John Wesley and the Reformation

Today is Reformation Day.  It is the day when Protestant Christians, and most especially Lutherans, celebrate the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.  -  Why did I say, "and most especially Lutherans"?  Because the Protestant reformation begins with a man named Martin Luther!

Now, Martin Luther did not set out to start the Protestant Reformation, or even to start a new church.  He loved the church.  He had every desire to remain faithful to her. Nevertheless, he encountered some very troubling issues within the church.  Again, it was not his desire to leave the church over these issues.  Rather, it was his desire to try to address these issues so that the church might make some corrections; that it might be . . . "reformed."

And so, on All Hallows' Eve (i.e., the eve of All Saints' Day; what we call "Halloween"), in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his "95 Thesis" on the door of the Wittenberg church.  It was an act seeking an academic debate over certain issues in the Church, not a declaration of a split with Rome.  Nevertheless, this act became the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

That was in 1517, but where does the Wesleyan tradition fit?  How are we connected to Luther and the Protestant Reformation? 


Well, there is one direct connection between Wesley and Luther, and it happened on Aldersgate Street, in London, in 1738.  There, while attending a Society meeting, someone was reading aloud from Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans.  It was while hearing this read that John Wesley felt his "heart strangely warmed," and an assurance was given him that God had taken away his sins and had saved him from the law of sin and death.  This has been called Wesley's "evangelical conversion."  It is the touchstone for the Wesleyan doctrine of assurance.  -  Certainly, in that regard, we Wesleyans owe quite a debt to Martin Luther.  -  But, how do we relate to Luther's Protestant Reformation?

To answer that question, I have included the following video from Seedbed, by Dr. Larry Wood.  In it, he  explains the place of John Wesley in the Protestant Reformation.

So, as Dr. Wood explains, we Wesleyans do have our place within the Reformation of the Western Church.

Still, in the midst of observing Reformation day, I think it important to hear another perspective.  A perspective that is articulated in one of my favorite quotes from the late Rev'd. Dr. William Greathouse, general superintendent emeritus in the Church of the Nazarene.  He says:

"It is time the Church of Jesus Christ overcame the disjunctions created by the 16th-century Reformation.  What is called for is the 'evangelical catholicism' of John Wesley's 'middle way' in which the two historic Christian traditions were synthesized.  In this synthesis the English Reformer not only recovered for the Church a viable doctrine of holiness but also pointed the way to a scriptural view and practice of the sacraments that is both apostolic and catholic."

It must be admitted that the Reformation did result in many disjunctions.  Some of them are painfully present, to this day.  Even among the children of Wesley, when one seeks to recover his commitment to liturgical and sacramental worship, one is often said to be "too Catholic" (i,e., bad!), rather than recognizing that the desire is simply to be thoroughly Wesleyan and thoroughly Christian.  -  Beyond that, in addition to doctrinal differences, there is still much prejudice between Protestant Christians and Roman Catholic Christians. 

Perhaps, as we observe Reformation Day, it would be a good time for those of us who are Wesleyans to re-read Wesley's Letter to a Roman Catholic.  Perhaps it is also time for us to recognize that, while there are certainly still very significant doctrinal disagreements between Protestants and Roman Catholics, nevertheless, the Protestant Reformation did influence changes that came about in the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation.  

Beyond that, it is worth celebrating that the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church developed The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed by representatives of both traditions on October 31, 1999 (the anniversary of Luther's 95 Theses!).  The World Methodist Council was represented at that historic event and brought a letter of congratulations.  On July 23, 2006, another document was signed by the Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Methodists, adding the Official Common Affirmation of the Methodist Statement of Association with the JDDJ to the original document.  That statement was approved unanimously by the World Methodist Council members, including those representing all seven U.S. based denominations.

Perhaps this, too, is a part of the ongoing re-formation that God is working within His Church.