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Invitation to a Journey Sessions Two, Three, Four and Five: Seeing the Journey Whole
For Wesley, life was a journey or pilgrimage-a journey made possible by God's grace, and a journey surrounded by God's grace. Life was a dynamic journey marked by "stages" wherein God gives his grace to human beings, which empowers them to respond to his gracious overtures. As they do, God gives yet more grace-thus moving persons along a dynamic path of growth toward Christlikeness and renewal in the image of God.
The life of God in the soul of a believer...immediately and necessarily implies the continual inspiration of God's Holy Spirit: God's breathing into the soul, and the soul's breathing back what it first receives from God: a continual action of God upon the soul, the re-action of the soul upon God; an unceasing presence of God, the loving, pardoning God, manifested to the heart...[But] God does not continue to act upon the soul unless the soul re-acts upon God...He first loves us, and manifests himself unto us...He will not continue to breathe into our soul unless our soul breathes toward him again; unless our love, and prayer, and thanksgiving return to him. (Wesley, "The Great Privilege of Those That Are Born of God")
Wesley's theology is unequivocally a theology of grace.
Kenneth Collins notes:
The principal element in Wesley's theology, from which all else has its origin, is the grace of God...In fact, at no point in Wesley's theology of salvation is divine grace not the leading motif...Every interpretation of his theology, therefore, that fails to take this important ingredient into account in a significant way will, undoubtedly, be wide of the mark. (Wesley on Salvation: A Study in the Standard Sermons [Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Francis Asbury Press, 1989], p.19)
A. The Scope of grace: Universal. For Wesley, God's grace is free to all, and free in all. Persons do not sin because they do not possess grace, but because they do not respond to the grace God has given them. (Cf. "Free Grace" pars. 1-4).
B. The nature of grace: God's divine, unmerited favor, as well as divine empowerment (i.e., the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit)
C. The goal of grace: pardon and participation. For Wesley, the effects of God's grace include pardon and forgiveness for sins as well as deliverance from its power and renewal in the image of God. God not only desires to forgive us, but to fit us for heaven and to empower us to fulfill the Great Commandment of wholehearted love to God and neighbor.
By 'the grace of God' is sometimes to be understood that free love, that unmerited mercy, by which I, a sinner, through the merits of Christ am now reconciled to God. But in this place it rather means that power of God the Holy Ghost which 'worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.' As soon as ever the grace of God (in the former sense, his pardoning love) is manifested to our soul, the grace of God (in the latter sense, the power of his Spirit) takes place therein. And now we can perform through God, what to [ourselves] was impossible...a recovery of the image of God, a renewal of soul after His likeness. (Wesley, "The Witness of Our Spirit" Paragraphs 15-16; quoted in Randy Maddox, Responsible Grace, p. 85).
D. The movement of grace: The Via Salutis. The Via Salutis, or "way of salvation," is a theological construct which enables us to better understand how Wesley saw the moving of God's grace in the lives of persons. The Via Salutis was sort of "grace map" for pilgrims traveling along the road to salvation. Various facets of grace which Wesley addressed included: prevenient grace, convincing grace, saving grace, assurance, sanctifying grace, and glorifying grace. Wesley's sermon, "The Scripture Way of Salvation," reflects his mature views on the dynamic operation of God's grace. The sermon was based on Eph. 2:8 and was one of Wesley's favorite and most used texts for preaching. It restates Wesley's assertion that in the Christian life, all is of grace.
1. Prevenient grace. Salvation, broadly understood by Wesley to mean "the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory," ("Scripture Way," Para. 1.1.) begins with prevenient grace:
[Prevenient grace] is the activity of the Holy Spirit in the heart and will that is always in anticipation of any human initiative or act of choice. Prevenient grace always "goes before" the conscious awareness of one's [spiritual] condition, to "turn," to "draw," to "stir up" the desires after God. Prevenient grace thus displaces natural conscience (the notion of which presupposes human autonomy and free will). It signifies God's divine initiative in all human "re-actions" that aspire to faith. [Prevenient grace] is similar to "common grace" of the Calvinists, but prevenient grace was for Wesley the unique work of the Holy Spirit, not God the Father. Thus, prevenient grace is the indwelling Holy Spirit and yet allows for actual and valid human involvement, since the actions of the Holy Spirit are resistible and the decrees of the Father are not. (Albert C. Outler, Works of John Wesley, Bicentennial Edition; Editor-in-Chief, Frank Baker, I:157).
