C.1 All people need to
be saved
Wesley stressed the biblical analysis of the human condition that all men
and women are sinners having ‘fallen short of the glory of God’
(Romans 3: 23). Like Martin Luther at the time of the Reformation, Wesley’s
sense of his own sinfulness gave a sharp focus to his theology. He was consumed
with a passion for holiness and a living relationship with God. But his
own life of ruthless religious discipline could not produce any relief from
the consciousness of sin, or any real sense of fellowship with God. Even
a period of missionary endeavour in Georgia served only to increase his
feelings of alienation from God. As he wrote in his Journal towards the
end of that period: ‘This, then, I have learned in the ends of the
earth – that I am fallen short of the glory of God… and having
nothing in or of myself to plead I have no hope…’ Wesley insisted
that all of humankind was in this position and wholly incapable of extracting
itself.
So everyone needs to be saved from sin and its consequences; there is nothing
anyone can do to save himself or herself.
C.2 All people can be saved
Into such a black and hopeless situation comes the grace of God with the
gift of salvation. Since no one can save himself or herself, Wesley believed
that salvation must be a gift of God. Yet as a gift he believed an individual
must respond by accepting it, for God will not force that gift upon anyone.
Here Wesley differed from Reformers such as John Calvin seeing God’s
grace as, first of all, setting the human will free in order to allow the
individual the space to accept or reject God’s offer of salvation
(sometimes referred to as Prevenient grace). All can be saved but not all
may choose to be saved. For followers of John Calvin such an idea was unthinkable,
seeing God’s grace as totally overwhelming. They believed that God
had already chosen who would be saved, and his grace would finish the work.
Wesley, however, could not accept what he saw as a limit on the grace of
God. As Charles Wesley put it in one of the many hymns with a similar theme:
Come, sinners,
to the gospel feast,
Let every soul be Jesu’s guest;
You need not one be left behind,
For God has bidden all mankind.
Sent by my Lord, on you I call;
The invitation is to all;
Come, all the world; come, sinner thou!
All things in Christ are ready now.
(Hymns and Psalms 460, verses 1-2)
All men and women
without exception have the opportunity of experiencing God’s free
gift of salvation.
So everyone can be saved because God makes it possible. All that is required
is faith in Christ crucified.
C.3 All people can know they are saved
What do people know when God’s free gift of salvation has been received?
They know that they have been justified (put in the right with God), pardoned
and accepted by God. They know that they have a new life as a child of God
and a new power with which to live this life. But how do they know? Wesley
believed the ‘how’ was through the work of the Holy Spirit.
He referred to the direct and the indirect witness of the Holy Spirit. He
quoted from Romans when he stated: ‘(God’s) Holy Spirit speaks
to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children’
(Romans 8:16). So deep within the believer there is what Wesley called the
‘inward consciousness’ of the assurance of salvation. While
such an assurance may be accompanied by feelings it was more than emotion
or feelings. The ‘inward consciousness’ is the direct and inward
impression of the Holy Spirit on the individual. The indirect witness of
the Spirit is the development of Christ-like attitudes and actions in the
everyday life of the individual, described by Paul in his letter to the
Galatians (Galatians 5: 22-23) as ‘the fruit of the Spirit’.
The words of Charles Wesley are again appropriate:
How can a sinner
know
His sins on earth forgiven?
How can my gracious Saviour show
My name inscribed in heaven?
His Spirit to us He gave,
And dwells in us we know;
The witness in ourselves we have
And all its fruits we show
(Methodist Hymn Book 377, verses 1 & 7)
In the early years
Wesley was quite dogmatic - ‘unless they knew their sins were forgiven
they were under the wrath and curse of God’ but he mellowed in later
years accepting that not every Christian did enjoy such assurance. Nevertheless
he still maintained it to be the ‘common privilege of the children
of God’ and urged every Christian to expect and pray for it.
So every person can know that he or she is saved. It is not simply a doctrinal
truth but an assurance given them by the Holy Spirit in the heart.
C.4 All people can be saved to the uttermost
Wesley maintained to the end of his life that Christian Perfection was the
key emphasis of the Methodists. Convinced that there was no limit to what
the grace of God could do in us and with us he used the concept to spell
out what he saw as normal Christianity. In his classic essay, The Plain
Account of Christian Perfection (1766), he concluded with six statements,
which highlighted what he saw as essential in understanding Christian Perfection.
So, in Wesley’s words, Christian Perfection is:
- Loving God with
all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves.
- Renewal in heart, not only in part, but in the whole image of God.
- Being cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and spirit.
- Having all the mind of Christ and walking as he walked.
- Devoting soul, body and substance, not in part, but all to God.
- Giving God all our heart with one design ruling all our tempers.
In Wesley’s
understanding this is what it means to be a real Christian. Both in terms
of a relationship with God and relationships in the world this requires
total commitment. Wesley refused to countenance the notion of being what
he called ‘half a Christian’. He held before the people a quality
of Christian living that was dynamic and vibrant, like that described by
Jesus Christ as ‘abundant life’. It was a quality of Christian
living available to all through grace, energised by the Spirit and continually
encouraged by the means of grace, such as corporate worship, prayer, scripture,
the sacraments, fasting and fellowship.
Of course the use of the term Christian Perfection has created confusion
with notions of sinlessness and infallibility. Yet if properly understood
and rightly presented this distinctive emphasis offers an effective way
for the promotion of inward spiritual growth as well as outward social righteousness.
Everyone can be saved to the uttermost. Everything is of grace. There can
be no limits on what God can do in our lives.
