Analysis Of John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity

This week’s reading was a variety of Wesley’s original works. Three sermons were included (Scriptural Christianity, Catholic Spirit, and The New Birth) in addition to Wesley’s notes on various New Testament topics. The first sermon is Wesley’s interpretation on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He explains the difference between extraordinary gifts found in Acts and the ordinary fruits of the Spirit that continue in today’s church. Wesley feels the ordinary fruits have shown the truth that we have yet to see “a Christian country upon earth”. When I think of all the arguments in recent years regarding whether to keep the Ten Commandments on the court house lawns across the United States and how so many insisted the founding fathers were Christians (instead of mostly Deists), I find myself snickering at Wesley’s statement. After all, Wesley was writing this sermon as
Wesley agreed that every Christian was essentially reborn or had a new birth. In his mind, justification always precedes the new birth of an individual. However, the idea Wesley chided was an act of baptism representing a new birth, as if the act was a check-mark on the way to sanctification. He stated that a person can “be ‘born of water’, and yet not be ‘born of the Spirit’.” This makes logical sense considering Wesley’s insistence that sanctification was an internal progression of the soul and certainly not an instantaneous, external event. In terms of infant baptism, Wesley seemed reluctant to discuss a particular stance stating “we cannot comprehend how this work can be wrought in infants: for neither can we comprehend how it is wrought in a person of riper years.” In other words, since he cannot explain the mechanism for a new birth in adults, he will not attempt to argue for or against the existence of a mechanism for infants. How wise indeed since churches still argue this point in today’s