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Good morning.

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Morning.

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My name is Doug Strong.

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I'm the Dean of the
School of Theology,

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and I trust that you're
having a blessed Easter week.

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That you're living in the
power of the resurrection

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and recognizing the ways in

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which the risen Christ
has been real in

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your life and in the lives of
your church and community.

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Here at Seattle Pacific we're

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excited to have you if
you're guests with us today.

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We're glad to have students,

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people from the community,

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a number of pastors.

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We're glad to have
our President,

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Eaton and Philipp Eton

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and Vice-President Lers
Steel here with us,

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as well as a number of faculty.

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Glad that you could all join us.

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On behalf of the
School of Theology,

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I would like to welcome you
to the Paul T. Walls lecture.

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This lecture is an
annual privilege and

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responsibility of the person

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who holds the Paul
T. Walls chair.

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Which is the only endowed
chair in the university.

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This chair and
lecture ship honors

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the life and service
of Paul T. Walls.

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Who gave off himself

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to the Free Methodist Church and

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to Seattle Pacific University.

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For 31 years he was a
trustee of the university

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and for 20 of those years he was

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Chairman of the
Board of Trustees.

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Before his death, Paul and
his wife Vera established

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an educational fund that led to

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the creation of the Paul T.

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Walls Chair in Western theology.

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And their desire was to see

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the intellectual and
spiritual life of

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the church mature
through such endeavors.

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I'm sure that they would be very

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pleased with the work that Dr.

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Wall has done and is doing
to bring about these goals.

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We're honored today to

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have some members of the
Walls family here with us.

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And I would like to introduce
to you Dr. Wesley Walls,

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who is Paul's brother and also
Wesley's daughter-in-law,

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Vae and we're so glad to
have them here with us.

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Let's acknowledge
their presence.

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This lecture is also part of
a larger all-day meeting for

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Free Methodist leaders called

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theology in the Western
spirit conference.

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I would also like
to in particular,

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to welcome our Free Methodist
colleagues to campus on

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this 150th year of

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the founding of the
Free Methodist Church.

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Free Methodist church
was founded in

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1860 by Benjamin Titus Roberts.

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Who in 1891 came to this
spot actually right outside

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Alexander Hall and said
this is where we are

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going to establish our
college on the West Coast.

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That portion of our day,

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the rest of the conference is

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being supported by
another endowment,

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the Mark Abbott preaching
leadership endowment.

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That is a fund that
has been established

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to encourage biblical
teaching, exposition,

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and theological work that
undergirds effective preaching.

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And in that we are
honoring the work and

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the ministry of reverend

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Mark Abbott who
is with us today.

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And who at the end
of this year is

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concluding many decades of

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faithful service to the
Free Methodist Church,

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in particular, the first

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Free Methodist Church
here in Seattle.

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So reverend Mark
Abbott we welcome you.

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In the School of Theology,

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we are pleased to provide

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opportunities for
pastors to learn more

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about the scripture and their
traditions so that they may

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be engaged in
effective preaching.

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And also for students

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and people who are active
persons in their congregations.

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To provide the
theological training

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and information and resourcing

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that will be helpful for them.

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In that light, I
want to acknowledge

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that there is a book
table outside which

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has a number of the books
of Dr. Wall and also

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other books from the School
of Theology faculty.

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And I hope that you'll take

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the opportunity to look
at those and maybe even

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purchase some so that you have

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a chance to read
about a number of,

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some of them are related to
Western theology directly,

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others are related
to other aspects

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of the theological
work of our school.

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So now it's my
opportunity and privilege

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to introduce to you
our speaker for today,

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who is the Paul T. Walls,

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professor of scripture
and Wesleyan Studies.

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Dr. Rob Wall received

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his Bachelors of Arts from

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Valparaiso University
in Indiana,

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where he went to play football.

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He ended up doing
more than that.

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He actually began to be

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engaged with academic work
and also more importantly,

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met his wife Karla.

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And I think he would
definitely say that

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was the most important aspect
of going to Valparaiso.

