As an exercise, I tried this morning to write down three verses that I believe are especially important to Methodism. I set a limit of three to force me to focus on what I thought were the most important. None of these are unique to Methodism, but I do think these three together at least capture something of the core of what animated Methodism as a movement and helped make it powerful.
The Three Core Verses of Methodism
“Without holiness, no one will see the Lord”
Hebrews 12:14
“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith”
Ephesians 2:8
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world”
1 John 2:2
1. Holiness in Methodism
The first statement reminds us of the central importance of the holiness of heart and life in Methodism. John Wesley was convinced of the need for inward and outward holiness long before he came to understand that his sins were forgiven by grace through faith. Holiness was the first, and remained the enduring, aim of Wesley’s spiritual journey.
Striving to find a way to holiness based on his own efforts occupied a good decade of his early ministry. Justification by grace through faith was such a radical experience for Wesley because he had spent so much energy trying to justify himself through good works. He was completely convinced that holiness was essential to his ultimate salvation. Remove holiness from Methodism, and there is no movement that leads to Methodism in the first place.
2. Salvation by Grace Through Faith
The second statement speaks to our conviction that salvation is a gift of God (by grace) that we receive by faith. We cannot earn salvation. We only receive it. This was the realization that warmed John Wesley’s heart and caused Charles Wesley to long for a thousand tongues to sing the praise of Jesus. Without salvation by grace through faith, Methodism remains mired in the grinding misery of the pre-Aldersgate Wesley. (If you want to go deep on this, you can read my 16-part series on John Wesley’s sermon “The Scripture Way of Salvation.”)
3. Salvation is Offered to Everyone
The third statement speaks of our belief that grace is freely offered to everyone in all places. The death of Christ was not only effective for a narrow subset of the human race, but it is for everyone. Jesus desires that everyone be saved. This is not quite so controversial an idea today, although you can find plenty of guys on YouTube who are still holding up the banner for TULIP Calvinism.
The debate between limited and unlimited atonement was critical in the movement. Consequently, I think some recognition of that needs to be part of my three verses.
Final Thoughts
Just memorizing these three verses won’t tell you everything there is to know about Methodism, not even close, but I do think that any version of the Christian faith that discards or contradicts one of these three statements is moving significantly away from Methodism and toward something else.
While these three verses distinguish Methodism from some forms of Christianity—Calvinism, for instance, or many forms of progressive or liberal Christianity—they can be embraced by many other traditions. That is no problem from my point of view. Wesley’s intention was not to create something new but to recapture something very old. Methodism has never sought to be anything other than old-fashioned scriptural Christianity.
This is my attempt at picking just 3 verses to get at the heart of Methodism. If you were going to try to capture the heart of Methodism with 3 verses, which would you use?
Sources
- Written by John Meunier, Originally posted on “John Meunier” (edits by IC)
