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 A Plain Account of Christian Perfection — 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 · How the Doctrine Took Shape

One Design, One Desire

A CTS digest of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), §§1–6; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11

Wesley traces the road that led him to Christian perfection: Jeremy Taylor’s “purity of intention” in 1725, à Kempis and the religion of the heart, William Law’s refusal to allow “half a Christian,” the Bible as his one standard, and his 1733 sermon on the circumcision of the heart, where perfection already meant love filling the whole heart.

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.

Kusudi Moja, Tamaa Moja: Jinsi Wesley Alivyofikia Fundisho la UkamilifuOne Design, One Desire: How Wesley Came to the Doctrine of Perfection

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — sehemu za mwanzo za Plain Account, ambamo Wesley anafuatilia njia yake kutoka 1725 hadi 1733 kupitia waandishi watatu wa kidini, Biblia, na mahubiri yake ya kwanza yaliyochapishwaA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the opening sections of the Plain Account, where Wesley traces his path from 1725 to 1733 through three devotional writers, the Bible, and his first published sermon

Muhtasari wa CTS wa vifungu 1–6 vya John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (toleo la 1777), kama ilivyochapishwa katika The Works of John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (1872), juzuu ya 11. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of sections 1–6 of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), as printed in The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Plain Account §§1–6Plain Account §§1–6
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1725–17331725–1733
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. John Wesley (1703–1791) aliandika Plain Account kujibu swali moja: alikuwa amefundisha nini hasa kuhusu ukamilifu wa Kikristo, na kwa nini? Katika vifungu hivi vya kwanza anasimulia jinsi wazo hilo lilivyomshika alipokuwa msomi kijana wa Oxford. Onyo moja kabla ya kuanza. Kwa Wesley, “ukamilifu” kamwe haumaanishi kuwa huru kutokana na kila kosa au udhaifu. Unamaanisha moyo uliojitoa kikamilifu kwa Mungu katika upendo. Kumbuka pia kwamba hili ni maelezo ya Wesley mwenyewe ya maisha yake ya nyuma, yaliyoandikwa miongo kadhaa baadaye. Ni ushuhuda wake na tafsiri yake ya safari yake. A word before you read. John Wesley (1703–1791) wrote the Plain Account to answer one question: what had he really taught about Christian perfection, and why? In these first sections he tells the story of how the idea took hold of him as a young Oxford scholar. One warning before you begin. In Wesley, “perfection” never means being free of every mistake or weakness. It means a heart wholly given to God in love. Keep in mind, too, that this is Wesley’s own account of his past, written decades later. It is his testimony and his interpretation of his journey.

1.Mzee Anajieleza1.An Old Man Explains Himself

Plain Account ilionekana kwa mara ya kwanza mwaka 1766, na Wesley aliirekebisha kwa mara ya mwisho mwaka 1777, alipokuwa na umri wa miaka sabini na minne. Wakati huo vuguvugu la Methodisti lilikuwa limeenea Uingereza yote na Ireland na hadi makoloni ya Amerika. Lilipangwa katika “jamii” (societies), zilizokutana katika “madarasa” madogo ya kila juma kwa ajili ya sala, kuungama na kutunzana, na lilihudumiwa na wahubiri wasafiri walei waliokutana na Wesley kila mwaka katika Mkutano (Conference). Kwa zaidi ya miaka ishirini fundisho la ukamilifu wa Kikristo lilikuwa sehemu iliyoshambuliwa zaidi ya mafundisho ya Methodisti. Wengine walisema lina kiburi; wengine walisema haliwezekani; wengine ndani ya Umethodisti walilisukuma hadi mambo ya kupindukia. Kwa hiyo Wesley alianza kutoa “maelezo wazi na yaliyo bayana” ya yale aliyoyaamini, hatua kwa hatua, akionyesha “kile nilichofikiri na kwa nini nilifikiri hivyo.” Anaandika, anasema, kwa ajili ya “watu walio makini,” wale wanaotaka kujua kweli kama ilivyo katika Yesu. Sauti ni ya mchungaji anayejieleza kwa marafiki, si ya msomi anayeandikia wasomi. Mbinu ni ya kihistoria: Wesley anataka kuonyesha kwamba fundisho hilo halikuwa uvumbuzi wa baadaye bali lengo thabiti la maisha yake yote.The Plain Account first appeared in 1766, and Wesley revised it for the last time in 1777, when he was seventy-four. By then the Methodist movement had spread across Britain and Ireland and into the American colonies. It was organized in “societies,” which met in small weekly “classes” for prayer, confession and mutual care, and it was served by travelling lay preachers who met with Wesley each year in Conference. For more than twenty years the doctrine of Christian perfection had been the most attacked part of Methodist teaching. Some critics said it was proud; some said it was impossible; some within Methodism had pushed it into wild extremes. So Wesley set out to give “a plain and distinct account” of what he had believed, step by step, showing “both what I thought, and why I thought so.” He writes, he says, for “the serious part of mankind,” those who want to know the truth as it is in Jesus. The tone is that of a pastor explaining himself to friends, not of a scholar writing for the learned. The method is historical: Wesley wants to show that the doctrine was not a late invention but the steady aim of his whole life.

2.1725: Jeremy Taylor na Usafi wa Nia2.1725: Jeremy Taylor and Purity of Intention

Hadithi inaanza mwaka 1725, Wesley alipokuwa mwenzi kijana wa Oxford akijiandaa kwa kuwekwa wakfu katika Kanisa la Uingereza. Alisoma kitabu cha Askofu Jeremy Taylor, Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying, mwongozo wa Kianglikana wa karne ya kumi na saba wa maisha ya kicho uliopendwa sana. Kilichomgusa zaidi ni mafundisho ya Taylor juu ya “usafi wa nia”: kufanya kila kitu kwa lengo moja la kumpendeza Mungu. Wesley “aliguswa sana,” naye alikusudia papo hapo kumtolea Mungu maisha yake yote, “mawazo yangu yote, na maneno, na matendo.” Aliona kwamba “hakuna msimamo wa katikati.” Katika Kiingereza cha zamani medium ni msimamo wa katikati. Kila sehemu ya maisha, alihitimisha, lazima iwe dhabihu ama kwa Mungu au kwa nafsi, na kuishi kwa ajili ya nafsi mwishowe ni kumtumikia Ibilisi. Kisha anamgeukia msomaji kwa swali: je, mtu yeyote makini anaweza kupata njia ya katikati kati ya kumtumikia Mungu na kumtumikia Ibilisi? Angalia fundisho la Wesley linaanzia wapi. Si kwa tukio la kushangaza, wala nadharia kuhusu dhambi, bali kwa dai rahisi, lenye kupekua: Mungu anataka maisha yote, si kona ya kidini tu.The story begins in 1725, when Wesley was a young fellow of Oxford preparing for ordination in the Church of England. He read Bishop Jeremy Taylor’s Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying, a much-loved seventeenth-century Anglican guide to the devout life. What struck him most was Taylor’s teaching on “purity of intention”: doing everything for the single aim of pleasing God. Wesley was “exceedingly affected,” and he resolved on the spot to dedicate all his life to God, “all my thoughts, and words, and actions.” He saw that there was “no medium.” In older English a medium is a middle ground. Every part of life, he concluded, must be a sacrifice either to God or to oneself, and to live for self is in the end to serve the devil. Then he turns to the reader with a question: can any serious person find a middle way between serving God and serving the devil? Notice where Wesley’s doctrine begins. Not with a dramatic experience, and not with a theory about sin, but with a simple, searching demand: God wants the whole of life, not a religious corner of it.

3.1726: Thomas à Kempis na Dini ya Moyo3.1726: Thomas à Kempis and the Religion of the Heart

Mwaka mmoja baadaye Wesley alisoma Thomas à Kempis, mwandishi wa karne ya kumi na tano wa The Imitation of Christ, ambacho wasomaji wa Kiingereza wakati huo walikijua kama The Christian’s Pattern. Wesley baadaye alichapisha toleo lake mwenyewe. Kutoka kwa à Kempis alijifunza kwamba kumpa Mungu maisha yake yote ya nje bado hakutoshi isipokuwa amtoe moyo wake, “naam, moyo wangu wote,” kwake. Hii ndiyo Wesley anayoiita “dini ya ndani, dini ya moyo.” Anakopa msemo mzuri: “unyofu wa nia, na usafi wa mapenzi” ni “mbawa za nafsi,” ambazo bila hizo haiwezi kupaa hadi mlima wa Mungu. Hapa anaongeza neno atakalolitumia katika kitabu chote. Wesley anaposema “tempers,” hamaanishi hali mbaya za moyo. “Temper” ni mwelekeo wa kudumu wa moyo, kama upendo, unyenyekevu, kiburi au husuda. Anatumaini tamaa moja “ikitawala mielekeo yetu yote ya moyo.” Hatua hii ni muhimu kwa sababu inahamisha utakatifu kutoka tabia hadi nia. Mtu anaweza kufanya mambo mengi mema kwa sababu zilizochanganyika. Wesley alikuwa akijifunza kwamba Mungu anatafuta moyo unaotaka jambo moja juu ya yote.A year later Wesley read Thomas à Kempis, the fifteenth-century author of The Imitation of Christ, which English readers then knew as The Christian’s Pattern. Wesley later published his own edition of it. From à Kempis he learned that giving all his outward life to God was still not enough unless he gave his heart, “yea, all my heart,” to Him. This is what Wesley calls “inward religion, the religion of the heart.” He borrows a lovely phrase: “simplicity of intention, and purity of affection” are “the wings of the soul,” without which it can never rise to the mount of God. Here he adds a word he will use throughout the book. When Wesley speaks of “tempers,” he does not mean bad moods. A temper is a settled disposition of the heart, such as love, humility, pride or envy. He hopes for one desire “ruling all our tempers.” This step matters because it moves holiness from behaviour to motive. A person can do many good things for mixed reasons. Wesley was learning that God looks for a heart that wants one thing above all.

4.William Law: Hakuna Kitu Kama Nusu Mkristo4.William Law: No Such Thing as Half a Christian

“Mwaka mmoja au miwili baadaye,” Wesley alisoma vitabu viwili vya William Law (1686–1761): Christian Perfection (1726) na A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729). Law alikuwa mwandishi wa Kanisa Kuu (High Church) wa uzito mkubwa wa kimaadili, na Serious Call yake iliwaunda vizazi vya Wakristo wa Kiingereza. Vitabu hivi vilimshawishi Wesley juu ya “kutowezekana kabisa kuwa nusu Mkristo.” Aliazimia kuwa “amejitoa wote kwa Mungu,” akimpa “roho yangu yote, mwili wangu na mali yangu.” Substance hapa inamaanisha mali na fedha. Utakatifu unagusa pochi pamoja na roho, na kanuni za baadaye za Methodisti kuhusu kupata, kuweka akiba na kutoa yote iwezekanavyo zinatokana na shina hili. Angalia pia msemo mdogo lakini muhimu. Wesley alifanya azimio lake “kwa neema yake,” ambayo, anasema, alihisi “umuhimu wake kamili.” Hata katika hatua hii ya mapema hakufikiria kwamba angeweza kujifanya mtakatifu mwenyewe. Miaka kadhaa baadaye Wesley angetengana na Law, akikosoa mwelekeo wake wa kimistiki na kile Wesley alichoona kama ukosefu wa mafundisho wazi juu ya imani katika Kristo. Hata hivyo hakuacha kamwe kuuheshimu changamoto ambayo Law alimwekea.“A year or two after,” Wesley read two books by William Law (1686–1761): Christian Perfection (1726) and A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729). Law was a High Church writer of great moral seriousness, and his Serious Call shaped generations of English Christians. These books convinced Wesley of “the absolute impossibility of being half a Christian.” He determined to be “all-devoted to God,” giving Him “all my soul, my body, and my substance.” Substance here means possessions and money. Holiness touches the wallet as well as the soul, and the later Methodist rules about earning, saving and giving all one can grow from this root. Notice also a small but important phrase. Wesley made his resolution “through his grace,” of which, he says, he felt the “absolute necessity.” Even at this early stage he did not imagine he could make himself holy. Some years later Wesley would part ways with Law, criticizing his mystical leanings and what Wesley saw as a lack of clear teaching on faith in Christ. Yet he never stopped honouring the challenge Law put to him.

5.1729: Mtu wa Kitabu Kimoja5.1729: A Man of One Book

Mwaka 1729 Wesley alianza “si kusoma tu, bali kujifunza, Biblia,” kama “kipimo kimoja, cha pekee, cha ukweli.” Mwaka huo huo alijiunga na ndugu yake Charles katika kikundi kidogo cha Oxford kilichokutana kwa sala, kujifunza Biblia, Ushirika Mtakatifu wa mara kwa mara na kuwatembelea wafungwa. Wanafunzi wenzao waliwadhihaki kama “Holy Club” (Klabu Takatifu) na “Wamethodisti,” kwa sababu waliishi kwa mpango (method). Kutoka Maandiko Wesley aliona hitaji la kuwa na “nia ile iliyokuwa ndani ya Kristo” (Wafilipi 2:5) na la “kuenenda kama Kristo naye alivyoenenda” (1 Yohana 2:6), si katika mambo fulani bali katika yote. Dini, alihitimisha, ni “kumfuata Kristo kwa umoja.” Anaongeza tahadhari ya busara: hakuogopa kitu chochote zaidi ya “kuinamisha kanuni hii” ili ilingane na uzoefu wake mwenyewe au wa watu wengine. Hiyo ni kanuni ambayo kila mchungaji wa Wesley anapaswa kuishika. Hatushushi Maandiko ili yalingane na tuliyoyaona; tunaacha Maandiko yaweke kipimo. Muktadha mmoja zaidi unahitajika hapa. Yote haya yalitangulia Aldersgate. Mnamo Mei 24, 1738, baada ya misheni iliyoshindwa huko Georgia na mazungumzo marefu na waumini wa Moravia, Wesley alihisi moyo wake “umepashwa joto kwa ajabu” alipokuwa akisikia dibaji ya Luther juu ya Warumi ikisomwa katika mkutano wa London. Ndipo tu alipopata kumtumaini Kristo peke yake kwa wokovu kwa uthabiti. Wesley anasisitiza kwamba lengo lake halikubadilika, lakini baada ya 1738 alielewa vizuri zaidi kwamba utakatifu, kama msamaha, hupokelewa kwa imani.In 1729 Wesley began “not only to read, but to study, the Bible,” as “the one, the only standard of truth.” That same year he joined his brother Charles in a small Oxford group that met for prayer, Bible study, frequent Communion and visits to prisoners. Fellow students mocked them as the “Holy Club” and the “Methodists,” because they lived by method. From Scripture Wesley saw the need of having “the mind which was in Christ” (Philippians 2:5) and of “walking as Christ also walked” (1 John 2:6), not in some respects but in all. Religion, he concluded, is a “uniform following of Christ.” He adds a wise caution: he feared nothing more than “bending this rule” to fit his own experience or other people’s. That is a principle every Wesleyan pastor should keep. We do not lower Scripture to match what we have seen; we let Scripture set the standard. One more piece of context is needed here. All of this came before Aldersgate. On 24 May 1738, after a failed mission to Georgia and long talks with Moravian believers, Wesley felt his heart “strangely warmed” while hearing Luther’s preface to Romans read in a London meeting. Only then did he gain a settled trust in Christ alone for salvation. Wesley insists that his goal did not change, but after 1738 he understood far better that holiness, like pardon, is received by faith.

