Baadhi ya maandishi haya bado hayajatafsiriwa kwa Kiswahili; sehemu hizo zinaonyeshwa kwa Kiingereza.

Kusoma mitazamo tofauti ya kiteolojia. Masomo ya kihistoria yanaeleza mitazamo ya waandishi wake, ikiwemo mapokeo ya Kiarminiani na ya Kireformed au ya Kikalvini. Kujumuishwa hakufanyi msimamo wa mwandishi kuwa fundisho thabiti la CTS. Soma pamoja na Maandiko na nyenzo zilizopangwa. Jibu lenye hoja kutoka mtazamo mwingine wa kiinjili linapaswa kupimwa kwa hoja zake, si kuadhibiwa kwa sababu tu linatofautiana na mwandishi. Ikiwa alama ya kompyuta inakataa jibu kama hilo, omba CTS ilipitie.

Masomo Yaliyopangwa ya Uzamili (yote matano)

Wanafunzi wa M.Div. na Th.M. husoma masomo yote matano yaliyopangwa na kufanya mtihani wake tofauti baada ya kuanzishwa. Ukurasa wa mtihani unaeleza kanuni ya sasa; ukamilishaji halali wa awali unabaki halali.

Heshima ya Hiari (chagua matatu)

Heshima ni ya hiari kwa kila programu. Wanafunzi wa Cheti na wa Shahada ya Mshiriki wanaweza kusoma masomo matatu ya heshima bila mtihani wa masomo ya lazima. Heshima haichukui nafasi ya mtihani wowote wa Uzamili.

The Master's textbook test: read Sermons on Several Occasions (I–X) — John Wesley, then take its test: twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once. Correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. It is separate from the reading test on the five digests below: passing one does not pass the other. On the M.Div. and Th.M. tracks both tests are being introduced; each test's page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take them, and a pass is kept in your record.

The Master's reading test: separate from the honors invitation below. Honors asks you to read any three of these digests; the Master's test covers all five. It has twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, four from each reading, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once; correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. You may try again after a short wait. The test is being introduced: its page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take it, and a pass is kept in your record.

Chaguo la heshima: Kamilisha masomo matatu yoyote kati ya matano yaliyo hapa chini. Masomo haya yanaongeza kozi na hayachukui nafasi ya sehemu zake wala mitihani yake.

Kwenye tovuti hii: Kila moja ya masomo matano ni muhtasari wa Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala, ulioandikwa na CTS, unaopatikana hapa kwenye tovuti — kila mmoja unafunguka moja kwa moja kutoka ukurasa huu, bila kupakua chochote. Kila kadi inataja kitabu ambacho muhtasari wake umetokana nacho.

Yaliyochaguliwa: 0 kati ya 3

Somo la 1 · Grace and Genuine Faith

Grace the Source, Faith the Condition

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermons I–II (“Salvation by Faith”; “The Almost Christian”), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771)

Preached at Oxford eighteen days after Aldersgate, “Salvation by Faith” declares that grace is the source and faith the condition of a present salvation from guilt, fear and the power of sin. “The Almost Christian” then shows how honesty, outward godliness and even sincerity can fall short of love for God, love for neighbour and living faith.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Muhtasari wa Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — muhtasari asilia ulioandikwa na CTS, unaopatikana kwa Kiingereza, Kihispania na Kifaransa, unaosomeka bila mtandao. Huu ni muhtasari wa CTS, si maandishi kamili ya chanzo asilia.

Neema Chanzo, Imani Sharti: Wokovu kwa Imani na Karibu MkristoGrace the Source, Faith the Condition: Salvation by Faith and The Almost Christian

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala kuhusu mahubiri mawili ya kwanza katika Works zilizokusanywa za Wesley: imani inayookoa ni nini, inatuokoa kutoka katika nini, na kwa nini mtu mnyofu, mwenye dini, bado anaweza kuwa “karibu” tu MkristoA Chapala Theological Seminary reading on the first two sermons in Wesley’s collected Works: what saving faith is, what it saves us from, and why a sincere, religious person can still be only “almost” a Christian

Muhtasari wa CTS wa John Wesley, Hubiri la I, “Wokovu kwa Imani” (Waefeso 2:8), na Hubiri la II, “Karibu Mkristo” (Matendo 26:28), katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, juzuu ya I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermon I, “Salvation by Faith” (Ephesians 2:8), and Sermon II, “The Almost Christian” (Acts 26:28), in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mahubiri I–IISermons I–II
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1738 na 17411738 and 1741
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Mahubiri haya mawili yalihubiriwa kwanza kwa Chuo Kikuu cha Oxford, kwa tofauti ya miaka mitatu. La kwanza linatangaza ujumbe ambao Wesley alikuwa ametoka kuupokea kwa ajili yake mwenyewe: tunaokolewa kwa neema, kwa njia ya imani. La pili linauliza swali gumu kwa kila anayehudhuria kanisa: je, dini yangu ni ile halisi, au iko karibu sana nayo tu? Yasome kama jozi. Moja linaeleza zawadi; jingine linaeleza maisha yanavyoonekana kabla na baada ya zawadi hiyo kupokelewa. A word before you read. These two sermons were first preached to the University of Oxford, three years apart. The first announces the message Wesley had just received for himself: we are saved by grace, through faith. The second asks a hard question of every churchgoer: is my religion the real thing, or only very close to it? Read them as a pair. One describes the gift; the other describes what life looks like before and after the gift is received.

1.Hubiri Lililohubiriwa Siku Kumi na Nane Baada ya Aldersgate1.A Sermon Preached Eighteen Days After Aldersgate

John Wesley (1703–1791) alikuwa kasisi wa Kanisa la Uingereza na mwenzi wa Chuo cha Lincoln, Oxford. Mwaka 1729 yeye na ndugu yake Charles waliongoza kikundi kidogo cha wanafunzi walioketi kuomba, kujifunza Maandiko, kushiriki Meza ya Bwana mara nyingi na kuwatembelea wafungwa. Wanafunzi wengine waliwadhihaki kuwa “Holy Club” (Klabu Takatifu) na “Wamethodisti.” Wesley alikuwa mwenye uzito na nidhamu, lakini hakuwa na amani thabiti. Baada ya utume wa maumivu huko Georgia (1735–1737) na mazungumzo marefu na Wakristo wa Moravia, tarehe 24 Mei 1738 alikwenda kwenye mkutano mdogo katika Mtaa wa Aldersgate, London. Wakati mtu alipokuwa akisoma utangulizi wa Luther wa Warumi, alihisi moyo wake “ukipashwa joto kwa namna ya ajabu” na kupokea uhakikisho kwamba Kristo ameondoa dhambi zake. Tarehe 11 Juni 1738, siku kumi na nane tu baadaye, alihubiri “Wokovu kwa Imani” katika Kanisa la St Mary mbele ya Chuo Kikuu. Wesley alipokusanya mahubiri yake kwa ajili ya kuchapishwa, aliliweka hili kwanza, na bado linafungua juzuu ya kwanza ya Works zake zilizokusanywa, zilizochapishwa Bristol mwaka 1771. Mahubiri haya hayakuwa maandishi ya ibada tu. Mwaka 1763 “Model Deed” (Hati ya Mfano) ya kisheria ya Wesley iliwataka wahubiri Wamethodisti wasifundishe lolote kinyume cha Notes on the New Testament yake na mahubiri yake yaliyochapishwa. Tangu hapo “Mahubiri Sanifu” haya yamewatumikia Wamethodisti kama viwango vya mafundisho, kipimo cha kile ambacho mahubiri ya Kimethodisti yanapaswa kufundisha.John Wesley (1703–1791) was a priest of the Church of England and a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1729 he and his brother Charles led a small group of students who met to pray, study the Scriptures, take Communion often and visit prisoners. Other students mocked them as the “Holy Club” and the “Methodists.” Wesley was serious and disciplined, yet he had no settled peace. After a painful mission to Georgia (1735–1737) and long conversations with Moravian Christians, he went on 24 May 1738 to a small meeting in Aldersgate Street, London. While someone read Luther’s preface to Romans, he felt his heart “strangely warmed” and received an assurance that Christ had taken away his sins. On 11 June 1738, only eighteen days later, he preached “Salvation by Faith” in St Mary’s Church before the University. When Wesley gathered his sermons for publication, he placed it first, and it still opens the first volume of his collected Works, printed in Bristol in 1771. These sermons were not just devotional writing. In 1763 Wesley’s legal “Model Deed” required Methodist preachers to teach nothing contrary to his Notes on the New Testament and his published sermons. Since then these “Standard Sermons” have served Methodists as doctrinal standards, a measure of what Methodist preaching should teach.

2.Neema Kabla ya Kila Kitu2.Grace Before Everything

Wesley haanzi na juhudi za wanadamu bali na ukarimu wa Mungu. Kila baraka ambayo Mungu ametoa ni “kwa neema yake tupu,” fadhili zake za bure na zisizostahiliwa. Neema ilituumba kutoka mavumbini, inatudumisha hai leo, na hutenda lolote jema linalopatikana ndani yetu. Kwa hiyo mwenye dhambi hana cha kuleta. Hata kazi zetu bora zinahitaji msamaha, kwa sababu zinaota kutoka katika mti mbovu. Kisha linakuja sentensi inayofupisha hubiri lote: “Neema ndiyo chanzo, imani ndiyo sharti, la wokovu.” Zingatia mpangilio. Imani si malipo yanayopata neema; ni mkono ulio wazi unaoipokea. Mafundisho ya Kiwesley ya baadaye yanataja sehemu moja zaidi ya kweli hii. Wesley alisema “neema itanguliayo” (preventing grace), akitumia neno prevent kwa maana yake ya zamani ya Kiingereza ya “kwenda kabla.” Sasa kwa kawaida tunaiita neema itanguliayo (prevenient grace): neema ya Mungu inayomfikia kila mtu kabla hajamtafuta Mungu. Inaamsha dhamiri, inavuta moyo, na kurejesha uhuru wa kutosha ili mtu aweze kuitikia. Katika teolojia ya Kiwesley hakuna anayemjia Mungu peke yake; Mungu amekuwa daima wa kwanza kusogea.Wesley begins not with human effort but with God’s generosity. Every blessing God has given is “of his mere grace,” his free and undeserved favour. Grace formed us from the dust, keeps us alive today, and works whatever good is found in us. A sinner therefore has nothing to bring. Even our best works need forgiveness, because they grow from a corrupt tree. Then comes the sentence that sums up the whole sermon: “Grace is the source, faith the condition, of salvation.” Notice the order. Faith is not a payment that earns grace; it is the open hand that receives it. Later Wesleyan teaching names one more part of this truth. Wesley spoke of “preventing grace,” using prevent in its old English sense of “going before.” We now usually call it prevenient grace: the grace of God that reaches every person before he or she seeks God. It awakens the conscience, draws the heart, and restores enough freedom for a person to respond. In Wesleyan theology nobody comes to God on his own; God has always moved first.

3.Ni Imani Gani Inayookoa?3.What Faith Is It That Saves?

Wesley anasafisha njia kwa kusema imani inayookoa si nini. Si tu imani ya “mpagani,” anayeamini kwamba Mungu yuko na huwapa thawabu wanaomtafuta na kwamba wema wa kimaadili ni muhimu. Si imani ya shetani, ajuaye vema kwamba Yesu ni Mwana wa Mungu na kutetemeka. Si hata imani ambayo mitume walikuwa nayo kabla ya msalaba, walipokuwa wameacha vyote kumfuata Yesu lakini hawakuwa wameelewa bado kifo chake na ufufuo wake. Imani inayookoa ni imani katika Kristo, na katika Mungu kupitia Kristo. Si “kukubali kwa baridi bila uhai, mfululizo wa mawazo kichwani,” bali ni “mwelekeo wa moyo.” Inaitumainia fadhili za maisha ya Kristo, kifo chake na ufufuo wake. Wesley anatumia neno la zamani, “recumbency” (kuegemea), kwa hili: kuegemeza uzito wako wote juu ya Kristo, kama mtu aliyechoka anavyopumzisha mwili wake kitandani. Imani ni kuamini kwamba Injili ni kweli na kumtegemea yule ambaye Injili inamtoa.Wesley clears the ground by saying what saving faith is not. It is not merely the faith of a “Heathen,” who believes that God exists and rewards those who seek him and that moral virtue matters. It is not the faith of a devil, who knows very well that Jesus is the Son of God and trembles. It is not even the faith the apostles had before the cross, when they had left everything to follow Jesus but did not yet understand his death and resurrection. Saving faith is faith in Christ, and in God through Christ. It is not “a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head,” but “a disposition of the heart.” It trusts the merit of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Wesley uses an old word, “recumbency,” for this: leaning one’s whole weight on Christ, the way a tired man rests his body on a bed. Faith is both believing that the gospel is true and resting on the One the gospel offers.

