The Scripture Way of Salvation: The Heart of John Wesley's Theology
The Scripture Way of Salvation: The Heart of John Wesley's Theology
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| ISBN-13: | 9781426729362 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 962 KB |
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The Scripture Way of Salvation
The Heart of John Wesley's Theology
By Kenneth J. Collins
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 1997 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-2936-2
CHAPTER 1
Grace, Creation, and the Fall of Humanity
The Ever-Present Grace of God
The key theme in Wesley's theology, which not only ties his various doctrines together, but which also lies behind them as their source and context, is the grace of God. From the creation of humanity to the glorification of the saints, from the gift of conscience to the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit, and from the conviction of sin to the restoration of the love of God and neighbor in the human heart, the grace of God is over all. In fact, there is no point in Wesley's theology of salvation where divine grace is not the leading motif, whether he is considering the fall of humanity or any step along the way in the process of redemption. Any interpretation of his theology that fails to take this vital ingredient into account in a significant way will necessarily be wide of the mark. Simply put, grace is the first chord struck in Wesley's theology, and hence in the present work as well.
Grace as Divine Favor and Empowerment
Many interpreters, especially those outside the Methodist tradition, have failed to note the subtlety, the nuances present in Wesley's soteriology (doctrine of salvation) due to his sophisticated understanding of grace. Wesley defines the grace of God in not one but two key ways. On the one hand, like Luther and Calvin before him, Wesley views grace, first of all, as the "undeserved favour" of God: "All the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man are of his mere grace, bounty, or favour: his free, undeserved favour, favour altogether undeserved." It fact, "it is the sheer givenness of spiritual insight and of divine grace," Albert Outler points out, "that distinguishes Wesley from Pelagius—and for that matter, from Arminius and Episcopius." On the other hand, this first conception by no means exhausts what Wesley means by grace. Beyond this, his considerable readings in the broad Catholic tradition (both Greek and Roman), which underscored participation in and empowerment through the life of God, helped Wesley to see grace in yet another way, as "the power of the Holy Ghost" to enable people to walk in the ways of God. Simply put, the former understanding accents the favor of God toward humanity; the latter, human participation and renewal.
Interestingly enough, earlier in this century George Croft Cell, a noted Methodist historian, put forth the thesis that Wesley's theology brings together a Protestant conception of grace and a Catholic conception of holiness:
The most important fact therefore about the Wesleyan understanding of the Gospel in relation to the Christian ethic of life is that the early Protestant doctrine of justification by faith and the Catholic appreciation of the idea of holiness or Christian perfection—two principles that had been fatally put asunder in the great Church conflicts of the sixteenth century—reappeared in the comprehensive spirit of Wesley's teaching fitly framed together in a well-balanced synthesis.
While considerable evidence can be gathered to support Cell's thesis, it is perhaps more accurate to suggest that the dividing line between the motifs of divine favor (Protestant emphasis) and human participation in the life of God (Catholic emphasis) lies not so much between the doctrines of justification by faith and Christian perfection or holiness, as Cell suggests, but actually lies within Wesley's intricate conception of grace itself. As Albert Outler points out in his introduction to Wesley's sermons, "The 'catholic substance' of Wesley's theology is the theme of participation—the idea that all life is of grace and all grace is the mediation of Christ by the Holy Spirit." Indeed, for Wesley, grace involves not only declaring sinners to be just out of the bountiful favor of God, but it also entails actually transforming, assisting, and renewing their hearts in holiness by that very same grace. Moreover, though these two senses of grace are intertwined throughout Wesley's writings, the particular sense that is emphasized often depends on the doctrine—such as repentance or justification—under review.
The Creation of Humanity
In light of the preceding distinction, it is not surprising that when Wesley describes the creation of humanity, he underscores grace not in the second sense as empowerment by the Holy Spirit, nor as divine/human cooperation, but as the utter favor, bounty, or goodness of God. "It was free grace that 'formed man of the dust of the ground,'" he writes, "'and breathed into him a living soul.'" Elsewhere, he affirms the initial goodness of Creation in that "every creature was 'good' in its primeval state." Nothing other than the freedom and goodness of God, then, are the source, the fount, of humanity.