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He went from there to Dallas,

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Texas where he studied at

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both Dallas Theological

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Seminary Southern
Methodist University.

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And he came here to
Seattle Pacific in 1978,

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which if you'll do
the math is 32 years.

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Which is a great
record of teaching

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and leadership here
for our campus.

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He of course, is a
biblical scholar,

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I think most of you know this.

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He is a biblical scholar
of great renown.

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But like all good
teaching scholars,

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Rob has allowed
the Holy Spirit to

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use his context to shape
his academic trajectory.

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And in this case,

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it is the Free Methodist context

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and especially Seattle Pacific.

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And in that case,

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what that means is the
Wesleyan tradition of

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Seattle Pacific has helped to

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shape the way in which he looks
at the text of Scripture.

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And this will come through
clearly in his own work.

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He at one point
during his lecture,

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I've had a chance to
read it prior to today.

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And he says, all biblical
interpretation is local.

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Very interesting because of
the importance of context and

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the way in which that shapes
how we read the text.

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And that is certainly
true for us here and

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for those of us who see
ourselves as Wesleyans.

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I must say that that shaping

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of academic
trajectory is for me,

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so impressive for somebody
who is a biblical scholar.

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Who then ventures off
into other areas,

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in this case, into theology
and church history.

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As an historian, what I'm
constantly impressed when

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I hear Rob speaking
and he'll talk

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about something like
the long 18th century.

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And I'm thinking, wow,

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he actually understand
something about church history,

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which is pretty unusual
for biblical scholars.

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Sorry for those of you.

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Anyway.

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This lecture is the third
in a trilogy of lectures.

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And 1st John, as a key for
understanding John Wesley.

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And as we'll see today,

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this is so interesting to me and

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John Wesley as a key for
understanding 1st John.

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Don't worry if you
haven't been at the

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first two of the trilogy.

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This is the concluding lecture,

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because Rob is a good teacher,

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will help to review what
was said in the first two.

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But here today, Dr. Wall
will provide more for us of

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a theological interpretation of

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1st John in light of Wesley

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and the way in which we can

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interpret it in the
Wesleyan key, as he says.

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It will be evident that

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the implications of
this interpretation,

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if taken seriously,

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will transform our
church and our lives.

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If we will in our
feeble attempts,

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to be made more and more
in the image of Christ.

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Actually I listened to the text

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and the way in
which it shapes us.

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In that light and
in that spirit we

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welcome to us today Dr.

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Rob Wall.

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Thanks for that, Doug. Thanks
for all of you coming.

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Before beginning, I too
would like to express

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my gratitude to Dr.

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Mark Abbot for his
collegiality and instruction,

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and for his friendship.

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It is to Mark and
also to my colleague

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Jean Limeshow that I dedicate
this morning's lecture.

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He is risen.

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Hallelujah, my pastor.

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If any doctrines within
the whole compass of

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Christianity may be properly
termed fundamental,

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they are doubtless these two,

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the doctrine of justification
and that of new birth.

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Begins Wesley's programmatic
sermon on the new birth.

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But what a puzzling note,

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this sounds to Protestants,

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especially the Calvinists of
Wesley's Church of England,

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for whom no doctrine was more

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precious than justification
by faith alone.

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After all, on this core belief,

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Luther's protest
movement commenced

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and for a group of Christians

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whose theological
grammar is shaped in

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large part by their
reading of Saint Paul,

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the elevation of the
doctrine of new birth,

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which Paul nowhere mentions
in his canonical letters,

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to a place equal with
that of justification,

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which is central to Paul's
pattern of salvation,

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is surprising to this day.

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In fact, the image
that dominates

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Paul's evangelical conception of

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salvation is the lock court of

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a gracious judge who pardons
believers of the guilt from

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past sin and legally
adopts them as children.

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I concluded last
year's lecture by

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commenting that
Methodists speak with

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glad hearts of Wesley's

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via solicitiouses
way of salvation.

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This is our rule of faith which

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authorizes and animates and
aims our Bible practices.

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The notes scripture sounds to

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a Methodist's ear maps
our way to heaven.

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It helps us to understand

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our experiences of
God's saving grace.

