Rooted in God's Grace
Our United Methodist heritage is rooted in a deep and profound understanding of God's grace. This incredible grace flows from God's great love for us.
Grace can be defined as the love and mercy God gives us because God wants us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it. We read in Ephesians 2:8-9 (NSRV), "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast."
In Living our Beliefs: The United Methodist Way by Bishop Kenneth L. Carder, we read, "Grace is God's presence and power to create, heal, forgive, reconcile, and transform persons, communities, nations, and the entire cosmos. Where God is present, there is grace, God's power to renew and transform." John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, described God's grace as threefold: prevenient, justifying and sanctifying.
The Book of Discipline (Paragraph 102) states, "Although Wesley shared with many other Christians a belief in in grace, justification, assurance, and sanctification, he combined them in a powerful manner to create distinctive emphases for living the full Christian life."
PREVENIENT GRACE
Wesley understood grace as God's active presence in our lives - God going before us to prepare us for "wholeness and healing" a life of love of God and neighbor. This presence does not depend on human actions or human response. It is a gift that is always available, but that can be refused.
God's grace stirs within us a desire to know God and empowers us to respond to God's invitation to be in relationship with God. God's grace enables us to discern differences between good and evil and makes it possible for us to choose good.
"Prevenient grace," Carder wrote, "is the 'prodigal son' in Luke's Gospel becoming aware of his lost identity. Longing for home, awareness of betrayal, prompting to repent - these are manifestations of grace preparing us for a new future."
God takes the initiative in relating to humanity. We do not have to beg and plead for God's love and grace. God actively seeks us!
JUSTIFYING GRACE
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (2 Corinthians 5:19b, NSRV). In his letter to the Roman Christians, Paul wrote: "But God shows love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, An Inclusive Language Lectionary).
These verses demonstrate God's justifying grace. They point to reconciliation, pardon and restoration. Through God's work in Christ, our sins are forgiven, and our relationship with God is restored.
According to John Wesley, the image of God - which sin distorts - is renewed within us through Christ's death. In justifying grace, the Christian acknowledges his or her human situation, makes a conscious decision to turn toward God and takes appropriate responsibility in shaping a life of discipleship. Again, this dimension of God's grace is a gift. God's grace alone brings us into relationship with God. We need not jump through any hoops in order to please God and to be loved by God. God has acted in Jesus Christ. We need only to respond in faith.
This process of salvation involves a change in us that we call "conversion". Conversion is a change of belief, spiritual outlook and manner of life. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. In any case, it marks a new beginning. Following Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "You must be born anew" (John 3:7b, CEB), we speak of this conversion as rebirth, new life in Christ or regeneration.
Following the apostle Paul and the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther, Wesley called this process "justification." Justification is what happens when Christians abandon all those vain attempts to justify themselves before God, to be seen as "just" in God's eyes through religious and moral practices. It is a time when God's "justifying grade" is experienced and accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and love. Indeed, we are justified by God's grace through faith.
Justification is also a time of repentance - turning away from behaviors rooted in sin and toward actions that express God's love. In this conversion, we can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation through the Holy Spirit "bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16b, NRSV).
SANCTIFYING GRACE
Salvation is not a static, one-time event in our lives. It is the ongoing experience of God's gracious presence transforming us into whom God intends us to be. Wesley described this dimension of God's grace as "sanctification" or "holiness."
Through God's sanctifying grace, we grow and mature in our ability to live as Jesus lived. As we pray, study the Scriptures, fast, worship and share in fellowship with other Christians, we deepen our knowledge of and love for God. As we respond with compassion to human need and work for justice in our communities, we strengthen our capacity to love our neighbor. Our inner thoughts and motives, as well as our outer actions and behavior, are aligned with God's will and testify to our union with God.
Grace can be defined as the love and mercy God gives us because God wants us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it. We read in Ephesians 2:8-9 (NSRV), "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast."
In Living our Beliefs: The United Methodist Way by Bishop Kenneth L. Carder, we read, "Grace is God's presence and power to create, heal, forgive, reconcile, and transform persons, communities, nations, and the entire cosmos. Where God is present, there is grace, God's power to renew and transform." John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, described God's grace as threefold: prevenient, justifying and sanctifying.
The Book of Discipline (Paragraph 102) states, "Although Wesley shared with many other Christians a belief in in grace, justification, assurance, and sanctification, he combined them in a powerful manner to create distinctive emphases for living the full Christian life."
PREVENIENT GRACE
Wesley understood grace as God's active presence in our lives - God going before us to prepare us for "wholeness and healing" a life of love of God and neighbor. This presence does not depend on human actions or human response. It is a gift that is always available, but that can be refused.
God's grace stirs within us a desire to know God and empowers us to respond to God's invitation to be in relationship with God. God's grace enables us to discern differences between good and evil and makes it possible for us to choose good.
"Prevenient grace," Carder wrote, "is the 'prodigal son' in Luke's Gospel becoming aware of his lost identity. Longing for home, awareness of betrayal, prompting to repent - these are manifestations of grace preparing us for a new future."
God takes the initiative in relating to humanity. We do not have to beg and plead for God's love and grace. God actively seeks us!
JUSTIFYING GRACE
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (2 Corinthians 5:19b, NSRV). In his letter to the Roman Christians, Paul wrote: "But God shows love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, An Inclusive Language Lectionary).
These verses demonstrate God's justifying grace. They point to reconciliation, pardon and restoration. Through God's work in Christ, our sins are forgiven, and our relationship with God is restored.
According to John Wesley, the image of God - which sin distorts - is renewed within us through Christ's death. In justifying grace, the Christian acknowledges his or her human situation, makes a conscious decision to turn toward God and takes appropriate responsibility in shaping a life of discipleship. Again, this dimension of God's grace is a gift. God's grace alone brings us into relationship with God. We need not jump through any hoops in order to please God and to be loved by God. God has acted in Jesus Christ. We need only to respond in faith.
This process of salvation involves a change in us that we call "conversion". Conversion is a change of belief, spiritual outlook and manner of life. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. In any case, it marks a new beginning. Following Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "You must be born anew" (John 3:7b, CEB), we speak of this conversion as rebirth, new life in Christ or regeneration.
Following the apostle Paul and the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther, Wesley called this process "justification." Justification is what happens when Christians abandon all those vain attempts to justify themselves before God, to be seen as "just" in God's eyes through religious and moral practices. It is a time when God's "justifying grade" is experienced and accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and love. Indeed, we are justified by God's grace through faith.
Justification is also a time of repentance - turning away from behaviors rooted in sin and toward actions that express God's love. In this conversion, we can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation through the Holy Spirit "bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16b, NRSV).
SANCTIFYING GRACE
Salvation is not a static, one-time event in our lives. It is the ongoing experience of God's gracious presence transforming us into whom God intends us to be. Wesley described this dimension of God's grace as "sanctification" or "holiness."
Through God's sanctifying grace, we grow and mature in our ability to live as Jesus lived. As we pray, study the Scriptures, fast, worship and share in fellowship with other Christians, we deepen our knowledge of and love for God. As we respond with compassion to human need and work for justice in our communities, we strengthen our capacity to love our neighbor. Our inner thoughts and motives, as well as our outer actions and behavior, are aligned with God's will and testify to our union with God.