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DIR Return to: Christian Theology
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#Post#: 13971--------------------------------------------------
Wesleyan Theology
By: patrick jane Date: June 5, 2020, 12:23 pm
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[center]A SUMMARY OF WESLEYAN BELIEFS[/center]
SUMMARY
Wesleyans believe in one God, who is Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, the Savior of all
persons who put their faith in Him alone for eternal life. We
believe those who receive
new life in Christ are called to be holy in character and
conduct, and can only live this
way by being filled with the Lord’s Spirit. We believe in the
Bible and seek to establish
our faith and actions on its teachings. We believe God wants
people everywhere to know
Him and that the purpose of the church is to tell the world
about Christ through its
worship, witness, and loving deeds.
ARTICLES OF RELIGION
Faith in the Holy Trinity
We believe in the one living and true God who is both holy and
loving. He created and
preserves everything, lives eternally and His power, wisdom, and
goodness are without
limits. We believe in the Trinity; within the divine unity are
three co-equal persons:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Though three persons, they are one
in nature, power and
eternity.ii
The Father
We believe that God the Father is the Source of everything that
exists, whether matter or
spirit. With the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Father made
humanity, male and female, in
His image. He relates to people as Father, showing how much He
loves them. Because
of this love, God both seeks and receives people who repent of
their sins. iii
The Son of God
We believe in Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God. The
Holy Spirit conceived Him
and the Virgin Mary gave Him birth, thus, He is both fully God
and fully human. He
died on the cross and was buried to be a sacrifice both for
original sin and for all human
transgressions, making those who trust in his atoning death
right with God. Christ rose
from the dead in His physical body and ascended into heaven
where He occupies a place
of honor and intercedes for us. One day He will return to earth
to judge every person,
living and dead.iv
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit who has been sent to us by the
Father and the Son. The
Holy Spirit has the same nature, majesty, and glory as the
Father and the Son. He is and
always will be truly God. It is through the Spirit that we come
to experience God’s grace.
He points out sin and brings new birth to believers. He sets us
apart to belong completely
to God and actually changes our nature to be like God’s. When we
die, our glorification
will be the Spirit’s doing as well. He is always everywhere,
assuring, preserving,
guiding, and enabling the believer.v
#Post#: 13972--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: patrick jane Date: June 5, 2020, 12:27 pm
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The Sufficiency and Full Authority of the Holy Scriptures for
Salvation
We believe that the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments form
the entirety of Holy
Scripture. They are the inspired and infallibly written Word of
God. In their original form, they are completely without any
errors and constitute our highest authority. In the
process by which these books have come to us no important
teaching has been corrupted.
Absolutely everything we need to know to become a Christian is
found in these pages. If
a teaching isn’t found in the Bible or can’t be proven from the
Bible, nobody should have
to accept it as a doctrine necessary for salvation. Both the Old
and New Testaments point
to Christ as the source of eternal life and the only Mediator
between God and human
beings. What the Scriptures require of us, the Holy Spirit makes
possible.vi
God’s Purpose for Humanity
We believe that God’s whole law is summarized in the two great
commandments: to love
God with all our heart, and to love our neighbors as much as we
love ourselves. These
two laws describe how we ought to live in every aspect of life,
reminding us that God is
our King and all people are equal before Him. If we live
according to these laws, we will
fully obey God and treat people as we ought.vii
Marriage and the Family
We believe that every person is created in the image of God and
that human sexuality
reflects that image in terms of intimate love, communication,
fellowship, subordination of
the self to the larger whole, and fulfillment. The Bible uses
the marriage relationship as
the supreme metaphor for His relationship with His covenant
people, one God with one
people. God’s intends for human sexuality to be expressed only
in a monogamous
lifelong relationship between one man and one woman within the
framework of marriage.
This is the only relationship which is divinely designed for the
birth and rearing of
children and is a covenant union made in the sight of God,
taking priority over every
other human relationship.viii
Personal Choice
We believe that humanity’s creation in the image of God included
the ability to choose
between right and wrong. This means humans are morally
responsible for our choices.