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While Wesley speaks
of salvation as

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the unpredictable unfolding
of God's grace in our lives,

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no other part of his
via solicitous is more

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strategic than the
moment of new birth.

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The believer's new birth
is the lynchpin that

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holds justification and
sanctification together.

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The shift of metaphors
from a law court to

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a maternity ward precedages

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an important shift
as well in how

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Wesley imagines the
fatherhood of God,

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from a deity who legally adopts
those who are in Christ,

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to a deity who fathers
his children and

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whose very DNA enables
them to live like Christ.

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That is for Wesleyans,

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believers enjoy more than

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a new status with God
forgiven and cleansed of sin,

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they are reborn with

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a natural capacity to live
in a radically new way,

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not only to harold
God's victory over sin,

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but to mark out a manner
of life, of faith, hope,

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and especially
love, that actually

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brings the creator's best
intentions to realization.

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Perhaps some of
you have joined me

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as well as President Ethan in

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eavesdropping on the
current polemics

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between Tom Wright
and John Piper,

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each of whom
presumes to champion

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a normative definition of
justification by faith.

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Justification is the title of

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Wright's recent
rejoinder to Piper,

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and its revealing
subtitle reads,

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God's plan and Paul's vision,

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which implies God's
plan of salvation,

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is inscribed in Paul's
definition of justification.

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00:14:06,110 --> 00:14:09,930
By the way, neither Wright
nor Piper would ever

260
00:14:09,930 --> 00:14:16,175
claim what Wesley does in
his sermon on new birth.

261
00:14:16,175 --> 00:14:19,210
This is because the
reform tradition

262
00:14:19,210 --> 00:14:21,310
collapses regeneration and

263
00:14:21,310 --> 00:14:24,565
justification
together as two bits

264
00:14:24,565 --> 00:14:28,045
of the same operation
of divine grace.

265
00:14:28,045 --> 00:14:30,590
More on this later.

266
00:14:30,810 --> 00:14:33,940
This morning's Walls
lecture seeks to move

267
00:14:33,940 --> 00:14:36,250
us in a more Wesleyan direction.

268
00:14:36,250 --> 00:14:40,690
In fact, let's subtitle
it, new birth.

269
00:14:40,690 --> 00:14:43,810
God's plan and John's vision.

270
00:14:43,810 --> 00:14:48,670
Yes, modern biblical
criticism has taught us to

271
00:14:48,670 --> 00:14:52,015
value scripture's
theological diversity.

272
00:14:52,015 --> 00:14:55,480
Paul line conception of
salvation favored by

273
00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,660
most reformed Protestants
is different than

274
00:14:58,660 --> 00:15:00,910
the one worked out
in the collection of

275
00:15:00,910 --> 00:15:05,005
Catholic Epistles that
includes one John and James,

276
00:15:05,005 --> 00:15:07,975
favored by most free Methodists.

277
00:15:07,975 --> 00:15:10,210
We are prepared to hear again

278
00:15:10,210 --> 00:15:12,850
Wesley's sermon,
great privilege,

279
00:15:12,850 --> 00:15:15,040
where he explains that while our

280
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,240
justification pardons us
from the guilt of past sin,

281
00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,450
regeneration is a
different operation of

282
00:15:22,450 --> 00:15:26,260
God's grace that releases
the pardon believer

283
00:15:26,260 --> 00:15:29,215
from sins captive power to begin

284
00:15:29,215 --> 00:15:34,045
a new life under the
direction of the Holy Spirit.

285
00:15:34,045 --> 00:15:40,330
New birth involves a supernatural
change of human nature.

286
00:15:40,330 --> 00:15:44,920
If God's justifying grace
puts us to rights with God,

287
00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:50,770
then God's regenerating grace
transforms our inmost soul.

288
00:15:50,770 --> 00:15:53,530
Justify believer at

289
00:15:53,530 --> 00:15:57,205
the same moment is
reborn as God's child,

290
00:15:57,205 --> 00:16:00,250
recreated in God's image with

291
00:16:00,250 --> 00:16:04,675
new capacities for
partnership with God.

