Wesley’s Faith Decision

By Kevin M. Watson 

John and Charles Wesley met German Pietists on their voyage as missionaries to a new colony in the Americas, Georgia. John Wesley observed  the deep faith and assurance the German Moravians had when their ship encountered storms crossing the Atlantic so serious that their boat almost sank. This near-death experience created a crisis of faith for Wesley, as he realized he lacked the Moravian’s assurance of salvation. The Moravians’ faith showed him that real assurance, real confidence in one’s salvation, was possible even when faced with death. Wesley was so compelled by the Moravian’s faith that he spent significant time during the remainder of the voyage learning German so that he could converse in greater depth with them.

Wesley recorded a conversation with August Gottlieb Spangenberg (1704- 1792) shortly after his arrival in Georgia in his Journal: “I soon found what spirit he was of, and asked his advice with regard to my own conduct. He said, “My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions. Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?’ I was surprised, and knew not what to answer. He observed it, and asked, ‘Do you know Jesus Christ?’ I paused, and said, ‘I know he is the Saviour of the world.’ ‘True,’ replied he, ‘but do you know he has saved you?’ I answered, ‘I hope he has died to save  me.’ He only added, ‘Do you know yourself?’ I said, ‘I do.’ But I fear they were vain words.”

Conversations with the Moravians continued when Wesley returned to England in 1738. Wesley’s relationship with Peter Böhler (1712-75) was particularly influential. By Wesley’s account, it was Böhler who convinced him he lacked “the faith whereby alone we are saved.” Wesley raised a variety of objections to Böhler’s understanding of justification by faith and assurance. But Böhler’s patience and persistence eventually convinced Wesley the doctrine represented the truth as taught in Scripture and as experienced by people in the present.

Wesley was humbled by the conviction he lacked saving faith, despite being an ordained priest in the Church of England (he was ordained in 1725) and  serving as an overseas missionary. He recorded in his Journal, “Immediately it struck into my mind, ‘Leave off preaching. How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?’” Wesley did not think he should preach about something he believed was true but had not himself experienced. Böhler, however, encouraged Wesley to “preach faith till you have it, and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.”

As Wesley’s relationship with Böhler continued to develop, the two of them eventually formed a new religious society, the Fetter Lane Society. Through this relationship and in this context Wesley had his famous heart-warming experience at Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738.

Wesley recorded his account of his assurance of salvation in his Journal: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Charles Wesley had a similar experience on Pentecost Sunday, three days before John’s.

John Wesley had taken Böhler’s advice and had begun preaching salvation by faith before his experience at Aldersgate. And he continued preaching the doctrine after Aldersgate as well. A key moment for Wesley was when he  preached the sermon “Salvation by Faith” at St. Mary’s, Oxford, on June 11,  1738. In the sermon, Wesley confronted many members of the Church of England with their nominal faith. He preached that saving faith “is not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head; but also a disposition of the heart.”

In his sermon he also offered one of his best known definitions of justification by faith: “It is a sure confidence which a man hath in God, that through the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God; and in consequence hereof a closing with him and cleaving to him as our ‘wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption’ or, in one word, our salvation.”

Böhler and the Moravians not only gave Wesley an ongoing commitment to the doctrine of justification by faith; they gave him a way of pursuing holiness of heart and life after the experience of justification and assurance through the band meeting. In the beginning, the Fetter Lane Society was essentially a band meeting (a small group divided by gender which focused on confession of sin for the sake of growth in holiness).

Böhler and Wesley formed it on May 1, 1738, more than three weeks before Wesley’s famous heartwarming experience at Aldersgate Street, and Wesley advocated for the importance of band meetings like the Fetter Lane Society for the rest of his ministry, even when they were difficult to maintain. He believed this kind of intentional accountability in community was essential for ongoing growth in the Christian life, as well as for the pursuit of entire sanctification.

Oxford temptation. Oxford was where John Wesley received his education and was formed intellectually, but it was also significant to him personally as a source of ongoing temptation. John wrestled with the temptation to pursue respectability and influence over an increased commitment to the uncompromising proclamation of salvation by faith and holiness of heart and life. His ability to succeed in the latter in one of the centers of English cultural power and influence is perhaps best illustrated by the fellowship he was granted at Lincoln College, Oxford, in the spring of 1726. …

Wesley’s fellowship also meant he entered the rotation of preachers at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. … One of the questions facing Wesley during his later missionary trip to Georgia related to his changing understanding of salvation by faith: Would he preach what he now believed to be true in an uncompromising way? Or would he compromise his convictions for the sake of acceptance by powers and principalities?

The sermons that Wesley preached at Oxford after his famous Aldersgate Street experience made it clear he would not compromise what he believed. On June 11, 1738, less than one month after Aldersgate, Wesley preached the sermon “Salvation by Faith” at Oxford. His unwillingness to change his message for the audience at Oxford led to decreased invitations to preach. His next sermon at Oxford was “The Almost Christian,” which he preached on July 25, 1741. This sermon further demonstrated his commitment to preaching his newfound convictions. In the sermon, Wesley contrasted “almost” with “altogether” Christians. …

“The right and true Christian faith is” (to go on in the words of our own Church) “not only to believe that Holy Scripture and the articles of our faith are true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ”— it is a “sure trust and confidence” which a man hath in God “that by the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God” – “whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey his commandments.”

The final sermon Wesley preached at Oxford University was “Scriptural Christianity.” If his first two sermons after Aldersgate made him less popular at Oxford, this final sermon ended his time in the pulpit at St. Mary’s. His sermon surveyed the rise and spread of Christianity and then shifted to contemporary England, and Oxford in particular. … He concluded with a scathing appraisal of the state of Christianity at Oxford:

“May it not be one of the consequences of this that so many of you are a generation of triflers; triflers with God, with one another, and with your own souls? For how few of you spend, from one week to another, a single hour in private prayer? How few have any thought of God in the general tenor of your conversation? Who of you is in any degree acquainted with the work of his Spirit? His supernatural work in the souls of men? Can you bear, unless now and then in a church, any talk of the Holy Ghost? Would you not take it for granted if one began such a conversation that it was either “hypocrisy” or “enthusiasm”? In the name of the Lord God Almighty I ask, What religion are you of? Even the talk of Christianity ye cannot, will not, bear! O my brethren! What a Christian city is this? “It is time for thee, Lord, to lay to thine hand!”

Although his audience heard Wesley’s conclusion as a harsh and unfair indictment, Wesley himself intended it as a call to awakening and repentance. Despite preaching in a prestigious place in the halls of power, Wesley was determined to awaken his audience to their need for faith in the same way he did when preaching in the fields to common people. …

“Scriptural Christianity” was not well received at Oxford. It was the last time Wesley preached to the University. This series of sermons, culminating here, represents Wesley’s decision to adhere to the logic of salvation by faith no matter where it led, even if it meant increasing marginalization in English society, and even within the Church of England.

Kevin M. Watson is director of academic growth and formation at Asbury Theological Seminary. This article is an excerpt from his new book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in The United States.  (Zondervan Academic). Reprinted by permission. Image: The bust of John Wesley was originally displayed at the World Methodist Council Museum at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. It is now at the Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology and SMU Libraries at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Photo by Steve Beard.