One of the doctrines that is distinct in the Wesleyan tradition is the doctrine of Christian Perfection or Entire Sanctification. It has not always been claimed as fully as it might have been over the years, but it was characteristic of Wesley’s teaching and the theological legacy he left to the early Methodists. It is important to make sure it is clear, though, that Wesley did not invent this doctrine. He argued that it was to be found taught in the New Testament in many places, and it would not be hard to point to early theologians who taught something that was not all that far from Wesley’s doctrine, even if he went further in his emphasis.
I remember sitting in a class in seminary when we were covering this aspect of Wesley’s theology. The professor knew that not everyone would be on board with it, at least not at first. He made the theological case as clearly as possible and connected it with Wesley’s larger perspective and did all those things that you would hope and expect a theology professor in the Wesleyan heritage to do. Then, he did something else. He made an appeal on a holistic and emotional level. He addressed himself to those in the room who may have lingering doubts about it and asked them if they don’t yearn for something like that doctrine to be true and wouldn’t it be better to strive to be made perfect in love, even if it were impossible in this life?
I think that this kind of approach can be helpful. I even made it myself in the earliest of these articles. I have raised the question as to what must be the case if we reject a doctrine of Christian Perfection. At least one of the things that it means is that we do not really believe in the power of grace over sin, since sin must always remain, even in the face of the transforming power of God. One of the most persuasive things we can do is present an understanding of the perfecting power of grace as a liberating doctrine, as teaching us that we may lay our burdens down, lay down our imperfections, lay down our disobedience, with the hope and assurance that God will, in fact, deal with them.
I want to suggest, though, that the Wesleyan perspective is far more radical than that. The promise of grace is indeed a liberating doctrine. We should cling to that, we should cherish it, and we should proclaim it as a liberating doctrine, but there is a call implied in our understanding of grace that goes further and deeper than we may realize.
In Wesley’s sermon “On Working Out Our Own Salvation,” he famously argues two points: “First, God works; therefore you can work. Secondly, God works, therefore you must work” (III.2). On the surface, this may seem like it is nothing more than an argument against the Calvinistic doctrine of Double Predestination, where God saves us, or rejects us, with no reference to anything that we do or believe and therefore all working is pointless. Whereas the Calvinists put a stress on the idea that “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure,” and concluded that we could do nothing at all, Wesley points out that Paul’s argument is better understood as saying that, because God is already at work, we are able to do what Paul tells us to do and work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Prevenient or preventing grace certainly does mean that we have power and agency restored to us that we simply would not have had without God’s grace in our lives. It is also true that it means that we can do what we otherwise could not do. The call of God, though, is not indifferent to the choices that we make. God is not content merely with us receiving prevenient grace so that we can choose God. The call of the gospel means that we must use that freedom to choose God. It is not a coercive “must,” but it is, in fact, the only faithful choice. To use that freedom to reject the giver of that freedom is a fundamentally unfaithful act.
One of the things that Wesley taught with some frequency (although he is sometimes more nuanced) is that the moment we give our lives to Christ, we are no longer bound to commit willful transgressions against the known laws of God. That is not to say that we will, in fact, live into that possibility, but when Jesus is our Lord, we are no longer free to be indifferent to the sin in our lives. Someone who is merely justified but not already involved in the pathway toward sanctification is a theoretical category. It could only be truly fulfilled by someone who dies the instant they come to faith. Everyone else continues to have time and opportunity to manifest the transformation of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We are free to wage war against sin or to not to, but only one of them is a faithful response.
The promise of Christian Perfection, of Entire Sanctification, is that we can have our hearts ruled with love for God and neighbor. We may not be free of ignorance, we may not be free from mistake, we may not be free from the weakness of the flesh (though this must not be used to excuse what we might otherwise call “little sins”), but we go from moment to moment shaped by the love of God we have seen in Christ and received through the Holy Spirit. Again, this is a liberating conviction, but it is also a challenging one.
If it is really true that God wants us to be made perfect in love in this life, if it is really true that this is God’s desire, then we must seek it. To be clear, we cannot force it, but we should also not imagine that God is less willing to give that gift of grace than we are to receive it.
In the concluding paragraph of his sermon on “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” Wesley makes essentially the same argument as I shared that my professor made (surely he got it from Wesley). He argues that, even if our hopes are disappointed, we haven’t lost anything. He follows that up immediately. “But you shall not be disappointed of your hope: it will come, and will not tarry. Look for it then every day, every hour, every moment! Why not this hour, this moment? Certainly you may look for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this token you may surely know whether you seek it by faith or by works. If by works, you want something to be done first, before you are sanctified. You think, I must first be or do thus or thus. Then you are seeking it by works unto this day. If you seek it by faith, you may expect it as you are; and expect it now.”
The promise of entire sanctification is a promise that we may lay down our sin, but it is more than that. It is a call that, if we wish to be faithful, we must lay down our sin. We do not get to cling to it. By handing it over to Jesus, we have renounced our ownership of it. By submitting to the lordship of Christ, we have been released from the lordship of sin. God is not indifferent to whether we let go of our sin or if we cling to it. Only one of those is a faithful response to the gospel. The trouble is that we often do not hate our sin as much as we should. We often cling to it because it can feel like a comfort, even as it destroys us from the inside.
If you are still unsure of the fullness of the promise of Grace, then receive the Wesleyan emphasis on Entire Sanctification or Christian Perfection, not as a burden, but as the liberating truth that it is. If you have received it as a liberating truth, and one rooted in Scripture, make sure you hear its challenge in its full force. There is no sin in your life that is more powerful than the grace of God. You are not just free to lay it down; as a disciple of Jesus, you must do so.
