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| PentecostalTheology.com
This books are on Wesleyan theology and on salvation and sanctification
- Brown: Understanding Pietism
- Collins: Scripture Way of Salvation.
- Dayton: Discovering an Evangelical Heritage
- Gammie: Holiness in Israel
- Grenthouse: From Apostles to Wesley
- Maas: Crucified Love (contains good bibliographies)
- Snyder: The Radical Wesley (good practical book on church)
- Wynkoop: Foundations Wesley-Arminian Theology
RichardAnna Boyce
Entire sanctification is an important doctrine in Wesleyan theology. It offers the hope that Christians are able to live without sin during their lives on Earth. But this claim doesn’t account for numerous New Testament texts which describe a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. In Galatians 5:17, Paul describes struggling against the sinful tendencies of our flesh as if it were a normative part of the Christian experience. In Romans 7:18 Paul says, “the wishing (of doing good) is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” How does the doctrine of entire sanctification explain how statements like these can come from a mature Christian?………. Wesley’s doctrine of entire sanctification leans heavily on his vague definition of sin. He believed that a Christian who has experienced entire sanctification enjoys freedom from deliberate sins. Slip-ups in behavior can still occur, but these result from living in a fallen world. Wesley called these lapses “mistakes.” He said, “because we are imperfect persons in an imperfect world, perfection ‘in love’ is consistent with a ‘thousand mistakes.’ But limited as we are by our own and the world’s imperfections, we may still enjoy a relationship in which, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can fulfill the great and final commandment of loving God with our whole heart…”
By creating the categories of willful sin and “mistakes,” Wesley erodes a broader definition of sin found in Romans 14:23: “whatever is not from faith is sin.” The Bible portrays sin as any action, deed, or thought that falls short of God’s perfect character (Rom. 3:23). This is clear from Jesus’ repeated contrasts, “you have heard… but I say to you,” in the Sermon on the Mount. By equating murder with anger and lust with adultery, Jesus is trying to expose the superficial, shallow view of sin held by his audience. Wesley’s attempt to separate “sins” from “mistakes” misses the all-inclusive spirit of these and other New Testament passages.