Holiness, Sanctification, and Christian Perfection — Unit 3: Wesley's Christian Perfection: Perfect Love, Not Sinless Perfection

Key Verse

"Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'" (Matthew 22:37, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Define Christian perfection as John Wesley taught it: the love of God and neighbor filling the heart.

2. Explain the Bible's use of the word "perfect," including Matthew 5:48 and Philippians 3:12-15.

3. List what Wesley said Christian perfection is not: freedom from ignorance, mistakes, infirmities and temptation, or an end to growth.

4. Explain Wesley's distinction between willful sin and involuntary shortcomings, and why even the perfect in love need the atoning blood of Christ.

5. State the main objections to the doctrine and give the Wesleyan answer to each.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the Wesleyan tradition, for Wesleyan students. It is theologically conservative. Few teachings of our tradition are as often misunderstood as this one, by outsiders and sometimes by Wesleyans. We will first say clearly what Wesley taught, using his own sermons and the book A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1766). Then we will state the objections fairly and answer them from Scripture. Unit 2 ended with the promise that God will deal with the inward weakness that remains in believers. This unit explains what that promise means.

The Heart of the Doctrine: Love

Wesley's teaching begins from Jesus' answer about the greatest commandment. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). Paul adds, "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10).

Christian perfection, for Wesley, is simply this: a heart in which the love of God and the love of neighbor have the first place and rule all the thoughts, words and actions. He often called it "perfect love," and he also used the Bible's own words, "holiness" and "entire sanctification." In his sermon "Christian Perfection" (1741) and in the Plain Account he said that it means to have the mind that was in Christ, as Paul wrote, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). He liked to speak of "holy tempers," meaning the settled inner dispositions that the Spirit grows in us: the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

John, the apostle of love, writes the verse on which Wesley often leaned: "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). The same chapter says that God is love and that he who abides in love abides in God (1 John 4:16). Perfect love is the apostle John's idea before it is Wesley's.

Charles Wesley put this hope into song. In "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" he asks the Lord to come into the heart and to finish His new creation in us.

What the Bible Means by "Perfect"

The word "perfect" frightens many people because in everyday speech it means "without any fault at all." The Bible uses it differently. The Hebrew word often translated "perfect" or "blameless" can mean whole, complete, or sound. Noah, Abraham and Job are described with such words (Genesis 6:9; 17:1; Job 1:1), and none of them was without fault.

The Greek word is teleios. It comes from telos, meaning "end" or "goal." A thing is teleios when it has reached the goal for which it was made: complete, full-grown, mature. Paul uses it for mature believers, as opposed to babes (1 Corinthians 2:6; 14:20). The writer to the Hebrews contrasts milk for babes with solid food for the teleios, those who are mature (Hebrews 5:14). Paul wants to present everyone "perfect," that is, complete, in Christ (Colossians 1:28), and Ephesians 4:13 speaks of growing to the measure of the full stature of Christ. Hebrews 6:1 says, "let us go on to perfection." James says that if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a teleios man, able to bridle the whole body (James 3:2). Notice that in the same sentence James says "we all stumble in many things." So a person can be called perfect and still stumble, because the word means mature and complete, not faultless.

Philippians 3 shows this plainly. In verse 12 Paul says, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected." Three verses later, he says, "Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind" (verse 15). The word translated "mature" is the same family as "perfected." Paul does not contradict himself. He denies that he has reached the final goal, the resurrection, and he affirms that he and others are mature in the sense of being full-grown in Christ. Wesley also noted that Paul uses the word in both senses, so a teacher must say which one he means.

When Jesus says, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48), He is speaking at the end of a passage about loving our enemies (verses 43-47). The Father sends sun and rain on the just and the unjust. To be perfect as He is perfect is to love as He loves, without limits. This is love, not a list of achievements.

What Perfection Is Not

Wesley was very careful, and he said many times what he did not mean. His list is clear, and a pastor should know it well.