Wesley's affirmation of total depravity left him in an awkward situation within his Western Christian context. On the one hand, Protestant theologians who shared with him this affirmation drew from it implications about limited atonement and unconditional election with which he could hardly agree, given his conviction about responsible grace. On the other hand, the typical way that Roman Catholicism (and many Eastern theologians) avoided these implications was to insist that depravity was not total; some of the freedom graciously provided in creation remained in fallen humanity, preserving the basis for our response to God's offer of salvation. For Wesley, this both underestimated the impact of Inbeing Sin and endangered the unmerited nature of God's restoring grace. [Wesley's] orienting concern drove Wesley to search for a way to affirm that all possibility of our restored spiritual health-including the earliest inclination and ability to respond to God's saving action-is dependent upon a renewing work of God's grace, without rendering our participation in this process automatic. In this search he turned to an emphasis on "prevenience," i.e., that God's grace alway
s pre-vents (comes before) and makes possible human response. (Randy Maddox, Responsible Grace, p 83).[Cf. Also Kenneth J. Collins, A Faithful Witness: John Wesley's Homiletical Theology (Wilmore, KY: Wesley Heritage Press, 1993), pp 63-66] for additional treatment of Wesley's doctrine of prevenient grace. Wesley's most thorough sermonic treatment of prevenient grace is found in his sermon, "On Working Out Our Own Salvation."
2. Saving grace. For Wesley, "salvation...consists of two general parts, justification and sanctification" ("Scripture Way," Par. 1.3)
A. Justification: "another word for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins, and...our acceptance with God...The immediate effects of justification are, the peace of God, a 'peace that passeth all understanding', and a 'rejoicing in hope of the glory of God', with 'joy unspeakable and full of glory'," ("Scripture Way," Par. 1.3)
B. [Initial] Sanctification: "And a the same time that we are justified, yea, in that very moment, sanctification begins. In that instant we are 'born again', 'born from above', 'born of the Spirit'. There is a real as well as a relative change. We are inwardly renewed by the power of God." ("Scripture Way," Par 1.4)
Wesley observes: "From the time of our being 'born again' the gradual work of sanctification takes place. We are enabled 'by the Spirit' to 'mortify the deeds of the body', or our evil nature. And as we are more and more dead to sin, we are more and more alive to God. We go on from grace to grace, while we are careful to 'abstain from all appearance of evil', and are 'zealous of good works', 'as we have opportunity doing good to all men'; while we walk in all his ordinances blameless, therein worshipping him in spirit and in truth; while we take up our cross and deny ourselves every pleasure that does not lead us to God. It is thus that we wait for entire sanctification, for a full salvation from all our sins, from pride, self-will, anger, unbelief, or, as the apostle expresses it, 'Go on to perfection'." ("Scripture Way," Par 1.8-9).
(Note: Wesley understand the term "sanctification" here in the broader sense of the entire process of our renewal in the image of God. Later he will speak of the ideal expression this renewal in the person's life by defining sanctification more narrowly using terms such as "entire sanctification," "perfect love," "Christian perfection," etc.) Wesley seems to be stressing two things here. First, in distinguishing justification from sanctification, he insists that salvation is more than simply "imputed" righteousness or a relative (i.e., relational) change in one's status before God. Second, Wesley insists that it is not "entire" sanctification, which is contemporaneous with our justification, but "initial" sanctification which involves the new birth and a real change in one's heart and life. The new birth is just that. It is a beginning. But it does not involve total or complete renewal in the image of God, nor does it mean that one's spiritual transformation is complete. For more on this issue, cf. Maddox, Responsible Grace, pp 170ff; Collins, A Faithful Witness, pp 130ff; and Wesley's sermons, "The New Birth," "The Great Privilege of Those That Are Born of God," and "The Marks of the New Birth."
Justification and [initial] sanctification (i.e., the new birth) bring freedom from the guilt and controlling power of sin, such that justified believers do not commit "outward sin" (i.e., they do not willfully transgress the known law/will of God). However, the being of sin still remains, such that it is not long before new believers feel:
"Two principles in themselves, plainly contrary to each other: 'the flesh lusting against the Spirit,' nature apposing the grace of God. They cannot deny that although they still feel power to believe in Christ and to love God, and although his Spirit still witnesses with their spirits that they are children of God; yet they feel in themselves, sometimes pride or self-will, sometimes anger or unbelief. They find one or more of the frequently stirring in their heart, although not conquering; yea, thrusting sore at them, that they mat fall; but the Lord is their help" ("Scripture Way," Par 1.6).