But ever since the fall of Adam, people in their own strength
have been unable to do the
right because of original sin.
Original sin is not just following Adam’s example, but
reflects the corruption of the human nature. Found in every
person, this corruption is
passed on from parent to child. Original sin leaves us all far
from being what God
intended us to be. We are, by nature, always inclined to evil.
We cannot even call on
God or exercise faith to be saved.
But through Jesus Christ, God’s grace makes possible
what we never could or would do on our own. This prevenient
grace (i.e. grace which
precedes human response) is freely given to every person,
enabling all who choose to
turn and be saved.ix
#Post#: 13973--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: patrick jane Date: June 5, 2020, 12:31 pm
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The Atonement
We believe that when Jesus offered himself, once and for all,
through His sufferings and death on the cross, He provided the
perfect redemption and atonement for the sins of the whole
world, both for original sin and actual sin. Salvation from sin
comes only through
His death and resurrection but this salvation is big enough to
save anyone who asks. People who are mentally incompetent from
birth, or who became mentally incompetent after conversion, or
children under the age of accountability are automatically
covered by Jesus’ death and resurrection. When children reach
the age of accountability, they must personally repent and
exercise faith in Christ in order to be saved.x
Repentance and Faith
We believe that for men and women to appropriate what God’s
prevenient grace has
made possible, they must voluntarily respond in repentance and
faith. God gives the
ability , but the act is our responsibility. Because the Holy
Spirit has pointed out sin in
our lives, we repent, willingly changing our mind.
Repentance means we turn our back
on that sin and long to be made righteous. We are truly sorry
for our failures and confess
them, paying others back and resolving never to let it happen
again. Without this
repentance, saving faith is impossible.
Faith is the only condition of salvation, the kind
of faith that agrees with God about our sinful condition and
agrees that the only solution
for that condition is found in the gospel. When we exercise
faith, we completely and
wholeheartedly rely on the saving ability of Jesus Christ and
completely trust ourselves to
Him as Savior and Lord.
We express our experience of saving faith by public
acknowledging His Lordship and by identifying with His Church.xi
Justification, Regeneration and Adoption
We believe that at the same moment someone repents of personal
sin and believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ, he or she is justified, regenerated, adopted
into the family of God, and
assured of personal salvation through the witness of the Holy
Spirit.
We believe that justification is the judicial act of God in
which He counts a person as righteous, grants
that person full pardon of all sin, delivers him or her from
guilt, and completely releases
that person from the penalty of sins committed. Justification
comes by the merit of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith alone, not on the basis
of works.xii
We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, occurs when the
Holy Spirit gives life to
our moral nature, making it possible for us to love and obey
God. To be regenerated, we
must genuinely repent and believe in Jesus Christ. The
regenerated are able to serve God
with their whole heart and to be delivered from the power of sin
which reigns over all the
unsaved.xiii
We believe that adoption is when God makes the justified and
regenerated believer a full
participant in all the rights, privileges and responsibilities
of a child of God.xiv
Good Works
We believe that although good works cannot save us from our sins
or from God’s
judgment, they are the fruit of faith and follow regeneration.
Therefore God is pleased
with them and accepts them. They reveal a living faith as surely
as fruit reveals the type
of tree.xv
#Post#: 13974--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: patrick jane Date: June 5, 2020, 12:34 pm
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Sin After Regeneration
We believe that after we have experienced regeneration, it is
possible for us to fall into
sin, for in this life there is no level of holiness from which
it is impossible to fall. But
God’s grace is sufficient to keep those who persevere in the
faith from falling. By God’s grace anyone who has fallen into
sin can find forgiveness and restoration from God, if
truly repentant and possessing faith.xvi
Sanctification: Initial, Progressive, Entire
We believe that in sanctification the Holy Spirit sets the child
of God apart to belong
completely to God, , making it possible for the believer to love
God wholeheartedly and
to blamelessly obey all God’s commandments. Sanctification
begins the moment we are
justified and regenerated. From that moment we are gradually or
progressively sanctified
as we walk with God and daily grow in grace and in a more
perfect obedience to God.
