Definition of sin Methodist theology teaches: Firstly, it categorizes sin as being
original sin and
actual sin: Methodists have a distinct understanding of the nature of actual sin, which is divided into the categories of "sin, properly so called" and "Sin, improperly so called"; the former category includes voluntary transgression against God, while the second category includes infirmities (such as "immaturity, ignorance, physical handicaps, forgetfulness, lack of discernment, and poor communication skills"). With this narrower understanding of sin, John Wesley believed that it was not only possible but necessary to live without committing sin. Wesley explains this in his comments on "Whosoever abideth in communion with him—By loving faith, sinneth not—While he so abideth. Whosoever sinneth certainly seeth him not—The loving eye of his soul is not then fixed upon God; neither doth he then experimentally know him—Whatever he did in time past." Methodist doctrine holds that the Christian life, subsequent to the New Birth (first work of grace), should be characterized by holy living, free from sin; through the second work of grace—entire sanctification, Christians are able to be made perfect in love and are freed from the sin nature of humanity, i.e. original sin.
Salvation Atonement . Wesleyan–Arminian theology falls squarely in the tradition of
substitutionary atonement, though it is linked with
Christus Victor and
moral influence theories. John Wesley, reflecting on , connects
penal substitution with victory over
Satan in his
Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament: "the voluntary passion of our Lord appeased the Father's wrath, obtained pardon and acceptance for us, and consequently, dissolved the dominion and power which Satan had over us through our sins." The Wesleyan tradition seeks to establish
justification by faith as the gateway to
sanctification or "scriptural holiness". Wesleyans teach that God provides
grace that enables any person to freely choose to place faith in Christ or reject his salvation (see
synergism). John Wesley taught that the keeping of the moral law contained in the
Ten Commandments, as well as engaging in the
works of piety and the
works of mercy, were "indispensable for our sanctification". Wesley insisted that not only is
righteousness imputed, but on
imparted righteousness, that "we ourselves are actually made righteous by God's grace." Wesleyan theology teaches that there are two distinct phases in the Christian experience. In the
first work of grace (the new birth) a person
repents of his/her sin that he/she confesses to God, places his/her faith in Jesus, receives
forgiveness and becomes a Christian; during the
second work of grace, entire sanctification, the believer is purified and made holy. Bishop
Scott J. Jones states that "United Methodist doctrine thus understands true, saving faith to be the kind that, give time and opportunity, will result in good works. Any supposed faith that does not in fact lead to such behaviors is not genuine, saving faith." For Methodists, "true faith...
cannot subsist without works". (See .) Methodist evangelist
Phoebe Palmer stated that "justification would have ended with me had I refused to be holy." While "faith is essential for a meaningful relationship with God, our relationship with God also takes shape through our care for people, the community, and creation itself."
First work of grace: new birth John Wesley held that the new birth "is that great change which God works in the soul when he brings it into life, when he raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness" (
Works, vol. 2, pp. 193–194). The
Articles of Religion, in Article XVII—Of Baptism, state that baptism is a "sign of regeneration or the new birth". (See ''
.) The Methodist Visitor'' in describing this doctrine, admonishes individuals: "'Ye must be born again.' Yield to God that He may perform this work in and for you. Admit Him to your heart. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'" In congruence with the
Wesleyan (Methodist) definition of sin: This concept is taught in the Methodist
Articles of Religion, in Article XII.
Second work of grace: Christian perfection Methodists, following in John Wesley's footsteps, believe in the second work of grace— enabling entire sanctification, also called
Christian perfection—which removes
original sin (the carnal nature of the person) and makes the believer holy (cf.