Wesley also observes: "That [justified] believers are delievered from the guilt and power of sin we allow; that they are delivered from the being of it we deny...A man may have the Spirit of God dwelling in him, and may 'walk after the Spirit', though he still feels 'the flesh lusting against the Spirit'." ("On Sin in Believers," Par IV.4).
3. Sanctifying grace. Broadly construed, "sanctification" involves the entire process of growth and maturation by which we are renewed in the image of God. More narrowly construed, "entire" sanctification (or Perfect Love, Christian Perfection) involves the ideal expression of sanctification in the believer's life. It is this second understanding of sanctification to which we now turn.
If justification (including its concomitants of adoption, regeneration, and the new birth) involves pardon for sins and deliverance from sin's guilt and controlling power, "entire" sanctification addresses the remaining tendency or inclination toward sin-the character disposition which is the source of all outward acts of disobedience. Entire sanctification is the working of God's grace to renew and transform our sinful character disposition/nature. It is consistent with Wesley's optimistic view of grace as both unmerited favor and empowerment.
For Wesley, the chief character disposition was LOVE. He believed that God's grace could transform us such that love for God and others becomes our character disposition, our "natural response" to the motives and actions of those around us. (Cf. Maddox, Responsible Grace, p 178). He frequently described Christian perfection in terms of love:
"What is Christian perfection? The loving of God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This implies, that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in the soul; and that all the thoughts, words and actions are governed by pure love." (A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, p 51).
"One would imagine there needed not one word more to satisfy a reasonable man of this than the ancient promise, 'Then will I circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul. How clearly does this express the being perfected in love! How strongly imply the being saved from all sin! For as long as love takes up the whole heart, what room is there for sin therein?" ("Scripture Way," par. III.14)
A Summary of Wesley on Entire Sanctification
I. Sanctifying grace is the grace of maturation or adulthood. Wesley borrowed an image from early greek writers (as well as the First Epistle of John and the Epistle to the Hebrews) to describe the spiritual life and our growth in grace as analogous to our human growth and maturation. "Entire" sanctification was that dynamic level of spiritual maturity characteristic of the adult Christian life. Christian perfection, or entire sanctification, were way of describing Christian believer in whom "the humble, gentle, patient love of God rules all tempers and actions."
In this regard, it is helpful to note that the NT term often translated as "perfect" has as its basic meaning "mature," or "complete." (Hebrews 6:1, "let us go on to perfection" [KJV]; Phillipians 3:15, "all who are perfect should feel thus...[KJV]; becomes "let us become mature in our understanding" [NLT], and "I hope all of you who are mature will agree on these things" [NLT].
In addition, the greek term for "perfect" is telos, which has as its basic meaning "end," or "goal." The connotation here is that something is "perfect" in the New Testament sense when it achieves the "end" or "goal" for which it was made of designed. This kind of perfection is dynamic, growth-oriented, and always capable of increase. It is consistent with the concerns of Eastern [Orthodox] theologians who speak of theosis, or the process by which persons are renewed in God's image and participate in the life of God. (Cf. Kenneth C. Kinghorn, The Gospel of Peace: They Way of Salvation in Wesleyan Theology [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992], p 108). It is, the, a relative perfection, not an absolute perfection or an Adamic perfection. Wesley insists:
We willingly allow and continually declare, there is no such perfection in this life, as implies either a dispensation from doing good, and attending all the ordinances of God, or a freedom from ignorance, mistake, temptation, and a thousand infirmities necessarily connected with flesh and blood...We cannot find any ground in Scripture to suppose, that any inhabitant of a house of clay is wholly exempt either from bodily infirmities, or from ignorance of many things; or to imagine any is incapable of mistake, or falling into divers temptations. (A Plain Account of Christian Perfection p 36).
Positively, Christian perfection involves for Wesley,
One in whome is 'the mind which was in Christ'...[and who] 'loveth the Lord his God with all his heart,' and serveth him 'with all his strength.' He 'loveth his neighbor,' every man, 'as himself'...indeed his soul is all love, filled with 'bowels of mercies, kindness, meekness, gentleness, long-suffering.'...This it is to be a perfect man, to be 'sanctified throughout'; even 'to have a heart so all-flaming with the love of God'...as continually to offer up every thought, word, and work, as a spiritual sacrifice, acceptable to God through Christ. (A Plain Account of Christian Perfection p. 37).