6.1733: “Tohara ya Moyo”6.1733: “The Circumcision of the Heart”

Tarehe 1 Januari 1733 Wesley alihubiri mbele ya Chuo Kikuu katika Kanisa la St Mary, Oxford. Katika kalenda ya kanisa siku hiyo ni Sikukuu ya Tohara ya Kristo, na Wesley alichukua picha ya Paulo ya tohara “ya moyo” (Warumi 2:29; linganisha Kumbukumbu la Torati 30:6). Aliifafanua kama “ile hali ya kudumu ya nafsi” ambayo Maandiko huiita utakatifu: kusafishwa na dhambi na kufanywa upya katika sura ya Kristo. Katikati ya mahubiri kuna upendo. Upendo ni “utimilifu wa sheria,” na amri zote zimefupishwa ndani yake. “Ndani yake mna ukamilifu,” anasema Wesley. Mungu mwenyewe ndiye awe “lengo letu moja la mwisho.” Tunaweza kufurahia mambo mengine, lakini tunapaswa “kupenda kiumbe kwa kadiri kinavyoongoza kwa Muumba.” Mahubiri yanaisha kwa wito wa kumtolea Mungu “dhabihu hai ya moyo” na kumwacha atawale “bila mpinzani.” Haya yalikuwa mahubiri ya kwanza ya Wesley yaliyochapishwa, naye anasema kwamba bado ndiyo mtazamo wake mwaka 1777, “bila nyongeza wala upungufu wowote mkubwa.” Kisha anawapa changamoto wakosoaji wake: ni nini katika haya kinachoweza mwamini yeyote wa Biblia kukikana bila kupingana na Maandiko? Tangu mwanzo kabisa, basi, Wesley alifafanua ukamilifu si kama kutokuwa na dosari bali kama upendo: upendo kwa Mungu unaojaza moyo wote na kupanga kila upendo mwingine.On 1 January 1733 Wesley preached before the University in St Mary’s Church, Oxford. In the church calendar that day is the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, and Wesley took up Paul’s image of a circumcision “of the heart” (Romans 2:29; compare Deuteronomy 30:6). He defined it as “that habitual disposition of soul” which Scripture calls holiness: being cleansed from sin and renewed in the image of Christ. At the centre of the sermon stands love. Love is “the fulfilling of the law,” and all the commandments are summed up in it. “In this is perfection,” Wesley says. God Himself is to be our “one ultimate end.” We may enjoy other things, but we should “love the creature, as it leads to the Creator.” The sermon closes with a call to offer God “the living sacrifice of the heart” and to let Him reign “without a rival.” This was Wesley’s first published sermon, and he states that it is still his view in 1777, “without any material addition or diminution.” Then he challenges his critics: what in this can any believer in the Bible deny without contradicting Scripture? From the very start, then, Wesley defined perfection not as flawlessness but as love: love for God that fills the whole heart and orders every other love.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Wesley Anachopata Kutoka Hapa Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Kurasa hizi zinaweka msingi wa yote yanayofuata. Warithi wa baadaye wa Wesley, kuanzia mikutano ya kambi ya Amerika hadi Kanisa la Nazarene (lililoundwa 1908) na makanisa ya Wesleyan na Free Methodist, wangebishana juu ya jinsi na lini utakaso kamili hupokelewa. Lakini wote wanadai mahali hapa pa kuanzia: utakatifu ni upendo wa moyo wote kwa Mungu na jirani. Hadi leo mashirika mengi ya Methodisti huwauliza watahiniwa wa kuwekwa wakfu kama wanaendelea “kuelekea ukamilifu.” Mchungaji huko Jalisco au popote pengine anaweza kupata funzo kadhaa kutoka vifungu hivi. Kwanza, utakatifu huanza na nia: swali si tu tunafanya nini, bali tunafanya kwa ajili ya nani. Pili, moyo ni muhimu kuliko sura za nje. Tatu, Maandiko ndiyo kipimo, si uzoefu wetu. Nne, vitabu vizuri vinaweza kubadilisha maisha; safari ya Wesley ilipitia vitabu vya kidini vya kawaida vya kanisa pana, vya Kianglikana na vya Kikatoliki sawa. Ni haki kubainisha pale wengine wanapotofautiana. Wakristo wa Reformed na Walutheri kwa kawaida hufundisha kwamba dhambi hubaki katika kila muumini hadi kifo, nao huogopa kwamba maneno juu ya ukamilifu yanaweza kuongoza kwenye kiburi au kukata tamaa. Jibu la Wesley linaanzia hapa tayari: hadai utendaji usio na dosari, bali moyo unaotawaliwa na upendo.These pages lay the foundation for everything that follows. Later heirs of Wesley, from the American camp meetings to the Church of the Nazarene (formed in 1908) and the Wesleyan and Free Methodist churches, would argue about how and when entire sanctification is received. But all of them claim this starting point: holiness is wholehearted love for God and neighbour. To this day many Methodist bodies ask candidates for ordination whether they are “going on to perfection.” A pastor in Jalisco or anywhere else can take several lessons from these sections. First, holiness begins with intention: the question is not only what we do, but for whom we do it. Second, the heart matters more than appearances. Third, Scripture is the measure, not our experience. Fourth, good books can change a life; Wesley’s journey ran through the devotional classics of the wider church, Anglican and Catholic alike. It is fair to note where others disagree. Reformed and Lutheran Christians usually teach that sin remains in every believer until death, and they fear that talk of perfection can lead to pride or despair. Wesley’s reply begins already here: he is not claiming flawless performance, but a heart ruled by love.

8.Kuliweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Wesley alikuta “hakuna msimamo wa katikati” kati ya kuishi kwa ajili ya Mungu na kuishi kwa ajili ya nafsi. Ni wapi katika maisha yako mwenyewe unajaribiwa kushika “msimamo wa katikati”? Ni vitabu gani au walimu gani wameunda hamu yako kwa Mungu, na ni nani ungeweza kumwongoza kwenye usomaji kama huo? Na unapofikiria utakatifu, je, unafikiria kwanza kanuni zilizoshikwa, au moyo uliojaa upendo kwa Mungu na jirani? For reflection. Wesley found “no medium” between living for God and living for self. Where in your own life are you tempted to keep a “middle ground”? Which books or teachers have shaped your desire for God, and whom could you guide toward such reading? And when you think of holiness, do you think first of rules kept, or of a heart filled with love for God and neighbour?

Chagua

Somo la 2 · The First Tract and Its Critics

The Character of a Methodist

A CTS digest of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), §§10–12; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11

Wesley’s first portrait of a mature Christian, happy in God, praying without ceasing and loving even enemies; the surprising cry from devout believers that “there is no perfection on earth”; Bishop Gibson’s advice to “publish it to all the world”; and the 1741 sermon explaining in what sense Christians are, and are not, perfect.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Tabia ya Mmethodisti: Taswira ya Kwanza ya Wesley ya Upendo MkamilifuThe Character of a Methodist: Wesley’s First Portrait of Perfect Love

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — kijitabu cha kwanza cha Wesley juu ya mada hii, upinzani wa kushangaza alioukumbana nao, na mahubiri yaliyoeleza kwa maana gani Wakristo ni, na si, wakamilifuA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — Wesley’s first tract on the subject, the surprising opposition it met, and the sermon that set out in what sense Christians are, and are not, perfect

Muhtasari wa CTS wa vifungu 10–12 vya John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (toleo la 1777), kama ilivyochapishwa katika The Works of John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (1872), juzuu ya 11. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of sections 10–12 of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), as printed in The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Plain Account §§10–12Plain Account §§10–12
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1739–17411739–1741
Mahubiri “Christian Perfection”“Christian Perfection” sermon

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Katika vifungu hivi Wesley ananukuu maandishi mawili ya mwanzo ya kwake mwenyewe: kijitabu kiitwacho The Character of a Methodist na mahubiri yake “Christian Perfection.” La kwanza ni taswira ya Mkristo aliyekomaa; la pili ni hoja inayotokana na Maandiko. Kati ya hayo mawili kuna tukio lililomshangaza Wesley: baadhi ya upinzani mkali zaidi ulitoka kwa waumini wacha Mungu. Soma polepole, na uangalie tofauti za makini ambazo Wesley anazichora. Haelezi mtu asiyekosea kamwe, bali mtu ambaye moyo wake unatawaliwa na upendo. A word before you read. In these sections Wesley quotes two of his own early writings: a tract called The Character of a Methodist and his sermon “Christian Perfection.” The first is a portrait of a mature Christian; the second is an argument from Scripture. Between them comes an episode that surprised Wesley: some of the sharpest opposition came from devout believers. Read slowly, and watch for the careful distinctions Wesley draws. He is not describing someone who never errs, but someone whose heart is ruled by love.

1.Kijitabu chenye Kichwa kisichopendelea Upande1.A Tract with a Neutral Title

Wakati wa kijitabu hiki ndugu Wesley walikuwa wamepitia uzoefu wao wa Aldersgate wa 1738, na uamsho wa Methodisti ulikuwa umeanza kwa dhati. John alikuwa ameanza kuhubiri nje ya majengo karibu na Bristol mwaka 1739, na jamii za kwanza za Methodisti zilikuwa zikiundwa. Wesley anatuambia kwamba maandishi yake ya kwanza “waziwazi juu ya mada hii” yalipewa “jina lisilopendelea upande wowote,” The Character of a Methodist, ili mtu yeyote asiwe na chuki kabla ya kusoma. Katika Kiingereza cha zamani “indifferent” maana yake ni isiyopendelea upande. Alitaka wasomaji wakutane na maelezo kabla ya kukutana na neno lenye mabishano “ukamilifu.” Na mwanzoni kabisa aliweka maneno ya Paulo, “Si kwamba nimekwisha kupata” (Wafilipi 3:12). Uchaguzi huo unastahili kuzingatiwa. Wesley hakujionyesha kuwa mfano. Alikuwa akieleza lengo ambalo kila muumini anakimbilia. Hesabu ya Wesley mwenyewe ya 1777 inaweka kijitabu hicho karibu miaka thelathini na minane kabla; matoleo yaliyochapishwa yaliyobaki kwa kawaida yana tarehe ya baadaye kidogo, kutoka 1742. Kwa vyovyote, ni cha miaka ya kwanza ya uamsho.By the time of this tract the Wesley brothers had been through their Aldersgate experiences of 1738, and the Methodist revival had begun in earnest. John had started open-air preaching near Bristol in 1739, and the first Methodist societies were forming. Wesley tells us that his first writing “expressly on this subject” was given an “indifferent title,” The Character of a Methodist, so that no one would be prejudiced before reading it. In older English “indifferent” means neutral. He wanted readers to meet the description before they met the controversial word “perfection.” And at the very front he placed Paul’s words, “Not as though I had already attained” (Philippians 3:12). That choice is worth noticing. Wesley was not holding himself up as the example. He was describing the goal toward which every believer presses. Wesley’s own reckoning in 1777 places the tract about thirty-eight years earlier; the printed editions that survive are usually dated a little later, from 1742. Either way, it belongs to the first years of the revival.

2.Mwenye Furaha katika Mungu, Akiomba Bila Kukoma2.Happy in God, Praying Without Ceasing

Taswira inaanza na Amri Kuu. Mmethodisti, Wesley anaandika, ni yule anayempenda Bwana Mungu wake kwa moyo wake wote, roho, akili na nguvu. Mungu ni “furaha ya moyo wake.” Kwa sababu hii yeye “ana furaha katika Mungu,” na kwa kuwa upendo mkamilifu umekwisha kutupa nje hofu (1 Yohana 4:18), anafurahi sikuzote. Furaha hii haitegemei hali. Katika raha au maumivu, katika ugonjwa au afya, katika uzima au kifo, anashukuru, akimtumaini Mungu kama “Muumba mwaminifu.” Yeye “hana wasiwasi wowote”: katika Kiingereza cha King James anachonukuu Wesley, careful maana yake ni mwenye wasiwasi. Kisha, anaomba bila kukoma. Hii haimaanishi kuwa yuko magotini daima. Wesley anasema moyo wake unainuliwa kwa Mungu “nyakati zote, na mahali pote,” katika jamii au peke yake, kazini au katika mapumziko. Anaenda na Mungu daima. Angalia alama tatu hapa, furaha, sala na shukrani, zilizotolewa katika 1 Wathesalonike 5:16–18. Wesley atarudi kwenye andiko hili hilo tena na tena katika miaka ya baadaye kama ishara ya upendo mkamilifu. Utakatifu, katika taswira hii, si ukali wa huzuni. Ni maisha yaliyofanywa ya furaha na uwepo wa daima wa Mungu.The portrait opens with the Great Commandment. A Methodist, Wesley writes, is one who loves the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. God is “the joy of his heart.” Because of this he is “happy in God,” and since perfect love has cast out fear (1 John 4:18), he rejoices evermore. This joy is not dependent on circumstances. In ease or pain, in sickness or health, in life or death, he gives thanks, trusting God as “a faithful Creator.” He is “careful for nothing”: in the King James English that Wesley quotes, careful means anxious. Next, he prays without ceasing. This does not mean he is always on his knees. Wesley says his heart is lifted up to God “at all times, and in all places,” in company or alone, at work or at leisure. He walks with God continually. Notice the three marks here, joy, prayer and thanksgiving, drawn from 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18. Wesley will return to this same text again and again in later years as the sign of perfect love. Holiness, in this picture, is not gloomy strictness. It is a life made glad by the constant presence of God.