4.Wokovu wa Sasa kutoka Katika Hatia, Hofu na Nguvu4.A Present Salvation from Guilt, Fear and Power

Imani hii inatuokoa kutoka katika nini? Jibu la Wesley ni la ujasiri: ni wokovu wa sasa. Paulo hasemi “mtaokolewa” bali “mmeokolewa.” Kwa neno moja, tunaokolewa kutoka dhambini. Kwanza tunaokolewa kutoka katika hatia ya dhambi zote zilizopita, kwa sababu Kristo amebeba laana kwa ajili yetu na hakuna hukumu kwa wale wanaoamini. Pili, tunaokolewa kutoka katika hofu. Wesley anatofautisha hofu ya kimwana (filial), hofu ya upendo ya mtoto asiyetaka kumhuzunisha mzazi, na hofu ya kitumwa (servile), woga wa mtumwa wa adhabu. Waumini wanapoteza ya pili, si ya kwanza. Wanaokolewa kutoka katika hofu ya kuanguka, Wesley anaongeza, ingawa si kutoka katika uwezekano wake. Tatu, waumini wanaokolewa kutoka katika nguvu ya dhambi. Akitumia 1 Yohana, Wesley anasema kwamba aliyezaliwa na Mungu hatendi dhambi ya mazoea wala ya makusudi, na hupinga tamaa za dhambi “zikiwa bado zinazaliwa.” Hapa Wakristo wengi wa Matengenezo (Reformed) hawakubaliani katika mambo mawili. Wanafundisha kwamba waumini wa kweli bila shaka watadumu, na wanatilia shaka kwamba waumini huwa huru kutoka dhambini katika maisha haya. Wesley mwenyewe atapunguza makali ya lugha yake katika Somo la 4. Lakini kiini cha dai lake ni wazi. Injili inatoa kuzaliwa upya sasa, si msamaha wa baadaye tu.What does this faith save us from? Wesley’s answer is bold: it is a present salvation. Paul does not say “you shall be saved” but “you are saved.” In one word, we are saved from sin. First we are saved from the guilt of all past sin, because Christ has borne the curse for us and there is no condemnation for those who believe. Second, we are saved from fear. Wesley distinguishes a filial fear, the loving fear of a child who does not want to grieve a parent, from servile fear, the slave’s dread of punishment. Believers lose the second, not the first. They are saved from the fear of falling away, Wesley adds, though not from its possibility. Third, believers are saved from the power of sin. Using 1 John, Wesley says that one born of God does not commit habitual or wilful sin, and resists sinful desires “in the birth.” Here many Reformed Christians disagree on two points. They teach that true believers will certainly persevere, and they doubt that believers are ever free from sin in this life. Wesley himself will qualify his language in Reading 4. But the heart of his claim is clear. The gospel offers new birth now, not only pardon for later.

5.Kujibu Pingamizi5.Answering the Objections

Sehemu ya mwisho ya Hubiri la I inajibu wakosoaji. Je, kuhubiri imani peke yake kunadhoofisha utakatifu? Hapana, kwa sababu imani anayoihubiri Wesley huzaa matendo mema. Je, kunawafanya watu wawe na kiburi? Kunaweza, lakini kujisifu kumeondolewa, kwa kuwa imani na wokovu vyote ni “kipawa cha Mungu.” Je, watu watatenda dhambi ili neema izidi? Baadhi watafanya, lakini wanyofu wataongozwa kwenye toba. Je, kutawafikisha watu kwenye kukata tamaa? Ndiyo, kukata tamaa kwa fadhili zao wenyewe, ambapo ndipo hasa kumtegemea Kristo kunapoanzia. Je, ni fundisho lisilo na faraja? Kinyume chake, ndilo pekee lenye faraja. Wesley anamtaja Zakayo, mtoza ushuru asiye mwaminifu, na Maria Magdalene, na anamsikia msikilizaji akisema, “Basi mimi, hata mimi, ninaweza kutumaini rehema!” Mwishowe, baadhi walisema wokovu kwa imani haupaswi kuhubiriwa kwa kila mtu. Tuwaache nje akina nani, Wesley anauliza? Si maskini, wasio na elimu, vijana wala wenye dhambi. Anamaliza kwa kuunganisha ujumbe wake na Matengenezo ya Kanisa. Homilia za Kanisa la Uingereza zenyewe ziliita fundisho hili “mwamba imara na msingi” wa dini ya Kikristo, na Martin Luther alikuwa ameufufua.The last section of Sermon I answers critics. Does preaching faith alone undermine holiness? No, because the faith Wesley preaches produces good works. Does it make people proud? It may, but boasting is excluded, since both the faith and the salvation are “the gift of God.” Will people sin so that grace may abound? Some will, but the sincere will be led to repentance. Will it drive people to despair? Yes, to despair of their own merits, which is exactly where trust in Christ begins. Is it an uncomfortable doctrine? On the contrary, it is the only comforting one. Wesley names Zacchaeus, the dishonest tax collector, and Mary Magdalene, and hears a hearer say, “Then I, even I, may hope for mercy!” Finally, some said salvation by faith should not be preached to everyone. Whom should we leave out, Wesley asks? Not the poor, the unlearned, the young or sinners. He ends by linking his message to the Reformation. The Church of England’s own Homilies called this doctrine “the strong rock and foundation” of Christian religion, and Martin Luther had revived it.

6.Karibu Mkristo6.The Almost Christian

Miaka mitatu baadaye, tarehe 25 Julai 1741, Wesley alihubiri tena katika St Mary, sasa juu ya maneno ya Mfalme Agripa kwa Paulo: “Kidogo wanisadikisha kuwa Mkristo.” Wesley anaorodhesha kile ambacho karibu Mkristo anacho. Kwanza, “uaminifu wa kipagani”: haki, ukweli na wema wa kawaida, ambao hata wapagani wa kale walitarajia. Pili, “umbo la utauwa”: kuepuka yale ambayo Injili inayakataza, kutenda mema kwa juhudi ya kweli, kuhudhuria ibada kwa heshima, kupokea Meza ya Bwana, na kusali pamoja na familia na faraghani. Tatu, na ya kushangaza zaidi, unyofu: shauku ya kweli ya kumpendeza Mungu. Je, mtu anaweza kwenda mbali hivi na bado awe karibu tu Mkristo? Wesley anajibu kutokana na maisha yake mwenyewe. Anakiri kwamba kwa miaka mingi alifanya mambo haya yote kwa unyofu, na dhamiri yake bado ilimwambia kwamba alikuwa “karibu tu Mkristo.” Msemo wa zamani unaonya kwamba kuzimu kumewekwa lami kwa nia njema. Basi ni nini kinachomfanya mtu kuwa Mkristo kabisa? Upendo wa Mungu unaojaza moyo wote; upendo wa jirani, maadui wakiwemo, kama Kristo alivyotupenda; na, kama msingi wa vyote viwili, imani. Akinukuu Homilia tena, Wesley anafafanua imani hii kuwa “tumaini la hakika na kuegemea” kwamba kwa fadhili za Kristo dhambi zangu zimesamehewa. Imani hiyo, “ikitenda kazi kwa upendo,” inamfanya mtu kuwa Mkristo kabisa.Three years later, on 25 July 1741, Wesley preached again at St Mary’s, now on King Agrippa’s words to Paul: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Wesley lists what an almost Christian has. First, “heathen honesty”: justice, truthfulness and ordinary kindness, which even the ancient pagans expected. Second, the “form of godliness”: avoiding what the gospel forbids, doing good with real effort, attending worship reverently, receiving the Lord’s Supper, and praying with the family and in private. Third, and most surprising, sincerity: a real desire to please God. Can someone go this far and still be only almost a Christian? Wesley answers from his own life. He confesses that for many years he did all these things sincerely, and his conscience still told him he was “but almost a Christian.” An old saying warns that hell is paved with good intentions. What, then, makes a person altogether a Christian? Love of God that fills the whole heart; love of neighbour, enemies included, as Christ loved us; and, as the ground of both, faith. Quoting the Homilies again, Wesley defines this faith as “a sure trust and confidence” that through Christ’s merits my sins are forgiven. That faith, “working by love,” makes a person altogether a Christian.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kiwesley Anachochukua Kutoka Humo Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Mahubiri haya yamesimama kichwani mwa familia kubwa ya makanisa. Kutoka katika jamii za Wesley zilikuja Umethodisti wa Uingereza na wa Marekani. Kutoka katika uamsho wa utakatifu wa karne ya kumi na tisa ilikuja Kanisa la Nazarene, Kanisa la Wesleyan na Kanisa la Free Methodist. Leo wanachama wengi wa makanisa hayo wanaishi Amerika ya Kilatini na Afrika: Wamethodisti huko Meksiko, Brazil na Chile, makutaniko ya Nazarene kutoka Guatemala hadi Peru, na makanisa makubwa ya Kimethodisti na ya Wesleyan huko Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya na Msumbiji. Mchungaji katika mahali popote kati ya hapo anaweza kujifunza masomo kadhaa hapa. Kwanza, hubiri neema kwanza. Kila jema huanza na Mungu. Pili, fafanua imani kwa uangalifu. Watu wengi katika viti vyetu vya kanisani hukubali imani ya kanisa lakini hawajamtumainia Kristo wenyewe kamwe. Tatu, chukulia “Karibu Mkristo” kwa uzito, ukianza na wewe mwenyewe. Uaminifu wa Wesley kuhusu miaka yake ya dini ya unyofu lakini isiyokamilika unampa mchungaji ruhusa ya kusema vivyo hivyo. Nne, weka msamaha na uzima mpya pamoja, kama Wesley alivyofanya. Wakristo wa Matengenezo (Reformed) na Walutheri wanashiriki furaha ya Wesley katika kuhesabiwa haki kwa imani peke yake. Wanatofautiana juu ya kama neema inaweza kupingwa, kama waumini wanaweza kuanguka, na ni kiasi gani cha uhuru kutoka dhambini cha kutarajia katika maisha haya. Hizi ni tofauti za kweli miongoni mwa ndugu na dada wanaokubaliana juu ya msingi: kwa neema mmeokolewa, kwa njia ya imani.These sermons stand at the head of a great family of churches. From Wesley’s societies came British and American Methodism. From the holiness revivals of the nineteenth century came the Church of the Nazarene, the Wesleyan Church and the Free Methodist Church. Today many of their members live in Latin America and Africa: Methodists in Mexico, Brazil and Chile, Nazarene congregations from Guatemala to Peru, and large Methodist and Wesleyan churches in Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Mozambique. A pastor in any of these places can learn several lessons here. First, preach grace first. Everything good starts with God. Second, define faith carefully. Many people in our pews accept the creed but have never trusted Christ for themselves. Third, take “The Almost Christian” seriously, beginning with yourself. Wesley’s honesty about his own years of sincere but incomplete religion gives a pastor permission to say the same. Fourth, keep pardon and new life together, as Wesley did. Reformed and Lutheran Christians share Wesley’s joy in justification by faith alone. They differ over whether grace can be resisted, whether believers can fall away, and how much freedom from sin to expect in this life. These are real differences among brothers and sisters who agree on the foundation: by grace you are saved, through faith.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Je, imani yako ni mkusanyiko wa mawazo kichwani mwako, au ni kumtumainia Kristo kwa kuegemeza uzito wako wote juu yake? Angalia alama tatu za Wesley za karibu Mkristo: uaminifu, umbo la utauwa, na unyofu. Ni ipi kati ya hizo ambayo mtu angeweza kuiona ndani yako? Ni ipi inayoweza kuficha kukosekana kwa upendo kwa Mungu? Na ni nani katika kusanyiko lako anayeweza kuwa anaishi maisha ya “karibu” Mkristo, akisubiri mtu amwambie kwa upole kwamba kuna zaidi? For reflection. Is your faith a set of ideas in your head, or a trust that leans its whole weight on Christ? Look at Wesley’s three marks of the almost Christian: honesty, the form of godliness, and sincerity. Which of them could someone see in you? Which could hide the absence of love for God? And who in your congregation might be living “almost” a Christian life, waiting for someone to tell them gently that there is more?

Chagua

Somo la 2 · Awakening and Scriptural Christianity

Awake, Thou That Sleepest

A CTS digest of Sermons III–IV (Charles Wesley, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest”; John Wesley, “Scriptural Christianity”), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771)

Two University sermons from the 1740s. Charles Wesley describes the respectable sleeper who has the form of godliness without its power and calls him to wake and receive the Holy Spirit. John Wesley traces Scriptural Christianity from one heart to the whole earth, then asks Oxford, and every reader, whether such Christianity can be found among them.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Amka, Wewe Ulalaye: Mlalaji Aliyeamshwa na Ukristo wa KimaandikoAwake, Thou That Sleepest: The Sleeper Awakened and Scriptural Christianity

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala kuhusu mahubiri mawili yaliyohubiriwa kwa Chuo Kikuu cha Oxford katika miaka ya 1740: mwito wa kuamka kutoka usingizi wa kiroho, na picha ya Ukristo wa Biblia iliyowekwa kama kioo mbele ya taifa linalodai kuwa la Kikristo kwa jina tuA Chapala Theological Seminary reading on two sermons preached to the University of Oxford in the 1740s: a call to wake from spiritual sleep, and a portrait of the Christianity of the Bible held up as a mirror to a nominally Christian nation

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Hubiri la III, “Amka, Wewe Ulalaye” (Waefeso 5:14), na Hubiri la IV, “Ukristo wa Kimaandiko” (Matendo 4:31), katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, juzuu ya I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of Sermon III, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest” (Ephesians 5:14), and Sermon IV, “Scriptural Christianity” (Acts 4:31), in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mahubiri III–IVSermons III–IV
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1742 na 17441742 and 1744
Charles na John WesleyCharles and John Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Haya ni mahubiri ya dharura zaidi katika mkusanyo huu. La kwanza liliandikwa na ndugu mdogo wa John, Charles Wesley, mtunzi mkuu wa nyimbo. La pili ni hubiri lililofunga mimbari ya St Mary, Oxford, kwa John milele. Yote mawili yanasema na watu waliobatizwa, wenye elimu na wenye heshima, na yote mawili yanasisitiza kwamba hilo si sawa na kuwa hai kwa Mungu. Yasome polepole. Yamekusudiwa kusumbua kabla ya kufariji. A word before you read. These are the most urgent sermons in the collection. The first was written by John’s younger brother, Charles Wesley, the great hymn writer. The second is the sermon that closed the pulpit of St Mary’s, Oxford, to John for good. Both speak to people who were baptized, educated and respectable, and both insist that this is not the same as being alive to God. Read them slowly. They are meant to disturb before they comfort.