baptism with the Holy Spirit); Wesley explained: "Entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, is neither more nor less than pure love; love expelling sin, and governing both the heart and life of a child of God. The Refiner's fire purges out all that is contrary to love." Wesley taught that entire sanctification was "wrought instantaneously, though it may be approached by slow and gradual steps." Before a believer is entirely sanctified, he/she consecrates himself/herself to God; the theology behind
consecration is summarized with the maxim "Give yourself to God in all things, if you would have God give Himself to you." The Methodist Churches teach that
apostasy can occur through a loss of faith or through
sinning (refusing to be holy). If a person
backslides but later decides to return to God, he or she must confess his or her sins and be entirely sanctified again (see
conditional security). Richard P. Bucher, contrasts this position with the Lutheran one, discussing an analogy put forth by Wesley: John Wesley believed that all Christians have a faith which implies an "assurance" of God's forgiving love, and that one would feel that assurance, or the "witness of the Spirit". This understanding is grounded in
Paul's affirmation, "...ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The same Spirit beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God..." (, ''Wesley's translation''). This experience was mirrored for Wesley in his
Aldersgate experience wherein he "knew" he was loved by God and that his sins were forgiven. :"I felt my heart
strangely warmed. I felt I
did trust in Christ, Christ
alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that He had taken my sin,
even mine." — from Wesley's Journal
Conditional security John Wesley was an outspoken defender of the doctrine of conditional preservation of the saints, or commonly "conditional security". In 1751, Wesley defended his position in a work titled, "Serious Thoughts Upon the Perseverance of the Saints". In it he argued that a believer remains in a saving relationship with God if he "continue in faith" or "endureth in faith unto the end". Wesley affirmed that a child of God, "while he continues a true believer, cannot go to hell." However, if he makes a "shipwreck of the faith, then a man that believes now may be an unbeliever some time hence" and become "a child of the devil". Like his Arminian predecessors, Wesley was convinced from the testimony of the Scriptures that a true believer may abandon faith and the way of righteousness and "fall from God as to perish everlastingly." The main difference between Wesleyan covenant theology and classical covenant theology is as follows: As such, in the traditional Wesleyan view, only
Adam and
Eve were under the covenant of works, while on the other hand, all of their progeny are under the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace was therefore administered through "promises, prophecies, sacrifices, and at last by circumcision" during the patriarchal ages and through "the paschal lamb, the scape goat, [and] the priesthood of Aaron" under
Mosaic Law.
Ecclesiology and
entire sanctification to the public at events such as
tent revivals,
brush arbour revivals and
camp meetings, which they believe is the reason that God raised them up into existence. With regard to the position of Methodism within
Christendom, the founder of the movement "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained." Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine of
entire sanctification was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world.
Eschatology John Wesley described his
eschatological views on the
Book of Revelation in his
Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament (1755). He struggled with how to interpret the middle of the book which describes heavenly and earthy conflict in very symbolic language. He relied heavily on the works of German theologian
Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687–1752) for a mathematical interpretation of the numbers in the book to find a correspondence between church history and the events described in Revelation. For example, by Wesley's calculations, using Bengel's mathematical key, the story of the
woman in the wilderness in Revelation 12 was the story of the Christian church in two overlapping periods of church history (847–1524 CE and 1058–1836 CE).
Evangelism and missions Methodism has emphasized
evangelism and
missions. Wesleyan-Arminian theology stresses
missional living as normative for Methodist Christians. In particular, ordinands were asked by
John Wesley "Will you visit from house to house?" with the assumed answer being "yes" as
door-to-door evangelism was the expectation of Methodist clergy for the purpose of reaching people outside the walls of churches.
Free will Methodist theology teaches the doctrine of
free will: The
Free Methodist Church teaches: and the
United Methodist Church asserts that:
Four Last Things With respect to the
four last things, Wesleyan theology affirms the belief in
Hades, "the
intermediate state of souls between death and the
general resurrection", which is divided into
Paradise (for the righteous) and
Gehenna (for the wicked). After the
general judgment, Hades will be abolished. The dead will remain in Hades "until the
Day of Judgment when we will all be bodily resurrected and stand before Christ as our judge. After the Judgment, the Righteous will go to their eternal reward in Heaven and the Accursed will depart to Hell (see )." Wesley stated that: "I believe it to be a duty to observe, to
pray for the Faithful Departed". He "taught the propriety of Praying for the Dead, practised it himself, provided
Forms that others might." In a joint statement with the
Catholic Church in England and Wales, the
Methodist Church of Great Britain affirmed that "Methodists who pray for the dead thereby commend them to the continuing mercy of God."
Sacraments and rites Baptism in a Methodist church The Methodist
Articles of Religion, with regard to baptism, teach: While baptism imparts regenerating grace, its permanence is contingent upon
repentance and a
personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Wesleyan theology holds that baptism is a sacrament of initiation into the visible Church.
Wesleyan covenant theology further teaches that baptism is a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace: Methodists recognize three modes of baptism as being valid—immersion, aspersion or affusion—in the name of the
Holy Trinity.
