EMMU Wesley Studies: Exploring Wesley's Concepts of Holiness

This assignment explores John Wesley's teachings on holiness, focusing on his interpretation of speech, justice, mercy, and truth. It analyzes the significance of these aspects, rooted in the character of God, and their importance for preachers. The assignment discusses the evolution of Methodist local preachers, their training, and the Wesleyan understanding of moral goodness, emphasizing the integration of inner and outer dimensions of holiness. It further explains social holiness, the role of local preachers in urban and rural settings, and the importance of preaching outside formal church settings. The student uses references to support the arguments and provide a comprehensive understanding of Wesley's concepts within the context of the assignment brief.

Running Head: JOHN WESLEY STUDIES
John Wesley Studies
Student’s Name
University Name
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Question 1........................................................................................................................................3
a) Significance of speech, justice, mercy and truth.....................................................................3
b) Necessity for preachers to guard their speech, be just and love mercy and truth....................4
c) Relation of the scripture passages regarding personal experiences and life............................4
2. Discussion on the origin of the Methodist local preachers..........................................................5
a) Evolution and growth of the local preachers in the MCSA.....................................................5
b) Wesleyan understanding of being morally good.....................................................................5
3. Explanation of the understanding................................................................................................6
a) Social Holiness........................................................................................................................6
b) Role of local preachers in urban and rural settings.................................................................6
c) Preaching outside the formal church setting............................................................................6
Reference List..................................................................................................................................8

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Question 1
a) Significance of speech, justice, mercy and truth
In the assertion of these aspects, Wesley goes beyond the acclamation of holiness as love
and goes on to explicate the content that constitutes love. This is evident in the quotes of Wesley
in his Sermon 8, where he states that:
“By religion I mean the love of God and man, filling the heart and governing the life.
The sure effect of this is the uniform practice of justice, mercy, and truth. This is the very
essence of it, the height and depth of religion, detached from this or that opinion, and from all
particular modes of worship”.
In fact in the sermon stated, ‘On living without God’, it was stared that there can nothing
be more certain that the aspect that there is no existence of true Christianity without inward
experience as well as outward practice of the aspects like justice, mercy as well as truth”. This
triad consisting of justice, mercy as well as truth recurring frequently in the writings of Wesley,
has been neglected in the interpretations of the understanding of holiness by Wesley (Burdon
2016).
The significance of these aspects stems out of the fact that the beliefs of Wesley are rooted in the
character of God. In fact, Wesley et al. (2015), states that the aspects like justice, mercy as well
as truth are the moral attributes associated with God. In alignment, Forsaith (2017) states that as
a summarization of the moral character of God, these are also the aspects related to the moral
imagery of god which were utilized in the creation of humanity.

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Justice, mercy as well as truth are the essential outward manifestations of holiness. However,
Wesley argued that holiness has an inner as well as outer dimension. The inner dimension can be
considered as the transformation of the motivations, desires as well as the attitudes of the people
by the grace of god so that the people love god as well as their fellows on earth. Genuine
holiness is comprised of integration of both the outer as well as the inner dimensions. It is
feasible that people will enjoy practicing justice, mercy as well as truth without the need of inner
transformation by God’s grace as an outcome of prevenient grace. However, there is no
possibility of inner transformation which cannot be expressed through outward action.
b) Necessity for preachers to guard their speech, be just and love mercy and truth
Naturally when we are not opening our mouths, we are open attentive as our ears are
active whether towards the implied divine signals or towards god. We are in a better position for
self reflection as well as there is obedience in our silence. As stated by Horrocks (2017), this
enhances our capability to communicate and capture the vibes of our spirit.
That is why it is necessary for the preachers to replicate this quality so that they can etch
the vibes of divinity in the minds of the common folk. Silence is best in the moments of our
anger. As communicated in Wesley’s sermon, there is a strong likelihood that at the times of
anger, the words flow out of the Holy Spirit. In this context, we have been instructed by James
1:19 that:
“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to
anger.” Similarly, “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from
evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Peter 3:10).
c) Relation of the scripture passages regarding personal experiences and life

