Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Susanna Wesley appealed to the idea of vocation in defending her practice of holding Sunday evening gatherings. Samuel Wesley spoke of the "inner witness" during his final witness. Describe a Wesleyan understanding of the Holy Spirit in conversation with one of these influences.
John Wesley's view of the Holy Spirit was a being that enabled the believer to love others as he loved himself and to enable the believer to participate in a universal spirit of divine love and grace (Wesley, 1980, p. 109). The Holy Spirit is a vehicle of grace that brings human beings to God by virtue of working upon their inner spirit. The fact that the Trinity has a component which is so mysterious underlines the notion that believers have a personal relationship with God that is manifest through faith alone. The Holy Spirit, like faith itself, is inwardly rather than outwardly visible. But it is the power of the Holy Spirit that empowers human beings to believe in Christ. Just as Christ enables human beings to be saved by virtue of his sacrifice, the Holy Spirit is a component of God that acts as an inner witness to God's grace.
Susanna Wesley's defense of holding...
Susanna Wesley, like her sons, believed that she has been the recipient of God's divine grace and held meetings in her house outside of an official church setting, even though she was not an ordained minister. Once again, this was contingent upon a belief in the need for believers to reach out to God within their hearts themselves, rather than rely upon an intermediary such as the church to facilitate such a relationship. In his own writings, John Wesley uses as an example the idea of two clergymen who were sick in body although not in spirit who tried to preach the gospel and when they were unable to do so because of their health, their parishioners were "providentially led" as they had accepted God in their hearts (Wesley, 1980, p. 110). Rather than relying upon human-created, human-generated authority, the reliance of the believer must always be upon the Holy Spirit and his or her own personal relationship with God. The Church has a role to lead people to Christ but the individual believer must actively engage in that relationship through inward, spiritual…
Reference
Wesley, J. (1980). John Wesley (Library of Protestant Thought). A. C. Outler (Ed.). Oxford:
Wesley, S. (1742). A letter by his mother. Retrieved from: http://carlarolfe.com/swesley.pdf
Doctrine of the Holy Trinity The Doctrine of the Trinity and Anti-Trinitarian Theologies: Servetus, Milton, Newton The Doctrine of the Trinity The Arian Heresy Anti-Trinitarianism Part I: Michael Servetus Anti-Trinitarianism Part II: John Milton Sir Isaac Newton The Arian heresy -- or rejection of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity -- is actually relatively uncommon among contemporary Christian denominations; to pick one particular national example, Post-Reformation England would tolerate a broad array of theological stances -- from
152.). He describes Methodism as the 'old religion' (ibid.), the one that closest linked itself to the early Christian Church. The Holy Spirit infused tradition as it did the writers of the Scripture, and therefore, discovery of true understanding could of the work of the Holy Spirit could be reinforced by linking oneself to tradition, specifically to tradition that wound its way back to Christianity's earliest beginnings. Reason Reason was an
It is never something we are meant to earn; it is a gift from God. Faith is necessary as a condition of justification by faith, and salvation is for the penalty and the plague of sin (Maddox 144). Maddox writes that argues that Wesley's view of salvation is best expressed as a via salutis, a way to salvation" rather than a more reformed or scholastic expression of ordo salutis, a
There is no judgment from God on the believer, nor annoyance with God in respect to the believer -- neither in the last day nor today. From a familial aspect, God is significantly displeased with our behavior and punishment is sure -- either from God or from our own consequences of that sin. One could look at David's prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 to see the devastating effects of
..if you really want the Christ and truly love him, there is nothing that will prevent his coming and taking up his abode with you provided your love for him manifests..." through loving inner spirit of Christ instead only the outside. One may appear to be a Christian yet the Lordship of Christ in the life of the Christian means that present is love, compassion and forgiveness for others. The
The Holy Bible is not just a book containing plenty of words; it is God's written message to us Towns (1997). The Book is both symbolic and spiritual and so must be viewed, read, learnt, taught and understood beyond the surface level. The Bible knowledge will be lacking expect one is guided by the Holy Spirit who is the guidance promised by Jesus to teach and guide the Christians to