Real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper The followers of John Wesley have typically affirmed that the sacrament of Holy Communion (the Lord's Supper) is an instrumental
Means of Grace through which the
real presence of Christ is communicated to the believer, but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery. Methodism inherited the
Reformed view of the Lord's Supper through the
Twenty-five Articles, in which Article XVIII posits a real spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist, noting that the "body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner." In particular, Methodists reject the Catholic doctrine of
transubstantiation (see "Article XVIII" of the
Articles of Religion); the
Primitive Methodist Church, in its
Discipline also rejects the
Lollardist doctrine of
consubstantiation. In 2004, the
United Methodist Church affirmed its view of the sacrament and its belief in the real presence in an official document entitled
This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion. Of particular note here is the church's unequivocal recognition of the
anamnesis as more than just a memorial but, rather, a
re-presentation of Christ Jesus and his love. :Holy Communion is remembrance, commemoration, and memorial, but this remembrance is much more than simply intellectual recalling. "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24–25) is
anamnesis (the biblical Greek word). This dynamic action becomes re-presentation of past gracious acts of God in the present, so powerfully as to make them truly present now. Christ is risen and is alive here and now, not just remembered for what was done in the past. This affirmation of real presence can be seen clearly illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Communion Liturgy where, in the
epiclesis of the Great Thanksgiving, the celebrating minister prays over the elements: :Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. Methodists assert that Jesus is spiritually present, and that the means of his presence is a "Holy Mystery". The
Discipline of the
Free Methodist Church thus teaches: Likewise, in the Articles of Faith of the
Church of the Nazarene, Article XIII declares that "The Lord's Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit."
Confession Methodist theology teaches that the Christian life should be characterized by holy living, free from sin. Methodists normatively practice confession of their sin to God himself through prayer, holding that "When we do confess, our fellowship with the Father is restored. He extends His parental forgiveness. He cleanses us of all unrighteousness, thus removing the consequences of the previously unconfessed sin. We are back on track to realise the best plan that He has for our lives." The particular, private confession of sins to a pastor, is defined by the
Articles of Religion as one those "Commonly called Sacraments but not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel", also known as the "
five lesser sacraments". John Wesley held "the validity of Anglican practice in his day as reflected in the
1662 Book of Common Prayer", stating that "We grant confession to men to be in many cases of use: public, in case of public scandal; private, to a spiritual guide for disburdening of the conscience, and as a help to repentance." Additionally, per the recommendation of Wesley, Methodist
class meetings, as well as
penitent bands, traditionally met weekly in order to confess sins to one another.
Lovefeast Lovefeasts (in which bread and the loving-cup is shared between members of the congregation) are a
means of grace, a "converting ordinance" that John Wesley believed to be an apostolic institution. One account from July 1776 expounded on the fact that people experienced entire sanctification at a Lovefeast: The Missionary Methodist Church states in its
Book of Discipline:
Validity of Holy Orders , at
Lake Junaluska John Wesley held that the offices of bishop and
presbyter constituted one
order, citing an ancient opinion from the
Church of Alexandria; John Wesley thus argued that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria, which was founded by
Mark the Evangelist, was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone and was considered valid by that ancient Church. Since the Bishop of London refused to ordain
ministers in the
British American colonies, this constituted an emergency and as a result, on 2 September 1784, Wesley, along with a priest from the Anglican Church and two other elders, operating under the ancient Alexandrian habitude, ordained
Thomas Coke a superintendent, although Coke embraced the title bishop. Today, the
United Methodist Church follows this ancient Alexandrian practice as bishops are elected from the presbyterate: the
Discipline of the Methodist Church, in ¶303, affirms that "ordination to this ministry is a gift from God to the Church. In ordination, the Church affirms and continues the apostolic ministry through persons empowered by the
Holy Spirit." It also cites Scripture in support of this practice, namely, 1 Timothy 4:14, which states: The Methodist Church also buttresses this argument with the leg of
sacred tradition of the
Wesleyan Quadrilateral by citing the
Church Fathers, many of whom concur with this view. In addition to the aforementioned arguments, in 1937 the annual Conference of the
British Methodist Church located the "true continuity" with the Church of past ages in "the continuity of Christian experience, the fellowship in the gift of the one Spirit; in the continuity in the allegiance to one Lord, the continued proclamation of the message; the continued acceptance of the mission;..." [through a long chain which goes back to] "the first disciples in the company of the Lord Himself ... This is our doctrine of
apostolic succession" [which neither depends on, nor is secured by,] "an official succession of ministers, whether bishops or presbyters, from apostolic times, but rather by fidelity to apostolic truth".