292
00:16:04,675 --> 00:16:06,595
As Wesley put it,

293
00:16:06,595 --> 00:16:11,620
new birth begins a
vast inward change

294
00:16:11,620 --> 00:16:15,775
that puts us on a
path to holiness.

295
00:16:15,775 --> 00:16:18,700
All the resources necessary to

296
00:16:18,700 --> 00:16:21,130
live a holy life are given by

297
00:16:21,130 --> 00:16:27,020
God at our new birth in the
twinkling of God's eye.

298
00:16:27,060 --> 00:16:29,890
The last two Walls lectures have

299
00:16:29,890 --> 00:16:32,290
tried to build a
context in which we

300
00:16:32,290 --> 00:16:33,955
might better understand

301
00:16:33,955 --> 00:16:37,255
Wesley's scripture
way of salvation.

302
00:16:37,255 --> 00:16:40,780
His elevation of the
doctrine of new birth is

303
00:16:40,780 --> 00:16:43,840
not an intellectual
decision crafted

304
00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,570
by the careful study
of the Bible in

305
00:16:46,570 --> 00:16:50,665
the company of the Holy
Ghost and no one else.

306
00:16:50,665 --> 00:16:53,500
Rather, as I argued
two years ago,

307
00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:56,530
Wesley's theological
reading of scripture was

308
00:16:56,530 --> 00:17:00,130
funded by his experience
of being born

309
00:17:00,130 --> 00:17:04,225
again and shaped by his
active participation

310
00:17:04,225 --> 00:17:06,340
in England's reception of

311
00:17:06,340 --> 00:17:09,550
the enlightenment
and Arminianism.

312
00:17:09,550 --> 00:17:13,300
His understanding of God's
way of salvation was hammered

313
00:17:13,300 --> 00:17:17,290
out in the gritty social world
of early modern England,

314
00:17:17,290 --> 00:17:22,945
where he confronted
professing Christians,

315
00:17:22,945 --> 00:17:26,440
whose lives of spiritual
compromise and

316
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:32,605
invincible apathy belied
their salvation from sin.

317
00:17:32,605 --> 00:17:35,740
Wesley's evangelistic
ministry was to

318
00:17:35,740 --> 00:17:37,420
the Protestant heirs of

319
00:17:37,420 --> 00:17:39,700
Luther within the
Church of England,

320
00:17:39,700 --> 00:17:42,280
who appealed to the
great reformers

321
00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,310
organizing conception
of Christian existence,

322
00:17:45,310 --> 00:17:48,190
simul justus et peccator at once

323
00:17:48,190 --> 00:17:51,805
justified and yet a
sinner in a way that

324
00:17:51,805 --> 00:17:55,540
often reduced the doctrine
of justification to

325
00:17:55,540 --> 00:18:00,175
a thin belief in God's
pardon of sins guilt,

326
00:18:00,175 --> 00:18:04,525
without also changing
how one lives.

327
00:18:04,525 --> 00:18:08,770
Not only the wild
ranting antinomian

328
00:18:08,770 --> 00:18:14,770
as Wesley called the
few latitudinarian,

329
00:18:14,770 --> 00:18:16,630
the champion religious liberty

330
00:18:16,630 --> 00:18:17,980
in his day but according to

331
00:18:17,980 --> 00:18:23,620
many Protestants, even
today, sin remains

332
00:18:23,620 --> 00:18:27,295
the unwavering if
unwanted feature

333
00:18:27,295 --> 00:18:30,680
of Christian existence.

334
00:18:30,780 --> 00:18:33,580
Wesley's surprising turn to

335
00:18:33,580 --> 00:18:35,470
the neglected letter of one John

336
00:18:35,470 --> 00:18:37,775
is explained by what
he found there.

337
00:18:37,775 --> 00:18:41,040
A word from God that
powerfully responds to

338
00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:45,150
the very species of
spiritual fatalism in

339
00:18:45,150 --> 00:18:48,870
which believers
either neglect or are

340
00:18:48,870 --> 00:18:53,710
defeated by the sin they
continue to practice.

