Methodism / Wesleyan

Christian Perfection / Entire Sanctification - the teaching that a believer can, in this life, be brought by a work of grace to 'perfect love,' the heart so filled with love for God and neighbor that it is freed from willful, deliberate sin.

Their basis
Wesley's 'A Plain Account of Christian Perfection.' He appealed to Matthew 5:48 ('Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect'), Hebrews 6:1 ('let us go on to perfection'), 1 Thessalonians 5:23 ('sanctify you wholly'), Deuteronomy 30:6 (God circumcising the heart to love Him fully), and 1 John 4:18 ('perfect love casts out fear'). Wesley insisted this was not sinless flawlessness but a heart made perfect in love.

Scripture answers
Scripture calls every believer to real, pursued holiness (Hebrews 12:14; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:3) - so the goal Wesley aimed at is right. But it also warns against claiming to have arrived: 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves' (1 John 1:8-10); Paul says 'not that I have already attained... but I press on' (Philippians 3:12); the war with the flesh continues (Romans 7:18-25; Galatians 5:17); 'we all stumble in many ways' (James 3:2). The safest reading holds the pursuit high while keeping us honest about remaining sin until glory.

1 John 1:8-10Philippians 3:12Romans 7:18-25James 3:2Hebrews 12:14

In fairness: Wesley's point is often caricatured. He explicitly denied claiming freedom from ignorance, mistakes, or infirmities; he meant being filled and governed by love and freed from willful rebellion. It was a genuine and needed corrective to cheap grace and dead formalism, and the biblical call to holiness is real. Many later Wesleyans softened the language to 'entire consecration.'

Arminian salvation - universal prevenient grace, free-will response, and the real possibility of a true believer falling away and losing salvation (against Calvinist unconditional election and eternal security).

Their basis
Wesley taught that Christ died for all (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16) and that God's 'prevenient grace' goes ahead of everyone, enabling but not forcing a free response. The warning passages carry the loss-of-salvation view: Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:26-29; 2 Peter 2:20-21; Ezekiel 18:24; and the commands to 'hold fast' and 'continue' (Colossians 1:23; Revelation 2:10).

Scripture answers
This is a genuine intramural debate among faithful believers, and the text is not perfectly tidy for either side, so it should be described rather than dictated. Scripture does sound solemn warnings to endure (Hebrews 3:14) - taken seriously by Arminians. It also speaks of God keeping His own: 'no one will snatch them out of my hand' (John 10:28-29); 'he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion' (Philippians 1:6); 'kept by the power of God' (1 Peter 1:5); nothing 'shall separate us' (Romans 8:38-39). Both Calvinist and Wesleyan hold salvation is by grace through faith in Christ - the disagreement is over its mechanics, not the gospel.

John 10:28-29Philippians 1:61 Peter 1:5Romans 8:38-39Hebrews 3:14

In fairness: The warning passages are real and must be preached, and Arminianism honors them and God's genuine offer to all. Both sides confess grace alone; neither teaches salvation by works. This is a family disagreement (Wesley and Whitefield stayed brothers across it), not a dividing line over the core.

The 'Wesleyan Quadrilateral' - that Scripture is read and applied alongside tradition, reason, and experience, with experience (the Spirit's inward witness) given a notably active role.

Their basis
Drawn from Wesley's method (the term was coined later by Albert Outler). Wesley prized the Spirit's felt assurance - Romans 8:16 ('the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit'), the 'strangely warmed' heart of Aldersgate, and Luke 24:32. He valued the early church fathers (tradition) and sanctified reason (Acts 17:11; Isaiah 1:18) as servants for rightly understanding the text.

Scripture answers
Scripture must remain the final court, over tradition, reason, and experience - never leveled with them. 'All Scripture is God-breathed... that the man of God may be complete' (2 Timothy 3:16-17); test everything by 'the law and the testimony' (Isaiah 8:20); Jesus rebuked 'making void the word of God by your tradition' (Mark 7:8-13); even an angel or an inner impression must yield to the gospel as written (Galatians 1:8). Experience confirms the Word; it never overrules it.

2 Timothy 3:16-17Isaiah 8:20Mark 7:8-13Galatians 1:8Acts 17:11

In fairness: Wesley himself made Scripture supreme - he called himself 'homo unius libri,' a man of one book, and used tradition, reason, and experience only as lamps to read it by. The Quadrilateral honestly names how every Christian actually interprets. The real danger is in later, liberalizing hands that elevate experience over the text - an abuse of Wesley's intent, not his teaching.

Infant baptism as a means of prevenient grace (with a sacramental, means-of-grace view of baptism and the Lord's Supper) rather than believer's baptism only.

Their basis
Covenant continuity from the Old Testament, the household baptisms of the New Testament (Acts 16:15, 33; 1 Corinthians 1:16), baptism as the new-covenant sign paralleling circumcision (Colossians 2:11-12), 'the promise is to you and to your children' (Acts 2:39), and Jesus welcoming little ones (Mark 10:14). Methodists see baptism as a channel of God's grace, to be completed later by personal faith and confirmation.

Scripture answers
The clearest New Testament pattern places baptism after repentance and personal faith: 'Repent and be baptized' (Acts 2:38); 'those who received his word were baptized' (Acts 2:41); in Samaria, 'when they believed Philip... they were baptized, both men and women' (Acts 8:12); and Colossians 2:12 ties it directly to trust - buried and raised with Christ 'through faith' - so baptism pictures a union that belongs to those who believe (Romans 6:3-4). No verse plainly commands baptizing infants. This has divided godly believers for centuries and is best described honestly rather than ruled.

Acts 2:38Acts 8:12Romans 6:3-4Acts 2:41Colossians 2:12

In fairness: The household-baptism texts and covenant-sign argument are substantial, and infant baptism was the near-universal practice for most of church history. Crucially, Methodists do NOT teach that baptism saves apart from faith - they call the baptized to personal conversion. This is a long-standing intramural difference over the sign, not a breach in the gospel itself.