3.Moyo Safi na Jicho Moja3.A Pure Heart and a Single Eye

Upendo kwa Mungu unafurika katika upendo kwa jirani. Mmethodisti “anampenda kila mtu kama roho yake mwenyewe,” ikiwa ni pamoja na adui zake na adui za Mungu; ikiwa hawezi kuwatendea mema, anawaombea. Yeye ni “safi wa moyo”: upendo “umeusafisha moyo wake kutokana na wivu, kinyongo, ghadhabu, na kila mwelekeo usio wa fadhili.” Amevaa kile Biblia ya King James inachokiita “bowels of mercies” (Wakolosai 3:12), msemo wa zamani wa huruma ya kina ya moyoni. Ana “jicho moja,” nia moja katika yote anayofanya, ambayo ni kumpendeza Mungu. Na “mti hujulikana kwa matunda yake.” Anazishika amri zote za Mungu, “tangu ndogo hadi kubwa,” na utii wake ni “sawa na upendo wake.” Utakatifu huu unafikia maisha ya kawaida. Awe anakula au kunywa, anavaa au anafanya kazi, au hata anapumzika kutoka “kazi nyingi zinazochosha,” anafanya yote kwa utukufu wa Mungu. Hawezi kujiwekea hazina duniani, kumsema vibaya jirani, au kutamka neno lisilo la fadhili, kwa maana “upendo hulinda mlango wa midomo yake.” Baada ya kunukuu taswira hii, Wesley anaongeza kwamba tangu karibu 1730 alikuwa homo unius libri, “mtu wa kitabu kimoja,” Biblia, na kwamba bado alifundisha fundisho lile lile kabisa, bila kuliongeza chochote.Love for God overflows into love for neighbour. The Methodist “loves every man as his own soul,” including his enemies and the enemies of God; if he cannot do them good, he prays for them. He is “pure in heart”: love “has purified his heart from envy, malice, wrath, and every unkind temper.” He has put on what the King James Bible calls “bowels of mercies” (Colossians 3:12), an old phrase for deep, heartfelt compassion. He has “a single eye,” one intention in all he does, which is to please God. And “the tree is known by its fruits.” He keeps all of God’s commandments, “from the least to the greatest,” and his obedience is “in proportion to his love.” This holiness reaches into ordinary life. Whether he eats or drinks, dresses or works, or even rests from “too wasting labour,” he does it all to the glory of God. He cannot lay up treasures on earth, speak evil of a neighbour, or utter an unkind word, for “love keeps the door of his lips.” After quoting this portrait, Wesley adds that from about 1730 he had been homo unius libri, “a man of one book,” the Bible, and that he still taught exactly the same doctrine, adding nothing to it.

4.Upinzani kutoka Upande Usiotarajiwa4.Opposition from an Unexpected Quarter

Mwanzoni, Wesley anasema, hakuna mwandishi aliyepinga kijitabu hicho. Kisha “kilio kilitokea,” na kwa mshangao wake kilitoka kwa “watu wa dini.” Hawakusema kwamba alieleza ukamilifu isivyo sahihi. Walisema “hakuna ukamilifu duniani,” nao wakawashambulia ndugu kwa kusema vinginevyo. Wesley aliumia, anakiri, kwa sababu yeye na Charles walikuwa “wazi juu ya kuhesabiwa haki kwa imani” na waangalifu kuhusisha wokovu wote “na neema tupu ya Mungu.” Kilichoshangaza zaidi ni kwamba walishtakiwa kumdharau Kristo kwa kufundisha kwamba yeye “anaokoa hata ukomo” (Waebrania 7:25). Wakosoaji hawa walikuwa akina nani? Wesley hawataji, lakini miaka ya karibu 1740 na 1741 ilishuhudia migawanyiko miwili yenye maumivu katika uamsho. Mmoja ulikuwa na baadhi ya Wamoravia, waliofundisha kwamba waumini wanapaswa kuwa “watulivu” na kungoja, na ambao kiongozi wao, Count Zinzendorf, alishikilia kwamba utakatifu wetu wote uko katika Kristo na hakuna ulioko ndani yetu. Mwingine ulikuwa na wainjilisti Wakalvini, ikiwa ni pamoja na rafiki wa Wesley George Whitefield, waliotofautiana naye kuhusu kuchaguliwa tangu awali na kuhusu ukamilifu. Kwao, kudai utakatifu wa sasa katika muumini kulionekana kuondoa utukufu kutoka Kazi Iliyokamilika ya Kristo. Kwa Wesley, kuukana kulionekana kupunguza kile ambacho kazi hiyo iliyokamilika inaweza kufanya.At first, Wesley says, no writer objected to the tract. Then “a cry arose,” and to his surprise it came from “religious men.” They did not say that he had described perfection wrongly. They said “there is no perfection on earth,” and they attacked the brothers for saying otherwise. Wesley was hurt, he admits, because he and Charles were “clear on justification by faith” and careful to ascribe the whole of salvation “to the mere grace of God.” Most surprising of all, they were accused of dishonouring Christ by teaching that He “saveth to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25). Who were these critics? Wesley does not name them, but the years around 1740 and 1741 saw two painful divisions in the revival. One was with some of the Moravians, who taught that believers should be “still” and wait, and whose leader, Count Zinzendorf, held that all our holiness is in Christ and none is in us. The other was with Calvinist evangelicals, including Wesley’s friend George Whitefield, who disagreed with him about predestination and about perfection. To them, claiming present holiness in the believer seemed to take glory away from the finished work of Christ. To Wesley, denying it seemed to limit what that finished work could do.

5.Askofu Anasema, “Kichapishe kwa Ulimwengu Wote”5.A Bishop Says, “Publish It to All the World”

Mwishoni mwa 1740, Wesley anakumbuka, alizungumza na Edmund Gibson, Askofu wa London, huko Whitehall. Askofu alimwuliza waziwazi alimaanisha nini kwa ukamilifu, na Wesley alimwambia “bila kuficha wala kuweka akiba.” Gibson alijibu: “Ikiwa hili ndilo unalomaanisha, lichapishe kwa ulimwengu wote.” Kwa hiyo Wesley aliandika mahubiri “Christian Perfection” juu ya Wafilipi 3:12, yaliyochapishwa 1741. Yana sehemu mbili: kwa maana gani Wakristo si wakamilifu, na kwa maana gani ni wakamilifu. Sehemu ya kwanza ni muhimu kuelewa fundisho lote. Wakristo si wakamilifu katika maarifa. Hawako huru kutokana na ujinga wala kosa, kwa maana hakuna “asiyekosea” kamwe kama vile hakuna “ajuaye yote.” Hawako huru kutokana na udhaifu: uzito wa ufahamu, mawazo yenye wepesi kupita kiasi au mepesi, “kutumia lugha isiyofaa, kutamka bila uzuri,” na “kasoro elfu zisizo na jina.” Hawako huru kutokana na majaribu, kwa maana “mtumishi hampiti bwana wake.” Na hakuna “ukamilifu wa viwango,” hakuna hali isiyokubali ukuaji wa daima. Mfuasi wa Wesley anayesahau orodha hii atafanya fundisho lisikike la kiburi au la kipumbavu. Mfuasi wa Wesley anayeikumbuka anaweza kueleza kwamba ukamilifu wa Kikristo unapatana kikamilifu na maisha dhaifu, ya kibinadamu, yanayoendelea kukua.Late in 1740, Wesley recalls, he spoke with Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London, at Whitehall. The Bishop asked him plainly what he meant by perfection, and Wesley told him “without any disguise or reserve.” Gibson replied: “If this be all you mean, publish it to all the world.” So Wesley wrote the sermon “Christian Perfection” on Philippians 3:12, published in 1741. It has two parts: in what sense Christians are not perfect, and in what sense they are. The first part is essential for understanding the whole doctrine. Christians are not perfect in knowledge. They are not free from ignorance or from mistake, for no one is “infallible” any more than “omniscient.” They are not free from infirmities: slowness of understanding, an overactive or dull imagination, “impropriety of language, ungracefulness of pronunciation,” and “a thousand nameless defects.” They are not free from temptation, for “the servant is not above his master.” And there is no “perfection of degrees,” no state that does not allow continual growth. A Wesleyan who forgets this list will make the doctrine sound proud or absurd. A Wesleyan who remembers it can explain that Christian perfection is fully compatible with a weak, human, still-growing life.

6.Kwa Maana Gani Wakristo ni Wakamilifu6.In What Sense Christians Are Perfect

Sehemu ya pili inatoa madai mawili. Kwanza, hata “watoto wachanga katika Kristo” ni “wakamilifu kwa kiasi cha kutotenda dhambi,” kama 1 Yohana 3:9 isemavyo. Hapa “dhambi” inamaanisha dhambi ya nje, ya kukusudia; baadaye Wesley ataifafanua kwa uangalifu kama uvunjaji wa hiari wa sheria inayojulikana. Kisha anajibu maandiko yaliyotolewa dhidi yake. Mithali 24:16 haisemi kwamba mwenye haki anatenda dhambi “mara saba kwa siku”; maneno “kwa siku” hayamo, na kuanguka ni katika “taabu za maisha haya,” si dhambi. “Hakuna mtu asiyetenda dhambi” ya Sulemani inaeleza maisha chini ya agano la kale, lakini sasa “Roho Mtakatifu amekwisha kutolewa.” Ikiwa Petro na Paulo waliwahi kutenda dhambi, hilo halithibitishi “hitaji la dhambi” kwa Wakristo wote. Katika Yakobo 3:2, “sisi sote tunakosa,” Wesley anabisha, inarejea kwa tamathali ya usemi walimu wa uongo ambao Yakobo anawaonya. Na katika 1 Yohana 1:8–10, mstari wa 9 unaahidi “kusamehe” na “kusafisha”; kufanya kusafishwa kumaanishe msamaha tu kungefanya utakatifu kuwa sharti la kuhesabiwa haki. Pili, “Wakristo wazima” wameachiliwa kutoka “mawazo mabaya na mielekeo mibaya ya moyo.” Pamoja na Paulo wanaweza kusema, “Kristo anaishi ndani yangu” (Wagalatia 2:20). Wametakaswa kutokana na kiburi, mapenzi ya nafsi, na hasira “kwa maana ya kawaida ya neno.” Bado wanahisi “displacency,” neno la zamani la kutoridhika, kuhusu dhambi, lakini huruma tu kwa mwenye dhambi. Kwa maana, kama Yohana asemavyo, “kama yeye alivyo, ndivyo sisi tulivyo katika ulimwengu huu” (1 Yohana 4:17).The second part makes two claims. First, even “babes in Christ” are “so far perfect as not to commit sin,” as 1 John 3:9 says. Here “sin” means outward, wilful sin; later Wesley will define it carefully as a voluntary transgression of a known law. He then answers the texts people raised against him. Proverbs 24:16 does not say a just man sins “seven times a day”; the words “a day” are not there, and the falling is into “temporal affliction,” not sin. Solomon’s “there is no man that sinneth not” describes life under the old covenant, but now “the Holy Ghost is now given.” If Peter and Paul once sinned, that proves no “necessity of sin” for all Christians. In James 3:2, “we offend all,” Wesley argues, refers by a figure of speech to the false teachers James is warning. And in 1 John 1:8–10, verse 9 promises both to “forgive” and to “cleanse”; to make the cleansing mean only pardon would make holiness a condition of justification. Second, “grown Christians” are freed from “evil thoughts and evil tempers.” With Paul they can say, “Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). They are purified from pride, self-will, and anger “in the common sense of the word.” They still feel a “displacency,” an old word for displeasure, at sin, but only compassion for the sinner. For, as John says, “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Wesley Anachopata Kutoka Hapa Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Angalia hatua mbili katika mawazo ya Wesley. Kila muumini aliyezaliwa mara ya pili ana nguvu juu ya dhambi ya kukusudia; waumini waliokomaa pia wanatakaswa ndani. Mtindo huu wa kuzaliwa upya ukifuatwa na utakaso wa ndani zaidi ukawa uti wa mgongo wa vuguvugu la utakatifu la baadaye. Wahubiri wa karne ya kumi na tisa kama Phoebe Palmer, na makanisa kama Kanisa la Nazarene, wangesema juu ya utakaso kamili kama “kazi ya pili ya neema.” Kwa mchungaji leo, vifungu hivi vinatoa taswira nzuri ya kuhubiri, maisha ya furaha, sala, shukrani na upendo wa vitendo, na orodha makini ya kile ukamilifu usichomaanisha. Pia vinaonyesha ujasiri ulioambatana na unyenyekevu: Wesley aliweka “Si kwamba nimekwisha kupata” mwanzoni. Wakristo wengine wanasoma maandiko haya tofauti, na haki inahitaji kusema hivyo. Wakalimani wengi wa Reformed, Walutheri na Wabaptisti wengi wanaichukulia 1 Yohana 1:8 kuelezea uwepo unaoendelea wa dhambi katika kila muumini, na kusoma “sisi sote tunakosa” katika Yakobo 3:2 kuwa inamjumuisha mtume mwenyewe. Wengi wanaona Warumi 7 kama mapambano ya kawaida ya Mkristo. Wafuasi wa Wesley hawahitaji kukataa usomaji huu. Lakini wanaweza kujibu, pamoja na Wesley, kwamba Agano Jipya linaahidi kusafishwa kulikokuwa halisi kama msamaha, na kwamba neema ina nguvu kuliko dhambi.Notice the two stages in Wesley’s thinking. Every born-again believer has power over wilful sin; mature believers are also cleansed within. This pattern of new birth followed by a deeper cleansing became the backbone of the later holiness movement. Nineteenth-century preachers such as Phoebe Palmer, and churches like the Church of the Nazarene, would speak of entire sanctification as a “second work of grace.” For a pastor today, these sections offer a beautiful picture to preach, a life of joy, prayer, thanksgiving and practical love, and a careful list of what perfection does not mean. They also model courage joined with humility: Wesley put “Not as though I had already attained” at the front. Other Christians read these texts differently, and fairness requires saying so. Most Reformed, Lutheran and many Baptist interpreters take 1 John 1:8 to describe the ongoing presence of sin in every believer, and read “we offend all” in James 3:2 as including the apostle himself. Many see Romans 7 as the ordinary Christian struggle. Wesleyans need not dismiss these readings. But they can answer, with Wesley, that the New Testament promises a cleansing as real as forgiveness, and that grace is stronger than sin.