341
00:18:53,710 --> 00:18:57,070
It is to one John
that he appeals

342
00:18:57,070 --> 00:19:00,230
often in his standards sermons,

343
00:19:00,230 --> 00:19:03,230
to envisage a powerful vision

344
00:19:03,230 --> 00:19:06,335
of Christian existence
in which once

345
00:19:06,335 --> 00:19:09,440
sinful believers
are transformed by

346
00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,620
God's grace so that
they no longer sin,

347
00:19:12,620 --> 00:19:18,360
but rather love God and
love one another perfectly.

348
00:19:19,140 --> 00:19:22,215
You may recall from
last year's lecture,

349
00:19:22,215 --> 00:19:23,840
something of one John,

350
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,140
that it was written for
believers caught up in

351
00:19:27,140 --> 00:19:29,210
an epistemic crisis provoked by

352
00:19:29,210 --> 00:19:32,795
claims of two rival
Christianities.

353
00:19:32,795 --> 00:19:34,880
To resolve this crisis,

354
00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:39,314
the author appeals to
John's apostolic tradition.

355
00:19:39,314 --> 00:19:44,440
The apostles witness of the
incarnate word of life,

356
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:49,015
who reveal two indispensable
truths about God.

357
00:19:49,015 --> 00:19:53,830
That God is light and
that God is love.

358
00:19:53,830 --> 00:19:59,105
The firm embrace of
both these core truths

359
00:19:59,105 --> 00:20:02,420
secures the
congregation's koinonia

360
00:20:02,420 --> 00:20:06,120
with God and with God's son.

361
00:20:06,450 --> 00:20:09,040
Toward the end of securing

362
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:11,145
fellowship with the triune God,

363
00:20:11,145 --> 00:20:15,670
one John provides an
extended essay that

364
00:20:15,670 --> 00:20:18,475
clarifies and elaborates each

365
00:20:18,475 --> 00:20:21,385
of these two theological claims.

366
00:20:21,385 --> 00:20:24,130
To believe that
God is light is to

367
00:20:24,130 --> 00:20:27,325
understand that believers
do not practice sin.

368
00:20:27,325 --> 00:20:30,160
Believers have been
pardoned from sin,

369
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,590
set free from its power.

370
00:20:32,590 --> 00:20:35,080
They should now
purify themselves

371
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,975
after the likeness
of Jesus Christ,

372
00:20:37,975 --> 00:20:41,185
whose love for God is perfect.

373
00:20:41,185 --> 00:20:43,570
Further to believe that God is

374
00:20:43,570 --> 00:20:46,330
love is to understand
that believers loved

375
00:20:46,330 --> 00:20:48,430
one another as Christ loved,

376
00:20:48,430 --> 00:20:51,970
actively, self-sacrificial.

377
00:20:51,970 --> 00:20:55,900
It is the second great
theological movement of

378
00:20:55,900 --> 00:21:01,165
one John that is
climaxed by 4,19,

379
00:21:01,165 --> 00:21:05,800
which Wesley calls the
sum of all religion.

380
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:12,655
We love, because
God loves us first.

381
00:21:12,655 --> 00:21:17,500
No biblical text in my
mind discloses better

382
00:21:17,500 --> 00:21:21,910
the seamless connection
between the loving nature of

383
00:21:21,910 --> 00:21:25,030
God and the loving nature of

384
00:21:25,030 --> 00:21:28,930
Christian discipleship
more adequately

385
00:21:28,930 --> 00:21:31,405
than one John 4,19.

386
00:21:31,405 --> 00:21:37,399
Christianity is an
ethical religion.

387
00:21:37,770 --> 00:21:41,440
But the passage I
worked on last year was

388
00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,635
1 John 2,28 through 3-10,

389
00:21:44,635 --> 00:21:48,535
to which I want to
return this morning.

390
00:21:48,535 --> 00:21:51,430
I take it that this passage is

391
00:21:51,430 --> 00:21:54,130
the letters
theological gravitas,

392
00:21:54,130 --> 00:21:58,585
where it's two core
theological beliefs

393
00:21:58,585 --> 00:22:01,900
interact to help readers focus

394
00:22:01,900 --> 00:22:05,770
on the nature and practices
of Christian discipleship.

