Rev. Dr. Travis Stevick

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” - Philippians 4:4 NIV Last month, we looked at the New Birth and ended with a promise to continue our consideration about what comes after that New Birth. We do that this month. The term associated with this phase of the Christian life is “sanctification.” It is the process by which we are made holy. When we speak about “Scriptural Holiness,” this is ultimately what we are talking about. It is the process by which, through the...

In our journey through a Wesleyan Understanding of Salvation, we have considered prevenient or preventing grace, convicting grace, and justifying grace. We now turn our attention to an aspect of salvation that Wesley taught as happening at the same time as justification, or forgiveness, but was a distinct thing: the New Birth. Specifically, on the timing of Justification and the New Birth, this is what he wrote: “In order of time, neither of these is before the other; in the moment we are...

So far, in this series, we have looked at a Wesleyan understanding of both Prevenient Grace and Convicting Grace. This brings us to the aspect of Wesley’s perspective that has the most overlap with other Protestant Traditions: Justifying Grace. In most traditions, talking about someone being “justified” is one and the same with someone “getting saved.” Justification is the word that often gets used to translate the idea in the New Testament that we are “made right” with God. It is the crucial...