8.Kuliweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Soma tena alama za “tabia ya Mmethodisti”: furaha, sala isiyokoma, shukrani, upendo kwa adui, jicho moja. Ni ipi iliyo hai zaidi ndani yako, na ipi inahitaji zaidi kazi ya Mungu? Kwa nini unadhani Wesley aliweka “Si kwamba nimekwisha kupata” mwanzoni mwa kijitabu chake? Na ungemweleza rafiki mwenye shaka kwa namna gani tofauti kati ya udhaifu na dhambi? For reflection. Read again the marks of the “character of a Methodist”: joy, unceasing prayer, thanksgiving, love for enemies, a single eye. Which of these is most alive in you, and which most needs God’s work? Why do you think Wesley placed “Not as though I had already attained” at the front of his tract? And how would you explain to a doubting friend the difference between infirmity and sin?

Chagua

Somo la 3 · Hymns and Conferences

Sung and Settled

A CTS digest of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), §§16–18; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11

Charles Wesley’s hymns pray to enter “the Canaan of thy perfect love,” while the first Methodist Conferences of 1744–1747 define sanctification, insist it begins at justification, preach it by “drawing, rather than driving,” state their opponents’ views fairly, and gather the Scriptures. John then draws four conclusions: perfect love, by faith, in a moment, expected now.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Yaliyoimbwa na Kuamuliwa: Nyimbo na Mikutano ya Mwanzo Juu ya UkamilifuSung and Settled: Hymns and the Early Conferences on Perfection

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — jinsi nyimbo za Charles Wesley zilivyofundisha fundisho hilo kwa Wamethodisti wa kawaida, na jinsi Mikutano ya kwanza ya wahubiri ilivyolifafanua, kulipima kwa Maandiko, na kutafuta msingi wa pamoja na wale waliotofautianaA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — how Charles Wesley’s hymns taught the doctrine to ordinary Methodists, and how the first Conferences of preachers defined it, tested it against Scripture, and sought common ground with those who disagreed

Muhtasari wa CTS wa vifungu 16–18 vya John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (toleo la 1777), kama ilivyochapishwa katika The Works of John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (1872), juzuu ya 11. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of sections 16–18 of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), as printed in The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Plain Account §§16–18Plain Account §§16–18
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1742–17521742–1752
Charles WesleyCharles Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Somo hili linahama kati ya aina mbili za matini: beti za nyimbo, na kumbukumbu za maswali na majibu za Mikutano ya kwanza ya Methodisti. Yote mawili yalikuwa njia za kufundisha. Nyimbo ziliweka fundisho kwenye midomo ya watu; Mikutano iliiweka kwa maneno makini kwa ajili ya wahubiri. Unaposoma, angalia jinsi nyimbo zinavyosema “sasa” mara nyingi, na jinsi Mikutano inavyosema kwa uangalifu inachodai na isichodai. A word before you read. This reading moves between two kinds of text: verses from hymns, and the question-and-answer minutes of the first Methodist Conferences. Both were ways of teaching. The hymns put the doctrine on people’s lips; the Conferences put it in careful words for preachers. As you read, notice how often the hymns say “now,” and how carefully the Conferences say what they do and do not claim.

1.Fundisho Lililowekwa kwenye Muziki1.A Doctrine Set to Music

Wamethodisti walijifunza teolojia yao kwa kuiimba. Charles Wesley (1707–1788), ndugu mdogo wa John, aliandika maelfu ya nyimbo, na ndugu hao walizichapisha katika mfululizo wa juzuu zinazoitwa Hymns and Sacred Poems. “Juzuu” ambayo Wesley anaitaja hapa ni ile ya 1742, iliyochapishwa wakati mabishano juu ya ukamilifu yalipokuwa kilele. Nyimbo juu ya mada hiyo zilikuwa “nyingi mno kuzinakili,” kwa hiyo ananukuu sehemu za tatu. Ya kwanza ni sala ya “kukamilishwa katika upendo,” inayotegemea ahadi, “Mtumishi atakuwa kama Bwana wake.” Inamwomba Kristo akomboe “kutoka uovu wote” na kuonya kwamba usipoondoa “kila doa langu,” mateso yake na imani yangu ni bure. Inaisha kwa ombi la wakati wa sasa: “Nichukue kuwa wako wakati huu.” Ya pili inatumia picha ya Israeli ikiingia nchi ya ahadi. Muumini ambaye tayari amehesabiwa haki anamwomba Roho “anisafishe” na kumleta katika “Kanaani ya upendo wako mkamilifu.” Ya tatu inashangilia kwamba “Upendo ni kifungo cha ukamilifu,” ikinukuu Wakolosai 3:14, na kupaza sauti, “Nitakuwa mtakatifu hapa!” Angalia kile nyimbo zinachofundisha bila hotuba yoyote: utakatifu ni zawadi tunayoiomba, umelenga upendo, na unatarajiwa katika maisha haya, si mbinguni tu.Methodists learned their theology by singing it. Charles Wesley (1707–1788), John’s younger brother, wrote thousands of hymns, and the brothers published them in a series of volumes called Hymns and Sacred Poems. The “volume” Wesley mentions here is the one of 1742, published when the dispute over perfection was at its height. The hymns on the subject were “too numerous to transcribe,” so he quotes parts of three. The first is a prayer to be “perfected in love,” resting on the promise, “The servant shall be as his Lord.” It asks Christ to redeem “from all iniquity” and warns that unless He purges “my every stain,” His suffering and my faith are vain. It closes with a plea for the present: “Me for thine own this moment take.” The second uses the image of Israel entering the promised land. The believer who is already justified asks the Spirit to “wash me clean” and to bring him into “the Canaan of thy perfect love.” The third rejoices that “Love is the bond of perfectness,” quoting Colossians 3:14, and cries, “I shall be holy here!” Notice what the hymns teach without any lecture: holiness is a gift we ask for, it is centred on love, and it is hoped for in this life, not only in heaven.

2.1744: Mkutano wa Kwanza2.1744: The First Conference

Jumatatu tarehe 25 Juni 1744, Mkutano wa kwanza wa Methodisti ulianza London, “wachungaji sita wa Kanisa na wahubiri wetu wote” wakiwapo. Mkutano huo ukawa kitovu cha uongozi wa Umethodisti. Hadi leo makanisa ya Methodisti ulimwenguni kote hukutana katika mikutano ya kila mwaka, na neno “connexion,” tahajia ya zamani ya muunganiko (connection), bado linataja mtandao wa jamii na wahubiri waliounganishwa. Asubuhi ya pili Mkutano ulizingatia “fundisho la utakaso, au ukamilifu.” Majibu yake yalikuwa mafupi. Kutakaswa ni “kufanywa upya katika sura ya Mungu, katika haki na utakatifu wa kweli” (linganisha Waefeso 4:24). Mkristo mkamilifu ni yule anayempenda Mungu kwa moyo wote, akili na roho (Kumbukumbu la Torati 6:5). Je, hii inamaanisha kwamba dhambi yote ya ndani imeondolewa? “Bila shaka,” kwa kuwa Mungu aliahidi kuwaokoa watu wake “na uchafu wetu wote” (Ezekieli 36:29). Mbinu yenyewe inafundisha. Wahubiri hawakutoa imani ya kanisa kutoka juu. Waliuliza maswali, walichunguza Maandiko, na kurekodi kiini cha majibu yao katika kile kilichoitwa Minutes (Kumbukumbu).On Monday 25 June 1744, the first Methodist Conference began in London, with “six Clergymen and all our Preachers” present. The Conference became the governing heart of Methodism. To this day Methodist churches around the world meet in annual conferences, and the word “connexion,” an old spelling of connection, still names the network of societies and preachers linked to one another. On the second morning the Conference considered “the doctrine of sanctification, or perfection.” Its answers were short. To be sanctified is to be “renewed in the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness” (compare Ephesians 4:24). A perfect Christian is one who loves God with all the heart, mind and soul (Deuteronomy 6:5). Does this mean that all inward sin is taken away? “Undoubtedly,” for God promised to save His people “from all our uncleannesses” (Ezekiel 36:29). The method itself is instructive. The preachers did not issue a creed from above. They asked questions, searched the Scriptures, and recorded the substance of their answers in what came to be called the Minutes.

3.1745: Utakaso Huanza Lini?3.1745: When Does Sanctification Begin?

Mkutano wa pili ulikutana tarehe 1 Agosti 1745 na kuongeza usahihi muhimu. Utakaso wa ndani huanza lini? “Katika dakika ambayo mtu anahesabiwa haki.” Hili ni fundisho kuu la Wesley ambalo mara nyingi linasahauliwa. Utakatifu haujaanza katika mgogoro fulani wa baadaye; unaanza wakati wa kuongoka. Hata hivyo, kumbukumbu zinaongeza, dhambi inabaki ndani ya muumini, hata “mbegu ya dhambi zote,” hadi “atakaswe kikamilifu.” Tangu kuongoka na kuendelea muumini “anakufa polepole kwa dhambi, na kukua katika neema.” Je, utakaso kamili kwa kawaida hutolewa kidogo kabla ya kifo tu? “Hautolewi, kwa wale wasiotarajia mapema zaidi.” Je, tunaweza kuutarajia mapema? “Kwa nini sivyo?” Wahubiri walikubali kwamba waumini wengi waliowajua hawakutakaswa hivyo hadi karibu na kifo, na kwamba hata wasomaji wa kwanza wa Paulo hawakuwa hivyo. Lakini hilo halithibitishi kwamba haiwezi kutokea leo. Kisha inakuja mojawapo ya mistari ya kichungaji yenye hekima zaidi katika Umethodisti wote. Utakaso uhubiriwe vipi? “Karibu si kabisa kwa wale wasiosonga mbele.” Kwa wale wanaosonga, “daima kwa njia ya ahadi; daima tukivuta, badala ya kusukuma.” Mwaka 1746 Mkutano wa tatu ulisoma tena kumbukumbu hizi na haukuona cha kubadilisha.The second Conference met on 1 August 1745 and added important precision. When does inward sanctification begin? “In the moment a man is justified.” This is a key Wesleyan teaching that is often forgotten. Holiness does not begin at some later crisis; it begins at conversion. Yet, the minutes add, sin remains in the believer, even “the seed of all sin,” until he is “sanctified throughout.” From conversion onward a believer “gradually dies to sin, and grows in grace.” Is entire sanctification ordinarily given only a little before death? “It is not, to those who expect it no sooner.” May we expect it sooner? “Why not?” The preachers admitted that most believers they had known were not so sanctified until near death, and that even Paul’s first readers were not. But that does not prove it cannot happen today. Then comes one of the wisest pastoral lines in all of Methodism. How should sanctification be preached? “Scarce at all to those who are not pressing forward.” To those who are, “always by way of promise; always drawing, rather than driving.” In 1746 the third Conference read over these minutes again and found nothing to change.

4.1747: Kutafuta Msingi wa Pamoja4.1747: Seeking Common Ground

Katika Mkutano wa nne, Juni 1747, watu wengine walikuwapo ambao hawakuamini fundisho hilo, kwa hiyo wahubiri walilichunguza “tangu msingi.” Walianza, kwa ukarimu, kwa kuorodhesha kile ambacho wapinzani wao walikubali. Wale waliotofautiana walikubali kwamba kila muumini lazima atakaswe kikamilifu “saa ya kifo” (in the article of death), msemo wa zamani unaomaanisha wakati halisi wa kufa. Walikubali kwamba muumini hukua kila siku katika neema na anapaswa kuufuatilia ukamilifu. Kisha Wamethodisti wakaorodhesha kile walichowakubalia kwa zamu yao. Waumini wengi waliowajua hawakukamilishwa katika upendo hadi muda mfupi kabla ya kifo. Paulo hutumia neno “kutakaswa” kwa wote waliohesabiwa haki, kwa hiyo wakati wa kusema juu ya wokovu kamili kutoka dhambi mtu anapaswa kuongeza “kikamilifu” au “yote.” Na waandishi wa Agano Jipya wanasema zaidi na waumini waliohesabiwa haki, na mara chache kwa wale waliotakaswa kikamilifu. Angalia kwa makini mabano katika kifungu hiki. Ni maoni ya baadaye ya Wesley mwenyewe, yaliyoongezwa alipochapisha tena kumbukumbu, yakisisitiza kimya kimya kwamba Maandiko yanasema juu ya utakaso kamili “mara nyingi sana, kwa nguvu, na waziwazi” mahali fulani. Baada ya yote haya, tofauti halisi ilipungua hadi swali moja: je, tunapaswa kutarajia kuokolewa kutoka dhambi zote “kabla ya saa ya kifo”? Huu ni mfano wa kutokubaliana kwa uaminifu: eleza upande mwingine kwa haki, kubali kilicho kweli ndani yake, na tafuta hasa tofauti ilipo.At the fourth Conference, in June 1747, some people were present who did not believe the doctrine, so the preachers examined it “from the foundation.” They began, generously, by listing what their opponents granted. Those who differed agreed that every believer must be entirely sanctified “in the article of death,” an old phrase meaning at the very moment of death. They agreed that a believer grows in grace daily and should press after perfection. Then the Methodists listed what they in turn granted. Most believers they had known were not perfected in love until shortly before death. Paul uses the word “sanctified” for all who are justified, so when speaking of full salvation from sin one should add “wholly” or “entirely.” And the New Testament writers speak mostly to justified believers, rarely to those wholly sanctified. Look closely at the brackets in this passage. They are Wesley’s own later comments, added when he reprinted the minutes, quietly insisting that Scripture speaks of entire sanctification “very frequently, strongly, and explicitly” in some places. After all this, the real disagreement shrank to one question: should we expect to be saved from all sin “before the article of death”? This is a model of honest disagreement: state the other side fairly, admit what is true in it, and find the precise point of difference.