This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification, brought
about in an instant when we
present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to
God, through faith in Jesus
Christ. In this baptism of Holy Spirit, the human heart is
cleansed from all inbred sin.
The crisis of entire sanctification allows us to love God and
others and empowers us for
effective service. It is followed by lifelong growth in grace
and the knowledge of Jesus.
We continue this life of holiness through faith in the
sanctifying blood of Christ and
demonstrate it by loving obedience to God’s revealed will.xvii
The Gifts of the Spirit
We believe that the Gift of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit
himself; He is more to be desired
than any gifts He gives. These He wisely distributes to
individual members of the
Church to help them fulfill their role in the body of Christ.
The gifts of the Spirit,
although not always identifiable with natural abilities,
function through them to build up
the whole Church. We don’t just use these gifts as we want. They
are to be exercised
lovingly under the administration of the Lord of the Church. The
real value of the gifts of
the Spirit is measured by how useful they make us to the Church,
not by any ecstasy
produced in us.xviii
The Church
We believe that the Christian Church is made up of all who
believe in Jesus Christ, its
founder and only Head. Its members have renounced the world, the
flesh and the devil,
and have dedicated themselves to continue the work Christ
assigned to His church until
He returns. It must preach the pure Word of God, properly
administer the sacraments
according to Christ’s instructions, and live in obedience to all
that Christ commands. A
local church is a body of believers formally organized on
biblical principles, and meeting
regularly for evangelism, nurture, fellowship and worship.xix
#Post#: 13975--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: patrick jane Date: June 5, 2020, 12:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the
sacraments of the church.
Christ commanded and ordained these as a means of grace when
received through faith.
They are symbols of our profession of Christian faith and signs
of God’s gracious
ministry toward us. By them, God enlivens, strengthens and
confirms our faith.
The validity of the sacraments does not reside in any particular
mode of administration
but rather in obedience to Christ’s commands and receiving these
divine gifts in faith.
We believe that water baptism was commanded by Jesus to be
administered to believers
as a symbol of the new covenant of grace. It signifies that we
have accepted the benefits
of Christ’s atonement. By means of this sacrament, believers
declare their faith in Jesus
Christ as Savior.xx
We believe that the Lord’s Supper commemorates our redemption
through Christ’s death
and expresses our hope in His victorious return. It is also a
sign of the love Christians
have for each other. If believers receive the Lord’s Supper with
faith and a proper and
humble spirit, God communicates grace to the heart through
it.xxi
The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that the certainty of the personal, and imminent, and
visible return of Christ
inspires holy living and zeal to evangelize the world. At His
return Christ will fulfill all
prophecies made concerning His final and complete triumph over
evil.xxii
The Resurrection of the Dead
We believe that everyone will experience bodily resurrection
from the dead at Christ’s
Second Coming, as guaranteed by His resurrection. The just will
experience the
resurrection of life, and the unjust the resurrection of
damnation. The raised body will be
a spiritual body, but the person will be whole and
identifiable.xxiii
The Judgment of All Persons
We believe the Scriptures reveal God as the Judge of all and
that His judgments are based
on His total knowledge and eternal justice. The culminating
moment of His judgment will
be the final meeting of every person before His majestic and
powerful throne, where
records will be examined and final rewards and punishments
administered.xxiv
Destiny
We believe there is a conscious personal existence after death.
The final destiny of each
person is determined by God’s grace and that person’s response.
