Simply stated, Wesley came to see there are degrees of faith. There is not one uniform experience of Jesus for everyone. People experience Christ and his salvation in various degrees. Through his own struggles in the fall of 1738 and ministering to people in various spiritual levels, Wesley came to see that faith is not always black and white. However, he soon came to a different point of view. He wanted a faith which “none can have without knowing they have it.” He wanted a perceptible assurance of faith. He claimed he was a “child of wrath, an heir of hell.” When others told John that they believed he had Christian faith, he responded, “So have the devils - a sort of faith.” What he wanted was a faith that he could feel within as peace from God, victory over the world, freedom from sin, and the fruits of love and joy. Before his Aldersgate conversion on May 24th, he confessed that he did not have saving faith. The Moravians taught him that a person either had faith and was saved or they did not have saving faith. When John Wesley embraced the evangelical faith in 1738, matters of faith and salvation were black and white. Previous topics have included the Holy Spirit, Calvinism, Moravianism, Catholicism, Oxford Methodists, Adam Clarke, Christology, the ordo salutis, justification, degrees of faith, salvation and works, Plain Account of Christian Perfection, and more. You may find many of the previous topics of interest. To access earlier topics, scroll down the page. To make these resources more accessible, specific works are highlighted weekly around a topic for the general public. Wesley Scholar provides over 1200 resources on the Wesleys and early Methodists.
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