5.Hoja ya Kimaandiko5.The Scriptural Case

Mkutano kisha ulitoa sababu zake kutoka Maandiko katika makundi manne. Kwanza, ahadi: Mungu “atawakomboa Israeli na maovu yake yote” (Zaburi 130:8); atawatakasa watu wake “na uchafu wenu wote” (Ezekieli 36:25); atautahiri moyo ili wampende kikamilifu (Kumbukumbu la Torati 30:6). Pili, kauli: Mwana wa Mungu alikuja “kuzivunja kazi za Ibilisi” (1 Yohana 3:8), na Kristo alijitoa ili ajiletee Kanisa “lisilo na ila” (Waefeso 5:25–27). Tatu, sala: “Utuokoe na yule mwovu,” sala ya Yesu kwamba watu wake “wakamilishwe kuwa umoja” (Yohana 17), sala ya Paulo kwamba wajazwe “utimilifu wote wa Mungu” (Waefeso 3), na sala yake kwamba Mungu “awatakase kabisa” (1 Wathesalonike 5:23). Sala kama hizo, walibisha, zingekuwa “kumdhihaki Mungu tu” kama hakuna jambo kama hilo. Nne, amri: “Iweni wakamilifu” (Mathayo 5:48) na amri ya kumpenda Mungu kwa moyo wote. (Matini iliyochapishwa inatoa Mathayo 12:37; Amri Kuu iko Mathayo 22:37.) Kwa nini kabla ya kifo? Kwa sababu amri “haipewi wafu, bali walio hai.” Walipoombwa kumtaja mtu mkamilifu, walijibu kwamba kama wangemjua mmoja huenda wasingesema, kwa kuwa angewekwa “kuwa shabaha ya wote kurusha mishale.” Pia walikubali kwamba waumini wanaweza kuhisi “chuki ya siri” dhidi ya yeyote anayedai neema hii, kwa sehemu kwa kujali, kwa sehemu kwa “husuda ya kimya,” na kwa sehemu kwa uvivu wa kuamini kazi za Mungu.The Conference then gave its reasons from Scripture in four groups. First, promises: God “shall redeem Israel from all his sins” (Psalm 130:8); He will cleanse His people “from all your filthiness” (Ezekiel 36:25); He will circumcise the heart to love Him wholly (Deuteronomy 30:6). Second, assertions: the Son of God came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and Christ gave Himself to present a Church “without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27). Third, prayers: “Deliver us from evil,” Jesus’ prayer that His people be “made perfect in one” (John 17), Paul’s prayer that they be filled “with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3), and his prayer that God “sanctify you wholly” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Such prayers, they argued, would be “mere mockery of God” if there were no such thing. Fourth, commands: “Be ye perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and the command to love God with all the heart. (The printed text gives Matthew 12:37; the Great Commandment is at Matthew 22:37.) Why before death? Because a command “is not given to the dead, but to the living.” Asked to name a perfect person, they answered that if they knew one they might not say, since he would be set “as a mark for all to shoot at.” They also admitted that believers may feel “a secret distaste” toward anyone claiming this grace, partly from concern, partly from “implicit envy,” and partly from slowness to believe the works of God.

6.1749: Nyimbo za Charles na Hitimisho Nne6.1749: Charles’s Hymns and Four Conclusions

Mwaka 1749 Charles alichapisha juzuu mbili zaidi za Hymns and Sacred Poems. John anakiri kwamba hakuziona kabla na kwamba “mambo fulani ndani yake” hakuyakubali. Wanahistoria kwa kawaida huunganisha hili na mwelekeo wa Charles wa kuweka kiwango cha ukamilifu juu mno, hata kuonekana kuwa karibu kisichoweza kufikika kabla ya kifo. Lakini John “alikubali kabisa sehemu kuu” ya nyimbo hizi, naye ananukuu mistari mingi. Zinaomba, “Sasa, bila dhambi, onekana ndani yangu”; “unifungie ndani ya Mungu”; na “Dakika hiyo iwe sasa!” Zinasema juu ya “dhambi ya ndani” (inbred sin), uharibifu wa asili tunaozaliwa nao, na kumwomba Mungu aing’oe “mbegu za dhambi.” Zinatamani “raha hiyo ya pili” na “zawadi ya pili.” Lugha kama hiyo inaonekana katika wimbo maarufu wa Charles “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (1747). Kutoka dondoo hizi zote John anatoa hitimisho nne ambazo yeye na ndugu yake walizishikilia. Ukamilifu wa Kikristo ni (1) upendo wa Mungu na jirani, unaomaanisha ukombozi kutoka dhambi zote; (2) unapokelewa “kwa imani tu”; (3) unatolewa “papo hapo, katika dakika moja”; na (4) unapaswa kutarajiwa “si wakati wa kifo, bali kila dakika.” Pointi hizi nne ndizo kiini cha mafundisho ya kawaida ya Wesley. Msemo “raha ya pili” husaidia kueleza kwa nini wahubiri wa utakatifu wa baadaye walisema juu ya “baraka ya pili.”In 1749 Charles published two more volumes of Hymns and Sacred Poems. John admits that he had not seen them beforehand and that “some things in them” he did not approve. Historians usually connect this with Charles’s tendency to set the standard of perfection extremely high, so high that it seemed almost unreachable before death. But John “quite approved of the main” of these hymns, and he quotes many lines. They pray, “Now, without sin, in me appear”; “shut me up in God”; and “That moment be now!” They speak of “inbred sin,” the corruption of nature with which we are born, and ask God to root out “the seeds of sin.” They long for “that second rest” and “the second gift.” Similar language appears in Charles’s famous hymn “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (1747). From all these extracts John draws four conclusions that he and his brother maintained. Christian perfection is (1) the love of God and neighbour, implying deliverance from all sin; (2) received “merely by faith”; (3) given “instantaneously, in one moment”; and (4) to be expected “not at death, but every moment.” These four points are the core of classic Wesleyan teaching. The phrase “second rest” helps explain why later holiness preachers spoke of a “second blessing.”

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Wesley Anachopata Kutoka Hapa Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Mafunzo matatu yanajitokeza. Kwanza, ibada huunda imani. Kitabu cha nyimbo cha Wesley cha 1780, Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, kilijumuisha sehemu nzima ya nyimbo kwa waumini wanaotamani ukombozi kamili, na vuguvugu la utakatifu la karne ya kumi na tisa lilitoa nyimbo zake za utakaso na “nchi ya Beula.” Kile ambacho kutaniko huimba, hukiamini. Pili, “kuvuta, badala ya kusukuma.” Fundisho ni ahadi kwa wenye njaa, si mjeledi kwa waliochoka. Tatu, Mikutano inaonyesha utambuzi makini, wa unyenyekevu, wa pamoja, pamoja na uelezaji wa haki wa upande mwingine. Wafuasi wa Wesley leo bado wanabishana juu ya uwiano kati ya taratibu na papo hapo. Wasomi wengi wa Nazarene na Methodisti wanasisitiza mchakato wa maisha yote wa ukuaji ambao kumbukumbu za 1745 zinaueleza, huku wengine, hasa katika mapokeo ya mikutano ya kambi ya utakatifu, wakisisitiza dakika ya uamuzi. Wakristo wengine wanatofautiana kwa undani zaidi. Teolojia ya Reformed na Kilutheri inafundisha kwamba utakaso ni halisi lakini daima haujakamilika katika maisha haya, na vuguvugu la Keswick lilisema dhambi inapingwa daima na Roho badala ya kuondolewa. Haki inahitaji kutaja maoni haya. Hata hivyo swali la Mikutano bado linasimama mbele ya kila muumini: kwa nini tusitarajie Mungu afanye sasa kile alichoahidi kufanya?Three lessons stand out. First, worship shapes belief. Wesley’s 1780 hymnbook, the great Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, included a whole section of hymns for believers longing for full redemption, and the nineteenth-century holiness movement poured out its own songs of cleansing and “Beulah land.” What a congregation sings, it comes to believe. Second, “drawing, rather than driving.” The doctrine is a promise to those who hunger, not a whip for the weary. Third, the Conferences model careful, humble, shared discernment, along with a fair statement of the other side. Wesleyans today still debate the balance between the gradual and the instantaneous. Many Nazarene and Methodist scholars stress the lifelong process of growth that the 1745 minutes describe, while others, especially in holiness camp-meeting traditions, stress the decisive moment. Other Christians disagree more deeply. Reformed and Lutheran theology teaches that sanctification is real but always incomplete in this life, and the Keswick movement spoke of sin being continually counteracted by the Spirit rather than removed. Fairness requires noting these views. Yet the Conferences’ question still stands before every believer: why not expect God to do now what He has promised to do?

8.Kuliweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ni nyimbo zipi zimeunda uelewa wako mwenyewe wa utakatifu, na zinafundisha nini? Kuhubiri kwako kungewezaje kuwa “kuvuta, badala ya kusukuma” zaidi? Mkutano wa 1747 ulianza kwa kueleza kile wapinzani wake waliamini. Ungewezaje kufuata mfano huo wakati ujao utakapotofautiana na Mkristo mwingine juu ya fundisho? For reflection. Which hymns have shaped your own understanding of holiness, and what do they teach? How might your preaching be more “drawing, rather than driving”? The 1747 Conference began by stating what its opponents believed. How could you follow that example the next time you disagree with another Christian about doctrine?

Chagua

Somo la 4 · The 1759 Examination

Pure Love Reigning Alone

A CTS digest of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), §19; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11

Wesley’s fullest questions and answers on perfection: what it includes and excludes, the vital line between sin “properly” and “improperly” so called, why the most sanctified need Christ most, how testimonies should be tested with reason and tenderness, and how believers should wait for the change in obedience, prayer and simple faith.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Upendo Safi Ukitawala Peke Yake: Uchunguzi wa 1759 wa UkamilifuPure Love Reigning Alone: The 1759 Examination of Perfection

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — mfululizo mrefu zaidi wa Wesley wa maswali na majibu juu ya ukamilifu wa Kikristo: unajumuisha nini na haujumuishi nini, alivyofafanua dhambi, jinsi ushuhuda unavyopaswa kupimwa, na jinsi waumini wanavyopaswa kungoja baraka hiyoA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — Wesley’s longest set of questions and answers on Christian perfection: what it includes and excludes, how he defined sin, how testimonies should be tested, and how believers should wait for the blessing

Muhtasari wa CTS wa kifungu cha 19 cha John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (toleo la 1777), kama ilivyochapishwa katika The Works of John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (1872), juzuu ya 11. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of section 19 of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), as printed in The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Plain Account §19Plain Account §19
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1758–17601758–1760
Thoughts on Christian PerfectionThoughts on Christian Perfection

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Hii ndiyo sehemu ndefu zaidi na iliyofikiriwa kwa uangalifu zaidi ya Plain Account. Inanakili kijitabu cha Wesley Thoughts on Christian Perfection, kilichoandikwa baada ya Mkutano wa 1759. Ukisoma sehemu moja tu ya kitabu, walimu wengi wa Wesley wangekuelekeza hapa. Zingatia hasa jinsi Wesley anavyofafanua dhambi, kwa sababu karibu kila kutokubaliana juu ya fundisho hili kunategemea ufafanuzi huo. Uzoefu ulioripotiwa katika sehemu hii ni ushahidi wa Wesley na tafsiri yake ya ushahidi huo. A word before you read. This is the longest and most carefully reasoned part of the Plain Account. It reproduces Wesley’s tract Thoughts on Christian Perfection, written after the Conference of 1759. If you read only one section of the book, many Wesleyan teachers would point you here. Pay special attention to how Wesley defines sin, because almost every disagreement about this doctrine turns on that definition. Reported experiences in this section are Wesley’s evidence and his interpretation of it.

1.Kujilinda Dhidi ya Kuteleza1.Guarding Against Drift

Kufikia mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1750 Wamethodisti wengi walikuwa wakishuhudia kwamba Mungu amewakamilisha katika upendo. Pamoja na ukuaji kulikuja hatari. Katika Mkutano wa 1759 Wesley aliona “hatari fulani kwamba tofauti za mawazo zingeweza kuingia kimya kimya miongoni mwetu,” yaani, kwamba maoni tofauti yangeweza kuingia bila kuonekana. Kwa hiyo wahubiri walichunguza fundisho tena, na Wesley hivi karibuni alichapisha Thoughts on Christian Perfection (1760). Dibaji yake ni ya unyenyekevu. Kijitabu hakikusudiwi “kutosheleza udadisi” wa mtu yeyote, wala kuthibitisha fundisho kwa urefu dhidi ya wakosoaji wake. Anataka tu kutangaza ukamilifu wa Kikristo unajumuisha nini na haujumuishi nini, na kuongeza maelekezo ya kiutendaji. Anahifadhi umbo la swali na jibu ambalo kwalo mawazo yake yalikusanywa mwanzoni, umbo lile lile ambalo Mikutano ilitumia. Jibu lake la kwanza linatoa ufafanuzi ambao kila tamko la baadaye la wafuasi wa Wesley linaurudia. Ukamilifu wa Kikristo ni kumpenda Mungu kwa moyo wetu wote, akili, roho na nguvu. Hii inamaanisha kwamba “hakuna mwelekeo mbaya wa moyo, wala wowote unaopingana na upendo, unaobaki rohoni,” na kwamba mawazo yote, maneno na matendo vinatawaliwa “na upendo safi.”By the late 1750s many Methodists were testifying that God had perfected them in love. With growth came risk. At the 1759 Conference Wesley saw “some danger that a diversity of sentiments should insensibly steal in,” that is, that different opinions might creep in unnoticed. So the preachers examined the doctrine again, and Wesley soon published Thoughts on Christian Perfection (1760). His preface is modest. The tract is not meant “to gratify the curiosity” of anyone, nor to prove the doctrine at length against its critics. He wants simply to declare what Christian perfection includes and what it does not, and to add practical directions. He keeps the question-and-answer form in which his thoughts were first gathered, the same form the Conferences used. His opening answer gives the definition that every later Wesleyan statement echoes. Christian perfection is loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This means that “no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in the soul,” and that all thoughts, words and actions are governed “by pure love.”

