August 2008 — Volume V - the Methodist Church - LID

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YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT METHODISTS
SAY ABOUT:
“SALVATION”
Question: What is prevalent, justifying, and sanctifying grace?
Submitted by Rev. Otto Wade
Connexional Secretary
Belmont Hill - Antigua
ohn Wesley said salvation was like a house. "Our main doctrines, which include all the rest, are three: that
J of repentance, of faith, and of holiness. The first of these we account, as it were, the porch of religion; the
next, the door; the third is religion itself.
The first part of the journey to salvation is repentance (Matt. 4: 17). (Wesley calls this the porch of the house.)
Repentance is more than regret for sin; it involves turning in a new direction. We can become aware of our
need to repent only when God's grace stirs that awareness within us. God's grace makes the first move. In the
Wesleyan heritage, that initial gift of grace is called "prevenient grace." ("Prevenient" means "going before.")
This teaching emphasizes a connection between the moral law and our salvation; but because prevenient
grace from God moves us to repent, this repentance is not our good works, but God's gracious
activity in us.
The next part of the journey toward salvation is faith (Rom. 5:1). (Wesley calls this the door of the house.) It is
this faith in Jesus Christ that justifies us (Gal. 3:24). Think of justifying the margins of a text you are typing on
your computer. You line up the margins. Justification is getting lined up right with God. It is not something we do
on our own; faith itself is a gift, and since 'it justifies us with God, the gift is called "justifying grace."
Is this done quickly or gradually? The answer is '*Yes" and 'Yes." Philip Willis Otterbein was asked how he
came to be brought to the gospel; he replied, "I degrees was I brought to the knowledge of the truth." Note the
phrase "was brought." Justification is not something we do; ft is something God does for us.
The third part of John Wesley's image of the house is holy living; the house 'itself 'is he living. Getting justified
does not complete the journey. Once we pass through the door (by grace), we are in the house where our lives
are to be lived in accord with God’s command that we love one another (1 John 3:11). We are not able to do
such go works on our own; God's grace makes it possible for us to be sanctified (live holy lives). This gift is
called “sanctifying" grace. Methodists sometimes are accused emphasizing good works at the expense of faith.
Not so! There is nothing in our teachings to argue that we are saved by works. What is clear in Methodist
thought is that where there is faith there are good works (James 2:17). Repentance (porch). Justification (door).
Sanctification, holy living (the house itself)—all possible by God’s grace.
Let us plead for faith alone, faith which by our works is shown; God it is who justifies, only faith the grace applies.
Which part of Wesley's "house of salvation" is most difficult for you?
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