It is not freedom from ignorance. Even those made perfect in love do not know everything. A person full of love may have a wrong idea about a historical fact or a passage of Scripture.

It is not freedom from mistakes. A loving person may judge wrongly, give bad advice, or trust someone who does not deserve it.

It is not freedom from infirmities. Illness, weakness, slow thinking, a poor memory and tiredness remain.

It is not freedom from temptation. Jesus Himself was tempted (Hebrews 4:15). Being tempted is not a sin.

It is not a perfection like God's, or like Adam's before the fall, or like that of the angels. God alone is perfect without limit. Human perfection is always a gift and always depends on Him.

It is not the end of growth. Wesley taught that those perfected in love can and must grow in love every day. There is no ceiling on loving God more. The word "perfection" suggests a finish, but Wesley meant a full heart that keeps growing.

It is not a state that cannot be lost. Wesley taught that a believer made perfect in love can fall from it through neglect or disobedience. It must be kept by watching, prayer and use of the means of grace.

Sin "Properly So Called"

Wesley's chief point is about the meaning of the word sin. He taught that, strictly speaking, sin is a willful breaking of a known law of God. This is sin in the full and proper sense. A person whose heart is filled with love does not choose to break God's law, and does not give way to pride, anger or hatred. But Wesley also said that there are shortcomings which are not willful: wrong actions that come from ignorance, mistakes or weakness, and failures to love as perfectly as we should. These, he said, are not sin in the strict sense, because the will is not set against God. Yet they fall short of the perfect law of love, and they need the mercy of Christ.

This is a crucial point. Wesley did not say that the perfected believer has no need of the cross. He wrote that such failings need the atoning blood of Christ, and that the believer who is perfect in love prays every day, "Forgive us our debts" (Matthew 6:12). He therefore did not teach what is usually called "sinless perfection," for no believer stands before God on the ground of his own record. A believer perfected in love depends on Christ as much as a new convert does.

Some of Wesley's critics, then and now, say that he changed the meaning of the word sin in order to make his doctrine sound possible. We reply that Wesley's distinction is not a trick. It follows how the Bible itself speaks. The Old Testament law distinguished sins done "unintentionally" from sins done "defiantly" (Numbers 15:27-31). The apostle John separates the sin that leads to death from other sin (1 John 5:16-17). Paul says he does not know of anything against himself, yet he is not justified by that, and the Lord is his judge (1 Corinthians 4:4).

What Perfection Is

If perfect love is not freedom from ignorance, mistakes and temptation, what is it? Wesley's answer has four parts.

First, it is a heart cleansed from the evil dispositions that Unit 2 called the flesh or inbred sin: pride, self-will, anger, envy, lust and unbelief. The Scriptures promise this cleansing. God said through Ezekiel that He would cleanse His people from all their uncleanness (Ezekiel 36:25). Paul calls believers to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1). John says that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

Second, it is a heart filled with love. Paul prays that the Lord would make the Thessalonians increase and abound in love to one another and to all, so that He may establish their hearts blameless in holiness (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13). Love is the positive side of the doctrine, and the cleansing is its negative side.

Third, it is a life in which love governs the conduct, with words and work directed to the glory of God and the good of neighbors.

Fourth, it is something God promises for this life. The commands of Scripture imply the possibility of obedience, and Paul prays for it (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). Wesley taught that Christians may receive it before death, not only at death. How and when it comes is the subject of Unit 4, and Unit 5 will examine the view of the Holiness movement.

Wesley's friend John Fletcher, vicar of Madeley, defended the doctrine in his Checks to Antinomianism.

Historians' Questions

Historians ask whether Wesley's thought changed over the years and where it came from. Some say that his emphasis moved from a gradual process toward a more instantaneous experience, especially in the 1760s. Others argue that his teaching was always the same and that only his way of explaining it changed. We have Wesley's own history of his teaching in the Plain Account, which shows that he held the central idea of a heart wholly given to God and filled with love from his early years. Other scholars point out that Wesley read writers of the early Eastern church who spoke of growth into the likeness of God, and they debate how much he took from them. Our confidence rests on Scripture, not on the history of an idea.

