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CONSIDER WESLEY

The General Spread of the Gospel (1783) is not one of Wesley’s better known sermons. It was written after the publication of the 53 that served as doctrinal standards for American Methodism, and it was not chosen for the anthology of Wesley’s sermons published by Abingdon Press. Yet its obscurity is undeserved, for it provides insight into Wesley’s mature thought on a number of issues of importance to us today.

Certainly, the question Wesley is raising in this sermon is of great significance. This issue is theodicy; that is, given the deplorable state of the present world, how can God be considered to be both all-powerful and good? It is a question deserving serious theological reflection. Yet Wesley’s answer is not what is so striking about this particular sermon.

What is striking is, in the process of addressing the theodicy issue, Wesley offers his views on a number of other topics, including the nature of grace, the pattern of religious awakenings, the renewal of the church, and world evangelization. What he says on these topics is illuminating, and at times challenging. We begin by examining his understanding of grace.

Wesley did not believe God would permit the world to remain indefinitely in such a state of ignorance, misery, and sin. Rather, he points to the eschatological promise that “the loving knowledge of God, producing uniform, uninterrupted holiness and happiness, shall cover the earth,” filing each human soul (para. 8). For those who doubt this is possible Wesley invites a consideration of how God works.

First, he rules out one seemingly attractive yet profoundly mistaken alternative: irresistible grace. God could, Wesley notes, simply act to bring this eschatological hope into reality, much as God did in creating the world. Yet this would prevent, rather than accomplish, what God desires for humanity. We would cease to be moral agents and “would no longer be endued with liberty….” As a result, humans “would no longer be capable of virtue or vice, of reward or punishment” (para. 9).

But humans must remain capable of virtue or vice if they are truly to be holy as God is holy. God is love, but God’s love is exercised in freedom. We were created in God’s image—that is, created to love—but are now fallen into sin. God’s intention is to restore us to that image so that we will be enabled to love as God has loved us. This we cannot do unless we at the same time regain our human freedom.

This is why God cannot act irresistibly. It is not that God lacks the power to do so, but because doing so will not accomplish God’s purpose. What God does instead is to enable us to do that which without grace we could not.

Wesley’s description of this grace shows clearly its effects. God, he says, “did not take away your understanding, but enlightened and strengthened it. He did not destroy any of your affections; rather, they were more vigorous than before. Least of all did he take away your liberty, your power of choosing good or evil; he did not force you; but being assisted by his grace, you, like Mary, chose the better part” (para. 11).

This is the Wesleyan understanding of grace. It denies the irresistible grace of the Calvinist tradition because that would make impossible God’s goal of enabling persons to love in freedom, as God loves. But it also denies the enlightenment claim that humans have natural free will. Instead, it takes with utmost seriousness the teaching of the Protestant reformers that we are bound by sin, and can only be set free by God. This God does by enabling us to enter into a relationship with God whereby we experience forgiveness, are reconciled to God, and grow in the knowledge and love of God as well as in love for our neighbor.

Salvation is by grace alone. But to receive the gift of salvation necessitates our entering into the life-transforming relationship with God which that grace enables. Wesley’s understanding of how grace works envisions a human transformation that is much more thoroughgoing than that of his Protestant forbears. Wesley insists that we are not only meant to be forgiven but also to become new creations, to once again manifest that holy love of God for which we were created.

By Dr. Henry H. Knight III, Associate Professor of Evangelism, Saint Paul School of Theology.