1.Mahubiri Mawili Yaliyohubiriwa kwa Chuo Kikuu1.Two Sermons Preached to a University

Kufikia mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1740 uamsho wa Kimethodisti ulikuwa umeshika kasi. Mwezi Aprili 1739, kwa msukumo wa George Whitefield, John Wesley alikuwa ameanza kuhubiri nje wazi karibu na Bristol, kwa wachimba migodi na vibarua ambao mara chache waliingia katika kanisa la parokia. Jamii ziliundwa Bristol na London, na Wesley alizipanga katika “madarasa” madogo kwa ajili ya maombi ya kila juma na kutunzana. Hata hivyo akina Wesley bado walikuwa makasisi wa Kanisa la Uingereza, na wenzi wa Oxford walitarajiwa kuhubiri kwa zamu kwa Chuo Kikuu. Tarehe 4 Aprili 1742 Charles Wesley alihubiri “Amka, Wewe Ulalaye” katika St Mary. John alilijumuisha katika mkusanyo wake mwenyewe, na limehesabiwa miongoni mwa Mahubiri Sanifu tangu hapo, kwa hiyo Wamethodisti kwa muda mrefu wamelitendea kama sehemu ya urithi wao wa mafundisho. Tarehe 24 Agosti 1744 John alihubiri “Ukristo wa Kimaandiko” katika mimbari hiyo hiyo. Maswali yake ya kumalizia kwa wakuu wa vyuo, makasisi na wanafunzi yalisababisha kosa kubwa hata hakualikwa tena kuhubiri huko. Mahubiri haya mawili yanaonyesha ujumbe wa uamsho katika umbo lake lililo wazi kabisa: Ukristo wa kweli ni uzima mpya unaotolewa na Roho Mtakatifu, si dini yenye heshima tu.By the early 1740s the Methodist revival was well under way. In April 1739, at George Whitefield’s urging, John Wesley had begun preaching in the open air near Bristol, to miners and labourers who seldom entered a parish church. Societies formed in Bristol and London, and Wesley organized them into small “classes” for weekly prayer and mutual care. Yet the Wesleys were still clergy of the Church of England, and Oxford fellows were expected to take turns preaching to the University. On 4 April 1742 Charles Wesley preached “Awake, Thou That Sleepest” at St Mary’s. John included it in his own collection, and it has been counted among the Standard Sermons ever since, so Methodists have long treated it as part of their doctrinal inheritance. On 24 August 1744 John preached “Scriptural Christianity” in the same pulpit. Its closing questions to the heads of colleges, the clergy and the students caused such offence that he was never invited to preach there again. These two sermons show the revival’s message in its plainest form: real Christianity is a new life given by the Holy Spirit, not merely a respectable religion.

2.Mlalaji: Hali Yetu ya Asili2.The Sleeper: Our Natural State

Charles anachukua picha ya Paulo katika Waefeso 5:14 na kumweleza mlalaji. Usingizi, asema, unaashiria “hali ya asili ya mwanadamu”: usingizi mzito wa roho ambao dhambi ya Adamu imewatumbukiza watoto wake wote. Mlalaji hajui hali yake halisi. Akiwa amejaa magonjwa, anajidhania mzima; akiwa amefungwa minyororo, anaota yu huru. Haoni haja ya “lile jambo moja la lazima,” badiliko lile la ndani, kuzaliwa kutoka juu, ambalo bila hilo hakuna atakayemwona Bwana. Charles anaeleza kwa uangalifu kwamba mlalaji mzito zaidi mara nyingi si mwenye dhambi wa aibu. Anaweza kuwa mwenda kanisani mtulivu, mwenye akili, mwenye tabia njema, au Mfarisayo mwenye bidii na mafundisho sahihi ambaye hufunga, hutoa na kuhudhuria kila ibada. Mtu kama huyo ana “umbo la utauwa” lakini amekana nguvu yake. Kristo anamfananisha na kaburi lililopakwa chokaa: zuri kwa nje, lililokufa ndani. Kama mifupa mikavu katika Ezekieli, ana mishipa na ngozi, lakini hana pumzi. Mbaya zaidi, mlalaji hana hisia za kiroho. Hawezi kuonja kwamba Bwana ni mwema, na kwa hiyo anaona uzoefu wa kiroho kuwa upumbavu na kuuliza, “Yawezekanaje mambo haya?”Charles takes Paul’s image in Ephesians 5:14 and describes the sleeper. Sleep, he says, signifies “the natural state of man”: the deep sleep of the soul into which Adam’s sin has cast all his children. The sleeper does not know his real condition. Full of disease, he thinks himself healthy; chained, he dreams he is free. He does not see the need of the “one thing needful,” the inward change, the birth from above, without which no one shall see the Lord. Charles is careful to say that the deepest sleeper is often not a scandalous sinner. He may be a quiet, reasonable, good-natured churchgoer, or a zealous, orthodox Pharisee who fasts, gives and attends every service. Such a person has “a form of godliness” but denies its power. Christ compares him to a painted sepulchre: beautiful outside, dead within. Like the dry bones in Ezekiel, he has sinews and skin, but no breath. Worse, the sleeper has no spiritual senses. He cannot taste that the Lord is gracious, and so he treats spiritual experience as foolishness and asks, “How can these things be?”

3.“Amka!” na Ahadi ya Nuru3.“Awake!” and the Promise of Light

Sehemu ya pili ni wito wa dharura. Charles anamfananisha mlalaji na Petro katika gereza la Herode, aliyefungwa kati ya askari usiku kabla ya kuuawa kwake, na anaomba kwamba malaika wa Bwana amgonge ili aamke. Anarudia maneno ya Augustino: Mungu alituumba kwa ajili yake mwenyewe, kwa hiyo hatuwezi kupumzika hata tupumzike ndani yake. Kisha anaulizia mfululizo wa maswali. Je, umepata tena mfano wa Mungu? Je, Kristo ameumbwa ndani yako? Zaidi ya yote, “Je, umempokea Roho Mtakatifu?” Mkristo, Charles anasisitiza, ni mtu aliyetiwa mafuta kwa Roho. Dini ya kweli ni “uzima wa Mungu katika roho ya mwanadamu” (msemo aliokopa kutoka kwa mwandishi Mskoti Henry Scougal), mbingu iliyoanza duniani, haki, amani na furaha katika Roho Mtakatifu. Anawakataa kwa ukali wale wanaokubali “msaada” wa kimya wa Roho lakini wanakana kwamba mwamini anaweza kuhisi au kujua uwepo wake. Sala za Kanisa la Uingereza zenyewe zinaomba kujazwa Roho. Hubiri linaisha kwa ahadi ya andiko: “Kristo atakuangazia.” Yeyote anayeamka na kufufuka atasamehewa, atahesabiwa haki bure kwa imani, atatakaswa kwa imani, na kufanywa makao ya Mungu.The second part is an urgent summons. Charles compares the sleeper to Peter in Herod’s prison, chained between soldiers on the night before his execution, and prays that the angel of the Lord will strike him awake. He echoes Augustine: God created us for himself, so we cannot rest until we rest in him. Then he presses a series of questions. Have you recovered the image of God? Is Christ formed in you? Above all, “Hast thou received the Holy Ghost?” A Christian, Charles insists, is one anointed with the Spirit. True religion is “the life of God in the soul of man” (a phrase borrowed from the Scottish writer Henry Scougal), heaven begun on earth, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. He sharply rejects those who allow the Spirit’s quiet “assistance” but deny that a believer can feel or know his presence. The Church of England’s own prayers ask to be filled with the Spirit. The sermon ends with the promise of the text: “Christ shall give thee light.” Whoever wakes and rises will be forgiven, justified freely through faith, sanctified through faith, and made a dwelling place of God.

4.Ukristo wa Kimaandiko Huanza ndani ya Mtu4.Scriptural Christianity Begins in a Person

Hubiri la John linaanza na Matendo 4:31: “wakajazwa Roho Mtakatifu wote.” Anaweka kando swali la karama za ajabu, kama kuponya, miujiza na lugha. Hata katika kanisa la kwanza, anaona, Mungu aliziwagawia “kwa mkono wa ukali,” labda kwa mmoja katika elfu. Roho aliwajaza waumini wote kwa kusudi kubwa zaidi: kuwapa nia ya Kristo na tunda la Roho. Kisha Wesley anautazama Ukristo “si kama unavyomaanisha mkusanyiko wa maoni,” bali kama unavyogusa mioyo na maisha ya watu. Anaufuatilia katika hatua tatu: ukianza katika mtu mmoja mmoja, ukienea kutoka kwa mmoja hadi mwingine, na hatimaye ukiifunika dunia. Katika mtu mmoja mmoja, huanza msikilizaji wa Petro anapochomwa moyoni, anatubu, na kuamini. Anapokea Roho wa kufanywa wana na analia “Aba, Baba.” Ana amani inayofukuza hofu, hata hofu ya kifo, na furaha katika ushuhuda wa Roho. Anampenda Mungu, na kwa hiyo anampenda kila mtu, adui zake wakiwemo. Anakuwa mnyenyekevu, mpole na mkweli. Anadumu katika mafundisho ya mitume, katika kuumega mkate na katika sala, na anajitumia kutenda mema kwa maskini, wagonjwa na wafungwa.John’s sermon starts from Acts 4:31: “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” He sets aside the question of the extraordinary gifts, such as healing, miracles and tongues. Even in the early church, he notes, God gave them “with a sparing hand,” perhaps to one in a thousand. The Spirit filled all believers for a greater purpose: to give them the mind of Christ and the fruit of the Spirit. Wesley then looks at Christianity “not as it implies a set of opinions,” but as it touches people’s hearts and lives. He traces it in three stages: beginning in individuals, spreading from one to another, and finally covering the earth. In the individual, it starts when a hearer of Peter is cut to the heart, repents, and believes. He receives the Spirit of adoption and cries “Abba, Father.” He has peace that drives out fear, even the fear of death, and joy in the witness of the Spirit. He loves God, and therefore loves every person, including his enemies. He becomes humble, gentle and truthful. He continues in the apostles’ teaching, in the breaking of bread and in prayer, and he spends himself doing good to the poor, the sick and the prisoner.

5.Kuenea, Kuteseka na Kuifunika Dunia5.Spreading, Suffering and Covering the Earth

Watu kama hao hawawezi kuiweka nuru chini ya pishi. Upendo kwa wale ambao Kristo alikufa kwa ajili yao huwatuma kwenda kuonya, kualika na kutia moyo. Kwa wasiojali wanalia, “Amka wewe usinziaye”; kwa walioamshwa wanazungumza juu ya Kristo, Mwombezi wetu; na wanawahimiza waumini waendelee kuelekea utakatifu. Matokeo ni ukuaji na upinzani vyote viwili. Watu wa anasa, wenye kiburi, wafanyabiashara ambao mapato yao yanatishiwa na, zaidi ya wote, watu wa dini ya nje tu, hukwazika. Dhuluma hufuata, hata hivyo mateso ya waaminifu husema kwa sauti kuu kuliko maneno yao. Hivi karibuni, Wesley anakiri, magugu yalitokea pamoja na ngano, na kanisa likaharibika. Lakini hamalizii kwa huzuni. Akitumia Isaya na Warumi 11, anaeleza “ulimwengu wa Kikristo” unaokuja ambamo vita vinakoma, dhuluma inaisha, wote wanapendana kama ndugu na dada, na dunia inajaa maarifa ya Bwana. Tumaini hili, ambalo nyakati nyingine huitwa “matumaini ya neema” ya Wesley, linapenya katika mapokeo yote ya Kiwesley. Neema ya Mungu inaweza kubadilisha si mioyo tu bali jamii nzima.Such people cannot keep the light under a bushel. Love for those for whom Christ died sends them out to warn, invite and encourage. To the careless they cry, “Awake, thou that sleepest”; to the awakened they speak of Christ, our Advocate; and they urge believers on toward holiness. The result is both growth and opposition. Pleasure-seekers, the proud, tradesmen whose income is threatened and, most of all, the people of merely outward religion are offended. Persecution follows, yet the sufferings of the faithful speak louder than their words. Soon, Wesley admits, the weeds appeared among the wheat, and the church became corrupt. But he does not end in gloom. Drawing on Isaiah and Romans 11, he describes a coming “Christian world” in which wars cease, oppression ends, all love as brothers and sisters, and the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord. This hope, sometimes called Wesley’s “optimism of grace,” runs through the whole Wesleyan tradition. God’s grace can change not only hearts but whole communities.