2.Kile Ukamilifu Usichokiondoa2.What Perfection Does Not Exclude

Je, ukamilifu huu unaondoa udhaifu wote, ujinga na makosa? Wesley anajibu, “Ninathibitisha daima kinyume kabisa.” Mtu anaweza “kujazwa upendo safi, na bado akawa na uwezekano wa kukosea.” Anatoa sababu iliyo na mizizi katika mwili. Nafsi ikikaa katika “mwili na damu,” inafikiri kupitia viungo vya mwili vinavyoshiriki udhaifu wetu ulioanguka, kwa hiyo hatuwezi kuepuka kufikiri vibaya wakati mwingine hadi “huu uharibikao utakapovaa kutokuharibika.” Kosa katika hukumu linaweza hata kusababisha kosa katika vitendo. Mfano wake ni Gaston de Renty, mlei Mkatoliki wa Kifaransa wa karne ya kumi na saba mwenye uchaji ambaye Wesley alimstaajabia sana. De Renty alivaa “mkanda wa chuma,” mkanda wenye kuumiza, kwa sababu alifundishwa kimakosa kwamba kuumiza mwili ni njia ya utakatifu. Kosa kama hilo, lililofanywa kwa upendo, “si dhambi kwa maana halisi.” Hata hivyo Wesley anaongeza mara moja kwamba bado “linahitaji damu ya upatanisho.” Wahubiri huko Bristol mwaka 1758 walilieleza kwa hatua tano: kila mtu anaweza kukosea maadamu anaishi; kosa katika maoni linaweza kusababisha kosa katika vitendo; kila kosa kama hilo huvunja sheria kamilifu; lingestahili hukumu kama si upatanisho; na kwa hiyo hata walio wakamilifu zaidi wanaweza kuomba, “Utusamehe makosa yetu.” Wesley anabainisha hata kwamba upendo wenyewe unaweza kutuongoza kwenye kosa. Kwa kuwa upendo “huamini yote, hutumaini yote,” unaweza kutuongoza kuwafikiria watu wengine kuwa bora kuliko walivyo kweli.Does this perfection exclude all infirmities, ignorance and mistake? Wesley answers, “I continually affirm quite the contrary.” A person may be “filled with pure love, and still be liable to mistake.” He gives a reason rooted in the body. While the soul dwells in “flesh and blood,” it thinks through bodily organs that share in our fallen frailty, so we cannot avoid sometimes thinking wrongly until “this corruptible shall have put on incorruption.” A mistake in judgment may even lead to a mistake in practice. His example is Gaston de Renty, a devout seventeenth-century French Catholic layman whom Wesley greatly admired. De Renty wore an “iron girdle,” a painful belt, because he had wrongly been taught that hurting the body was a path to holiness. Such a mistake, done from love, is “not properly a sin.” Yet Wesley adds at once that it still “needs the atoning blood.” The preachers at Bristol in 1758 had put it in five steps: everyone may mistake as long as he lives; a mistake in opinion may cause a mistake in practice; every such mistake breaks the perfect law; it would deserve condemnation but for the atonement; and so even the most perfect may pray, “Forgive us our trespasses.” Wesley even notes that love itself can lead us into error. Because love “believeth and hopeth all things,” it may lead us to think some people better than they really are.

3.Dhambi, kwa Maana Halisi na Isiyo Halisi3.Sin, Properly and Improperly So Called

Hapa ndipo kiini cha sehemu hii. Wesley anatofautisha mambo mawili. “Dhambi, kwa maana halisi,” ni “uvunjaji wa hiari wa sheria inayojulikana.” “Dhambi, kwa maana isiyo halisi,” ni “uvunjaji usio wa hiari wa sheria ya Mungu, ijulikane au isijulikane.” Yote mawili yanahitaji damu ya upatanisho. Hakuna ukamilifu katika maisha haya unaoondoa uvunjaji usio wa hiari, unaotokana kwa asili na ujinga na makosa. Kwa hiyo, Wesley anasema, “ukamilifu usio na dhambi ni msemo ambao sijawahi kuutumia.” Mnaweza kuita uvunjaji huo dhambi mkipenda; yeye haziiti. Kisha anatoa ushauri kwa pande zote mbili. Wale wasioziita dhambi wasiwahi kuwazia kwamba mtu yeyote anaweza kusimama mbele ya haki isiyo na kikomo “bila Mpatanishi”; hilo lingeonyesha “ujinga wa kina kabisa, au majivuno ya juu kabisa.” Wale wanaoziita dhambi wawe waangalifu wasichanganye kasoro hizi na dhambi halisi. Basi ukamilifu uwekwe juu kiasi gani? “Juu kama Maandiko yanavyouweka”: si zaidi wala si pungufu ya “upendo safi wa Mungu na wa watu.” Hapa ndipo mapokeo mengine yanapotofautiana wazi zaidi. Katekisimu Fupi ya Westminster, kwa mfano, inafafanua dhambi kama upungufu wowote wa kupatana na sheria ya Mungu, si kuivunja kwa makusudi tu. Kwa ufafanuzi huo hakuna muumini aliye huru kutokana na dhambi katika maisha haya. Wesley hakatai kasoro hizo; anakataa tu kuziita dhambi kwa maana kamili, huku akisisitiza kwamba bado zinahitaji damu ya Kristo.Here is the heart of the section. Wesley distinguishes two things. “Sin, properly so called,” is “a voluntary transgression of a known law.” “Sin, improperly so called,” is “an involuntary transgression of a divine law, known or unknown.” Both need the atoning blood. No perfection in this life excludes involuntary transgressions, which flow naturally from ignorance and mistake. Therefore, Wesley says, “sinless perfection is a phrase I never use.” You may call such transgressions sins if you please; he does not. Then he gives advice to both sides. Those who do not call them sins must never imagine that anyone can stand before infinite justice “without a Mediator”; that would show “the deepest ignorance, or the highest arrogance.” Those who do call them sins must beware of confusing these defects with real sin. How high, then, should perfection be set? “Just as high as the Scripture does”: nothing more and nothing less than “the pure love of God and man.” This is where other traditions most clearly differ. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, for example, defines sin as any lack of conformity to God’s law, not only a wilful breaking of it. On that definition no believer is free from sin in this life. Wesley would not deny the defects; he simply declines to call them sin in the full sense, while insisting that they still need Christ’s blood.

4.Hakuna Anayemhitaji Kristo Zaidi4.None Need Christ More

Ikiwa waumini waliokamilishwa wanaishi bila dhambi, je, bado wanamhitaji Mpatanishi? “Mbali sana. Hakuna wanaohisi haja ya Kristo kama hawa.” Kristo hampi nafsi uzima mbali naye bali “ndani yake na pamoja naye.” Wesley ananukuu maneno ya Yesu kuhusu mzabibu na matawi: “Pasipo mimi ninyi hamwezi kufanya neno lolote” (Yohana 15:5). Kisha anaorodhesha njia tano ambazo kila muumini anamhitaji Kristo: kila neema ni zawadi yake ya bure; inatolewa kwa sababu ya gharama aliyoilipa; hatuipati kutoka kwake tu bali “ndani yake”; kila baraka inategemea maombezi yake; na hata walio bora wanahitaji kazi yake ya ukuhani kufanya upatanisho kwa ajili ya kuacha, mapungufu na makosa. Ukamilifu wetu, anasema, si kama wa mti unaostawi kutoka “mzizi wake wenyewe,” bali kama wa tawi linalozaa matunda tu likiwa limeunganishwa na mzabibu. Likikatwa kutoka kwake, tawi hunyauka. Hii inajibu hofu ya kawaida juu ya fundisho: kwamba linawafanya waumini wajitegemee. Katika mafundisho ya Wesley, kadiri mtu anavyotakaswa kikamilifu zaidi, ndivyo anavyomtegemea Kristo kikamilifu zaidi.If perfected believers live without sin, do they still need a Mediator? “Far from it. None feel their need of Christ like these.” Christ does not give life to the soul apart from Himself but “in and with, himself.” Wesley quotes Jesus’ words about the vine and the branches: “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). He then lists five ways every believer needs Christ: every grace is His free gift; it is given because of the price He paid; we have it not only from Him but “in him”; every blessing depends on His intercession; and even the best need His priestly work to atone for omissions, shortcomings and mistakes. Our perfection, he says, is not like that of a tree that flourishes from “its own root,” but like that of a branch that bears fruit only while joined to the vine. Severed from it, the branch withers. This answers a common fear about the doctrine: that it makes believers self-sufficient. In Wesley’s teaching, the more fully a person is sanctified, the more completely that person depends on Christ.

5.Kusema Juu Yake na Kuupima5.Speaking of It and Testing It

Je, mtu aliyepokea neema hii aseme juu yake? Mwanzoni, Wesley anasema, angeshindwa kunyamaza, “moto ungekuwa mkali ndani yake.” Baadaye anapaswa kusema kwa uangalifu: si kwa wale wasiomjua Mungu, si bila sababu nzuri, na daima kwa unyenyekevu wa kina, “akimpa Mungu utukufu wote.” Lakini hapaswi kunyamaza kabisa, kwa maana Mungu haiwashi taa ili kuificha chini ya pishi. Ushuhuda huchochea njaa ya waumini wengine. Ushuhuda unaweza kupimwaje? Hatuwezi kujua kwa uhakika usioweza kukosea, lakini Wesley anatoa ushahidi tatu wa busara: ushahidi wazi wa mwenendo wa kuigwa kabla, maelezo mahususi ya “wakati na namna” ya badiliko, na maneno na matendo matakatifu baadaye. Kisha anaondoa vipimo vya uongo. Mtu hakanushwi kwa makosa ya mara kwa mara, kwa kushtuka kwa kelele ya ghafla, wala hata kwa huzuni ya kina, kwa kuwa Kristo mwenyewe alijua uchungu bila dhambi. Mtu kama huyo anaweza kufurahia chakula kitamu, “kunusa ua, au kula kishada cha zabibu,” na anaweza kuoa na kufanya kazi ya biashara. Ikiwa wazazi wakamilifu wana watoto, watoto bado wanarithi dhambi kutoka kwa Adamu, kama vile mbegu za tunda lililopandikizwa kwenye “shina la mti-mwitu,” mzizi wa mti wa tufaha chachu la porini, bado hukua kuwa tufaha-mwitu. Muumini aliyekamilishwa anaweza kutofanya kazi nyingi za nje kuliko wengine, na sala zake zinaweza zisitusukume. “Upendo safi ukitawala peke yake moyoni na maishani,” Wesley anahitimisha, “huu ndio ukamilifu wote wa Kimaandiko.”Should someone who has received this grace speak of it? At first, Wesley says, he could hardly keep quiet, “the fire would be so hot within him.” Afterwards he should speak with care: not to those who do not know God, not without good reason, and always with deep humility, “giving all the glory to God.” But he should not stay entirely silent, for God does not light a candle to hide it under a bushel. Testimony quickens the hunger of other believers. How can a testimony be tested? We cannot know with infallible certainty, but Wesley offers three reasonable proofs: clear evidence of exemplary behaviour beforehand, a distinct account of “the time and manner” of the change, and holy words and actions afterward. Then he clears away false tests. A person is not disproved by occasional mistakes, by being startled by a sudden noise, or even by deep sorrow, for Christ Himself knew agony without sin. Such a person may enjoy pleasant food, “smell to a flower, or eat a bunch of grapes,” and may marry and work in business. If perfect parents have children, the children still inherit sin from Adam, just as seeds from fruit grafted onto a “crab-stock,” the root of a wild sour apple tree, still grow into crab apples. A perfected believer may do no more outward work than others, and his prayers may not move us. “Pure love reigning alone in the heart and life,” Wesley concludes, “this is the whole of scriptural perfection.”

6.Jinsi Badiliko Linavyokuja, na Jinsi ya Kungoja6.How the Change Comes, and How to Wait

Mtu anaweza kujihukumu kuwa amepokea neema hii lini? Baada tu ya hatia ya “dhambi ya ndani” ya kina zaidi kuliko aliyoihisi kabla ya kuhesabiwa haki, kisha kufa polepole kwake, kisha kifo kamili kwa dhambi na kufanywa upya kikamilifu katika upendo. Hata hisia ya “upendo wote na kutokuwa na dhambi” peke yake haitoshi; lazima pawepo “ushuhuda wa Roho,” akishuhudia utakaso kamili waziwazi kama kuhesabiwa haki. Je, badiliko ni la taratibu au la papo hapo? Wesley anajibu kwa picha. Mtu anaweza kuwa anakufa kwa muda fulani, hata hivyo kuna dakika anapokufa. Vivyo hivyo muumini anaweza kuwa anakufa kwa dhambi kwa muda fulani, lakini kuna dakika dhambi inapoondoka na yeye “anaishi uzima kamili wa upendo.” Hata hapo anakua katika neema, “si hadi kifo tu, bali hadi milele yote.” Tungoje vipi? Si kwa “kutojali kwa uvivu,” bali kwa “utii wa nguvu, wa kila upande,” kujikana, sala, kufunga, na “kuhudhuria kwa karibu maagizo yote ya Mungu,” njia za neema kama Maandiko, sala na Meza ya Bwana. Unapokelewa “kwa imani rahisi,” hata hivyo Mungu huwapa imani hiyo wale wanaoitafuta kwa bidii. Kwa nini ni wachache wameupokea? Uliza ni wangapi wanaoutafuta kwa njia hii. Ombeni ufanywe sasa: “Msiite hili kumwekea Mungu wakati.”When may a person judge that he has received this grace? Only after a conviction of “inbred sin” deeper than he felt before justification, then a gradual dying to it, then a total death to sin and an entire renewal in love. Even the feeling of “all love and no sin” is not enough by itself; there must be “the testimony of the Spirit,” witnessing to entire sanctification as clearly as to justification. Is the change gradual or instantaneous? Wesley answers with an image. A man may be dying for some time, yet there is an instant when he dies. So a believer may be dying to sin for some time, but there is an instant when sin is gone and he “lives the full life of love.” Even then he grows in grace, “not only till death, but to all eternity.” How should we wait? Not in “careless indifference,” but in “vigorous, universal obedience,” self-denial, prayer, fasting, and “a close attendance on all the ordinances of God,” the means of grace such as Scripture, prayer and the Lord’s Supper. It is received “by simple faith,” yet God gives that faith to those who seek it diligently. Why have so few received it? Ask how many are seeking it this way. Ask that it be done now: “Do not call this setting God a time.”