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In my personal experiences, I have experienced that there are some peers who have
expiated signs of being possessed by the free spirit of god. There argue that true enlightenment is
experienced by amounting to a fight against god. In generalizing this outcome, it can be
communicated that there is the presence of an argumentative as well as impulsive spirit, which I
would not deny, is present to some extent in me also (Yates 2015).
I have observed the presence of fanaticism that is essentially the differentiator that
prevents people from taking the middle path. The spirit of error is actually the reason why there
is the presence of ego as well as alter ego.
2. Discussion on the origin of the Methodist local preachers
a) Evolution and growth of the local preachers in the MCSA
The local preachers have been needed to undertake some kinds of training and
examination-where the examination have been concerned with the doctrinal orthodoxy as well as
the knowledge regarding the scriptures as well as the history and the church doctrines. As
advocated by Hunter (2017), Methodism have had high influence among the skilled working
classes prevalent in the nineteenth century. This is the reason why, there have been the
prevalence of training as a local preacher. It was fascinated as an one of the most important ways
in which intelligent people with less experience of schooling actually acquired education.
b) Wesleyan understanding of being morally good
The ultimate goal of moral goodness is used to describe the process of developing
spiritual maturity as well as perfection. The ultimate purpose of the actions of Christians is
supposed to be union with god and that is only characterized by purity of love for god. The

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aspects like Christian holiness, entire sanctification as well as perfect love define the path of
being morally good. It is necessary that the Catholic Church play a crucial role in determining
that everybody abides by the principles of moral goodness.
3. Explanation of the understanding
a) Social Holiness
Social holiness comprises of a set of perception as well as practices that had emerged at
the advent of the 19th century along with Methodism. There are several evangelical Christian
denominations, movements as well as parachurch organization which hold the beliefs related to
social holiness as one of the central doctrine. This philosophy is Wesleyan-Arminian in its
delineation. This movement is actually defined by an emphasis on the doctrine of John Wesley
regarding a second work of grace that led to Christian perfection (Hobbs 2016). The adherents of
social holiness believe that a believer is cleansed of his or her tendency of committing sin. This
experience of "entire sanctification" enables the believer to live a holy life, and ideally, to live
entirely without willful sin.
b) Role of local preachers in urban and rural settings
In the rural areas where the readers are licensed to a multi parish benefice or with a
deanery, accepting services as well as preaching is most seemingly expected to form a better part
of a reader’s role compared to an urban setting. Except in the more rural areas local preachers are
gradually losing out in significance in terms of conducting service in a parish church.
c) Preaching outside the formal church setting

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There seems to be a real absence of faith and belief in the conventional church settings,
where the power of the preached word is actually very less (McKinney 2018). That is why the
sermon preparation stresses more on the aspects outside the conventional church settings. For the
purpose of the growth of the local church, it is necessary that the unhealthy as well as idolatrous
cravings for the increased number of attendants without any real affection for Christendom
should be obliterated.

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Reference List
Burdon, A., 2016. Authority and Order: John Wesley and his preachers. Routledge.
Forsaith, P.S., 2017. Image, Identity and John Wesley: A Study in Portraiture. Routledge.
Hobbs Jr, G.J., 2016. Snake River Basin Adjudication and John Wesley Powell's Much-
Misunderstood Water Commonwealth Governance Proposal. Idaho L. Rev., 52, p.1.
Horrocks, J.W., 2017. A short history of mercantilism. Routledge.
Hunter, J.H., 2017. God's Love through the Spirit: The Holy Spirit in Thomas Aquinas and John
Wesley by Kenneth M. Loyer. Nova et vetera, 15(3), pp.958-961.
McKinney, L.D., 2018. John Wesley" Wes" Tunnell, Jr. 1945-2018. Gulf and Caribbean
Research, 29(1), p.7.
Wesley, J., Bennis, E., Walsh, T., Olivers, T., Pennington, W., Taylor, T., Blackwell, R., Bourke,
R., Dillon, J., Saunderson, H. and Christian, J., 2015. Christian Correspondence: Being A
Collection Of Letters Written By The Late Rev. John Wesley And Several Methodists Preachers,
In Connection With Him. To The Late Mrs. Eliza Bennis, With Her Answers. First Fruits Press.
Yates, A.S., 2015. The Doctrine of Assurance: With Special Reference to John Wesley. Wipf and
Stock Publishers.