Perfecting Grace

John Wesley spoke of four expressions of grace. Prevenient grace is God at work in our lives before we are aware of or responsive to that work. It is the Spirit’s work of drawing us to God, leading us to respond to God’s love. It is the Spirit’s work of preparing us for what God has for us next. Justifying grace is the grace that bridges the alienation between us and God. God is the one who heals the relationship, relating to us out of grace and forgiveness. We respond to that grace by opening our lives to God – what in popular theology is called “being saved.” Sanctifying grace speaks of the Spirit’s transforming work in our lives, maturing us into the likeness of Christ. In this on-going process of transformation, we move from our old self (Ephesians 4:22, Colossians 3:9) into the new self which is being recreated in the likeness of Christ (Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10) by means of the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23, Colossians 3:10). (This is the biblical pattern of spiritual growth: from, into, by means of.) This process of spiritual transformation leads us to Christ-like spiritual maturity. Perfecting grace was a uniquely Wesleyan emphasis. Wesley taught that we could be made perfect in this life. By that, he did not mean we would be sinless. (That’s the misunderstanding that gave birth, out of the Methodist movement, to the holiness movement and the Nazarenes.) Wesley meant the Spirit could empower us to love God and neighbor with our whole heart — at least for brief moments. He called the Methodist people to “go on to perfection.”

 Now let me reemphasize what Wesley said. Perfection is not sinlessness. Perfection in that sense is only a word in the dictionary. (That statement is an invitation to all perfectionists to give up their quest for perfection. It is an illusion that sabotages our lives.) Perfection as Wesley taught it is the ability to love God and neighbor. Wesley’s teaching reflects the meaning of Jesus’s statement in the Sermon on the Mount. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Matthew 5:48. To be perfect as God is perfect is to love as God loves. It is to love unconditionally. It is to love out of who we are, not in reaction to who the other is or what they do or to what they deserve or don’t deserve. It is to love the just and the unjust just as the Father sends the rain on both (Matthew 5:45). Rather than perfect, a better translation of the Greek word is “mature.” The original word means “to reach its intended end.” The intended end of a seed is to produce a mature plant that produces more seeds. The intended end of a follower of Jesus is to love as Jesus loved and to love whom Jesus loved. It is to be spiritually mature, reflecting the likeness of Christ.

 Wesley believed that we could, through the work of the Spirit and by the power of the Spirit, live out of that kind of maturity on some occasions. The Spirit could empower us to love God and neighbor as Jesus loved God and neighbor. Believing such to be possible, Wesley urged us to go on to perfection, that is, to Christ-like spiritual maturity. “Let us then go on toward perfection,” Hebrews 6:1.  In this verse, the word “perfection” is better translated as maturity. (See the footnote reference in the NRSV study Bible.)

 Wesley’s teaching about perfecting grace comes to mind as I reflect on the splintering of The UMC. His teaching leads me to ask questions. How is this splintering an expression of going on to perfection? How will it help us go on to perfection?

 By now, you know my perspective on this issue. In my mind, the splintering is neither an expression of going on to perfection nor will it help us do so. In my mind, it is a hindrance to and will be a barrier to the process. It will, at the least, be a distraction from the uniquely Wesleyan emphasis.

 If we are going on to perfection, that is, living out of a spiritually mature spirit, we will love as Jesus loved, that is, unconditionally. The splintering of The UMC does not reflect such love. The spirit of judgment and condemnation towards LGBTQ+ people certainly does not reflect such love. The willingness to do harm to churches and to foster division does not reflect such love. The spirit of “I’m right, you’re wrong,” “my way or the highway” does not reflect such love. The criticalness of those causing the division (of which I am guilty) does not reflect such love. Certainly, we Methodists — both United Methodists and Global Methodists and Independent Methodists — are not going on to perfection-maturity in this conflict and division.

 In addition, I fear this splintering will be a hindrance to our doing so. The emphasis on moral purity — the unnamed pursuit behind the splintering — will keep us focused on issues and behavior, not on loving one another. The demand for obedient conformity to the law of The Book of Discipline will blind us to the issue of love. The emphasis on orthodoxy will be interpreted by moral and theological standards rather than by loving as Jesus loved. Unaddressed and unresolved hurt and anger toward the other side will keep us from loving one another, much less going on to perfection-maturity.

 In this splintering, we Methodists are forgetting — or denying — our unique heritage. Perhaps it is because we have not understood, studied, and embraced our theology. (In my opinion, our Methodist theology is the best on the market!) In The UMC, grace is central. We live by grace. We grow in grace so that we can love as Jesus loved. The goal of salvation is the transformation of our hearts and minds into the likeness of Christ so that we can love God and neighbor as Jesus loved God and neighbor.

 Our splintering reflects the religious culture in which we live rather than our Methodist theology and heritage. The religious culture in which we live is a culture that emphasizes proper belief, proper behavior, and proper religious life. In our splintering, our focus is on proper belief about homosexuality and proper behavior (moral purity). The splintering is because some dared to defy the official ruling of General Conference (religious life). In this splintering, our focus is on the other, not ourselves. Our focus is on externals, not the internal condition of the heart. We seek to change others to our way of thinking rather than seeking to change ourselves. Our splintering reveals the ego-centric persona out of which we live. This ego-centric persona is who the world told us we had to be if we wanted to be accepted and valued. It is constructed out of right and wrong, black-and-white thinking and living. It prioritizes proper belief, proper behavior, and proper religious life.

 If we lived our theology, our focus would be on the internal transformation of our hearts and minds through the work of the Spirit, i.e., sanctifying grace. As the followers of Jesus, we would recognize, deny (Mark 8:34), and crucify (Galatians 2:19) our ego-centric self (the old self). Our priority would be going on to perfection, that is, growing spiritually into the likeness of Christ (perfecting grace, the new self). We would judge ourselves — not others — by a single standard: love, specifically, how our love mirrors the love of Jesus. Arguments over moral issues would be governed by grace and would give way to the greater priority: going on to perfection-maturity in which we love God and neighbor as Jesus loved God and neighbor. Our unity would center in Christ, not agreement about some moral issue.

 Personally, I think Wesley got it right by focusing on the grace of God — prevenient grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace, perfecting grace. Maybe we need to get back to our source.

 “Be perfect (spiritually mature), therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Matthew 5:48. “Let us then go on to perfection (spiritual maturity),” Hebrews 6:1.