Mitch Lewis

Article 17 of the Methodist Articles of Religion states:

Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church.

Wesley adopted this from the Church of England’s Article 27. The key words Wesley omitted are highlighted below.

Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference by which Christian men are discerned from other that be not christened, but is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God, by the Holy Spirit are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. The baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

I think Wesley’s version is poorer for omitting baptism’s role in incorporating us into the Body of Christ. Wesley's A Treatise on Baptism, however, is much broader in its affirmations:

By baptism we enter into covenant with God . . . .

By baptism we are admitted into the Church . . . .

By baptism, we who were “by nature children of wrath” are made the children of God ...
being “grafted into the body of Christ’s Church, we are made the children of God by adoption and grace.”

For more on the contemporary United Methodist understanding of baptism, see By Water and the Spirit.

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Who said this about love and perfection?

Moreover, this holiness of life is comprehended under the two heads above mentioned. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.” First, our mind must be completely filled with love to God, and then this love must forthwith flow out toward our neighbour. This the Apostle shows when he says, “The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned,” (1 Tim. 1:5). . . . For complete perfection, nothing more can be required than is expressed in these passages of Moses and Paul.

John Wesley said there was but a hair's breadth difference between him and John Calvin in many things. Is this Wesley, or Calvin?

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the value of Methodist culture. By "culture," I mean something less tangible and more dynamic than what some would might call Methodist "distinctives." By culture, I’m not talking about doctrinal formulas, organizational structure or the formal elements of the Methodist tradition. I'm describing something much fuzzier than that.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. I attended a bi-lingual worship service today with the Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche in Germany. Wesley's name was never mentioned. The small congregation doesn't have class meetings, love feasts or any of the elements of the historical Wesleyan revival. The sermon was in German with a printed English translation. It was an excellent sermon, faithful to the text and informed by biblical scholarship. It didn't, however, use any of the specifically Wesleyan catch-phrases. Still, it was recognizable within the wide stream of Methodist preaching. I wouldn't mistake it style or substance for a Baptist sermon or a Pentecostal sermon or a law-and-gospel Lutheran sermon.

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One of John Wesley's distinctive teachings involved what came to be known as "Christian perfection" or "entire sanctification." Wesley taught that Christians can and should experience a second act of God's grace enabling them them to love God and their neighbors perfectly in thought, temperament and intention. Both inner experience and outward action would then flow solely from pure love. As is the case with any person, Wesley's views on the matter changed over time, and the precise formulation of his ideas varied from occasion to occasion.

Consistently, however, Wesley averred that Christian perfection did not consist of freedom from physical infirmities or errors of judgment. For Wesley, these matters paled in insignificance compared that the mighty work that God sought to do in the heart of the the believer. Entirely sanctified Christians perfectly fulfill the law of love and so do not sin - at least in the most important sense of that word - even if they make mistakes based on faulty knowledge or bodily weaknesses.

For me, these two matters make "entire" sanctification moot as a matter of Christian doctrine.

Mind, Body and Spirit

As modern science learns more about how the brain functions, it increasingly difficult to separate the human body from its thoughts, emotions, desires, intentions, intuitions, self-awareness and inner experiences of  every sort. Even spiritual experiences take place in the synaptic activities of the brain. Wesley insisted that we distinguish between true infirmities and moral excuses, and I would be the last to say that humans aren't responsible for their actions. Still, it is no longer possible to compartmentalize human behavior neatly into body, mind and spirit. Mind and spirit take place by means of bodily processes.

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What I mean is this:
One of you says, "I follow Paul";
another, "I follow Apollos";
another, "I follow Cephas;
still another, "I follow Christ."

Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
-- 1 Corinthians 1:12-13

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Wesley's thoughts on righteousness
-- With apologies to Edward Mote

As the United Methodist Church tries to find its way forward in the 21st century, what should be distinctive about the church and the movement John Wesley began in the 18th century? The answer to that question depends on whether you are looking at Methodism as a movement or at the United Methodist Church as a church.

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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22

October 31 is the anniversary of Martin Luther's posting of the 95 theses and the beginning of what came to be known as the Protestant Reformation.

Ephesians 2 contains a good example of a text that highlights some of the main principles of the Reformation, what came to be known as the five solas: sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, solo Christo, soli Deo gloria.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)

Salvation by grace alone jumps out from this text. Twice Paul says, "by grace you have been saved" and once "it is the gift of God." Salvation through faith is explicit as well. The centrality of Christ is evident throughout. That glory is due to God alone is implied in Paul's statement about good works; even they are ultimately rooted in God's design and redemptive activity. No one can boast. And while the primacy of scripture is not evident in the text, the text is only critical if we give recognize the authority of scripture.

If we keep reading in Ephesians 2, however, we will find that the five solas are missing something. What are they missing? The church!

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