From Faith to Faith: John Wesley's Covenant Theology and the Way of Salvation
Overview
Covenant theology and John Wesley’s theology sounds dissonant. What would an evangelical Arminian have to do with a theological framework that historically belongs to a Reformed understanding of salvation? How could this possibly square with his ongoing controversy with the Calvinism of his day? On the basis of compelling evidence from his sermons and correspondence, this investigation dares to push through the impulse to dismiss the idea that covenant theology belongs to the infrastructure of Wesley’s thought. The resulting discovery of its role in shaping his narrative of salvation is surprising and intriguing.
Wesley is not only informed and fluent with respect to covenant theology, but thoroughly committed to it. This study demonstrates that, with theological precision and discernment, Wesley appropriates covenant theology in a way that is consistent both with its primary theological features and with his Arminianism. His distinctive view of “the gradual process of the work of God in the soul” supplies valuable grist for further reflection, especially by those charged with the care of souls in the twenty-first century.
- Traces how covenant theology influenced the thought of John Wesley
- Provides material for further reflection on God’s work of salvation
- Draws on John Wesley’s correspondence and sermons
- John Wesley’s Imaging of Covenant Theology
- The Ancestry of Wesley’s Covenant Theology
- Wesley’s Amendment of Covenant Theology
- Wesley’s Covenant Theology and Holy Scripture
- Wesley’s Covenant Theology in Context: The Evangelical Revivial and the Conversation on Good Works
- Wesley’s Covenant Theoloy in Context: The Conversation on Divine Favor
- The Salvific Sufficiency of the Covenant of Grace
- “From Faith to Faith”: John Wesley’s Pastoral Application of Covenant Theology
Top Highlights
“in this study ‘Wesley’s covenant theology’ means Wesley’s appropriation of covenant theology.” (Page 7)
“Wesley knowingly used the servant and son metaphors in both a synthetic and antithetic sense” (Page 17)
“So then, for Wesley, the perpetuity of the moral law does not signal a continuation or re-invigoration of the covenant of works since the loss of Adam’s innocence signals the end of the covenant of works. Therefore, in Wesley’s view, the covenant of works does not re-emerge at any point after the fall for the simple fact that original innocence is no longer either a characteristic or a possibility of the human condition.” (Page 70)
“Thus, the difference between servant and son is not a matter of whether one is justified but is simply a matter of whether one has a sense of assurance regarding her salvation.” (Page 3)
“First, it is crucial that the servant and son metaphors be understood as metaphors” (Page 15)
Rodes provides an enlightening account of John Wesley’s understanding of salvation by highlighting Wesley’s appropriation and adaptation of the covenant (federal) theology of the English Reformed tradition. He critiques from this vantage point the spectrum of views about Wesley’s understanding of ‘the faith of a servant’ in recent scholarship. This is an important study for future consideration of this debated topic.
—Randy L. Maddox, Duke Divinity School
Filling out the covenantal context of Wesley’s practical theology (especially in terms of the important distinction of ‘the faith of a servant, the faith of a child of God’) Rodes is in the proper position to consider, in a way that others have not, Wesley’s seasoned reflections on the outworking of the gospel both within the church and well beyond its walls.
—Kenneth J. Collins, Asbury Theological Seminary
For too long historians have assumed the Arminian and Calvinistic expressions of Methodism developed along entirely separate trajectories, especially after the controversies of the early 1740s. Rodes’ important new study of John Wesley's appropriation of that Calvinist preoccupation—covenant theology—shows that at times Wesley certainly came close to the very edge of Calvinism. This is an important study in theological adaptation; it deserves a wide readership.
—David Ceri Jones, Aberystwyth University, Wales
- Title: From Faith to Faith: John Wesley’s Covenant Theology and the Way of Salvation
- Author: Stanley J. Rodes
- Series: Distinguished Dissertations in Christian Theology
- Volume: 8
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2013
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Pages: 270
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Wesley, John, 1703-1791; Covenant theology › History of doctrines--18th century
- ISBNs: 9781620325445, 9781498265256, 9781630870164, 1620325446, 1498265251, 1630870161
- Resource ID: LLS:FROMFAITHTOFAITH
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:05:32Z