In this episode we will be reading through a portion of John Wesley's sermon "Salvation By Faith" to start getting some insight into Wesley's views on faith. It is clear from this sermon that Wesley did not understand faith as something that people can do independent of the grace of God. Wesley in strong terms emphasizes the divine activity of God in saving sinners. Wesley is clear that faith is a gift of God and that God works faith in men's hearts. In working faith into men's hearts, God (in Wesley's words) shows that He is "mighty to save." Please read or listen to the rest of this sermon by following the links below. Also, don't miss the next full episode of Remonstrance that will be devoted to the Wesleyan-Arminian doctrine of faith and will focus on how faith is a gift of God.
Links:
Text Version
YouTube Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oObNm8ZCiDI
This minisode will launch a three podcast series that will explore the theme of the gift of faith in the thought of Jacob Arminius and John Wesley. This episode will focus on the views of Arminius by reading through three short selections from his works. After listening to this episode it will be clear that Arminius understood that faith is a gift of God that does not originate in man. Faith is a gift of Divine Grace according to the thought of Arminius. These selections from his work will also clarify how Arminius defined faith and what role (if any) man plays in receiving faith as a gift.
Disputation 44: On Faith In God And Christ
Link: http://wesley.nnu.edu/?id=4829
In this episode we will look at John Wesley's understanding of Total Depravity. On this issue Wesley was even clearer than Arminius was. For help we will look to some of the foremost modern Wesleyan scholars. Harold Lindstrom, Kenneth J. Collins, and Thomas C. Oden to name a few. We will also discuss parts of a great article by Keith Drury and Chris Bounds. You can find the link to the full article below. Please share this episode with those who doubt that Wesley believed in Total Depravity. Hopefully after listening to it all their doubts will be gone.
Links:
http://evangelicalarminians.org/john-wesley-contemporary-wesleyanism-and-the-reformed-tradition/
https://remonstrancepodcast.com/theologians/