6.Matumizi ya Wazi6.The Plain Application

Kisha Wesley anaigeuza picha kuwa kioo. Ukristo huu unapatikana wapi? Ni nchi ipi iliyojazwa Roho Mtakatifu na isiyoacha mtu kupungukiwa na kitu? Anahitimisha kwamba “hatujapata kamwe kuona nchi ya Kikristo duniani.” Kisha anauliza kama Oxford yenyewe ni mji wa Kikristo. Anawaomba wasikilizaji wake wazingatie kwamba hatoi “mawazo ya pekee” bali misingi ya Ukristo wa pamoja. Anauliza kwa zamu mahakimu; wakuu wa vyuo, wanaohusika na kuwaunda vijana; wenzi, ambao mara nyingi hushtakiwa kuwa na kiburi na kutokuwa na manufaa; makasisi, akiuliza kama roho zozote zimehuishwa kwa mahubiri yao; na wanafunzi, ambao wengi wao waliapa kuzishika kanuni ambazo hawakuwahi kuzisoma, na ambao anawaita kizazi cha “wapuuzi.” Anajumuisha nafsi yake katika shtaka hilo. Mwishowe anauliza ni nani angeweza kuurejesha Ukristo wa Kimaandiko, na anamaliza kwa sala: “Bwana, tuokoe au tunaangamia!” Chuo Kikuu kilisikia hubiri hilo kama tusi. Wesley aliamini lilikuwa tendo la upendo.Then Wesley turns the picture into a mirror. Where does this Christianity exist? Which country is filled with the Holy Spirit and lets no one lack anything? He concludes that “we have never yet seen a Christian country upon earth.” Next he asks whether Oxford itself is a Christian city. He begs his hearers to notice that he is not raising “peculiar notions” but the basics of common Christianity. He questions in turn the magistrates; the heads of colleges, responsible for forming the young; the fellows, often accused of pride and uselessness; the clergy, asking whether any souls have been brought to life through their preaching; and the students, many of whom swore to statutes they never read, and whom he calls a generation of “triflers.” He includes himself in that charge. Finally he asks who could possibly restore Scriptural Christianity, and ends with a prayer: “Lord, save or we perish!” The University heard the sermon as an insult. Wesley believed it was an act of love.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kiwesley Anachochukua Kutoka Humo Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Mahubiri haya yanahusu kipindi fulani, lakini maswali yake husafiri vizuri. Makanisa ya Kimethodisti, Nazarene, Wesleyan na Free Methodist katika Amerika ya Kilatini na Afrika mara nyingi huhudumu mahali ambapo karibu kila mtu amebatizwa na wengi ni Wakristo kwa jina tu. Katika mazingira hayo picha ya Charles ya mlalaji mwenye heshima bado ni sahihi kwa kuumiza. Mchungaji anaweza kuchukua masomo kadhaa kutoka kurasa hizi. Kwanza, hubiri kwa ajili ya kuamsha, si kwa ajili ya taarifa tu; watu wanahitaji kuiona hali yao ya kweli. Pili, usichanganye kamwe dini na kuzaliwa upya. Kuhudhuria, mafundisho sahihi na matendo mema si sawa na uzima wa Mungu katika roho. Tatu, weka lengo kwenye tunda la Roho badala ya karama za ajabu. Wesley hakukana karama wala hakuzifanya kipimo cha Mkristo. Nne, tumia Injili kwa jamii nzima, ikijumuisha viongozi, walimu na makasisi, na uanze na wewe mwenyewe. Wakristo wengine hutoa tahadhari za haki. Waanglikana wengi wa siku za Wesley, na Wakristo wa Matengenezo (Reformed) tangu hapo, wameonya kwamba kusisitiza uzoefu unaohisiwa kunaweza kuleta kiburi au shaka kwa wale wanaohisi kidogo. Wesley alilichukulia hili kwa uzito, kama Somo la 5 litakavyoonyesha, huku akiendelea kusisitiza kwamba Roho anaweza kujulikana.These sermons belong to a moment, but their questions travel well. Methodist, Nazarene, Wesleyan and Free Methodist churches across Latin America and Africa often minister in places where nearly everyone is baptized and many are only nominally Christian. In that setting Charles’s picture of the respectable sleeper is still painfully accurate. A pastor can take several lessons from these pages. First, preach for awakening, not only for information; people need to see their true condition. Second, never confuse religion with the new birth. Attendance, orthodoxy and good works are not the same as the life of God in the soul. Third, keep the focus on the fruit of the Spirit rather than on extraordinary gifts. Wesley neither denied the gifts nor made them the test of a Christian. Fourth, apply the gospel to the whole community, including leaders, teachers and clergy, and begin with yourself. Other Christians raise fair cautions. Many Anglicans of Wesley’s day, and Reformed believers since, have warned that emphasizing felt experience can lead to pride or to doubt in those who feel little. Wesley took this seriously, as Reading 5 will show, while still insisting that the Spirit can be known.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Charles Wesley anasema walalaji wazito zaidi mara nyingi ni washiriki wenye heshima wa kanisa. Wapi wewe, au kusanyiko lako, mnaweza kuwa na umbo la utauwa bila nguvu zake? Je, unaweza kujibu swali lake, “Je, umempokea Roho Mtakatifu?” Na kama John Wesley angekuja kuhubiri katika mji wako, angeuliza maswali gani kwa viongozi wake, walimu wake na wachungaji wake? For reflection. Charles Wesley says the deepest sleepers are often respectable church members. Where might you, or your congregation, have the form of godliness without its power? Can you answer his question, “Hast thou received the Holy Ghost?” And if John Wesley came to preach in your town, what questions would he put to its leaders, its teachers and its pastors?

Chagua

Somo la 3 · Justification by Faith

God Justifies the Ungodly

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermons V–VI (“Justification by Faith”; “The Righteousness of Faith”), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771)

Wesley’s clearest teaching on justification: not being made righteous, but pardon, the forgiveness of sins, which God gives to the ungodly on the one condition of faith. He contrasts the covenant of works, “Do this and live,” with the covenant of grace, “Believe and live,” and urges seekers not to wait until they feel good enough.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Mungu Humhesabia Haki Asiye Mcha Mungu: Kuhesabiwa Haki kwa Imani na Haki ya ImaniGod Justifies the Ungodly: Justification by Faith and The Righteousness of Faith

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala kuhusu mahubiri mawili ya Wesley yaliyo makini zaidi juu ya kuhesabiwa haki: ni nini na si nini, Mungu humhesabia haki nani, sharti pekee ambalo kwalo anafanya hivyo, na tofauti kati ya “Fanya hivi uishi” na “Amini uishi”A Chapala Theological Seminary reading on Wesley’s two most careful sermons on justification: what it is and is not, whom God justifies, the one condition on which he does it, and the difference between “Do this and live” and “Believe and live”

Muhtasari wa CTS wa John Wesley, Hubiri la V, “Kuhesabiwa Haki kwa Imani” (Warumi 4:5), na Hubiri la VI, “Haki ya Imani” (Warumi 10:5–8), katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, juzuu ya I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermon V, “Justification by Faith” (Romans 4:5), and Sermon VI, “The Righteousness of Faith” (Romans 10:5–8), in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mahubiri V–VISermons V–VI
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Yalichapishwa 1746Published 1746
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Katika mahubiri haya Wesley mwinjilisti anakuwa Wesley mwalimu. Anafafanua istilahi zake, anajibu pingamizi na hata kuweka hoja ya hatua tatu (syllogism). Mtindo wake wa uangalifu usifiche uchangamfu ulio chini yake. Mahubiri yote mawili yanaisha kwa kumgeukia msomaji kwa mwaliko: mjie Mungu kama ulivyo, na uamini. A word before you read. In these sermons Wesley the evangelist becomes Wesley the teacher. He defines his terms, answers objections and even sets out a syllogism, an argument in three steps. Do not let the careful style hide the warmth underneath. Both sermons end by turning to the reader with an invitation: come to God just as you are, and believe.

1.Swali Ambalo Tumaini Lote Linalitegemea1.The Question on Which All Hope Rests

“Jinsi mwenye dhambi anavyoweza kuhesabiwa haki mbele za Mungu” ni, Wesley anasema, msingi wa tumaini letu lote. Maadamu tuko katika uadui na Mungu, hakuwezi kuwa na amani ya kweli wala furaha thabiti. Hata hivyo maswali machache yamechanganywa kama hili. Wesley aliandika mahubiri haya kwa juzuu ya kwanza ya Sermons on Several Occasions yake (1746). Katika dibaji yake alisema alitaka kutoa “kweli rahisi kwa watu wa kawaida,” akiepuka maonyesho ya kielimu ili wakulima, wachimba migodi na watumishi waweze kufuata. Mahubiri haya yakawa kiini cha “Mahubiri Sanifu” ya Kimethodisti. Mwaka 1763 Model Deed ya Wesley ilimtaka kila mhubiri katika kanisa la Kimethodisti kutofundisha lolote kinyume nayo na Notes on the New Testament yake. Umethodisti wa Marekani ulipojipanga, ulilinda “viwango vyake vilivyowekwa vya mafundisho” mwaka 1808 kwa kanuni ambayo kanisa haliwezi kuibadilisha kwa urahisi. Makanisa mengi ya Kimethodisti katika Amerika ya Kilatini na Afrika yalipokea viwango hivi kupitia wamisionari, na shule za Nazarene na Wesleyan bado zinavifundisha kama maelezo ya kawaida ya urithi wao. Kwa maneno mengine, anayosema Wesley hapa kuhusu kuhesabiwa haki si maoni ya mtu mmoja. Ni mafundisho ambayo makanisa mazima yaliahidi kuyahubiri.“How a sinner may be justified before God” is, Wesley says, the foundation of all our hope. As long as we are at enmity with God, there can be no true peace or solid joy. Yet few questions have been so confused. Wesley wrote these sermons for the first volume of his Sermons on Several Occasions (1746). In its preface he said he wanted to give “plain truth for plain people,” avoiding learned display so that farmers, miners and servants could follow. These sermons became the core of the Methodist “Standard Sermons.” In 1763 Wesley’s Model Deed required every preacher in a Methodist chapel to teach nothing contrary to them and to his Notes on the New Testament. When American Methodism organized itself, it protected its “established standards of doctrine” in 1808 by a rule that the church cannot easily change. Many Methodist churches in Latin America and Africa received these standards through missionaries, and Nazarene and Wesleyan schools still teach them as classic statements of their heritage. In other words, what Wesley says about justification here is not one man’s opinion. It is the doctrine that whole churches promised to preach.

2.Msingi wa Jumla: Wawakilishi Wawili2.The General Ground: Two Representatives

Wesley anaanza na hadithi kuu. Mungu aliumba wanadamu kwa mfano wake: watakatifu, wenye upendo, na wenye furaha ndani yake. Kwa kiumbe huyu mnyofu alimpa sheria kamilifu, sheria ya upendo iliyoandikwa moyoni, pamoja na amri moja kuhusu mti. Adamu alimwasi, na siku ile alikufa kiroho, akatengwa na Mungu, na kuwa wa kufa. Kwa kuwa Adamu alikuwa “baba wa pamoja na mwakilishi wa sisi sote,” anguko lake lilileta dhambi na hukumu kwa jamii yote. Kisha, katika utimilifu wa wakati, Mungu alimtoa Mwanawe kama “kichwa kingine cha pamoja cha wanadamu,” Adamu wa pili. Kristo alibeba dhambi zetu juu ya mti na kutoa, kwa maneno ya Kitabu cha Sala, “dhabihu kamili, timilifu na ya kutosha” kwa dhambi za ulimwengu wote. Kwa sababu hiyo, Mungu amewapa watu wote agano jipya. Sharti lake la wazi, “ambalo yeye mwenyewe pia hutuwezesha kulitimiza,” ni imani. Zingatia mambo mawili ya msisitizo wa Kiwesley yaliyopo tayari. Kristo alikufa kwa ajili ya wote, si baadhi tu. Na hata sharti la imani linawezeshwa na neema. Hapa Wesley anatengana na mafundisho ya Matengenezo (Reformed) juu ya upatanisho wenye kikomo, huku akishiriki imani yao kwamba wokovu ni kazi ya Mungu kabisa.Wesley begins with the big story. God made humanity in his image: holy, loving, and happy in him. To this upright creature he gave a perfect law, the law of love written on the heart, together with one command about the tree. Adam disobeyed, and in that day he died spiritually, separated from God, and became mortal. Because Adam was “the common father and representative of us all,” his fall brought sin and condemnation to the whole race. Then, in the fullness of time, God gave his Son as “another common head of mankind,” a second Adam. Christ bore our sins on the tree and made, in the words of the Prayer Book, a “full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice” for the sins of the whole world. Because of this, God has given all people a new covenant. Its plain condition, “which himself also enables us to perform,” is faith. Notice two Wesleyan emphases already present. Christ died for all, not only for some. And even the condition of faith is made possible by grace. This is where Wesley parts company with Reformed teaching on limited atonement, while sharing its belief that salvation is entirely God’s work.

3.Kuhesabiwa Haki Ni Nini, na Mungu Humhesabia Haki Nani3.What Justification Is, and Whom God Justifies

Wesley kwanza anasema kuhesabiwa haki si nini. Si kufanywa kweli mwenye haki; huo ni utakaso, ambao hufuata kama tunda lake. Katika tofauti mashuhuri, kuhesabiwa haki ni yale Mungu “anayotufanyia” kwa njia ya Mwanawe; utakaso ni yale anayo“tenda ndani yetu” kwa Roho wake. Wala kuhesabiwa haki hakumaanishi kwamba Mungu anadanganywa, kwamba anatufikiria kuwa bora kuliko tulivyo, au kwamba “anatuchanganya” na Kristo. Basi ni nini? “Wazo la wazi la Kimaandiko la kuhesabiwa haki ni msamaha, kusamehewa dhambi.” Kwa ajili ya damu ya upatanisho ya Kristo, Mungu husamehe dhambi zetu zilizopita, hatazihesabu dhidi yetu, na tangu wakati huo anatupenda na kutubariki kana kwamba hatukutenda dhambi kamwe. Na Mungu humhesabia haki nani? Jibu la Paulo ni la kushangaza: “wasiomcha Mungu.” Wenye dhambi tu ndio wanaohitaji msamaha. Wale wanaosema lazima tuwe watakatifu kabla ya kuhesabiwa haki wamegeuza mpangilio, kwa maana hiyo ingemaanisha kwamba Kristo anaondoa dhambi ambazo tayari zimeondolewa. Wesley anaongeza, akifuata Kifungu cha XIII cha Kanisa la Uingereza, kwamba kazi zilizofanywa kabla ya kuhesabiwa haki, hata zikiwa na manufaa kwa wengine, si njema kweli machoni pa Mungu, kwa sababu hazitokani na upendo kwa Mungu kama Baba. Hata anaeleza hili kama hoja ya hatua tatu. Hoja si kudharau wema, bali kuonyesha kwamba hatuleti kwa Mungu kitu chochote chetu.Wesley first says what justification is not. It is not being made actually righteous; that is sanctification, which follows as its fruit. In a famous contrast, justification is what God “does for us” through his Son; sanctification is what he “works in us” by his Spirit. Nor does justification mean that God is deceived, that he thinks us better than we are, or that he “confounds” us with Christ. What, then, is it? “The plain scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sins.” For the sake of Christ’s atoning blood, God remits our past sins, will not hold them against us, and from that moment loves and blesses us as if we had never sinned. And whom does God justify? Paul’s answer is startling: “the ungodly.” Only sinners need pardon. Those who say we must be holy before we can be justified have the order backwards, for that would mean Christ takes away only sins already taken away. Wesley adds, following Article XIII of the Church of England, that works done before justification, however useful to others, are not truly good in God’s sight, because they do not spring from love to God as Father. He even sets this out as a three-step argument. The point is not to despise kindness, but to show that we bring God nothing of our own.

