It is estimated that John Wesley traveled around 250,000 miles and preached over 40,000 sermons in a span of 66 years. This series by Mark K. Olson, taken from his website Wesleyscholar.com, includes summaries and links to some of Wesley’s most famous and important sermons. This thirteenth installment is on Wesley’s sermon “Justification by Faith” from 1746.
Romans 4:5
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Justification remained controversial subject in Hanoverian England, even after two centuries since the Protestant Reformation. It was often at the center of debate between Evangelicals and traditional Anglicans, and between the different Evangelical groups. While Wesley parted paths with the Calvinists and Moravians over other issues (notably predestination and stillness), it soon became obvious that they held different views on justification as well. So, by the mid-1740s Wesley found it necessary to publish several writings that would clarify his position regarding a sinner’s reconciliation to God. One of these was the 1746 sermon Justification by Faith, based on Romans 4:5.
The first record of Wesley preaching on Romans 4:5 is for May 28, 1738, just four days after his Aldersgate conversion. In his testimony Wesley shared about receiving an assurance of his sins being taken away through faith in Christ – a clear reference to justification. Another occasion took place in June 1742 when Wesley famously stood on his father’s tombstone outside the Epworth Church and proclaimed the message of justification by faith alone to the people as they came out from the church service. Wesley’s early preaching on justification is encapsulated in this sermon.
Link to the sermon: Justification by Faith
Sermon Summary
Wesley begins by acknowledging the vital importance of our justification before God because it is the “foundation of all our hope.” He then pivots to address the “confused notions” that many people have on the subject. To remove the confusion and to bring clarity Wesley addresses the subject in four parts.
In Part I Wesley explains our need for justification before God rests on our creation in the divine image and Adam’s fall into sin (Gen. 1-3). Employing an Arminian version of federal theology, Wesley explained that Adam “was the common father and representative of us all” and so through his one sin “all were made sinners” (Rom. 5:18). For Wesley, as his Anglican faith taught him, this meant that Adam’s sinful posterity inherited not only a sinful proclivity but also objective guilt and condemnation. But out of his great love, God sent a second representative for the human race, his Son Jesus Christ, to atone for our sin – original and actual – and to provide reconciliation to God in a new covenant.
In Part II Wesley addresses what justification means. He first points out that justification should be confused with sanctification. The first represents what God does for us and the second to what he works in us. The two are distinct gifts. He then parts paths with some Calvinists by asserting that justification is not the removal of the law’s accusations. By saying this Wesley was rejecting the notion that justification involves Christ’s human obedience being reckoned to believers so that they stand before God as fulfilling the law. Wesley adds that in justifying sinners God is not deceived about their true character. The Judge of all sees us for who we truly are.
Instead, to be justified means to be forgiven, accepted, and reconciled based on the atonement provided by the sacrifice of Christ. Wesley held an Arminian version of the penal substitution theory of Christ’s saving work in which Jesus’ sufferings and death procured divine pardon and favor for the entire human race, conditioned on a person’s repentance and faith in Christ. This is explained in sections III and IV. Under the gospel covenant, justification is offered to everyone who is “ungodly” and cannot save themself. The condition is faith which Wesley defined as a “sure trust and confidence that Christ died for my sins, that he loved me, and gave himself for me.” By affirming that gospel justification is by faith alone, Wesley understood that repentance or a turning from sin is an inherent part of justifying faith. He also stressed that good works is the fruit of genuine faith in Christ. Those who truly believe will bring forth the fruit of a changed life.
Regarding the Apostle Paul’s statement that “faith is counted for righteousness,” Wesley explained the reconciled believer is “counted” or “treated” as “righteous” before God. With Christ made to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), Jesus was treated as a sinner on the cross and thereby took our punishment so we can be treated as righteous having been forgiven and accepted.
Wesley closes the sermon with an appeal for the reader to come to God confessing their sin and ungodliness, and to believe in Christ for the free gift of salvation. For the entire work of justification springs solely from “free grace.”
Wesley’s Contribution
While Wesley agreed for the most part with his fellow Evangelicals on justification, his position set him apart from the Calvinists and Moravians of his day. These groups stressed the imputation of Christ’s active righteousness or his human obedience as the foundation of justification. Wesley took the position that Jesus’ death or passive righteousness is completely sufficient to reconcile us to God. There is no need for Christ’s human obedience to be reckoned to us, for we are freely forgiven and set right before God by his free grace. Divine pardon fully removes our guilt and condemnation and restores us to a right standing before God.
This allowed Wesley to stress the need for holy living in the Christian life and to avoid the pitfalls of the Calvinist doctrine of eternal security. He could assert that a believer rests assured of his acceptance in Christ but also that continued acceptance requires continued faithfulness in trust and holy living.
The importance of this sermon to understanding Wesley’s message and theology requires a close reading by everyone who wants to know what he taught and believed. I encourage you to read the sermon for yourself.
Link to the sermon: Justification by Faith
Publication
Justification by Faith was included as sermon #5 in his first collection of sermons published in 1746. It continued to be included in every edition of his published sermons since then and has been republished numerous times.