Throughout his writings, Wesley maintains that God created humanity not as a simple creature but as a complex one, as one composed of both body and spirit. In an early manuscript sermon, "The Image of God," for instance, he elaborates:
But we should observe, first, that man even at his creation was a compound of matter and spirit; and that it was ordained by the original law that during this vital union neither part of the compound should act at all but together with its companion; that the dependence on each other should be inviolably maintained.
Concerning the first aspect, that is, the body, Wesley's thought does indeed contain some elements that are primitive even by eighteenth-century standards. Reviving the classical thought of Empedocles, Wesley contends, for example, that "the human body is composed of the four elements [dust, water, air, and fire], duly proportioned and mixed together." And in his sermon, "What is Man?" (1788), Wesley not only describes the body as a "curious machine" in a way reminiscent of Descartes, but also affirms that the body is suitably described as "a little portion of earth."
But a person is not simply a body; he or she is also what Wesley calls a "soul"—a selfmoving, thinking principle (res cogitans). And although Wesley asserts that in the present state of existence the human soul cannot be considered apart from the body, the two being intimately connected, yet the death of the body will not involve the death of the soul. Simply put, the essence of a person, what is often identified as the "I" or the "self," will continue to exist even when the body dies. "I cannot but believe this self-moving, thinking principle, with all its passions and affections," Wesley writes, "will continue to exist although the body be mouldered into dust."
Not only does Wesley affirm the immortality of the soul, he also closely identifies the spirit or soul of a human being—these terms are interchangeable for Wesley—with the image of God itself. For example, in his sermon "What is Man?" Wesley reflects on this identification and by doing so assesses the relative worth of the spirit in comparison with the body:
The body is not the man; that man is not only a house of clay, but an immortal spirit; a spirit made in the image of God, an incorruptible picture of the God of glory; a spirit that is of infinitely more value than the whole earth; of more value than the sun, moon, and stars put together; yea, than the whole material creation.
This identification of the spirit of humanity with the image of God, with what scholars sometimes refer to as the imago Dei, is explored by Wesley under three aspects, namely, the natural, political, and moral images of God. In the sermon, "The Image of God" (1730), Wesley points out that men and women were created in what he will later call the natural image of God (in his sermon "The New Birth") in that they have spirits that have been endued with understanding, will, and liberty. Moreover, Wesley's conception of the natural image remained, for the most part, unchanged throughout the years, as demonstrated in his late sermon "The End of Christ's Coming" (1781):
The Lord God ... created man in his own image—in his own natural image ... that is, a spirit, as God is a spirit: endued with understanding, which, if not the essence, seems to be the most essential property of a spirit.
He was endued also with a will, with various affections ... that he might love, desire, and delight in that which is good; otherwise his understanding had been to no purpose. He was likewise endued with liberty, a power of choosing what was good, and refusing what was not so. Without this both the will and understanding would have been utterly useless.
Remarkably, Wesley does not restrict the natural image of God to human beings; instead he contends that "every spirit in the universe is endued with understanding, and in consequence with a will and with a measure of liberty." In fact, in his sermon "The General Deliverance" (1781), he notes that the original state of the brute creation was characterized by an innate principle of self-motion, a degree of understanding, a will including various passions, and liberty—all the ingredients that have just been noted in terms of humanity. Simply put, the entire animal realm participates in the natural image of God, in however limited a fashion. Humanity does not hold exclusive rights here.
The second aspect of the imago Dei in which humanity was created is the so-called political image, an image that not only surfaces in a midcareer sermon such as "The New Birth," but also in the late sermon "The General Deliverance." In defining and explaining the nature of this aspect, Wesley appeals to the language of the Bible, the book of Genesis in particular, and observes that humanity was given "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Describing the order and government established in creation, Wesley writes that "Man was God's vice-regent upon earth, the prince and governor of this lower world." This means, interestingly enough, that although God is the Governor of the earth par excellence, the Supreme Being has not claimed exclusive prerogatives here, but has graciously allowed humanity to share in this rule and to exercise an authority over the lower creation. Here humanity is distinguished in certain respects from the rest of creation and a hierarchy of sorts is established. God as Governor does not rule in isolation, but governs through His appointed vice-regents.