4.Kwa Masharti Gani? Imani Peke Yake4.On What Terms? Faith Alone

Mwenye dhambi asiye mcha Mungu anahesabiwa haki kwa sharti gani? Kwa moja tu: imani. Imani kwa ujumla ni “ushahidi” au usadikisho wa kimungu wa mambo yasiyoonekana; Wesley anatumia neno la Kigiriki la Paulo, elenchos. Imani ya kuhesabiwa haki inaongeza “tumaini la hakika na kuegemea” kwamba Kristo alikufa kwa ajili ya dhambi zangu na alinipenda mimi. Wesley anazinukuu Homilia za Kanisa la Uingereza zenyewe kuonyesha kwamba hili si fundisho jipya. Imani ni sharti la lazima, kwa kuwa bila hiyo hakuna anayehesabiwa haki, ana kitu kingine kiasi gani. Pia ni sharti pekee la lazima, kwa kuwa yeyote aliye nayo anahesabiwa haki, hata akikosa kila kitu kingine. Fikiria mwenye dhambi, asiye na msaada wala tumaini, anayejitupa kabisa juu ya rehema ya Mungu katika Kristo (ambayo anaweza kufanya kwa neema tu). Nani angeweza kutia shaka kwamba amesamehewa saa ile? Kwa nini Mungu alichagua imani? Wesley hathubutu kumhoji Mungu, lakini anapendekeza sababu moja: kumficha mwanadamu kiburi. Kiburi kiliwaangamiza malaika na Adamu; imani haileti kitu wala haitetei kitu ila Kristo. Anaongeza sentensi nzuri: wema wowote ambao mwamini anao baada ya kuamini kwa mara ya kwanza, imani haupati bali inauleta. Kwanza mti hufanywa mwema, kisha tunda.On what condition is the ungodly person justified? On one alone: faith. Faith in general is a divine “evidence” or conviction of things not seen; Wesley uses Paul’s Greek word elenchos. Justifying faith adds “a sure trust and confidence” that Christ died for my sins and loved me. Wesley quotes the Church of England’s own Homilies to show that this is not a new teaching. Faith is the necessary condition, because without it no one is justified, whatever else he has. It is also the only necessary condition, because whoever has it is justified, whatever else he lacks. Picture a sinner, helpless and hopeless, who casts himself wholly on God’s mercy in Christ (which he can do only by grace). Who could doubt he is forgiven in that moment? Why did God choose faith? Wesley does not presume to question God, but suggests one reason: to “hide pride from man.” Pride ruined angels and Adam; faith brings nothing and pleads nothing but Christ. He adds a lovely line: whatever good a believer has after he first believes, faith does not find it but brings it. First the tree is made good, then the fruit.

5.Maagano Mawili: “Fanya Hivi Uishi” na “Amini Uishi”5.Two Covenants: “Do This and Live” and “Believe and Live”

Hubiri la VI linaeleza Warumi 10. Paulo hamweki Musa dhidi ya Kristo, kwa kuwa ananukuu Musa kwa sehemu zote mbili za hoja yake. Anatofautisha maagano mawili. Agano la matendo halikutolewa kwa Musa bali kwa Adamu katika paradiso. Masharti yake yalikuwa “Fanya hivi uishi”: utii kamilifu, wa ndani na wa nje, kamilifu katika kiwango na usiokatizwa kamwe. Agano la neema, ambalo Mungu ameliweka katika kila kizazi tangu ahadi ya kwanza baada ya anguko hadi Injili, linasema “Amini uishi.” La kwanza lilidhania mtu aliye mtakatifu na mwenye furaha tayari, na kumwambia jinsi ya kudumu hivyo. La pili linamsemea mtu asiye mtakatifu na asiye na furaha, aliye chini ya ghadhabu ya Mungu, na kumwambia jinsi ya kupata tena alichopoteza: kibali na mfano wa Mungu, “lulu aliyoipoteza.” La kwanza lilitudai tulipe bei wenyewe; katika la pili, Mungu husamehe bure kwa kuwa Kristo ameilipa. La kwanza linaomba kilicho mbali; la pili linatoa kilicho karibu, “kinywani mwako na moyoni mwako.” Kwa hiyo ni upumbavu kutafuta uzima kwa haki yetu wenyewe, kwa kuwa uvunjaji mmoja wa sheria unaua tumaini hilo. Ni hekima kuikubali njia ya Mungu, kwa sababu inaeleza kweli kuhusu hali yetu, kwa sababu Mungu ameichagua, na kwa sababu inaongoza kwenye lengo bora zaidi, furaha katika Mungu.Sermon VI explains Romans 10. Paul is not setting Moses against Christ, since he quotes Moses for both parts of his argument. He is contrasting two covenants. The covenant of works was given not to Moses but to Adam in paradise. Its terms were “Do this and live”: perfect obedience, inward and outward, perfect in degree and never interrupted. The covenant of grace, which God has offered in every age from the first promise after the fall to the gospel, says “Believe and live.” The first assumed a person already holy and happy, and told him how to stay so. The second addresses someone unholy and unhappy, under God’s wrath, and tells him how to recover what he has lost: the favour and image of God, “the pearl he has lost.” The first required us to pay the price ourselves; in the second, God freely forgives because Christ has paid it. The first asks what is far away; the second offers what is near, “in thy mouth and in thy heart.” It is therefore foolish to seek life by our own righteousness, since one breach of the law ends that hope. It is wisdom to accept God’s way, because it tells the truth about our condition, because God has chosen it, and because it leads to the best end, happiness in God.

6.“Kwanza Amini”: Usingoje Kuwa Mwema Vya Kutosha6.“First Believe”: No Waiting to Be Good Enough

Wesley anamaliza kwa shauri la kichungaji la upole kwa wanaotafuta wanaoendelea kuahirisha imani. Usiseme, “Lazima kwanza nishinde kila dhambi, niende kanisani zaidi, niombe zaidi.” Hilo bado ni kujaribu kujenga juu ya haki yako mwenyewe. “Hapana, bali kwanza amini.” Usiseme, “Mimi si mwema vya kutosha.” Hakuna aliyewahi kuwa, nawe tayari u mbaya vya kutosha kuhitaji Mwokozi. Usiseme, “Mimi si mwenye majuto vya kutosha.” Labda Mungu atakufanya uwe na majuto zaidi si kabla ya kuamini, bali kwa kuamini; wale waliosamehewa mengi hupenda sana. Usiseme, “Lazima nifanye jambo zaidi kwanza,” wala kungoja unyofu zaidi ili ujifanye ustahili. Wesley ananukuu mstari wa shairi la wimbo, “Ee Mwana-Kondoo wa Mungu, je, kuliko kuwako maumivu kama yako, kuliko kuwako upendo kama wako!” na kumhimiza msomaji amtazame Kristo hadi upendo wa Kristo uuvunje moyo mgumu. Hubiri linaisha kwa mwaliko wa kuja “kama ulivyo,” maneno ambayo wimbo wa baadaye, “Just as I am” (1835) wa Charlotte Elliott, ungeyafanya yajulikane kwa mamilioni. Katika mahubiri ya Kiwesley, toba na matendo mema ni muhimu sana, lakini kamwe si ushuru ambao lazima tuulipe kabla hatujaruhusiwa kumjia Kristo.Wesley closes with tender pastoral advice to seekers who keep postponing faith. Do not say, “I must first conquer every sin, go to church more, pray more.” That is still trying to build on your own righteousness. “Nay, but first believe.” Do not say, “I am not good enough.” Nobody ever was, and you are already bad enough to need a Saviour. Do not say, “I am not contrite enough.” Perhaps God will make you more contrite not before you believe, but by believing; those who are forgiven much love much. Do not say, “I must do something more first,” or wait for greater sincerity to make yourself worthy. Wesley quotes a line of hymn verse, “O Lamb of God, was ever pain, was ever love like thine!” and urges the reader to look at Christ until Christ’s love breaks the hard heart. The sermon ends with an invitation to come “just as thou art,” words that a later hymn, Charlotte Elliott’s “Just as I am” (1835), would make familiar to millions. In Wesleyan preaching, repentance and good works matter greatly, but they are never a toll we must pay before we may come to Christ.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kiwesley Anachochukua Kutoka Humo Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Kila mchungaji hukutana na watu wanaodhani lazima wasafishe maisha yao kabla Mungu hajawakubali, na wengine wanaodhani matendo yao mema yamekwisha kupata mbingu. Mahubiri haya yanajibu yote mawili. Mchungaji wa Kiwesley anaweza kuchukua masomo kadhaa. Kwanza, weka kuhesabiwa haki na utakaso tofauti lakini pamoja: Mungu husamehe kwanza kisha hufanya upya. Pili, hubiri kwa wasiomcha Mungu kama wasiomcha Mungu. Injili ni kwa wenye dhambi, si kwa walio wema tayari. Tatu, ita imani sasa, si baadaye. Nne, wasilisha msalaba kuwa ni kwa ajili ya wote, ili msikilizaji yeyote asijiulize kama Kristo alikufa kwa ajili yake. Ni haki kutaja ambapo wengine hutofautiana. Wanateolojia wa Matengenezo (Reformed) na Walutheri kwa kawaida hueleza kuhesabiwa haki kama msamaha na pia kuhesabiwa (imputation) kwa haki ya Kristo mwenyewe kwa mwamini. Wesley hapa alikuwa mwangalifu na lugha iliyoonekana kumfanya Mungu “afikiri” tuko wenye haki wakati sivyo, akihofia kwamba ingeweza kuhalalisha maisha ya kutojali. Katika hubiri la baadaye, “The Lord Our Righteousness” (1765), alikubali kuhesabiwa kwa haki ya Kristo kwa maana ya uangalifu, huku akionya dhidi ya matumizi mabaya. Wakristo wa Matengenezo pia hushikilia kwamba imani hupewa wateule tu, wakati Wawesley wanaamini neema inamwezesha kila msikilizaji kuitikia. Mapokeo yote mawili yanakubaliana juu ya jambo la kuamua: Mungu humhesabia haki asiye mcha Mungu kwa neema, kwa njia ya imani, kwa ajili ya Kristo peke yake.Every pastor meets people who think they must clean up their lives before God will accept them, and others who think their good works have already earned heaven. These sermons answer both. A Wesleyan pastor can take away several lessons. First, keep justification and sanctification distinct but together: God forgives first and then makes new. Second, preach to the ungodly as ungodly. The gospel is for sinners, not for the already good. Third, call for faith now, not later. Fourth, present the cross as being for all, so that no hearer wonders whether Christ died for him. It is fair to note where others differ. Reformed and Lutheran theologians usually describe justification as both pardon and the imputation, or crediting, of Christ’s own righteousness to the believer. Wesley here was wary of language that seemed to make God “think” us righteous when we are not, fearing it could excuse careless living. In a later sermon, “The Lord Our Righteousness” (1765), he accepted the imputation of Christ’s righteousness in a careful sense, while still warning against misuse. Reformed Christians also hold that faith is given only to the elect, while Wesleyans believe grace enables every hearer to respond. Both traditions agree on the decisive point: God justifies the ungodly by grace through faith, for Christ’s sake alone.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Je, umewahi kudhani lazima uwe mwema vya kutosha kabla Mungu hajakukubali? Ni udhuru upi wa Wesley (“si mwema vya kutosha,” “si mwenye majuto vya kutosha,” “jambo zaidi kwanza”) unaousikia mara nyingi zaidi katika huduma yako? Ungeelezaje, kwa maneno rahisi kwa mtu wa kawaida, tofauti kati ya yale Mungu anayotufanyia sisi na yale anayotenda ndani yetu? Na ni lini mara ya mwisho ulipomwalika mtu aamini tu, kama alivyo? For reflection. Have you ever thought you had to become good enough before God would accept you? Which of Wesley’s excuses (“not good enough,” “not contrite enough,” “something more first”) do you hear most often in your ministry? How would you explain, in plain words to a plain person, the difference between what God does for us and what he works in us? And when did you last invite someone simply to believe, just as they are?

Chagua

Somo la 4 · The Kingdom and the First Fruits

Righteousness, Peace and Joy

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermons VII–VIII (“The Way to the Kingdom”; “The First-Fruits of the Spirit”), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771)

True religion is not forms, outward deeds or right opinions, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, entered by repentance and faith. Wesley then explains why there is no condemnation for those in Christ: not for past sins, remaining inward sin, infirmities or things they cannot help, while weighing sins of surprise with pastoral care.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Haki, Amani na Furaha: Njia ya Kuuendea Ufalme na Malimbuko ya RohoRighteousness, Peace and Joy: The Way to the Kingdom and The First-Fruits of the Spirit

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala kuhusu dini ya kweli kama utawala wa Mungu moyoni, njia ya kuingia ndani yake kwa toba na imani, na faraja ya uangalifu ambayo Wesley anawapa waumini wanaoendelea kuhisi dhambi ndani yaoA Chapala Theological Seminary reading on true religion as the reign of God in the heart, the way into it through repentance and faith, and the careful comfort Wesley gives to believers who still feel sin within

Muhtasari wa CTS wa John Wesley, Hubiri la VII, “Njia ya Kuuendea Ufalme” (Marko 1:15), na Hubiri la VIII, “Malimbuko ya Roho” (Warumi 8:1), katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, juzuu ya I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermon VII, “The Way to the Kingdom” (Mark 1:15), and Sermon VIII, “The First-Fruits of the Spirit” (Romans 8:1), in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mahubiri VII–VIIISermons VII–VIII
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Miaka ya 17401740s
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Hubiri la kwanza ni hubiri la mwinjilisti: linawaambia wanaotafuta dini ya kweli ni nini na jinsi ya kuingia ndani yake. Hubiri la pili ni hubiri la mchungaji: linawaambia waumini jinsi ya kuelewa kushindwa kwao bila kuruhusu dhambi wala kukata tamaa. Kwa pamoja yanaonyesha usawaziko unaoashiria mafundisho ya Kiwesley juu ya wokovu: matumaini makubwa juu ya yale neema inayoweza kutenda, pamoja na utunzaji wa upole kwa waumini dhaifu. A word before you read. The first sermon is an evangelist’s sermon: it tells seekers what true religion is and how to enter it. The second is a pastor’s sermon: it tells believers how to understand their failures without either excusing sin or losing heart. Together they show the balance that marks Wesleyan teaching on salvation: high hopes for what grace can do, joined to tender care for weak believers.

