John Wesley and the Law

I'm no fan of John Wesley. His character and his doctrines have done very little to win me over. However, as is the case with many churches today, the years and years and years of backsliding, deformation, and defection has left many modern adherents to be virtually unrecognizable when compared to the positions originally held by the denominations they belong to. Example: Last night a Methodist minister was arguing to me that the 10 Commandments are no longer our rule, but merely our "guide." Guide? Ok, is that a guide to be followed, or a guide that is not to be followed? Are Christians now permitted to worship other gods, commit adultery, steal, murder, etc? Or is it just the commands regarding image worship and Sabbath honoring that are reduced from "Law" to mere "guide"? I asked him, "What is sin?" He responded, "Sin is anything that misses 'the mark.'" Ahh yes... "the mark!" And what mark is that? Obviously this "mark" shares in the same ambiguity and vagueness as our "guide." I commented that his position is against the position of even John Wesley. Minutes after he left my house, I sat down at the computer, and almost immediately pulled up a sermon by John Wesley. The following quotes are from that sermon:

“But the moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven. The moral stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law, which was only designed for a temporary restraint upon a disobedient and stiff-necked people; whereas this was from the beginning of the world, being 'written not on tables of stone,' but on the hearts of all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And, however the letters once wrote by the finger of God are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force, upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.”

...

“But above all these, in the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, are they who openly and explicitly 'judge the law' itself, and 'speak evil of the law;' who teach men to break (lysai, to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) not one only, whether of the least, or of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke; who teach, without any cover, in so many words, -- 'What did our Lord do with the law? He abolished it. There is but one duty, which is that of believing. All commands are unfit for our times. From any demand of the law, no man is obliged now to go one step, to give away one farthing, to eat or omit one morsel.' This is, indeed, carrying matters with a high hand; this is withstanding our Lord to the face, and telling him that he understood not how to deliver the message on which He was sent. O Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!

“The most surprising of all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is, that they who are given up to it, really believe that they honour Christ by overthrowing his law, and that they are magnifying his office, while they are destroying his doctrine! Yea, they honour him just as Judas did, when he said, 'Hail, Master!' and kissed him. And he may as justly say to every one of them, 'Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?' It is no other than betraying him with a kiss, to talk of his blood, and take away his crown; to set light by any part of his law, under pretence of advancing his gospel. Nor, indeed, can anyone escape this charge, who preaches faith in any such manner as either directly or indirectly tends to set aside any branch of obedience; who preaches Christ so as to disannul, or weaken, in anywise, the least of the commandments of God."

Thus end the quotes by John Wesley.

My, my... how far things have fallen. It can be frustrating and discouraging sometimes for those who still hold to those old Reformation principles, to look around and see that the enemies of the Reformation have so devolved and deformed that we would gladly have them return to their past positions (as insufficient or as contrary to Reformation principles as their former positions might have been). John Wesley was wrong about some very important things, but he was far better off than many of those who now claim to follow in his tradition. Would I be fully satisfied if this minister would be in 100% agreement with the doctrines of John Wesley? Of course not! But this trend of holding on to what is wrong, and casting off what is right, is quite disturbing. Wesley, with his denial of predestination and the doctrines of grace, and his doctrine of sinless perfection, was bad enough, but when someone holds on to those Wesleyan things, and lets go of that which was good, what a monstrosity of religion remains! For another example of this phenomenon, but within the Reformed realm, see Reformation Principles Exhibited, which stands as a reminder of how far the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America has fallen from their own former standards. As much as the "Reformation Principles Exhibited" leaves to be desired, a return to even these former principles of the RPCNA would be a good thing to see, a step in the right direction. Compare Lutherans with Luther, Calvinists with Calvin, Neo-Presbyterians with Paleo-Presbyterianism, and one wonders why some folks insist on keeping the names when they bear so little resemblance to their namesakes. But I digress...

Back to the Law.

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Mathew 5:17-19).

"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17).

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31).

"To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law" (1 Corinthians 9:21).

"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:3, 4).

And I guess that's all I have to say about that.