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Wesley's developed notion of Christian perfection can be summarized by saying that he believed God's loving grace can transform our lives to the point where our love for God and others becomes a "natural" response. But how soon should we hope to reach this dynamic level of maturity? This became one of the hottest debates in Wesleyan circles.

Prior to Aldersgate Wesley had stressed aspiring for holiness, whether it come before death or not. After Aldersgate, as his appreciation of God's grace deepened, Wesley became convinced that holiness could be attained during this life.

Even so, during the first two decades of the Methodist revival, he placed primary emphasis on "pressing toward the goal" by responsible participation in the means of grace. Only toward the end of that second decade did he begin to put emphasis on seeking Christian perfection now.

It is possible that a surge in apocalyptic expectation in the latter half of the 1750s played a role in this change—heightening concern to attain Christian perfection before Christ's return. But Wesley also came to wonder around 1760 if he had been operating with a standard for Christian perfection that was so exacting it hindered people from experiencing its freedom.

To counteract this possibility, he began emphasizing the limits of the deliverance from sin that comes with Christian perfection. With this more modest goal in mind, he encouraged people to seek rapid deliverance.

Wesley also knew by the early 1760s that increased stress on present attainment of Christian perfection had increased the possibility of abuse. The London society led by Thomas Maxfield and George Bell proved this disturbing reality.

Maxfield and Bell proclaimed a perfection that was instantaneously attained by the simple affirmation "I believe," forfeiting any role for responsible growth prior to this event. And they portrayed this perfection as "angelic" or absolute, such that there was no need for growth after the event, or for the continuing atoning work of Christ.

Controversy resulted, and Wesley responded by integrating his emphasis on attaining Christian perfection in this life with his earlier stress on gradual growth. He articulated this balance in his 1765 sermon "The Scripture Way of Salvation."

Not all of Wesley's associates were convinced that he found the proper equilibrium. The most significant dissenter was his brother Charles.

Charles refused to adopt the modified assumptions about entire sanctification that had made it possible for John to stress its present attainment. Indeed, in reaction to John's modifications and the subsequent perfectionist controversy, Charles moved toward a more exacting expectation of Christian perfection.

Charles remained profoundly aware of imperfection. He became convinced that perfection could be attained only at death.

By corollary, he was progressively more critical of John's heightened emphasis on present attainment. Charles worried that urging novices on too fast caused pride and the loss of their real grace. As he expressed it in a 1762 hymn on Matthew 13:5:

Lord, give us wisdom to suspect
The sudden growths of seeming grace,
To prove them first, and then reject,
Whose haste their shallowness betrays;
Who instantaneously spring up,
Their own great imperfection prove:
They [lack] the toil of patient hope,
They [lack] the root of humble love.

Randy L. Maddox is Paul T. Walls Professor of Wesleyan Theology at Seattle Pacific University.

Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine.
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