1.Mahubiri kwa Shamba na kwa Jumuiya1.Sermons for the Field and for the Society

Katika miaka ya 1740 Wesley alihubiri karibu kila siku, mara nyingi nje na mara nyingi mara kadhaa kwa siku, akisafiri maelfu ya maili kwa farasi kila mwaka. Maneno ya Yesu katika Marko 1:15, “Ufalme wa Mungu umekaribia; tubuni, na kuiamini Injili,” yalikuwa miongoni mwa maandiko aliyoyapenda kwa makutano yaliyojua kidogo juu ya imani. Walioitikia hawakuachwa peke yao. Walijiunga na jumuiya ya Kimethodisti na kukutana kila wiki katika darasa la watu kama kumi na wawili, ambapo kiongozi alimwuliza kila mmoja roho yake inaendeleaje. Katika madarasa hayo Wesley alikutana na waumini wengi wanyofu waliosumbuliwa na dhambi walizoendelea kuziona ndani yao wenyewe. “Malimbuko ya Roho” liliandikwa kwa ajili yao. Mahubiri yote mawili ni ya juzuu ya kwanza ya Sermons on Several Occasions (1746), na yote mawili ni sehemu ya Mahubiri Sanifu, ambayo wahubiri wa Kimethodisti walifungwa na Model Deed ya Wesley ya mwaka 1763 kuyafuata. Yakisomwa pamoja, yanaonyesha Wesley akitoka shambani wazi, ambapo ufalme unatangazwa, hadi mkutano wa darasa, ambapo waumini wanajifunza kuenenda ndani yake.During the 1740s Wesley preached almost every day, often outdoors and often several times a day, riding thousands of miles on horseback each year. Jesus’ words in Mark 1:15, “The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel,” were among his favourite texts for crowds who knew little of the faith. Those who responded were not left alone. They joined a Methodist society and met weekly in a class of about twelve, where a leader asked each one how his or her soul was prospering. In those classes Wesley met many sincere believers troubled by the sin they still found inside themselves. “The First-Fruits of the Spirit” was written for them. Both sermons belong to the first volume of Sermons on Several Occasions (1746), and both are part of the Standard Sermons, which Methodist preachers were bound by Wesley’s 1763 Model Deed to follow. Read together, they show Wesley moving from the open field, where the kingdom is announced, to the class meeting, where believers learn to walk in it.

2.Dini ya Kweli: Si Desturi, Si Matendo, Si Maoni2.True Religion: Not Forms, Not Deeds, Not Opinions

Wesley anafafanua dini ya kweli kwa maneno ya Paulo katika Warumi 14:17: “Kwa maana ufalme wa Mungu si kula wala kunywa; bali ni haki na amani na furaha katika Roho Mtakatifu.” Kwanza anaondoa makosa matatu. Dini ya kweli haimo katika desturi au sherehe za nje, hata nzuri. Ni misaada yenye faida “mahali pake,” lakini haina thamani yenyewe. Wala haimo katika matendo ya nje. Watu wawili wanaweza kulisha wenye njaa, mmoja kwa upendo wa Mungu na mwingine kwa kupenda sifa; ni wa kwanza tu aliye mcha Mungu kweli. Na la kushangaza zaidi, haimo katika imani sahihi ya kiorthodoksi, yaani maoni sahihi. Mtu anaweza kukubali kanuni zote tatu za imani na kutetea kila fundisho, Wesley anasema, na kuwa karibu orthodoksi kama shetani, huku akiwa mgeni wa dini ya moyo. Hii si kukataa mafundisho; Wesley alijali sana ukweli. Ni onyo kwamba mawazo sahihi akilini si sawa na moyo uliofanywa upya na Mungu. Dini huishi katika “mtu aliyefichwa wa moyoni.”Wesley defines true religion with Paul’s words in Romans 14:17: “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” First he clears away three mistakes. True religion does not consist in outward forms or ceremonies, even good ones. They are useful helps “in their place,” but they have no worth in themselves. Nor does it consist in outward actions. Two people may both feed the hungry, one from love of God and the other from love of praise; only the first is truly religious. Most strikingly, it does not consist in orthodoxy, or right opinions. A person may accept all three creeds and defend every doctrine, Wesley says, and be almost as orthodox as the devil, while remaining a stranger to the religion of the heart. This is not a rejection of doctrine; Wesley cared deeply about truth. It is a warning that correct ideas in the mind are not the same as a heart renewed by God. Religion lives in “the hidden man of the heart.”

3.Haki, Amani na Furaha katika Roho Mtakatifu3.Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost

Basi dini ya kweli ni nini? Kwanza, haki, ambayo Wesley anaifafanua kwa amri mbili kuu. Tunampenda Mungu kwa moyo wetu wote, tukipata furaha yetu yote ndani yake, na tunampenda jirani yetu kama nafsi zetu. Wesley anaeleza kwamba “jirani” maana yake ni kila binadamu, wakiwemo wageni, wasio na shukrani na wanaotutesa. Upendo huu ni “utimilifu wa sheria” na chanzo cha wema wote wa ndani na wa nje. Pili, amani: amani ya Mungu ambayo ulimwengu hauwezi kuipa wala kuiondoa. Huondoa shaka, kwa kuwa Roho hushuhudia kwamba sisi ni watoto wa Mungu, na huondoa hofu inayotesa, hata hofu ya kifo. Tatu, furaha katika Roho Mtakatifu: shangwe tulivu, nyenyekevu katika Mungu kwa upatanisho tuliopokea, na tumaini la utukufu ujao. Wesley anaiita hii “utakatifu na furaha vimeunganishwa kuwa kimoja.” Inaitwa ufalme wa Mungu kwa sababu ni tunda la Mungu kutawala rohoni, na ufalme wa mbinguni kwa sababu ni, kwa kiwango fulani, “mbingu iliyofunguliwa rohoni.” Ananukuu wimbo wa ndugu yake: utukufu umeanza duniani. Na ufalme huu “umekaribia.” Popote Injili inapohubiriwa, mtu yeyote anaweza kuingia ndani yake saa hii hii.What, then, is true religion? First, righteousness, which Wesley defines by the two great commandments. We love God with all our heart, finding all our happiness in him, and we love our neighbour as ourselves. Wesley explains that “neighbour” means every human being, including strangers, the ungrateful and our persecutors. This love is “the fulfilling of the law” and the source of all inward and outward goodness. Second, peace: the peace of God that the world cannot give or take away. It removes doubt, because the Spirit bears witness that we are God’s children, and it removes tormenting fear, even the fear of death. Third, joy in the Holy Spirit: a calm, humble rejoicing in God for the reconciliation we have received, and hope of the glory to come. Wesley calls this “holiness and happiness joined in one.” It is called the kingdom of God because it is the fruit of God reigning in the soul, and the kingdom of heaven because it is, in a degree, “heaven opened in the soul.” He quotes his brother’s hymn: glory is on earth begun. And this kingdom is “at hand.” Wherever the gospel is preached, anyone may enter it this very hour.

4.Njia ya Kuingia: Tubuni na Kuamini4.The Way In: Repent and Believe

Njia ya kuingia katika ufalme ina hatua mbili. Ya kwanza ni toba, ambayo Wesley anaifafanua kwa urahisi: “jijue mwenyewe.” Toba hii ya kwanza, kabla ya imani, ni kusadikishwa dhambi, yaani kujijua. Maana yake ni kuona kwamba asili yote ya mtu imeharibika: akili iliyotiwa giza, mapenzi yaliyoachana na Mungu, hisia zilizotawanyika duniani. Katika shina hili hukua kutoamini, kiburi, hasira na kila neno na tendo ovu. Maana yake ni kutambua kwamba mshahara wa dhambi ni mauti, kwamba hatuwezi kufanya kitu chochote kulipia hata dhambi moja, na kwamba hatuwezi kuubadilisha moyo wetu wenyewe kuliko tunavyoweza kufufua wafu. Wakati mwingine Wawesley hushutumiwa kuwa wanaiwazia vyema sana asili ya mwanadamu. Kurasa hizi zinajibu shutuma hiyo. Maelezo ya Wesley juu ya dhambi ya asili ni meusi kama ya mhubiri yeyote wa Matengenezo (Reformed); tumaini lake linategemea neema kabisa. Wakati huzuni, aibu na hamu ya dhati ya kuokoka vinapoongezwa katika usadikisho huu, anayetafuta yuko “si mbali na ufalme wa Mungu.” Kisha huja hatua ya pili: “kuiamini Injili.” Imani si kukubali tu Biblia au kanuni ya imani, ambayo mashetani nao wanayo. Ni kuegemea kwa hakika rehema ya Mungu kupitia Kristo, usadikisho kwamba Mwana wa Mungu alinipenda na alijitoa kwa ajili yangu. Pamoja na imani hiyo huja amani, furaha, upendo na tunda lote la Roho.The way into the kingdom has two steps. The first is repentance, which Wesley defines simply: “know yourselves.” This first repentance, before faith, is conviction, or self-knowledge. It means seeing that one’s whole nature is corrupt: an understanding darkened, a will turned away from God, affections scattered over the earth. From this root grow unbelief, pride, anger and every evil word and deed. It means recognizing that the wages of sin is death, that we can do nothing to atone for even one sin, and that we cannot change our own hearts any more than we can raise the dead. Wesleyans are sometimes accused of thinking too well of human nature. These pages answer that charge. Wesley’s account of original sin is as dark as any Reformed preacher’s; his hope rests entirely on grace. When to this conviction are added sorrow, shame and an earnest desire to escape, the seeker is “not far from the kingdom of God.” Then comes the second step: “believe the gospel.” Faith is not bare assent to the Bible or the creed, which devils also have. It is a sure trust in God’s mercy through Christ, a conviction that the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. With that faith comes peace, joy, love and the whole fruit of the Spirit.

5.Walio Ndani ya Kristo Yesu5.Those Who Are in Christ Jesus

Hubiri la pili linaanza na Warumi 8:1, ahadi ya Paulo ya “hakuna hukumu ya adhabu kwa wale walio ndani ya Kristo Yesu,” ambao huenenda kwa Roho, si kwa mwili. Wesley anaona kwamba mstari huu mara nyingi umepotoshwa na watu wasiojali ili kuhalalisha dhambi, kwa hiyo anauelezea kwa uangalifu. Walio “ndani ya Kristo” ni wale wanaomwamini na kuungana naye kama matawi na mzabibu. “Mwili,” kwa matumizi ya Paulo, maana yake ni asili ya binadamu iliyoharibika. Walio ndani ya Kristo hawaenendi kufuata mwili huo. Ingawa bado wanahisi “shina la uchungu” ndani, wana nguvu itokayo juu ya kuendelea kulikanyaga. Wesley hata anasahihisha tafsiri ya King James ya Wagalatia 5:17. Paulo hasemi kwamba mwili huwazuia waumini wasifanye wanayotaka, kana kwamba mwili ndio hushinda daima. Roho humpinga mwili ili waumini wasihitaji kufanya yale mwili unayoyatamani. Wale wanaoenenda kufuata Roho huongozwa kwenye upendo kwa Mungu na jirani, maneno ya neema na tunda lote la Roho.The second sermon begins with Romans 8:1, Paul’s promise of “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” who walk by the Spirit rather than the flesh. Wesley notes that this verse had often been twisted by careless people to excuse sin, so he explains it carefully. Those “in Christ” are those who believe in him and are united to him as branches to a vine. “The flesh,” in Paul’s usage, means corrupt human nature. Those in Christ do not walk after it. Though they still feel “the root of bitterness” within, they have power from on high to keep trampling it down. Wesley even corrects the King James translation of Galatians 5:17. Paul does not say the flesh keeps believers from doing what they would, as if the flesh always won. The Spirit opposes the flesh so that believers need not do what the flesh desires. Those who walk after the Spirit are led into love for God and neighbour, gracious speech and the whole fruit of the Spirit.

6.Hakuna Hukumu ya Adhabu: Visa vya Uangalifu vya Wesley6.No Condemnation: Wesley’s Careful Cases

Hakuna hukumu ya adhabu kwa waumini kama hao kwa njia gani? Wesley anapitia mfululizo wa visa kwa usahihi wa mchungaji. Hakuna hukumu kwa dhambi zilizopita, ambazo Mungu amezitupa vilindini vya bahari. Hakuna kwa dhambi za sasa, kwa sababu wale wanaoenenda kufuata Roho hawazitendi. Kisha inakuja kukiri muhimu. Hakuna hukumu kwa dhambi ya ndani ambayo “sasa inabaki,” kama mbegu za kiburi, hasira au kujipendelea, maadamu mwamini haikubali. Paulo aliwaita Wakorintho “watoto wachanga katika Kristo”: kweli ndani ya Kristo, lakini wenye dhambi nyingi zilizobaki. Wala waumini hawahukumiwi wanapoona dhambi ikiambatana na maombi na ibada zao bora; hili huwasukuma karibu zaidi na Wakili wao. Hawahukumiwi kwa “dhambi za udhaifu,” ambazo Wesley angependelea kuziita udhaifu: mapungufu yasiyo ya hiari, kama kusema kitu cha uongo tunachokiamini kuwa kweli. Wala hawahukumiwi kwa yale wasiyoweza kuyazuia, kama kukosa Meza ya Bwana kwa sababu ya ugonjwa. Mwishowe, “dhambi za kushtukiza,” zinazotendwa chini ya jaribu la ghafla, huleta hatia kubwa au ndogo kulingana na kiasi ambacho mapenzi yanakubali. Ikiwa kutojali kwetu kuliacha mlango wazi kwa mshtuko huo, anguko ni la makusudi kwa kweli. Wesley anamaliza kwa kuwaelekeza waumini zaidi ya hali hii mchanganyiko: Mungu ameahidi “kuwatakasa kabisa.”How is there no condemnation for such believers? Wesley works through a series of cases with a pastor’s precision. There is no condemnation for past sins, which God has cast into the depths of the sea. There is none for present sins, because those who walk after the Spirit are not committing them. Next comes the important admission. There is no condemnation for inward sin that “does now remain,” such as seeds of pride, anger or self-will, as long as the believer does not yield to it. Paul called the Corinthians “babes in Christ”: truly in Christ, yet with much sin remaining. Nor are believers condemned when they find sin clinging to their best prayers and worship; this only drives them closer to their Advocate. They are not condemned for “sins of infirmity,” which Wesley would rather call infirmities: involuntary failings, such as saying something false that we believe true. Nor are they condemned for what they cannot help, such as missing the Lord’s Supper through sickness. Finally, “sins of surprise,” committed under sudden temptation, bring more or less guilt according to how far the will consents. If careless neglect left us open to the surprise, the fall is in effect wilful. Wesley closes by pointing believers beyond this mixed state: God has promised to “sanctify you wholly.”