One of the difficulties arising out of trying to understand Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection is that both his heirs and his opponents have typically understood the term "perfection" as that which is incapable of improvement or growth-an absolute perfection which is static rather than dynamic. ["I'm not perfect, just forgiven!"] This is an emphasis characteristic of Western Christianity. But scholars such as Albert Outler and Randy Maddox have shown that Wesley's abiding concern fits more closely with the relative perfection typical of Eastern theologians. Thus, in his sermon, "On Patience," Wesley even defined the term "entire" with respect to sanctification as "as high a degree of holiness as is consistent with one's present state of pilgrimage." (Cf. "On Patience," Works of John Wesley, 3:179).
Lest there be any lingering doubt, Wesley further says:
The holiest of men still need Christ as their Prophet, as the 'light of the world'. For he does not give them light, but from moment to moment; the instant he withdraws, all is darkness. They still need Christ as their King; for God does not give them a stock of holiness. But unless they receive a supply every moment, nothing but unholiness would remain. They still need Christ as their Priest, to make atonement for their holy things. Even perfect holiness is acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ. (A Plain Account of Christian Perfection p 82; emphasis added).
II. Sanctifying grace centers on inner character dispositions/tempers which are the foundation for holy actions, and should not be confused with the infallible progression from one to another.
"A man may be filled with pure love, and still be liable to mistake...(1) Everyone may mistake as long as he lives. (2) A mistake in opinion may occasion a mistake in practice. (3) Every such mistake is a transgression of the perfect law. Therefore, (4) every such mistake, were it not for the blood of atonement, would expose to eternal damnation. (5) It follows, the most perfect have the continual need of the merits of Christ, even for their actual transgressions, and may say for themselves, as well as for their brethren, 'Forgive us our trespasses."...This easily accounts for what might otherwise seem to be utterly unaccountable; namely, that those who are not offended when we speak of the highest degree of love, yet will not hear of living without sin. The reason is, they know all men are liable to mistake, and that in practice as well as in judgment. But they do not know, or do not observe, that this is not sin, if love is the sole principle of action. (A Plain Account of Christian Perfection pp52-53).
[Example: The little boy who desires to show his father how much he loves him. He finds a stick and scratches a message, "I love you, Dad," into his father's newly poured concrete sidewalk in the front of the house. The sidewalk may be ruined or marred, but love was the sole principle of action guiding the little boy's behavior.]
Kenneth Kinghorn observes:
The biblical teaching on sanctification centers not on perfect performance but on right attitudes and relationships. Specifically, sanctification produces in our lives the qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). (The Gospel of Grace, p 106).
III. Sanctifying grace can, and does, come instantaneously, in addition to the fact that much growth in grace both precedes and follows it.
In response to the question, "do not [persons] gradually die to sin and grow in grace, till at, or perhaps a little before, death, God perfects them in love?" Wesley responded:
I believe this is the case of most, but not all. God usually gives a considerable time for men to receive light, to grow in grace, to do and suffer His will, before they are either justified or sanctified; but he does not invariably adhere to this; sometimes he 'cuts short His work'; He does the work of many years in a few weeks; perhaps in a week, a day, an hour. He justifies or sanctifies both those who have done or suffered nothing, and who have not had time for a gradual growth either in light or grace. And 'may He not do what He will with His own? Is thine eye evil, because He is good?'
It need not, therefore, be affirmed over and over, and proved by forty texts of Scripture, either that most men are perfected in love at last, that there is a gradual work of God in the soul, or that, generally speaking, it is a long time, even many years, before sin is destroyed. All this we know; but we know likewise, that God may, with man's good leave, 'cut short His work' in whatever degree He pleases, and do the usual work of many years in a moment. He does so in many instances; and yet there is a gradual work, both before and after that moment; so that one may affirm the work is gradual; another, it is instantaneous, without any manner of contradiction. (A Plain Account of Christian Perfection p 90).
Why did Wesley make this claim regarding the "instantaneous" nature of entire sanctification? Several possible and plausible reasons exist:
1. To safeguard entire sanctification as a gift of God's grace, even as justification and the new birth are gifts of God's grace which are received by faith. (Cf. Collins, A Faithful Witness, pp 138-148; Maddox, Responsible Grace, pp 179-189).