But humanity's position within the created order can also be viewed another way, not so much in terms of rule and authority, but in terms of the mediation of divine, bountiful grace. Humanity, according to Wesley, is the great conduit, the chosen vehicle, of God's blessings for the rest of creation, and is therefore in some sense responsible for the general state of the animal realm. And in describing the original and gracious nature of this relationship of humanity to the rest of the animal realm, Wesley observes:
As all the blessings of God in paradise flowed through man to the inferior creatures; as man was the great channel of communication between the Creator and the whole brute creation; so when man made himself incapable of transmitting those blessings, that communication was necessarily cut off.
Moreover, it should be noted that God has not only chosen to bless the lower creation through human beings, "but it is generally his pleasure," Wesley acknowledges, "to help man by man." The grace of God, in other words, often wears a human face.
The third and last aspect of the imago Dei in which humanity was created is the moral image. Taking Ephesians 4:24 as his guide, "clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness," Wesley develops this last aspect in terms of the resplendent love of God especially in his sermon "Justification by Faith" (1746):
In the image of God was man made; holy as he that created him is holy, merciful as the author of all is merciful, perfect as his Father in heaven is perfect. As God is love, so man dwelling in love dwelt in God, and God in him. God made him to be 'an image of his own eternity,' an incorruptible picture of the God of glory. He was accordingly pure, as God is pure, from every spot of sin. He knew not evil in any kind or degree, but was inwardly and outwardly sinless and undefiled.
And two years later, Wesley describes the moral image of God in his sermon "Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Ninth" (1748) by underscoring several characteristics not mentioned in some of his other theological pieces. For example, those who mirror the very likeness of God in which they were created are "kind, benevolent, compassionate, tender-hearted; and that not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward." However, other traits that Wesley cites are not drawn, by implication, from a description of Adam and Eve in their pristine state, but are culled from the second Adam, Jesus Christ, who in his internal, human righteousness is marked by "love, reverence, resignation to his Father; humility, meekness, gentleness; love to lost mankind, and every other holy and heavenly temper." Nevertheless, the two characteristics or traits to which Wesley continually returns with respect to the moral image, whether the reference is to Adam or to Christ, are the same ones highlighted by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians cited earlier, namely, true righteousness and holiness.
Of the three aspects of the image of God, namely, the natural, the political, and the moral, Wesley designates the last as the principal image. For example, in his sermon "The New Birth" (1760), he writes, "So God created man in his own image ... but chiefly in his moral image." Judging from a careful reading of Wesley's writings, it appears that the moral image is singled out for three reasons.
First, this image, conceived as both true righteousness and holiness, represents a dimension that distinguishes humanity from the rest of creation. That is, men and women, unlike the beasts of the field, are capable of God; they are able to worship the Most High in spirit and in truth, and their hearts can be filled with the holy tempers of love suitable to their noble estate:
What then makes the barrier between men and brutes? The line which they cannot pass? It was not reason. Set aside that ambiguous term: exchange it for the plain word, understanding, and who can deny that brutes have this? ... But it is this: man is capable of God; the inferior creatures are not. We have no ground to believe that they are in any degree capable of knowing, loving, or obeying God. This is the specific difference between man and brute—the great gulf which they cannot pass over.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Scripture Way of Salvation by Kenneth J. Collins. Copyright © 1997 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,Chapter 1: Grace, Creation, and the Fall of Humanity,
Chapter 2: Convincing Grace and Initial Repentance,
Chapter 3: Justification by Grace Through Faith,
Chapter 4: Regeneration by Grace Through Faith,
Chapter 5: The Doctrine of Christian Assurance,
Chapter 6: Sanctification by Grace Through Faith,
Chapter 7: Final Justification,
Conclusion: An Ecumenical Soteriology?,
Abbreviations,
Notes,
Index,