Wesleyan theology
They began to organize a renewal movement within the Church of England to focus on personal faith and holiness, putting emphasis on the importance of growth in grace after the New Birth.
[7] Arminianism is a theological study conducted by Jacobus Arminius, from the Netherlands, in opposition to Calvinist orthodoxy on the basis of free will.
Subsequently, the two theories have joined into one set of values for the contemporary church;[9] yet, when examined separately, their unique details can be discovered, as well as their similarities in ideals.
[10] Wesley's opposition to Calvinism was more successful than Arminius's, especially in the United States where Arminianism would become the dominant school of soteriology of Evangelical Protestantism, largely because it was spread through popular preaching in a series of Great Awakenings.
"[25] The Methodist divine Charles Wesley's hymns "Sinners, Turn, Why Will You Die" and "And Can It be That I Should Gain" concurrently demonstrate that Christ's sacrifice is the example of supreme love, while also convicting the Christian believer of his/her sins, thus using the moral influence theory within the structure of penal substitution in accordance with the Augustinian theology of illumination.
[25] Wesleyan theology also emphasizes a participatory nature in atonement, in which the Methodist believer spiritually dies with Christ and Christ dies for humanity; this is reflected in the words of the following Methodist hymn (122):[25] "Vouchsafe us eyes of faith to see The Man transfixed on Calvary, To know thee, who thou art— The one eternal God and true; And let the sight affect, subdue, And break my stubborn heart...
"[25] With regard to the fate of the unlearned, Willard Francis Mallalieu, a Methodist bishop, wrote in Some Things That Methodism Stands For:[26] Starting on the assumption that salvation was possible for every redeemed soul, and that all souls are redeemed, it has held fast to the fundamental doctrine that repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ are the divinely-ordained conditions upon which all complying therewith may be saved, who are intelligent enough to be morally responsible, and have heard the glad tidings of salvation.
[26]In Methodism, the way of salvation includes conviction, repentance, restitution, faith, justification, regeneration and adoption, which is followed by sanctification and witness of the Spirit.
Justification is that gracious and judicial act of God whereby a soul is granted complete absolution from all guilt and a full release from the penalty of sin (Romans 3:23–25).
"[30] Wesleyans teach that God provides grace that enables any person to freely choose to place faith in Christ or reject his salvation (see synergism).
"[41] 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.
"[69] 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.
[71] 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.
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.
[78] Methodist theology teaches the doctrine of free will:[79] Our Lord Jesus Christ did so die for all men as to make salvation attainable by every man that cometh into the world.
[6] Likewise, the Methodist Church of Great Britain refers to the quadrilateral as "a fourfold approach" to learning and applying the Christian faith,[81] and the United Methodist Church asserts that:Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.
[82]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).
1:23, 24 —Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline (¶24)[88]While the saint goes from the judgment to enjoy eternal bliss, the impenitent sinner is turned away into everlasting condemnation, punishment and misery.
25:41, 46; Mark 9:44–48; Luke 13:3; John 8:21, 23 —Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline (¶25)[88]Wesley stated that: "I believe it to be a duty to observe, to pray for the Faithful Departed".
[96] 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,[97] but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery.
"[107] 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.
[108] 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.
[112] John Wesley held that the offices of bishop and presbyter constituted one order,[113] citing an ancient opinion from the Church of Alexandria;[113] Jerome, a Church Father, wrote: "For even at Alexandria from the time of Mark the Evangelist until the episcopates of Heraclas and Dionysius the presbyters always named as bishop one of their own number chosen by themselves and set in a more exalted position, just as an army elects a general, or as deacons appoint one of themselves whom they know to be diligent and call him archdeacon.
[141][142] Methodist circuit riders were known for practicing the spiritual discipline of mortifying the flesh as they "arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees without food or drink or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end".
[143] 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".
[145][146] 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.
[160] In Methodist Christianity, the moral law is the "fundamental ontological principle of the universe" and "is grounded in eternity", being "engraved on human hearts by the finger of God.
Accordingly poverty of spirit, purity of heart, and whatever else is enjoined in the holy law of God, are no other, when viewed in a gospel light, than so many great and precious promises.
[162][149] The Sunday Sabbatarian practices of the earlier Wesleyan Methodist Church in Great Britain are described by Jonathan Crowther in A Portraiture of Methodism:[163] They believe it to be their duty to keep the first day of the week as a sabbath.
Therefore, they employ themselves in prayer and thanksgiving, in reading and meditating on the scriptures, in hearing the public preaching of God's word, in singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, in Christian conversation, and in commemorating the dying love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