2. The conviction that the possibility of further growth is conducive to further growth. That is, Wesley believed that persons would seek to grow in grace more actively and aggressively if they were convinced that [entire] sanctification was possible now, in the present moment. Wesley's teaching in "The Scripture Way of Salvation" was that the faith by which we are sanctified wholly includes the four-fold conviction that (1) it is a Scriptural promise; (2) what God promises he will perform; (3) God is able to do it now; and (4) God does it now. (Cf. Par. III.14-17). Wesley observed:
Thou therefore look for it every moment...There is then no danger. You can be no worse, if you are no better for the expectation. For were you to be disappointed of your hope, still you lose nothing...Look for it then every day, every hour, every moment. Why not this hour, this moment? ("Scripture Way," Par III.18)
3. Increasing numbers of persons testified to an instantaneous sanctification as the evangelical revival gained strength in Britain, and Wesley took the experiences of these Christians seriously. Cf. also Wesley's sermons, "The Circumcision of the Heart," "Christian Perfection," "On Sin in Believers," "The Repentance of Believers," "The Scripture Way of Salvation," and also his series of sermons devoted to The Sermon on the Mount: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
Concluding Observations Regarding Wesley's Theology Of Sanctifying Grace
1. Randy Maddox observes: "while the affirmation of the possibility of entire sanctification may have been distinctive of Wesley, the conception of sanctification (as a whole) as the progressive journey in responsive co-operation with God's empowering grace was most characteristic of Wesley. Once again, we are dealing more with a facet of the Way of Salvation than a step in the Order of Salvation." (Responsible Grace. p 190).
2. The distinction here [ie, between sanctification as gradual and instantaneous] seems to be one of ideal and practice. Christian perfection is a present possibility for all who are born of God. But, only a few will have the kind of faith required until just prior to death. Though sanctifying faith is receivable in a moment, there is often a lengthy process of spiritual development and maturity which prepares one to experience it. Wesley stresses the immediate availability of [sanctifying] grace in his sermons because he probably reasoned that since it was available now, he must preach it as experientially possible now. (For more on this, cf. Collins, The Scripture Way of Salvation, and A Faithful Witness.)
3. The context of Wesley's remarks in A Plain Account would seem to corroborate the above statements. (ie, the process of maturation/growth is the norm, which god sometimes "cuts short.") Also, it is interesting that Wesley never claimed for himself the experience of instantaneous entire sanctification (at least in his published writings).
4. Kenneth Kinghorn wisely argues for discretion and caution in the balance of the gradual and instantaneous aspects of sanctifying grace:
On the one hand, too great a stress on the instantaneous aspect of sanctification tends to lead us to trust in our work of surrender, faith and obedience. It can also cause us to consider ourselves as having spiritually "arrived," and we cease growing. Such reasoning could lead to smugness and the neglect of the disciplined use of the means of grace...The life of holiness is one in which we never cease to grow. On the other hand, too great a stress on the gradual aspect of sanctification can effectively prevent us from expecting sanctification in the present. The epistles devote a good amount of space to urging us to lie holy lives. John Wesley counseled, "seek and expect it now." (The Gospel of Grace, pp 111-112).
Seeing the Journey Whole: A Summary of Wesley's Theology of Grace and the Via Salutis
Wesley's objective was to affirm that our salvation is all of God's grace, without rendering the working of God's grace as being automatic or irresistible in human life. Salvation is a dynamic journey characterized by God's gracious initiatives and our response to those gracious initiatives. The goal, or end (greek "telos") of this journey is the healing and renewal of our souls in the image of God, not just a change in our status before God. It involves the renewal and transformation of our inner dispositions/character as well as changes in outward actions. To the extend that God's grace progressively achieves that renewal in us, we are in the New Testament sense "perfect" or mature. We are empowered to love God and neighbor wholeheartedly. At the same time, God continues to give more grace and prompts us toward further renewal and transformation, such that we are farther along the Way of Salvation today that we were yesterday; and, by his grace, we shall be farther along the road tomorrow than we are today.
For Further Reading:
John Wesley. A Plain Account of Christian Perfection. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1968.
Kenneth J. Collins. Wesley on Salvation: A Study in the Standard Sermons. Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Francis Asbury Press, 1989.
Kenneth J. Collins. A Faithful Witness: John Wesley's Homiletical Theology. Wilmore, KY: Wesley Heritage Press, 1993.
Randy Maddox. Responsible Grace: John Wesley's Practical Theology. Nashville: Kingswood, 1994.
Allan Coppedge. John Wesley in Theological Debate. Wilmore, KY: Wesley Heritage Press, 1987.
Kenneth C. Kinghorn. The Gospel of Grace: The Way of Salvation in Wesley Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992.
David L. McKenna. What a Time to be Wesleyan! Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1999.
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