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kiwesley Anachochukua Kutoka Humo Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Mahubiri haya yanampa mchungaji zana mbili. Ya kwanza ni ufafanuzi wazi wa dini ya kweli, wa kutumia dhidi ya ibada tupu za kawaida na orthodoksi kavu. Wakristo wengi katika Amerika ya Kilatini na Afrika wamekua katika makanisa yaliyojaa sherehe, na wengine katika makanisa yaliyojaa mabishano; Wesley anawaelekeza wote kwenye utawala wa Mungu moyoni. Zana ya pili ni teolojia ya kichungaji ya uangalifu juu ya dhambi kwa waumini. Inalinda dhidi ya antinomianism, wazo kwamba neema hufanya utii usiwe wa lazima, na dhidi ya kuwa na dhamiri ya wasiwasi iliyozidi, ambayo huona kila udhaifu kuwa wa kuhukumu. Kanuni ya Wesley kwa yule anayeanguka kwa udhaifu ni ya upole na ya vitendo: usilale hapo ukihangaika; simama uendelee kukimbia mbio. Mafundisho ya baadaye ya Kimethodisti, Nazarene na Wesleyan juu ya utakaso kamili yalikua kutokana na tumaini lililoelezwa mwishoni mwa Hubiri la VIII. Ni haki kutaja kwamba hapa kuna tofauti ya kweli. Teolojia ya Matengenezo (Reformed) na ya Kilutheri kwa kawaida hufafanua dhambi kama upungufu wowote wa kuendana na sheria ya Mungu, iwe kwa hiari au la. Wesley, hasa katika maandishi yake ya baadaye, alihifadhi neno “dhambi, kwa maana yake halisi” kwa uvunjaji wa hiari wa sheria inayojulikana, na akayaita mapungufu yasiyo ya hiari udhaifu ambao bado unahitaji damu ya Kristo. Kila upande unaogopa kwamba ufafanuzi wa mwingine unaweza kuongoza kwenye kukata tamaa au kuridhika.These sermons give a pastor two tools. The first is a clear definition of true religion, to use against both empty ritual and dry orthodoxy. Many Christians in Latin America and Africa have grown up in churches full of ceremony, and others in churches full of argument; Wesley points both to the reign of God in the heart. The second tool is a careful pastoral theology of sin in believers. It guards against antinomianism, the idea that grace makes obedience unnecessary, and against scrupulosity, the anxious conscience that sees every weakness as damning. Wesley’s rule for one who falls through weakness is gentle and practical: do not lie there fretting; get up and keep running the race. Later Methodist, Nazarene and Wesleyan teaching on entire sanctification grew out of the hope expressed at the end of Sermon VIII. It is fair to note a real disagreement here. Reformed and Lutheran theology usually defines sin as any lack of conformity to God’s law, whether voluntary or not. Wesley, especially in his later writings, reserved the word “sin, properly so called” for a voluntary transgression of a known law, and called involuntary failings infirmities that still need Christ’s blood. Each side fears that the other’s definition may lead to either despair or complacency.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Wesley anasema mtu anaweza kuwa karibu orthodoksi kama shetani. Ni wapi katika maisha yako mwenyewe maoni sahihi yanaweza kuwa yanachukua nafasi ya moyo uliobadilishwa? Je, unaweza kumweleza mtu ambaye ameijua dini kama sheria au desturi tu ufalme wa Mungu kama haki, amani na furaha? Na ungemshauri vipi muumini aliyekata tamaa kwa sababu ya dhambi anayoendelea kuiona ndani yake? For reflection. Wesley says a person can be almost as orthodox as the devil. Where might right opinions be standing in for a changed heart in your own life? Can you describe the kingdom of God as righteousness, peace and joy to someone who has only known religion as rules or rituals? And how would you counsel a believer who is discouraged by the sin he or she still finds within?

Chagua

Somo la 5 · Adoption and Assurance

Abba, Father

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermons IX–X (“The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption”; “The Witness of the Spirit, Discourse I”), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771)

Wesley maps three states of the soul: the natural man who neither fears nor loves God, the awakened soul under the law who fears, and the believer under grace who loves and cries “Abba, Father.” He then teaches the joint witness of God’s Spirit and our own, and gives scriptural tests that separate true assurance from presumption.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Aba, Baba: Roho wa Kufanywa Wana na Ushuhuda wa RohoAbba, Father: The Spirit of Adoption and the Witness of the Spirit

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala kuhusu ramani ya Wesley ya hali tatu za roho, kutoka usingizini hadi hofu hadi upendo, na kuhusu mafundisho yake kwamba watoto wa Mungu wanaweza kujua kuwa ni wake, pamoja na vipimo vya kutofautisha ushuhuda wa kweli na kujidanganyaA Chapala Theological Seminary reading on Wesley’s map of the soul’s three states, from sleep to fear to love, and on his teaching that God’s children may know they are his, with tests to tell the true witness from self-deception

Muhtasari wa CTS wa John Wesley, Hubiri la IX, “Roho wa Utumwa na wa Kufanywa Wana” (Warumi 8:15), na Hubiri la X, “Ushuhuda wa Roho, Hotuba ya I” (Warumi 8:16), katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, juzuu ya I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley, Sermon IX, “The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption” (Romans 8:15), and Sermon X, “The Witness of the Spirit, Discourse I” (Romans 8:16), in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I (Bristol: William Pine, 1771). The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mahubiri IX–XSermons IX–X
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Yalichapishwa 1746Published 1746
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Uhakikisho, yaani uhakika kwamba Mungu ametusamehe na kutufanya wana, ni mojawapo ya sehemu za thamani zaidi na zenye mabishano zaidi za mafundisho ya Wesley. Mahubiri haya yanaonyesha kwa nini aliuthamini na jinsi alivyouchunga kwa uangalifu. Zingatia jinsi Wesley anavyoonya mara nyingi dhidi ya uhakikisho wa uongo. Anataka waumini wawe na furaha, lakini anataka furaha yao iwe ya kweli, ya unyenyekevu na yenye matunda. A word before you read. Assurance, the confidence that God has forgiven and adopted us, is one of the most precious and most argued-over parts of Wesley’s teaching. These sermons show both why he prized it and how carefully he guarded it. Notice how often Wesley warns against false assurance. He wants believers to have joy, but he wants their joy to be real, humble and fruitful.

1.Uhakikisho Katika Moyo wa Uamsho1.Assurance at the Heart of the Revival

Wesley alipoeleza uzoefu wake katika Aldersgate Street tarehe 24 Mei 1738, hakusema tu kwamba aliamini. Alisema “uhakikisho ulipewa mimi” kwamba Kristo ameziondoa dhambi zake. Kabla ya usiku ule Mmoravian Peter Böhler alikuwa amemwambia kwamba imani ya kweli huleta kuegemea kwa hakika na amani, na Wesley, msomi mwenye nidhamu wa Oxford, aligundua kwamba hakuwa nayo. Baada ya Aldersgate, uhakikisho ukawa mada kuu ya mahubiri ya Kimethodisti katika miaka ya 1740. Pia ulivuta ukosoaji mkali. Maaskofu na wasomi wa vyuo vikuu waliwashutumu Wamethodisti kwa “ushabiki” (enthusiasm), neno ambalo wakati huo lilimaanisha madai ya kishupavu ya ufunuo wa kibinafsi. Wesley alichapisha mahubiri haya mawili mwaka 1746 kueleza msimamo wake kwa wazi. Alirudi kwenye somo hilo katika hotuba ya pili juu ya Ushuhuda wa Roho mwaka 1767. Kama sehemu ya Mahubiri Sanifu, yaliunda mahubiri ya Kimethodisti kila mahali harakati ilipoenea. Katika makutaniko ya Kimethodisti, Nazarene na Wesleyan kutoka Meksiko hadi Msumbiji, waumini bado hutoa “ushuhuda” wao na kuimba nyimbo za Charles Wesley za uhakikisho. Mahubiri haya yako nyuma ya desturi hiyo.When Wesley described his experience at Aldersgate Street on 24 May 1738, he did not say only that he believed. He said “an assurance was given me” that Christ had taken away his sins. Before that night the Moravian Peter Böhler had told him that true faith brings a sure trust and peace, and Wesley, the disciplined Oxford scholar, realized he did not have it. After Aldersgate, assurance became a central theme of Methodist preaching in the 1740s. It also drew sharp criticism. Bishops and university men accused the Methodists of “enthusiasm,” a word that then meant fanatical claims to private revelations. Wesley published these two sermons in 1746 to set out his position clearly. He returned to the subject in a second discourse on the Witness of the Spirit in 1767. As part of the Standard Sermons, they shaped Methodist preaching everywhere the movement spread. In Methodist, Nazarene and Wesleyan congregations from Mexico to Mozambique, believers still give their “testimony” and sing Charles Wesley’s hymns of assurance. These sermons stand behind that practice.

2.Hali Tatu za Roho2.Three States of the Soul

Hubiri la IX linachora ramani yenye maeneo matatu. Kuna mtu wa asili, asiyemwogopa wala kumpenda Mungu. Kuna mtu chini ya sheria, aliyepokea “roho ya utumwa iletayo hofu.” Na kuna mtu chini ya neema, aliyepokea “Roho wa kufanywa wana.” Wesley baadaye anaziita hizi hali za asili, ya kisheria na ya kiinjili. Mtu wa asili amelala usingizi. Hisi zake za kiroho zimefungwa, kwa hiyo anajisikia salama na hata mwenye amani. Anawaza kwamba Mungu ni mwenye rehema kwa namna inayameza utakatifu na haki yake. Anatarajia kutubu “baadaye kidogo,” wakati wowote apendao. Akiwa msomi, anabishana kwa kiburi kwa ajili ya uhuru wa mapenzi yake. Anajiona yu huru kutokana na ushirikina na dini finyu. Wakati wote huo ni mtumishi wa dhambi, akijitetea kwa maneno “Kila mtu ana udhaifu wake.” Hoja ya Wesley si kwamba watu kama hao daima ni waovu kwa vipimo vya ulimwengu. Wengi wanaheshimika. Hoja ni kwamba hawajaamshwa.Sermon IX draws a map with three regions. There is the natural man, who neither fears nor loves God. There is the person under the law, who has received “the spirit of bondage unto fear.” And there is the person under grace, who has received “the Spirit of adoption.” Wesley later calls these the natural, the legal and the evangelical states. The natural man is asleep. His spiritual senses are closed, so he feels secure and even at peace. He imagines that God is merciful in a way that swallows up God’s holiness and justice. He expects to repent “by and by,” whenever he likes. If he is learned, he argues proudly for the freedom of his will. He thinks himself free from superstition and narrow religion. All the while he is a servant of sin, excusing himself with “Every man has his infirmity.” Wesley’s point is not that such people are always wicked by the world’s standards. Many are respectable. The point is that they are unawakened.

3.Chini ya Sheria: Roho wa Utumwa3.Under the Law: The Spirit of Bondage

Kisha Mungu huingia, “kwa tukio fulani la kutisha la majaliwa” au kwa neno lake linalotumiwa na Roho. Aliyelala huamka. Anaona kwamba Mungu ni mtakatifu na kwamba sheria hufika moyoni: chuki ni mauaji, kutazama kwa tamaa ni uzinzi. Akiwa amevuliwa visingizio, anauona moyo wake kama ulivyo na kuhisi kwamba anastahili hukumu ya Mungu. Amani yake ya uongo na raha zake za kidunia hutoweka. Anahisi huzuni, majuto na hofu ya Mungu, ya kifo na ya hukumu. Sasa kweli anataka kuwa huru kutokana na dhambi na anapambana kwa nguvu, lakini hawezi kushinda. Anaazimia na kuanguka, anatubu na kutenda dhambi tena. Wesley anasoma Warumi 7 kama picha ya mtu huyu aliyeamshwa, chini ya sheria, anayelia, “Ole wangu, maskini mimi! Ni nani atakayeniokoa?” Hapa wafasiri wengi wa Matengenezo (Reformed) na Walutheri, wakifuata mtazamo wa baadaye wa Augustino, wanatofautiana. Wanasoma Warumi 7 kama maelezo ya Paulo ya mapambano yanayoendelea ya Mkristo mkomavu. Wesley anaisoma kama kilio cha mtu ambaye bado hajawekwa huru. Zingatia pia jambo tulivu kuhusu neema. Wesley anasema hata hofu hii hupokelewa: “kwa maana hii nayo ni karama ya Mungu.” Kuamshwa kwenyewe ni neema inayotangulia imani. Hii ndiyo Wawesley wanayoiita neema itanguliayo.Then God breaks in, “by some awful providence” or by his word applied by the Spirit. The sleeper wakes. He sees that God is holy and that the law reaches the heart: hatred is murder, a lustful look is adultery. Stripped of excuses, he sees his heart as it is and feels that he deserves God’s judgment. His false peace and worldly pleasures vanish. He feels sorrow, remorse and fear of God, of death and of judgment. Now he truly wants to be free from sin and struggles hard, but he cannot conquer. He resolves and falls, repents and sins again. Wesley reads Romans 7 as a portrait of this awakened person, under the law, who cries, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?” Here many Reformed and Lutheran interpreters, following Augustine’s later view, disagree. They read Romans 7 as Paul’s description of the ongoing struggle of a mature Christian. Wesley reads it as the cry of someone not yet set free. Notice, too, a quiet point about grace. Wesley says that even this fear is received: “for this also is the gift of God.” The awakening itself is grace going before faith. This is what Wesleyans call prevenient grace.

