill the emptiness in his life. I now see also a meaningful connection between Wesley and the Moravian mystics, in whom he saw the possession of a relationship with God which he lacked. These mystics influenced Wesley greatly in his dissatisfaction with his present religious condition. Their doctrine of salvation involving a strong emphasis upon immediate religious experience appealed to him greatly, since they seemed to be doing naturally what was right. He wanted to possess these same qualities of religious assurance in his own soul. Though he later 1 2 denounced some extreme emphases of these mystics, he never denounced the meaning of religious assurance which he gained from them. Another thing about Wesley that has increased my admiration for him has to do with his devotion to Christian work and writing, which are abundant evidences of his concern for leaving a legacy to others. His Journal, among other works, have become classics. In addition to a long career of preach ing in England, Ireland, and Scotland, he showed his amazing skill by forming societies that eventually became the Methodist Church. He worked well while it was day. In presenting this essay on Wesley, I find it meaningful to relate the influences in Wesley’s life--a strong, well-disciplined Christian background, and an Aldersgate “heart-warming” experience which led to his development of some of the greatest doctrines on the Christian life that have ever been brought into the Christian heritage. There is a relation between Wesley’s past, his present, his future, and his legacy. Most scholars usually begin with Wesley’s biography in presenting his doctrines, and this is legitimate. Thus, three important doctrinal contributions of Wesley will be pointed out against this backdrop--namely, Salvation by Faith, Christian Assurance, and Christian Perfection. II. SALVATION BY FAITH it is my conviction that John Wesley believed that salvation was a present thing. He held that it is not something which we can look for later in life, or after death; but salvation to him was a present reality, since we are saved here on this earth. Of it Wesley says, “It is a present sal vation. It is something attainable, yea actually attained, on this earth by 1 those who are partakers of this faith.” Therefore, according to Wesley, I can expect to have salvation here in this life. But Wesley conditions salvation by saying that we must be willint to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we believe, salvation is not a futur istic venture but a present reality. However, Wesley did not fail to see that one may fall from his state of salvation. Just as surely as a man is able to be saved, he may, if he does not stay in the path of God, be lost. Therefore, one must continue in faith to maintain salvation. I am convinced that the doctrine of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone is very distinct in Wesley?s sermons and works, and this theme was in his thinking. In the conglomeration of scientific discoveries, international expansion of the cold war, domestic issues, and liberal theology, I believe that Wesley, if he were living today, would hold fast to this basic tenet. He would proclaim that salvation could only come by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. I firmly believe that John Wesley would stand stalwart and ‘E. H. Sugden, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley. (London: The Ep worth Press, 1771, Vol. 1), p. 41. 3 4 preach today as he asserted then: Christian salvation; whereby, ‘through grace,t we are saved by faith; consisting of two grand branches, justification and sanc tification. By justification, we are saved from the guilt of sin and restored to the favour of God; by sanctification we are saved2 from the power and root of sin, and restored to the image of God. I am not convinced that Wesley’s intellectual acceptance of salvation by faith alone was based upon his Aldersgate experience, but the reality of his living experience of this doctrine did come at the point of his unique religious experience. The Aldersgate experience did not change his intellec tual point of view in this matter, but merely gave content to it. However, his attempts to save his own soul, and his acknowledgement of this doctrine soon after his conversion, cannot be minimized. Now, we must hasten to say that to Wesley salvation is not attainable on the basis of one’s own merits or efforts; rather, salvation is obtained by grace through faith. In other words, Wesley affirms with Luther that there are no other means of gaining salvation without the grace of God. The most significant points in Wesley’s doctrine of salvation by faith may well be summed up by pointing out the functions of preventing grace and convincing grace. For Wesley, the natural conscience is aligned with pre venting grace. For example, if I feel sorrowful for my mistakes, I point to my conscience as the guilt-maker. However, Wesley would say that even my conscience is God’s grace at work in me. The activity of my conscience is neither my own creation nor my own operation, but is due to God’s initiating 2The Works of John Wesley, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Company, 1872; Vol. VI), p. 509. 5 and creative grace in me. Pi~eventing grace gives one the feeling of his sinful acts, or rather, his sinful state. It is not one’s own power that makes him realize that he is not in proper relation with God; it is that grace which goes before or ahead of all men. Wesley says, “Preventing grace includes the first wish to please God, the first dawn of light concerning his will and the first slight transient conviction of having sinned against him.”3 Here in his concept of universal preventing grace, Wesley solves the age-old contradiction of Augustine and Calvin. They would assert that grace is found only in the elect. But they never could “pin-point” the elect. But for Wesley, this grace is found in all men. It is there for them to accept it, or they may reject it, which accounts for the real fact of conscience even in unregenerate men. In conjunction with preventing grace, Wesley explains what he means by convincing grace. To him, convincing grace supplements preventing grace in that it aids one to repent and turn to God. For Wesley, the main source for convincing grace is the Gospel. Those who never hear the Gospel preached are judged according to their response to the grace that is in them, namely, preventing grace which if the reaction is a positive one, they too are in Paradise with Jesus Christ. If I were to meet Wesley in my search for an answer to my own question of salvation, he would, with eyes cast straightly and without a doubt in his 3The Works of John Wesley, p. 509. 6 mind, say that I could do nothing to save myself. I am totally at the mercy of God. The only way that I can be saved is by God’s grace engulfing my whole being. The main reason that Wesley broke with the mystics is that they failed to realize that God’s grace alone saves men. These mystics believed that men should try to come into direct experience with God by doing works, deeds, and the living of a holy life. Wesley became aware that the mystics’ efforts lacked the full involving of salvation, which he found only in God’s grace that brings each one of us to this relationship with Himself. Wesley says of it, “Of yourselves cometh neither your faith nor your salvation; it is the gift of God.t~4 Then, too, Wesley found shortcomings in the ratibñalistic approach held that men must work out their own salvation. Wesley contended that one could not work out his own salvation because it was not a “working out matter.” He held that it is God alone who does the work in us and for us. It is strictly a gift from God. Wesley emphatically places the matter before the world by saying, “All our works, Thou 0 God, has wrought in us.”5 Proclaiming this kind of theology, I am able to see why Wesley’s con temporaries and the Church of England would attempt to restrict his preach ing.
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