Article 17
“Predestination to life is the eternal purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he has consistently decreed by his counsel which is hidden from us to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he has chosen in Christ out of mankind and to bring them through Christ to eternal salvation as vessels made for honour. Hence those granted such an excellent benefit by God are called according to God’s purpose by his Spirit working at the appropriate time. By grace they obey the calling; they are freely justified, are made sons of God by adoption, are made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, they walk faithfully in good works and at the last by God’s mercy attain eternal happiness.
“The reverent consideration of this subject of predestination and of our election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and inexpressible comfort to the godly and to those who feel within themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, putting to death the deeds of the sinful and earthly nature and lifting their minds up to high and heavenly things. This consideration establishes and confirms their belief in the eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ and kindles a fervent love towards God. But for inquisitive and unspiritual persons who lack the Spirit of Christ to have the sentence of God’s predestination continually before their eyes is a dangerous snare which the devil uses to drive them either into desperation or into recklessly immoral living (a state no less perilous than desperation).
“Furthermore we need to receive God’s promises in the manner in which they are generally set out to us in holy Scripture, and in our actions we need to follow that will of God which is clearly declared to us in the Word of God.”
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It is often said that there are many paths up the same mountain, that each of us can find our own way to God. John Wesley chose a challenging path. When he and his brother Charles were at university in the 18th century, they joined a small group that others nicknamed, “The Holy Club”, whose members were very religious. They got up early every morning to read the Bible and devotional books. They received Holy Communion regularly and observed all the church’s feasts and fasts. They visited the sick and those who were in prison.
Some time later Wesley sailed to the New World where he thought he could convert the natives by teaching them his rules for living. His stay there, however, was a great disappointment, so he decided to return to England. During the voyage home he asked himself what he had learned. “Why, what I least of all suspected: that I, who went to America to convert others, was never converted myself! Being ignorant of the righteousness of Christ, I sought to establish my own righteousness.”
When Wesley arrived in London, he went to a church where someone was reading Martin Luther’s preface to Paul’s letter to the Romans. When he heard Luther describe the change that God can bring through faith in Christ, Wesley said, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
John Wesley discovered that all his religious activity did not bring him to God, but that Jesus’ sacrificial death could. As it says in the 39 Articles, “we need to receive God’s promises in the manner in which they are generally set out to us in holy Scripture, and in our actions we need to follow that will of God which is clearly declared to us in the Word of God.” We can only reach God his way, not ours.