How we have
responded will be evident in the moral character resulting from
our personal and willful
choices, not from God’s arbitrary decree. Those who choose the
salvation God provides
through Jesus will live forever in Heaven with its eternal
glory, experiencing the blessed
presence of Christ. Those who neglect this great salvation will
spend eternity in hell,
experiencing everlasting misery and separation from God.xxv
#Post#: 13976--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: patrick jane Date: June 5, 2020, 12:39 pm
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COMMUNITY LIFESTYLE STATEMENT
Indiana Wesleyan University, as a college of The Wesleyan Church
and the Church
Universal, is a community joined together to further academic
achievement, personal
development and spiritual growth. Together the Community seeks
to honor Christ by
integrating faith, learning, and living while its member's
hearts and lives mature in
relationship to Jesus Christ and each other.
Working in a community with others is a sacred privilege and an
opportunity to
demonstrate God's grace. We, therefore, place great value on the
quality of relationship in
our Community and expect those relationships to evidence being
dependant and
accountable to one another, serving one another in the
Community, nation and world,
supporting one another, especially those experiencing personal
trials, resolving problems
through loving confrontation, and restoring relationships that
have been hurt.
Faith in God's Word should lead to behavior displaying His
authority in our lives and to
the relevant demonstration of faith integrated with learning.
Scripture teaches that certain
attributes such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control are to be manifested by members of the
Christian Community. By
contrast, Scripture condemns such attitudes as greed, jealousy,
pride, lust, needless anger,
an unforgiving spirit, harmful discrimination, and prejudice.
Furthermore, certain
behaviors are expressly prohibited by Scripture.
These include theft, lying, dishonesty,
gossip, slander, profanity, vulgarity, adultery, homosexual
behavior, premarital sex,
drunkenness, immodesty, and occult practices.
Scripture teaches that all our actions (work, study, play)
should be performed to the glory
of God.
We endeavor, therefore, to be selective in choices of
entertainment and
recreation, promoting those which strengthen the body of Christ
and avoiding those
which would diminish sensitivity to Christian responsibility. In
violation of the scriptural
teaching concerning personal dignity and moral purity,
individuals are exploited and
degraded by immoral and inhumane action of the pornographic
industry. Therefore,
possession of such materials is unacceptable behavior.
Since the body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy
Spirit, deserving respect and
preservation of its well being, we disapprove of the use of
tobacco in any form and the
use of alcoholic beverages. Under no circumstances should
controlled substances such as
marijuana, hallucinogens, depressants, stimulants, cocaine, and
narcotics be used,
possessed, sold, or distributed on or away from campus unless
prescribed by a physician.
Members are expected not to abuse the use of legal substances.
Scripture teaches the stewardship of God-given resources.
Therefore, we disapprove of
gambling (the exchange of money and goods by betting or wagering
in its various forms).
We recognize that dancing is an issue about which committed
Christians disagree, and that
discretion and maturity are required if dancing is to be an
edifying activity. We therefore
covenant together as a community to make decisions about our
participation in dancing that
reflect our commitment to Christ, our pursuit of holiness, our
desire for purity in relationships,
our adherence to biblical principles, and gracious sensitivity
to others.i
Paraphrased from the Articles of Religion of The Wesleyan
Church
#Post#: 13981--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: guest116 Date: June 5, 2020, 2:58 pm
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Thank you for posting this.
#Post#: 13987--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: guest116 Date: June 5, 2020, 11:28 pm
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So here is my first question: Is Wesleyan Theology a true
stand-alone theology, or is it a subset of Systematic Theology?
I ask this as they share so many similarities. When I have
gone to book stores this week the books on Wesleyan Theology are
found in the Systematic section.
#Post#: 13988--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: patrick jane Date: June 6, 2020, 2:16 am
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I would think the the section is very telling. It must be know
as and accepted as Systematic Theology. Have you heard of John
Darby?
#Post#: 14015--------------------------------------------------
Re: Wesleyan Theology
By: guest116 Date: June 6, 2020, 9:08 pm
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I had heard of him, but until you put the name up again, I had
not read anything about him. Interesting fellow, now I want to
learn more.
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