7.Upole, Mashahidi Walio Hai, na Mchungaji Leo7.Tenderness, Living Witnesses, and the Pastor Today

Tuwatendeje wale wanaofikiri wamefikia? “Wachunguzeni kwa uwazi,” na waonyeni waombe, lakini “kwa upole wa hali ya juu,” bila “ukali, ugumu wala uchungu.” Ukali unaweza kuiharibu nafsi iliyokosea au kuihuzunisha ile ya kweli. Wesley anawadhihaki wale wanaojiweka kuwa “wachunguzi wakuu” juu ya mambo ya kina ya Mungu. Ikiwa mtu amedanganyika huku akihisi upendo tu, ni “kosa lisilo na madhara”; mwonye kwa upole juu ya hatari ikiwa upendo wake utapoa. Mwishowe, Wesley anaweka fundisho juu ya Maandiko, hata hivyo anakubali kwamba mashahidi walio hai ni muhimu: “Nishawishi juu ya hili, nami sitalihubiri tena.” Makanisa ya utakatifu ya baadaye, ikiwa ni pamoja na Wanazarene, yalijenga mikutano yao ya ushuhuda na miito ya madhabahuni juu ya imani hii. Kwa wachungaji leo, sehemu hii ni mwongozo. Fafanua dhambi kwa uangalifu. Usiruhusu utakatifu udhoofishe kumtegemea Kristo. Pima ushuhuda kwa akili na kwa upole. Na weka kipimo mahali Maandiko yanapokiweka, upendo safi, badala ya kuwa katika dhana yetu wenyewe. Wakosoaji, wakati huo na sasa, wameogopa kwamba mtazamo huu unategemea kupita kiasi hisia za ndani. Ushahidi tatu wa Wesley na dai lake la ushuhuda wa Roho vilikuwa jaribio lake la kujibu wasiwasi huo.How should we treat those who think they have attained? “Examine them candidly,” and encourage them to pray, but “with the utmost tenderness,” without “harshness, sternness or sourness.” Harshness can destroy a mistaken soul or grieve a genuine one. Wesley mocks those who set themselves up as “inquisitors-general” over the deep things of God. If someone is deceived while feeling only love, it is “a harmless mistake”; warn him gently of the danger if his love grows cold. Finally, Wesley rests the doctrine on Scripture, yet admits that living witnesses matter: “Convince me of this, and I will preach it no more.” Later holiness churches, including the Nazarenes, built their testimony meetings and altar calls on this confidence. For pastors today, this section is a manual. Define sin carefully. Never let holiness weaken dependence on Christ. Test testimonies with both reason and gentleness. And keep the standard where Scripture puts it, pure love, rather than at our own imagined ideal. Critics, then and now, have worried that this approach relies too heavily on inner feeling. Wesley’s three proofs and his demand for the Spirit’s witness were his attempt to answer that concern.

8.Kuliweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Tofauti ya Wesley kati ya dhambi “kwa maana halisi” na “kwa maana isiyo halisi” inabadilishaje jinsi unavyofikiria kushindwa kwako mwenyewe? Kwa nini anasisitiza kwamba walio watakatifu zaidi wanamhitaji Kristo zaidi? Fikiria mtu fulani katika kutaniko lako ambaye amesema juu ya kazi ya kina ya Mungu. Ungemjibuje kwa utambuzi makini na pia kwa “upole wa hali ya juu”? For reflection. How does Wesley’s distinction between sin “properly” and “improperly” so called change the way you think about your own failures? Why does he insist that the most sanctified need Christ the most? Think of someone in your congregation who has spoken of a deep work of God. How could you respond to that person with both careful discernment and “the utmost tenderness”?

Chagua

Somo la 5 · The Mature Summary

Let It Appear in Its Native Form

A CTS digest of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), §§26–28; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11

After the London controversy of 1762–1763, Wesley sums up the doctrine in short propositions: perfection is perfect love, not absolute, not infallible, improvable and amissible, surrounded by gradual growth. He then asks what is “so frightful” in it, calls it the doctrine of Christ Himself, and pleads with his critics as “your brethren.”

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Liache Lionekane katika Umbo Lake la Asili: Muhtasari Uliokomaa wa Wesley wa UkamilifuLet It Appear in Its Native Form: Wesley’s Mature Summary of Perfection

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — mapendekezo mafupi ya 1764, utetezi wa Wesley wa fundisho hilo kama mafundisho ya Kristo mwenyewe, na ombi lake la mwisho kwa waumini wenzake waliolipingaA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the short propositions of 1764, Wesley’s defence of the doctrine as the teaching of Christ Himself, and his closing appeal to fellow believers who opposed it

Muhtasari wa CTS wa vifungu 26–28 vya John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (toleo la 1777), kama ilivyochapishwa katika The Works of John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (1872), juzuu ya 11. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of sections 26–28 of John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777 revision), as printed in The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (1872), vol. 11. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Plain Account §§26–28Plain Account §§26–28
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1764–17651764–1765
Upendo mkamilifuPerfect love

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Vifungu hivi vya kufunga ni Wesley akiwa mfupi zaidi na mwenye shauku zaidi. Kwanza inakuja orodha ya mapendekezo yenye namba, muhtasari ulioandikwa baada ya miaka ya uzoefu na mabishano yenye maumivu. Kisha inakuja kurasa mbili za ombi, ambamo Wesley anawauliza wakosoaji wake kwa nini mtu yeyote aogope fundisho ambalo kiini chake ni upendo tu. Ikiwa unataka kukumbuka muhtasari mmoja wa mafundisho ya Wesley juu ya ukamilifu, huu ni mzuri wa kujifunza. A word before you read. These closing sections are Wesley at his most concise and his most passionate. First comes a numbered list of propositions, a summary written after years of experience and some painful controversy. Then come two pages of appeal, in which Wesley asks his critics why anyone should fear a doctrine whose heart is simply love. If you want to remember one summary of the Wesleyan teaching on perfection, this is a good one to learn.

1.Baada ya Dhoruba1.After the Storm

Vifungu vilivyotangulia somo hili vinasimulia wakati wa baraka na taabu. Mwaka 1762 kulikuwa na “ongezeko kubwa” la kazi ya Mungu London, na wengi walishuhudia kukamilishwa katika upendo. Lakini wengine walikwenda mambo ya kupindukia. Askari wa zamani aitwaye George Bell alidai vipawa maalum na kutabiri kwamba dunia ingeisha tarehe 28 Februari 1763. Thomas Maxfield, mmoja wa wahubiri walei wa mwanzo kabisa wa Wesley, aliunga mkono baadhi ya madai haya, na mgawanyiko wenye maumivu ukafuata. Wakosoaji walionyesha mambo hayo ya kupindukia kuwa ushahidi kwamba fundisho zima lilikuwa hatari. Kwa hiyo mwaka 1764, “baada ya kupitia upya mada nzima,” Wesley aliandika kile alichojifunza katika mapendekezo mafupi. Yasome kama matunda ya uzoefu. Ni tulivu zaidi, makini zaidi na ya kichungaji zaidi kuliko baadhi ya kauli za awali. Hata hivyo hayarudi nyuma kutoka dai kuu. Wesley alibaki ameshawishika kwamba Mungu anaweza kuujaza moyo wa muumini upendo katika maisha haya, na kwamba kutumia vibaya kweli si sababu ya kuiacha.The sections just before this reading tell of a time of both blessing and trouble. In 1762 there was “a great increase” of the work of God in London, and many testified to being perfected in love. But some went to extremes. A former soldier named George Bell claimed special gifts and predicted that the world would end on 28 February 1763. Thomas Maxfield, one of Wesley’s earliest lay preachers, encouraged some of these claims, and a painful split followed. Critics pointed to the excesses as proof that the whole doctrine was dangerous. So in 1764, “upon a review of the whole subject,” Wesley wrote down what he had learned in short propositions. Read them as the fruit of experience. They are calmer, more careful and more pastoral than some earlier statements. Yet they do not retreat from the central claim. Wesley remained convinced that God can fill a believer’s heart with love in this life, and that the misuse of a truth is no reason to abandon it.

2.Mapendekezo, Moja hadi Tano2.The Propositions, One to Five

Mapendekezo matano ya kwanza yanaweka mipaka. (1) Kuna kitu kama ukamilifu, “kwa kuwa umetajwa tena na tena katika Maandiko.” (2) Si mapema kama kuhesabiwa haki, kwa kuwa watu waliohesabiwa haki wanaambiwa “kusonga mbele hata kufikia ukamilifu” (Waebrania 6:1). Hili linalinda dhidi ya kuchanganya kuzaliwa upya na utakaso kamili. (3) Si wa kuchelewa kama kifo, kwa kuwa Paulo anasema juu ya watu walio hai waliokuwa wakamilifu (Wafilipi 3:15). Hili linalinda dhidi ya kuahirisha utakatifu hadi kitandani cha mauti au hadi toharani. (4) Si mtupu. Ukamilifu mtupu “si wa mwanadamu, wala wa malaika, bali wa Mungu peke yake.” (5) Haumfanyi mtu yeyote asiyekosea: hakuna aliye huru kutokana na kosa maadamu yumo katika mwili. Angalia uwiano wa pointi hizi. Wesley anajibu aina mbili za watu kwa wakati mmoja. Kwa wale waliokana ukamilifu kabisa, anasema kwamba Maandiko yanaufundisha na kwamba ni kwa maisha haya. Kwa wanaushabiki wa kidini kama Bell, waliodai kupita kiasi, anasema kwamba hakuna Mkristo anayekuwa kama Mungu katika ukamilifu wake, na hakuna Mkristo asiyeweza kukosea.The first five propositions mark out the boundaries. (1) There is such a thing as perfection, “for it is again and again mentioned in Scripture.” (2) It is not as early as justification, for justified people are told to “go on unto perfection” (Hebrews 6:1). This guards against confusing the new birth with full sanctification. (3) It is not as late as death, for Paul speaks of living people who were perfect (Philippians 3:15). This guards against postponing holiness to the deathbed or to purgatory. (4) It is not absolute. Absolute perfection “belongs not to man, nor to angels, but to God alone.” (5) It does not make anyone infallible: no one is free from error while in the body. Notice the balance of these points. Wesley is answering two kinds of people at once. To those who denied perfection altogether, he says that Scripture teaches it and that it is for this life. To enthusiasts like Bell, who claimed too much, he says that no Christian becomes like God in His perfection, and no Christian is beyond mistake.

3.Mapendekezo, Sita hadi Kumi3.The Propositions, Six to Ten

(6) Je, hauna dhambi? “Haifai kubishana juu ya neno.” Ni “wokovu kutoka dhambi.” Wesley anakataa kupigana juu ya neno linaloweza kupotosha. (7) Ni “upendo mkamilifu” (1 Yohana 4:18). Hiki ndicho kiini chake. “Matunda yake yasiyotenganika” ni kufurahi sikuzote, kuomba bila kukoma, na kushukuru katika kila jambo (1 Wathesalonike 5:16–18), alama zile zile zilizoonekana katika The Character of a Methodist miaka ya nyuma. (8) “Unaweza kuboreshwa.” Si nukta isiyobadilika ambayo zaidi yake hakuna maendeleo; aliyekamilishwa katika upendo “anaweza kukua katika neema kwa kasi zaidi kuliko alivyokuwa kabla.” (9) “Unaweza kupotea” (amissible), neno la zamani linalomaanisha kuwa na uwezekano wa kupotezwa, “ambalo tuna mifano mingi.” Wesley anakiri kwa uaminifu kwamba hakushawishika kabisa juu ya hili hadi “miaka mitano au sita iliyopita.” Kwa hiyo mchungaji hapaswi kamwe kuichukulia baraka hii kama dhamana dhidi ya kuanguka. (10) “Daima unatanguliwa na kufuatwa na kazi ya taratibu.” Jambo hili la mwisho ni muhimu kuelewa Wesley. Dakika ya utakaso kamili kamwe haijitengi. Ni taji ya mchakato mrefu wa ukuaji na mwanzo wa mchakato zaidi usioisha.(6) Is it sinless? “It is not worth while to contend for a term.” It is “salvation from sin.” Wesley refuses to fight over a word that might mislead. (7) It is “perfect love” (1 John 4:18). This is its essence. Its “inseparable fruits” are rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18), the same marks that appeared in The Character of a Methodist years before. (8) It is “improvable.” It is not a fixed point beyond which there is no progress; one perfected in love “may grow in grace far swifter than he did before.” (9) It is “amissible,” an old word meaning capable of being lost, “of which we have numerous instances.” Wesley honestly admits that he was not thoroughly convinced of this until “five or six years ago.” A pastor must therefore never treat the blessing as a guarantee against falling. (10) It is “constantly both preceded and followed by a gradual work.” This last point is vital for understanding Wesley. The moment of entire sanctification is never isolated. It is the crown of a long process of growth and the beginning of a further process that never ends.

4.Je, ni wa Papo Hapo? Kujibu Pingamizi4.Is It Instantaneous? Answering the Objections

Pendekezo la (11) linauliza kama badiliko lenyewe ni la papo hapo, na Wesley anaenda “hatua kwa hatua.” Kwa waumini wengine badiliko la papo hapo limefanyika waziwazi, na tangu hapo wanafurahi, wanaomba na kushukuru bila kukoma. Ni mashahidi wa anachohubiri. Kwa wengine badiliko “halikuwa la papo hapo”: hawakuiona dakika. Lakini, Wesley anasababu, mara nyingi ni vigumu kuona dakika mtu anapokufa, hata hivyo kuna dakika kama hiyo. Ikiwa dhambi itakoma wakati wowote, lazima kuwe na “dakika ya mwisho ya kuwapo kwake, na dakika ya kwanza ya ukombozi wetu kutoka kwake.” Kisha anajibu pingamizi. “Wataupoteza.” “Wanaweza; lakini si lazima.” “Dhambi imesimamishwa tu.” “Iite upendavyo.” Wao ni upendo wote leo. “Fundisho limetumiwa vibaya sana.” Hivyo na kuhesabiwa haki kwa imani, lakini hiyo si sababu ya kuliacha. Wesley ananukuu methali: unapomwosha mtoto wako, tupa maji, “lakini usimtupe mtoto.” Je, waumini waliokamilishwa wanasema hawahitaji sifa za Kristo? Kinyume kabisa. Wanaimba, “Kila dakika, Bwana, nahitaji / Sifa za kifo chako!” Kwa hiyo, Wesley anahitimisha, wahubiri wanapaswa kuhubiri ukamilifu kwa waumini “daima, kwa nguvu, na waziwazi,” na waumini wanapaswa “kujitahidi kwa ajili yake.” Agonize hapa maana yake kujitahidi kwa nguvu zote, kama katika mwito wa Yesu “jitahidini kuingia kwa mlango ulio mwembamba” (Luka 13:24).Proposition (11) asks whether the change itself is instantaneous, and Wesley goes “step by step.” In some believers an instantaneous change has clearly been wrought, and since then they rejoice, pray and give thanks without ceasing. They are witnesses of what he preaches. In others the change “was not instantaneous”: they did not perceive the moment. But, Wesley reasons, it is often hard to perceive the moment when a person dies, yet there is such a moment. If sin ever ceases, there must be “a last moment of its existence, and a first moment of our deliverance from it.” He then answers objections. “They will lose it.” “They may; but they need not.” “Sin is only suspended.” “Call it which you please.” They are all love today. “The doctrine has been much abused.” So has justification by faith, but that is no reason to give it up. Wesley quotes a proverb: when you wash your child, throw away the water, “but do not throw away the child.” Do perfected believers say they no longer need Christ’s merits? Quite the opposite. They sing, “Every moment, Lord, I want / The merit of thy death!” So, Wesley concludes, preachers should preach perfection to believers “constantly, strongly, and explicitly,” and believers should “agonize for it.” To agonize here means to strive with all one’s strength, as in Jesus’ call to “strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24).

