One dynamic or expression of God's grace is prevenience or "preventing" grace. Prevenient grace includes, according to Wesley, "all that is wrought in the soul by what is frequently termed ‘natural conscience,' ... all the ‘drawings' of ‘the Father,' the desires after God, ... that ‘light' wherewith the Son of God ‘enlighteneth everyone that cometh into the world,' showing every man ‘to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God;' all the convictions which his Spirit from time to time works in every child of man." While taking the seriousness of human sin and brokenness seriously, Wesley believed that God's grace prevents the total destruction of the divine image in us.
Prevenient grace is present in all creation — in the natural order, in human conscience, in the relationships and heritage into which we are born. Love of family, the Christian community, the sacraments, creation itself, the pangs of guilt, the pull toward a vision of what can be are all expressions of God's prevenient grace.
Wesley described prevenient grace as the porch on a house. It is where we prepare to enter the house. Grace may also be compared to a journey. The desire to embark on the trip, the road or trail, the vehicle in which the journey is to be made and the map to be followed are all givens or gifts. The beauty of the landscape, the mind and eyes that conceived the journey and perceive its beauty, even the explorer who blazed the trail are all unmerited gifts — grace!
But, there is more to a house than the porch! There is more to a journey than the desire to travel! We must enter the house or begin the journey.
JUSTIFYING/SAVING GRACE: DOORWAY INTO NEW IDENTITY, NEW CREATION
Prevenient grace prepares us for justifying grace. "Justification," said Wesley, "is another word for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins, and ... our acceptance with God." Justifying grace is the assurance of forgiveness that comes from repentance, from turning toward God's gracious gift of new life. It is being reconciled and realigned with God and the acceptance of God's atoning act in Jesus Christ.
Wesley considered justification, or justifying grace, as the doorway into the house of God's salvation. God reconciles us to Godself, adopts us into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, bestows upon us our identity as beloved sons and daughters and incorporates us into the body of Christ, the church.
Wesley's description of his experience at Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738, perhaps portrays the meaning of justifying grace: "About a quarter before nine, while he [the leader] was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ. I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me from the law of sin and death."
Realizing our identity and worth as being rooted in the one to whom we belong is the essence of justifying grace. To accept that identity is to enter the doorway into a whole new existence. It is an identity we can never earn, nor can it be taken from us.
Continuing the analogy of the house, justifying grace is the doorway and the process of walking through it. The door is open with a welcome sign on it. If grace is compared to a journey, there comes a time when the traveler packs the bags, joins the guide and sets out toward the destination. That is justifying grace, turning toward a new future.
Northwind Institute offers customized certificate programs, and Northwind Seminary offers degrees in which you can research and explore John Wesley's Journals and sermons.
Learn more at: www.northwindconsortia.org
This blog post is part of a series on the Works of Wesley by
Rev. Dr. Robert J. Duncan, Jr.
Founder & President of Northwind Consortia
Academic | Institute | Seminary | Press
Professor of Leadership & Specialized Ministry
Affiliate Faculty - Kairos University
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