Wesley's View of Saving Faith

QUESTION: Do you receive Wesley's view of saving faith?

From John Wesley's Sermon "The Scripture Way of Salvation": 

"But what is that faith whereby we are sanctified, — saved from sin, and perfected in love?" It is a divine evidence and conviction, first, that God hath promised it in the holy Scripture. Till we are thoroughly satisfied of this, there is no moving one step further. And 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 they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." 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?

Holiness Now

We argue ... that entire holiness is attainable in this life, because all the commands to be holy must refer to the present. Grammarians tell us that all imperatives are in the present tense. If they cover the future they include the indivisible now. "Be ye holy," plainly requires present holiness. "Be ye perfect," enjoins perfection today. "Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart," is a command enforcing perfect love today, if it means anything.

The promises of sanctifying grace are available to believers now, or they are worthless. For true faith can be exercised for spiritual grace for ourselves only as it rests on the promise which includes the present moment. "Knowing this, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." This promise of the destruction of sin begins now, and is followed by a glorious henceforth of emancipation this side of death.

Let the reader study the following promises, and observe how manifestly they imply present fulfillment: Isa. 1:18, 25; Titus 2:14; 1 John 1:9; 4:16-18. Let him also remember that every command to be holy covers the present, and contains an implied promise of the aid of the Sanctifier.

— From Love Enthroned, Chapter 4.

Spiritual Warfare

[While it is true] that Christ proposes to free the believer in this world not only from acts of sin, but from the sinful disposition inherent in fallen humanity, [it is also true that there are] certain ills which are the effects of sin, and wear its appearance, but have not its moral character, and are not in the catalogue of things from which Jesus promises us deliverance in the present life.

These [include:] Spiritual warfare.

[Spiritual warfare] implies temptations. Jesus warred with temptations. "As he is, so are ye in this world." "The disciple is not above his Lord." The Christian life is a long battle, for which we are to draw arms from the arsenal of Christ's promised presence and from the power of his word, and from the endowment of his Holy Spirit.

Is Inward Sinfulness Necessary to Keep Us Humble?

But is not sin in the heart necessary to keep the soul humble? Will not spiritual pride lift itself up as soon as sin is destroyed ?

As well might you ask whether a man would not lift up his head haughtily when his neck has been broken. The Holy Spirit, taking complete possession of the heart, not only breaks the neck of sin, but casts out this strong man, leaving no seed of pride behind. Perfect love to Christ is perfect lowliness. When it is demonstrated that men must drink a little whiskey daily in order to temperance, — steal a trifling amount every day in order to be honest, — tell a few fibs every twenty four hours in order to be truthful, — and occasionally violate the seventh commandment that they may maintain their purity, — then we will sit down and soberly answer the objection that a little nest-egg of sin in the heart is a necessary nucleus about which all the Christian virtues are to be gathered.

— from Love Enthroned, Chapter 5.

A Pastor's Opposition

QUESTION: The preacher in charge opposes us when we testify that "the God of peace sanctifies us wholly." What are we to do?

ANSWER: Keep sweet, but keep testifying in such variety of phrase as the Scriptures afford. "Obey them that have the rule over you," so far as you can without compromising the truth of God's word as verified by your own experience. Stay in the church and let your light shine there, illustrating the truth of your profession. You have rights which your minister is bound to respect. He is amenable to his own conference, to which you have a right to make your charge against him.

— from Steele's Answers p. 41. 

Living Without Sin

Much of the controversy about sin [in the life of believers] results from the want of accuracy in the definition of this term. We do not in [our present consideration of this issue] include in [the idea of] sin the involuntary deviations from the law of absolute right, but willful transgressions of the known law of God, written in his word or on the tables of the heart, and also original or inbred sin.

Living without sin are words which shock many persons. It seems to them to be plucking the crown from the head of Christ, the only sinless man who ever walked the earth, and putting that crown upon the heads of men.

The Propensity to Sin

QUESTION: Opposers to holiness in our town assert that those who have no bent toward sin are incapable of temptation, that Adam before his fall and that Jesus Christ himself had this bent, otherwise they could not be tempted.

ANSWER: If this reasoning is correct, it follows that the devil and his angels had depraved tendencies before they fell into sin, and that they were created with a propensity to sin implanted in them by God. This makes Him the author of sin. If you ask how a perfectly holy soul can sin, we reply that we do not know. How sin got into a holy universe is a question which puzzles all the sages. To give a good reason for sin would justify sin. Sin is unreason. In the Bible the sinner is properly styled a fool. My mind reposes upon a doctrine I cannot explain, that every sinner is the first cause of his own sin, a cause uncaused which no man can explain or comprehend. Every moral intelligences angel, or man is the absolute creator of his own character and destiny.

— from Steele's Answers p. 40. 

Progressive and Instantaneous

QUESTION: How do you harmonize Wesley's doctrine of progressive sanctification and instantaneous cleansing?

ANSWER: On the principle implied in Christ's words, "Be it done unto you according to your faith." A Christian may have faith to conquer some evil habits while he is not conscious that he is wholly sanctified, because he does not have faith to claim this complete heritage of the Christian. This is the condition of many persevering Christians. They aspire after complete purity, but do not grasp it by an all-surrendering, mighty faith, till in some extremity of need, or of life itself.


QUESTION: What is the teaching of the National Holiness Association on this subject?

ANSWER: While their teaching is Wesleyan, that holiness is progressive, beginning with regeneration, entire sanctification is a decisive and instantaneous act of the Holy Spirit.

— from Steele's Answers pp. 39, 40. 

Interpreting 1 Peter 5:10

[Let us now] examine one Scripture in which it is asserted that our evangelical perfection is in express terms deferred to some future time, namely, 1 Peter 5:10:

"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."

John's Baptism

QUESTION: Was baptism by John the Baptist Christian baptism?

ANSWER: It was not. It was designed to combat the error that the performance of external ceremonies is all that is required to enter the kingdom of God. John insisted on repentance. Paul rebaptized, in the name of Jesus Christ, those whom John had baptized. (Acts 19:1-5.)

— from Steele's Answers p. 39.