5.“Kuna Nini Cha Kutisha Hapa?”5.“What Is There So Frightful Herein?”

Katika kifungu cha 27 Wesley anatazama nyuma maelezo yote na kuwauliza wasomaji wake swali la moja kwa moja: “Kuna nini cha kutisha hapa?” Kwa miaka ishirini na zaidi kulikuwa na kelele, kana kwamba dini yote ilikuwa ikiangushwa “kwa mizizi.” Wahubiri wa ukamilifu walikuwa wamezomewa “kama mbwa wazimu,” hata na watu wanaomcha Mungu, na hata na baadhi ya watoto wao wa kiroho wenyewe. Kwa nini? Jibu la Wesley ni kwamba fundisho si lake hata kidogo. Ni fundisho la Yesu Kristo. Ananukuu Mathayo 5:48 kwa Kigiriki, Esesthe oun teleioi, “Basi, iweni wakamilifu,” na kubainisha kwamba linaweza kusomwa kama ahadi na vilevile kama amri. Ni fundisho la Paulo, Yakobo, Petro na Yohana. Alilipata “katika maneno ya Mungu” alipoyasoma bila tamaa nyingine ila kuiokoa nafsi yake mwenyewe. Kisha anafupisha fundisho katika mitazamo mitatu. Ni usafi wa nia, kumpa Mungu moyo wote. Ni kuwa na nia yote iliyokuwa ndani ya Kristo na kuenenda kama alivyoenenda. Ni kumpenda Mungu kwa moyo wote na jirani yetu kama nafsi zetu. Hivi, anasema, vinaonyesha “hakuna tofauti kubwa.” Ni ukamilifu mmoja, ambao ameuamini na kuufundisha kwa miaka arobaini, “tangu mwaka 1725 hadi mwaka 1765.” Msomaji atawatambua Taylor, à Kempis, Law na Biblia kutoka Somo la 1.In section 27 Wesley looks back over the whole account and asks his readers a direct question: “What is there so frightful herein?” For twenty years and more there had been an outcry, as though all religion were being “torn up by the roots.” The preachers of perfection had been “hooted at, like mad dogs,” even by people who feared God, and even by some of their own spiritual children. Why? Wesley’s answer is that the doctrine is not really his at all. It is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. He quotes Matthew 5:48 in Greek, Esesthe oun teleioi, “Ye shall therefore be perfect,” and notes that it can be read as a promise as well as a command. It is the doctrine of Paul, James, Peter and John. He found it “in the oracles of God” when he read them with no desire but to save his own soul. Then he summarizes the doctrine in three views. It is purity of intention, giving God all the heart. It is having all the mind that was in Christ and walking as He walked. It is loving God with all the heart and our neighbour as ourselves. These, he says, show “no material difference.” They are one perfection, which he has believed and taught for forty years, “from the year 1725 to the year 1765.” The reader will recognize Taylor, à Kempis, Law and the Bible from Reading 1.

6.“Ukamilifu Huu Uonekane katika Umbo Lake la Asili”6.“Let This Perfection Appear in Its Native Form”

Kifungu cha 28 ni ombi la kugusa moyo. Acha ukamilifu huu “uonekane katika umbo lake la asili,” Wesley anasema, na ni nani atakayesema dhidi yake? Ni nani atakayepinga kumpenda Mungu kwa moyo wote, kufanywa upya katika sura yote ya Mungu, kusafishwa na uchafuzi wote wa mwili na roho? “Lazima uvikwe kificho kabla haujapingwa.” Wesley anaongeza picha hai: lazima kwanza “ufunikwe kwa ngozi ya dubu.” Katika Roma ya kale wadhalimu wakati mwingine waliwashona Wakristo ndani ya ngozi za wanyama ili mbwa au wanyama-mwitu wawararue. Wesley anamaanisha kwamba wakosoaji kwanza huvika fundisho kama kitu cha kutisha kisha hushambulia vazi hilo. Anawasihi hasa waumini wenzake, “watoto wa Mungu,” wasipigane dhidi ya sura ya Mungu. Je, hakuna kila kitu ndani ya moyo wenye upendo kinachopaza sauti, anauliza, “Ee, ni nani ampendaye awezaye kumpenda vya kutosha?” Wamethodisti wanakubaliana nao kwamba tunahesabiwa haki bure kwa damu ya Kristo; kwa nini kukasirika kwa kuwa pia tunatarajia “kutakaswa kikamilifu kwa Roho wake”? “La, sisi ni ndugu zenu,” anasisitiza, wafanyakazi wenzenu katika shamba la mizabibu la Bwana. Sentensi yake ya mwisho inakopa Sala Fupi ya Usafi (Collect for Purity) kutoka Book of Common Prayer, inayoombwa katika kila ibada ya Ushirika ya Kianglikana: kwamba Mungu azisafishe mawazo ya mioyo yetu hata “tutampenda kikamilifu.” Kwa kweli Wesley anasema: tayari mnaomba hili kila Jumapili; sisi tunaamini tu kwamba Mungu atajibu.Section 28 is a moving appeal. Let this perfection “appear in its native form,” Wesley says, and who will speak against it? Who will object to loving God with all the heart, to renewal in the whole image of God, to being cleansed from all pollution of flesh and spirit? “It must be disguised before it can be opposed.” Wesley adds a vivid image: it must first be “covered with a bear-skin.” In ancient Rome persecutors sometimes sewed Christians into the skins of animals so that dogs or wild beasts would tear them apart. Wesley means that critics first dress the doctrine up as something monstrous and then attack the costume. He pleads especially with fellow believers, “the children of God,” not to fight against the image of God. Does not everything within a loving heart cry out, he asks, “O who that loves can love enough?” Methodists agree with them that we are justified freely through Christ’s blood; why be angry because we also expect “to be sanctified wholly through his Spirit”? “Nay, we are your brethren,” he insists, fellow labourers in the Lord’s vineyard. His final sentence borrows the Collect for Purity from the Book of Common Prayer, prayed at every Anglican Communion service: that God would so cleanse the thoughts of our hearts “that we shall perfectly love him.” In effect Wesley says: you already pray for this every Sunday; we simply believe God will answer.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Wesley Anachopata Kutoka Hapa Leo7.What a Wesleyan Pastor Takes from It Today

Karibu na mwisho wa maisha yake Wesley aliliita fundisho hili “the grand depositum,” hazina kuu ambayo Mungu aliwakabidhi watu walioitwa Wamethodisti. Warithi wake waliibeba ulimwenguni kote. Katika Amerika ya karne ya kumi na tisa vuguvugu la utakatifu liliieneza kupitia mikutano ya kambi na kupitia walimu kama Phoebe Palmer. Makanisa yalizaliwa kuilinda, miongoni mwake Wesleyan Methodists, Free Methodists, Jeshi la Wokovu na Kanisa la Nazarene, ambalo waanzilishi wake waliungana mwaka 1908 huko Pilot Point, Texas. Leo makutaniko ya Methodisti, Nazarene na Wesleyan kote Meksiko na Amerika ya Kilatini bado yanafundisha utakaso kamili. Mchungaji anaweza kupata mambo matatu kutoka vifungu hivi. Kwanza, muhtasari wazi, unaokumbukika wa kufundisha: ukamilifu ni upendo mkamilifu, unaopokelewa kwa imani, kwa maisha haya, unaoweza kuboreshwa, unaoweza kupotea, na unaozungukwa na ukuaji wa taratibu. Pili, uaminifu: Wesley alikiri matumizi mabaya na kubadilisha mawazo pale uzoefu ulipomfundisha. Tatu, hisani: aliwaita wapinzani wake “ndugu.” Wakristo wengine bado wanatofautiana. Waumini wa Reformed na Walutheri wanashikilia kwamba dhambi inabaki hadi utukufu, Wabaptisti wengi na walimu wa Keswick wanasema juu ya ushindi badala ya kung’olewa kabisa, na baadhi ya Wapentekoste waliongeza uzoefu zaidi wa ubatizo katika Roho. Wafuasi wa Wesley wanaweza kushikilia usadikisho wao kwa uthabiti huku wakiwaheshimu ndugu na dada hawa katika Kristo, kama Wesley alivyofanya.Near the end of his life Wesley called this doctrine “the grand depositum,” the great treasure God had entrusted to the people called Methodists. His heirs carried it across the world. In nineteenth-century America the holiness movement spread it through camp meetings and through teachers like Phoebe Palmer. Churches were born to preserve it, among them the Wesleyan Methodists, the Free Methodists, the Salvation Army and the Church of the Nazarene, whose founders united in 1908 at Pilot Point, Texas. Today Methodist, Nazarene and Wesleyan congregations across Mexico and Latin America still teach entire sanctification. A pastor can take three things from these sections. First, a clear, memorable summary to teach: perfection is perfect love, received by faith, for this life, improvable, amissible, and surrounded by gradual growth. Second, honesty: Wesley admitted abuses and changed his mind where experience taught him. Third, charity: he called his opponents “brethren.” Other Christians still disagree. Reformed and Lutheran believers hold that sin remains until glory, many Baptists and Keswick teachers speak of victory rather than eradication, and some Pentecostals added a further experience of Spirit baptism. Wesleyans can hold their conviction firmly while honouring these brothers and sisters in Christ, as Wesley did.

8.Kuliweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ni pendekezo lipi la Wesley la 1764 lililokushangaza zaidi, na kwa nini? Kwa nini inaweza kuwa muhimu kichungaji kwamba upendo mkamilifu “unaweza kuboreshwa” na pia “unaweza kupotea”? Wesley aliamini kwamba fundisho lilikuwa “limevikwa kificho” kabla ya kupingwa. Unawezaje kuwasilisha utakatifu katika kanisa lako katika “umbo lake la asili,” kama upendo kwa Mungu na jirani, ili watu wavutiwe nao badala ya kuogopeshwa? For reflection. Which of Wesley’s 1764 propositions surprised you most, and why? Why might it matter pastorally that perfect love is both “improvable” and “amissible”? Wesley believed that the doctrine had been “disguised” before it was opposed. How can you present holiness in your church in its “native form,” as love for God and neighbour, so that people are drawn to it rather than frightened by it?

Chagua

Andika usomaji wako

Ukishasoma kikamilifu masomo matatu uliyochagua, andika jina lako na uthibitishe hapa chini. Kumbukumbu hii inatunzwa kwa uaminifu wako, kwenye kivinjari hiki; inaonekana kwenye cheti chako kama kwa heshima.

Jina lako

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

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alithibitisha tarehe kuwa amesoma kikamilifu:

Chapala Theological Seminary · Holiness, Sanctification, and Christian Perfection · present or print this page as your honors reading record.

Masomo Zaidi: Vitabu Sita vya Uwanja wa Umma

Vitabu hivi sita 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 sita 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).

Wesley's Sermons · The Way of Salvation

1. Sermons on Several Occasions

John Wesley · first four volumes published by 1771

Read Sermons 1, 5, 13, 14, 40, 43 and 85. These sermons supply Wesley’s broader account of salvation, justification, sanctification, new birth, and working out salvation.

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Wesley's Journal · Doctrine in Practice

2. Journal

John Wesley · entries spanning 1735–1790

Read the 1738 Aldersgate entries, the beginnings of field preaching in 1739, and selected later reflections on Methodist discipline. The journal places Wesley’s doctrinal language within his evangelistic and pastoral practice.

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An Early Defender · Fletcher

3. Checks to Antinomianism, vol. 1

John Fletcher · 1829 edition; original controversy 1771 onward

Read the first and second checks, noting Fletcher’s use of grace, works, and assurance. Fletcher is a key early interpreter and defender of Wesleyan soteriology, while also revealing its polemical setting.

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The First Methodist System · Watson

4. Theological Institutes, vol. 1

Richard Watson · 1825 edition

Read the sections on revelation, the authority of Scripture, and the attributes of God before consulting later volumes on salvation. Watson offers an early systematic Methodist framework against which Wesley’s occasional writings can be read.

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The Holiness Movement · Palmer

5. The Way of Holiness

Phoebe Palmer · 1845 edition

Read the narrative portions explaining consecration, faith, testimony, and the “shorter way.” Palmer documents the nineteenth-century holiness movement’s development of Wesleyan sanctification in devotional practice.

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A Methodist Bridge · Clarke

6. Christian Theology: Selected from His Writings

Adam Clarke · 1856 edition

Read the chapters on redemption, regeneration, sanctification, and Christian obedience. Clarke provides an early Methodist exegetical-theological bridge between Wesley and later holiness teaching.

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Uthibitisho wa heshima: Kwa kuchagua masomo matatu hapo juu, unathibitisha kwamba umesoma muhtasari hiyo mitatu kikamilifu. Muhtasari hiyo imeandikwa na CTS na inaweza kuwa na dondoo fupi au marekebisho ya kazi zilizo katika uwanja wa umma.