4.Chini ya Neema: Roho wa Kufanywa Wana4.Under Grace: The Spirit of Adoption

Jibu la kilio cha mtu huyo maskini ni “neema ya Mungu, kwa njia ya Yesu Kristo.” Nuru huingia, sasa ya kuponya badala ya kutisha. Anauona upendo wa Mungu katika uso wa Yesu, anaona dhambi zake zikiwekwa juu ya Mwana-Kondoo, na kulia, “Bwana wangu na Mungu wangu!” Hatia na nguvu ya dhambi huvunjwa; hofu ya Mungu, ya shetani, ya jehanamu na ya kifo hutoa nafasi. Anamjua Mungu si tena kama hakimu mwenye hasira bali kama Baba mwenye upendo, na Roho ndani yake hulia “Aba, Baba.” Uhuru huu si uhuru kutokana na hatia tu bali kutokana na dhambi; si kupigana tu, bali kushinda. Wesley anakusanya yote katika mfululizo wa tofauti zisizosahaulika. Mtu wa asili hamwogopi wala kumpenda Mungu; aliye chini ya sheria anaogopa; aliye chini ya neema anapenda. Wa kwanza ana amani ya uongo, wa pili hana, wa tatu ana amani ya kweli. Kisha anaongeza maonyo mawili ya kichungaji. Unyofu peke yake hauthibitishi kitu, kwa sababu mtu anaweza kuwa mnyofu katika hali yoyote kati ya tatu. Na hali hizo mara nyingi huchanganyika: waliolala wana nyakati za hofu, na walio chini ya sheria hupokea mianga ya tumaini. Swali ni roho ipi inayotawala moyo.The answer to the wretched man’s cry is “the grace of God, through Jesus Christ.” Light breaks in, now healing rather than terrifying. He sees the love of God in the face of Jesus, sees his sins laid on the Lamb, and cries, “My Lord and my God!” Guilt and the power of sin are broken; fear of God, the devil, hell and death gives way. He knows God no longer as an angry judge but as a loving Father, and the Spirit within him cries “Abba, Father.” This liberty is freedom not only from guilt but from sin; he not only fights, but conquers. Wesley sums it all up in a memorable series of contrasts. The natural man neither fears nor loves God; the one under the law fears; the one under grace loves. The first has a false peace, the second none, the third true peace. Then he adds two pastoral warnings. Sincerity alone proves nothing, because one can be sincere in any of the three states. And the states are often mixed: sleepers have moments of fear, and those under the law receive glimmers of hope. The question is which spirit rules the heart.

5.Mashahidi Wawili: Roho Yetu na Roho wa Mungu5.Two Witnesses: Our Spirit and God’s Spirit

Hubiri la X linaanza kwa kutaja hatari mbili. Upande mmoja ni “washabiki” wanaokosea mawazo yao wenyewe kuwa sauti ya Mungu na kujiita watoto wa Mungu huku wakiishi katika dhambi. Upande mwingine ni watu wenye busara wanaoogopa udanganyifu kama huo, na kukana kwamba Wakristo wa kawaida wanaweza kuwa na ushuhuda wowote wa Roho. Wesley anauliza kama tunaweza “kufuata njia ya kati.” Anapata mashahidi wawili katika Warumi 8:16. Wa kwanza ni ushuhuda wa roho yetu wenyewe: dhamiri yetu, ikitumia alama za watoto wa Mungu zinazopatikana katika Maandiko, hasa katika 1 Yohana. Je, ninampenda Mungu? Je, ninampenda ndugu yangu? Je, ninashika amri zake? Tunajua mambo haya kwa ufahamu wa moja kwa moja, kama tunavyojua kwamba tuko hai. Huu ni “ushahidi wa kimantiki,” hoja inayotokana na Maandiko na uzoefu. Wa pili ni ushuhuda wa Roho wa Mungu, ambao Wesley anauelezea kwa uangalifu kama “alama ya ndani rohoni,” ambayo kwayo Roho huniambia moja kwa moja kwamba Yesu alinipenda na kujitoa kwa ajili yangu, na kwamba dhambi zangu zimefutwa. Anamkaribisha yeyote aliyefundishwa na Mungu kuboresha maneno yake. Ni upi unaotangulia? Ushuhuda wa Mungu lazima utangulie, anasema Wesley, kwa sababu hatuwezi kuwa watakatifu bila kumpenda Mungu, na “sisi twampenda yeye, kwa kuwa yeye alitupenda sisi kwanza.” Jinsi Roho anavyotoa ushuhuda huu, Wesley hadai kuieleza. Kama upepo, sauti yake inajulikana, ingawa njia yake haijulikani.Sermon X begins by naming two dangers. On one side are “enthusiasts” who mistake their own imagination for God’s voice and call themselves God’s children while living in sin. On the other are reasonable people who, frightened by such delusions, deny that ordinary Christians can have any witness of the Spirit at all. Wesley asks whether we may “steer a middle course.” He finds two witnesses in Romans 8:16. The first is the witness of our own spirit: our conscience, applying the marks of God’s children found in Scripture, especially in 1 John. Do I love God? Do I love my brother? Do I keep his commandments? We know these things by immediate consciousness, just as we know we are alive. This is “rational evidence,” an argument from Scripture and experience. The second is the witness of God’s Spirit, which Wesley carefully describes as “an inward impression on the soul,” by which the Spirit directly tells me that Jesus loved me and gave himself for me, and that my sins are blotted out. He invites anyone taught by God to improve his wording. Which comes first? God’s witness must, says Wesley, because we cannot be holy without loving God, and “we love him, because he first loved us.” How the Spirit gives this witness, Wesley does not claim to explain. Like the wind, its sound is known, though not its course.

6.Kupima Ushuhuda6.Testing the Witness

Ushuhuda wa kweli unatofautishwaje na kujiamini kupita kiasi? Wesley anatoa alama za Kimaandiko kabla yake, wakati wake na baada yake. Kabla yake huja toba, moyo uliovunjika na kupondeka. Pamoja nao huja mabadiliko makuu, kupita kutoka mautini hadi uzimani; mtu anayesema “siku zote nilikuwa Mkristo” na hakuhitaji mabadiliko anapaswa kuzingatia. Pamoja nao huja furaha ya unyenyekevu inayomfanya mwenye dhambi aliyesamehewa ajione mdogo, mpole na anayefundishika. Mwenye kujiamini kupita kiasi, kinyume chake, huzidi kuwa na kiburi, papara na ukali kadiri anavyojiamini zaidi. Baada yake hufuata utii, kwa sababu upendo hufurahia kushika amri za Mungu. Ushuhuda wa uongo, kwa upande mwingine, hutoa hisia ya “uhuru” wa kutotii. Muumini wa kweli anajuaje kwamba ushuhuda wake ni wa kweli? Kwa njia ile ile tunayotofautisha mwanga wa mchana na mshumaa: tofauti ni dhahiri kwa hisi zenye afya. Na anajuaje kwamba hisi zake za kiroho zina afya? Kwa tunda la Roho: upendo, furaha, amani, unyenyekevu, upole, na utii thabiti kwa amri zote za Mungu. Shetani hawezi kuzaa tunda kama hilo, kwa maana haiharibu kazi yake mwenyewe. Wesley anamaliza kwa sifa na wito wa utakatifu: maisha yenu, si midomo yenu tu, yaonyeshe sifa za Mungu.How can the true witness be told apart from presumption? Wesley gives scriptural marks before, during and after it. Before it comes repentance, a broken and contrite heart. Along with it comes a mighty change, a passing from death to life; the person who says he “always was a Christian” and never needed a change should take note. With it comes a humble joy that makes a pardoned sinner feel small, gentle and teachable. The presumptuous person, by contrast, grows more proud, impatient and harsh the more confident he becomes. After it follows obedience, because love rejoices to keep God’s commandments. The false witness, on the other hand, gives a feeling of “liberty” to disobey. How does a true believer know his witness is real? In the same way we tell daylight from a candle: the difference is obvious to healthy senses. And how does he know his spiritual senses are healthy? By the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, humility, gentleness, and a steady obedience to all God’s commandments. The devil cannot produce such fruit, for he does not destroy his own work. Wesley ends with praise and a call to holiness: let your life, not only your lips, show forth God’s praise.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kiwesley Anachochukua Kutoka Humo Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Wakristo wengi huambiwa ama kwamba hawawezi kamwe kuwa na hakika ya wokovu, ama kwamba sala moja huhakikishia mbingu bila kujali wanavyoishi. Wesley anatoa njia ya tatu. Uhakikisho ni haki ya kawaida ya watoto wa Mungu, na hupimwa kwa tunda lake. Mchungaji anaweza kuchukua masomo kadhaa kutokana na hili. Kwanza, wahimize wanaotafuta wamtarajie Mungu kunena amani mioyoni mwao, si kukubaliana na mafundisho tu. Pili, usiruhusu hisia zisimame peke yake; unganisha ushuhuda wa Roho na ushuhuda wa maisha yaliyobadilika. Tatu, kuwa mpole kwa wenye shaka. Wesley mwenyewe alizidi kuwa mpole kadiri muda ulivyopita. Katika miaka yake ya baadaye aliandika kwamba mtu amchaye Mungu na kutenda haki, ingawa bila hisia wazi ya msamaha, anakubaliwa kwa “imani ya mtumishi,” na anapaswa kutiwa moyo kuelekea “imani ya mwana” iliyo kamili zaidi. Ni haki kutaja ambapo wengine wanatofautiana. Maungamo ya Westminster, taarifa ya kawaida ya Matengenezo (Reformed), yanafundisha kwamba uhakikisho si sehemu ya kiini cha imani; muumini wa kweli anaweza kuungoja kwa muda mrefu. Waandishi wa Matengenezo pia husisitiza kile wanachokiita “hoja ya vitendo” (practical syllogism): kufikiri kutoka tunda hadi imani. Hilo liko karibu na ushuhuda wa Wesley wa roho yetu wenyewe, lakini wao wanaogopa ushuhuda wowote wa moja kwa moja. Mapokeo yote mawili yanaonya dhidi ya kujiamini kupita kiasi, na yote mawili yanataka waumini wapumzike katika Kristo badala ya hisia zao.Many Christians are told either that they can never be sure of salvation or that a single prayer guarantees heaven however they live. Wesley offers a third way. Assurance is the normal privilege of God’s children, and it is tested by its fruit. A pastor can take several lessons from this. First, encourage seekers to expect God to speak peace to their hearts, not only to agree with doctrines. Second, never let feelings stand alone; join the witness of the Spirit to the witness of a changed life. Third, be gentle with the doubting. Wesley himself grew gentler with time. In his later years he wrote that someone who fears God and works righteousness, though without a clear sense of pardon, is accepted with the “faith of a servant,” and should be encouraged toward the fuller “faith of a son.” It is fair to note where others differ. The Westminster Confession, a classic Reformed statement, teaches that assurance does not belong to the essence of faith; a true believer may wait long for it. Reformed writers also stress what they call the “practical syllogism”: reasoning from fruit to faith. That is close to Wesley’s witness of our own spirit, but they are cautious about any direct witness. Both traditions warn against presumption, and both want believers to rest in Christ rather than in their feelings.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ni ipi kati ya hali tatu za Wesley, ya asili, ya kisheria au ya kiinjili, inayoeleza vyema mahali ulipokuwa, na mahali ulipo sasa? Je, umeujua ushuhuda wa Roho kwamba wewe ni mtoto wa Mungu? Ikiwa ndivyo, matunda yake ya unyenyekevu, upole na utii yameonyeshaje kuwa ni ya kweli? Na ungewezaje kumsaidia muumini katika kanisa lako aliye mnyofu, mwaminifu na bado hana uhakika, bila kumsukuma wala kumwacha peke yake? For reflection. Which of Wesley’s three states, natural, legal or evangelical, best describes where you have been, and where you are now? Have you known the Spirit’s witness that you are a child of God? If so, how have its fruits of humility, gentleness and obedience shown it to be real? And how might you help a believer in your church who is honest, faithful and still unsure, without either pushing them or leaving them alone?

Chagua

Andika usomaji wako

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Kwa uaminifu wangu, nimesoma kikamilifu masomo matatu niliyochagua hapo juu.

✓ Imeandikwa — kozi hii inahesabiwa katika maendeleo yako ya Heshima. Kusoma kwa Heshima ↗

Somo la Heshima — limeandikwa

alithibitisha tarehe kuwa amesoma kikamilifu:

Chapala Theological Seminary · Wesleyan Theology and the Doctrine of Salvation · present or print this page as your honors reading record.

Masomo Zaidi: Vitabu Saba vya Uwanja wa Umma

Vitabu hivi saba ni kwa masomo zaidi, kwa mwanafunzi anayetaka kuendelea kusoma. Si sehemu ya masomo ya heshima yaliyo hapo juu: hayo yanabaki kama yalivyo — muhtasari tano za CTS, mitatu yoyote ikisomwa kikamilifu na kuandikwa kwa uaminifu wako. Vyote saba viko katika uwanja wa umma; kila kiungo kinafungua kitabu mtandaoni, na vingi vinapatikana pia katika Internet Archive au Project Gutenberg. Vingi viko kwa Kiingereza: kivinjari cha Chrome kinaweza kutafsiri ukurasa (bonyeza kitufe cha kulia cha kipanya, “Translate to…”; kwenye simu, menyu ya kivinjari).

Further Sermons · Vol. I

1. The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I

John Wesley · Bristol: William Pine, 1771

Read Sermons XI onward, beyond the assigned Sermons I–X. They extend the course’s foundational doctrinal sequence.

Fungua somo ↗

Inward Religion · Vol. II

2. The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. II