Prayer Methodism has heavily emphasized "offerings of extempore and spontaneous prayer". To this end, many
Methodist churches devote a portion of their Sunday evening service and mid-week Wednesday evening prayer meeting to having congregants share their prayer requests, in addition to hearing personal
testimonies about their faith and experiences in living the Christian life. Early Methodism was known for its "almost monastic rigors, its living by rule, [and] its canonical hours of prayer". It inherited from its
Anglican patrimony the rubrics of reciting the
Daily Office, which Methodist Christians were expected to
pray. The first prayer book of Methodism,
The Sunday Service of the Methodists with other occasional Services thus included the canonical hours of both Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer; these services were observed everyday in
early Christianity, though on the
Lord's Day, worship included the Eucharist. Later Methodist liturgical books, such as The Methodist Worship Book (1999) provide for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer to be prayed daily; the
United Methodist Church encourages its communicants to pray the canonical hours as "one of the essential practices" of being a disciple of Jesus. Some Methodist religious orders publish the Daily Office to be used for that community, for example,
The Book of Offices and Services of The Order of Saint Luke contains the canonical hours to be prayed traditionally at
seven fixed prayer times:
Lauds (6 am),
Terce (9 am),
Sext (12 pm),
None (3 pm),
Vespers (6 pm),
Compline (9 pm) and
Vigil (12 am). Some Methodist congregations offer daily Morning Prayer.
Outward holiness Early Methodists wore
plain dress, with Methodist clergy condemning "high headdresses, ruffles, laces, gold, and 'costly apparel' in general". John Wesley recommended that Methodists annually read his thoughts
On Dress; in that sermon, John Wesley expressed his desire for Methodists: "Let me see, before I die, a Methodist congregation, full as plain dressed as a
Quaker congregation". The 1858 Discipline of the
Wesleyan Methodist Connection thus stated that "we would ... enjoin on all who fear God plain dress".
Peter Cartwright, a Methodist
revivalist, stated that in addition to wearing plain dress, the early Methodists distinguished themselves from other members of society by
fasting on Fridays,
abstaining from alcohol, and devoutly
observing the Sabbath. The early Methodists did not participate in, and condemned, "worldly habits" including "playing cards, racing horses, gambling, attending the theater, dancing (both in frolics and balls), and cockfighting". denominations of the
conservative holiness movement, such as the
Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and
Evangelical Wesleyan Church, continue to reflect the spirit of the historic Methodist practice of wearing plain dress, encouraging members in "abstaining from the wearing of extravagant hairstyles, jewelry—to include rings, and expensive clothing for any reason". The
Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches, which continues to observe the
ordinance of
women's headcovering, stipulates "renouncing all vain pomp and glory" and "adorning oneself with modest attire". The General Rules of the Methodist Church in America, which are among the doctrinal standards of many Methodist Churches, promote first-day Sabbatarianism as they require "attending upon all the ordinances of God" including "the public worship of God" and prohibit "profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying or selling".
Teetotalism publication in
Cardiff,
Wales John Wesley "laid foundations for Methodism's traditional call to abstain from beverage alcohol and its warnings about the use of drugs." Wesley referred to liquors as "certain, though slow, poison" and condemned those who sold it of leading people to
hell. In Great Britain, both
Wesleyan Methodists and
Primitive Methodists championed the cause of temperance; the
Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals was later established in the United States to further the movement. ¶91 of the 2014
Discipline of the
Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection summarizes the traditional practice of Methodists regarding their requirement of abstinence from alcohol and other drugs:
Fasting Fasting is considered one of the
works of piety. Methodism's principal liturgical book
The Sunday Service of the Methodists (put together by John Wesley), as well as The Directions Given to Band Societies (25 December 1744) by John Wesley, mandate
fasting and abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year (in remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus). Wesley himself also kept the Eucharistic Fast, thus
fasting before receiving Holy Communion "for the purpose of focusing his attention on God", and asked other Methodist Christians to do the same.
Law and Gospel John Wesley admonished Methodist preachers to emphasize both the
Law and the Gospel: Methodism makes a distinction between the ceremonial law and the moral law that is the
Ten Commandments given to Moses. In contradistinction to the teaching of the Lutheran Churches, the Methodist Churches bring the Law and the Gospel together in a profound sense: "the law is grace and through it we discover the good news of the way life is intended to be lived." They regarded "keeping the Lord's Day as a duty, a delight, and a
means of grace". == Churches upholding Wesleyan theology ==