Objections and Wesleyan Answers

Objection 1: Scripture says no one is without sin. Reformed and other teachers cite 1 John 1:8, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Proverbs 20:9, and Romans 3:23, and they cite Philippians 3:12. They say that Christ alone is perfect.

Our answer. We agree that Christ alone is perfect in Himself, and that every human perfection is borrowed from Him. Romans 3 describes humanity outside of Christ. First John 1:8 speaks of denying that we have ever had sin (we dealt with it in Unit 2). Ecclesiastes 7:20 comes from a time before the cross and before the Spirit was poured out on all flesh, and it cannot limit what the new covenant promises. Philippians 3:12 denies final attainment, not maturity, as Philippians 3:15 shows. The Wesleyan view does not deny any of these verses. It reads them together with the verses about cleansing and about perfect love.

Objection 2: The doctrine leads to pride. A person who claims to be perfect is, by that claim, proud.

Our answer. The danger is real. But perfect love includes humility. A person full of love for God sees His greatness and his own need and does not boast. The Wesleyan tradition has therefore taught believers to be slow to announce it about themselves, and to let others see it in their fruit. Where pride appears, it shows that love is missing.

Objection 3: Why use such a dangerous word? Some ask Wesleyans to drop the word "perfection."

Our answer. The word is in the Bible (Matthew 5:48; Philippians 3:15; Hebrews 6:1). A pastor should use it with care, explain it, and prefer "perfect love" and "holiness." But we should not be ashamed of what Scripture says.

Objection 4: The doctrine teaches sinless perfection. Some, including some Wesleyans, think it does.

Our answer. As we have seen, Wesley did not teach that. He taught freedom from willful sin and from the evil dispositions of the heart, not freedom from all imperfection.

Pastoral Application

A woman in your congregation is eighty years old. Last Sunday a visiting preacher said that Wesleyans believe in perfection. After the service she says to you, "Pastor, I forget my words, my hands shake, and yesterday I lost my temper at my grandson. How could anyone say I am perfect?"

You tell her she is right that she is not perfect in knowledge, strength or memory, and neither is any Christian. You explain that Wesley taught perfect love: a heart that wants God first and loves its neighbor, even though the body and mind are weak. You ask her whether she wishes to love God with all her heart. She says yes. You tell her that God has promised this, and that it is for her, as it is for the young. You remind her that you will pray together that God will cleanse the temper that rose up yesterday and fill her with love. And you assure her that she depends on Christ's mercy every day, as every believer does.

Summary

For Wesley, Christian perfection is perfect love: the love of God and neighbor filling the heart and governing life (Matthew 22:37-40). The biblical word teleios means complete and mature, so Paul can say he is not yet perfected and also call himself mature (Philippians 3:12-15). Perfection is not freedom from ignorance, mistakes, infirmities or temptation. It is not like God's perfection, it does not end growth, and it can be lost. Wesley distinguished sin properly so called, a willful breaking of a known law, from involuntary shortcomings which still need the blood of Christ. It is a heart cleansed from evil dispositions and filled with love, promised for this life. We answer the objections from 1 John 1:8 and Ecclesiastes 7:20, the charge of pride, the question about the word, and the charge of sinless perfection from Scripture and Wesley's own words.

Further Reading

• John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1766).

• John Wesley, "Christian Perfection," in his Sermons.

• John Wesley, Notes on the New Testament, on Matthew 5:48, Philippians 3 and 1 John 4.

• John Fletcher, Checks to Antinomianism.

• Charles Wesley, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," and other hymns on perfect love.

• Holiness Through the Ages (Coleman, Danielson and Parry), the Master's textbook for this course.

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