The Way of Salvation: An Overview

“Nothing can be more intricate, complex, and hard to be understood, than religion, as it has been often described.” ¹

John Wesley begins his sermon on the Scripture Way of Salvation with the above quote and he’s right. Religion is difficult, unlike a true relationship with Christ Jesus, which is a far simpler thing. The entire point of a relationship with Jesus is to draw closer to God, through his son. The only problem is that as humans we are incapable of maintaining such a relationship on our own, much less initiating it. This relationship, which Wesley frames as the genuine religion of Christ, is only possible through faith and it results in salvation.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “I thought you said this relationship was simple. That doesn’t sound simple” Bear with me as we look more deeply into Wesley’s doctrine of the Scripture Way of Salvation and we will try to demystify it and see that it truly is far easier than we, or even Wesley himself, tend to make it. To that end we are going to break things down into easily digestible portions. In parts 2 through 5, we will look at Grace (Wesley defines at least three types), Justification, Sanctification, and Backsliding.

First, though, a quick overview. Salvation, or Justification, is through faith alone. But this is not passive faith, we don’t sit back and wait for justification. Now, there is nothing that we can do to earn it either. Faith is a product of God’s grace in our life and so called “good works” can be a conduit of grace. As can the Sacraments, fellowship, and Scripture. This Prevenient Grace prepares us for Salvation and sets the stage for Justifying Grace, which arrives to bring about what I like to call the “come to Jesus” moment and others call being Born Again or the New Birth. But this is not the end of the journey.

After Justification, Wesley believed that we moved toward Sanctification. During this stage, God provides Sanctifying Grace, which is “our gradual spiritual recovery of the likeness of God following the New Birth.” ² This journey towards Christian Perfection is gradual and is only made possible by the grace of God, much like the journey toward Justification. According to Wesley it is quite possible to reach perfection in this life, of course it is also possible to backslide and lose our Salvation altogether, or even to simply choose to walk away instead of growing into the image of Christ.

Next month we will take a closer look at the three types of Grace, Prevenient, Justifying and Sanctifying.