395
00:22:05,770 --> 00:22:08,170
1 John claims that according to

396
00:22:08,170 --> 00:22:10,390
the Apostles and from
the very beginning,

397
00:22:10,390 --> 00:22:14,290
the incarnate word discloses
that God is light and if

398
00:22:14,290 --> 00:22:18,565
God is light and who know
darkness can possibly exist,

399
00:22:18,565 --> 00:22:20,845
then purity will win out,

400
00:22:20,845 --> 00:22:23,860
and sin will be
utterly destroyed.

401
00:22:23,860 --> 00:22:26,649
That if sin is
utterly destroyed,

402
00:22:26,649 --> 00:22:29,560
then God's children
who are born of God

403
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,625
and who abide in God's
son simply do not sin.

404
00:22:33,625 --> 00:22:36,370
Rather, they love one another,

405
00:22:36,370 --> 00:22:43,340
even as God loves actively,
perfectly, self-sacrificial.

406
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:48,985
But this passage provoke
several puzzlement.

407
00:22:48,985 --> 00:22:52,810
On what basis is the community
assured before God at the

408
00:22:52,810 --> 00:22:56,890
Lord's coming when we shall
see him and become as he is.

409
00:22:56,890 --> 00:23:01,450
What does the believers new
birth as God's child have to

410
00:23:01,450 --> 00:23:03,549
do with the believers
purity practice

411
00:23:03,549 --> 00:23:06,430
of not sinning in
likeness of Christ.

412
00:23:06,430 --> 00:23:09,895
What is the meaning of
the extraordinary claim?

413
00:23:09,895 --> 00:23:12,760
Verse 9 of Chapter 3 set out by

414
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,310
literary highersim that because

415
00:23:15,310 --> 00:23:18,340
every child of God
has God's DNA,

416
00:23:18,340 --> 00:23:23,450
they are unable to sin.

417
00:23:23,790 --> 00:23:27,640
Not only does the
Christian not sin,

418
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,130
but she cannot sin.

419
00:23:31,140 --> 00:23:34,780
These are hard claims that are

420
00:23:34,780 --> 00:23:38,815
complicated by our
experience of the opposite.

421
00:23:38,815 --> 00:23:41,620
We are fearful of death.

422
00:23:41,620 --> 00:23:45,280
Our lives are often live
no differently than those

423
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:49,720
lived by non-Christians
with whom we work and play.

424
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,395
We can, and we
continue to struggle.

425
00:23:53,395 --> 00:23:55,360
We continue to struggle.

426
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:57,590
Do battle with sin.

427
00:23:57,750 --> 00:24:04,280
How should we understand 1
John's bold affirmation?

428
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,320
Father Raymond Brown,
one of these letters,

429
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,960
most influential
modern interpreters

430
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,045
has said about 1 John 3,

431
00:24:13,045 --> 00:24:16,510
with his characteristic
understatement.

432
00:24:16,510 --> 00:24:21,160
No matter what the
author thought.

433
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,900
The wording of his
affirmations about

434
00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:34,180
sinlessness is not
sufficiently nuanced.

435
00:24:34,180 --> 00:24:36,520
Professor Billy
Abraham adds with

436
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:40,960
characteristic
overstatement that it

437
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:42,850
is hard enough to
believe that people

438
00:24:42,850 --> 00:24:45,280
can become saints in this life.

439
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,270
It is quite impossible
to believe that this has

440
00:24:49,270 --> 00:24:54,430
actually happened in
any particular case.

441
00:24:54,430 --> 00:24:59,230
Careful exit, Jesus gets us
down the road of fair piece,

442
00:24:59,230 --> 00:25:03,190
but cannot fully clarify
what is insufficiently

443
00:25:03,190 --> 00:25:07,570
mapped by the Holy text itself.

444
00:25:07,570 --> 00:25:10,585
Brown's comment that
this text slack

445
00:25:10,585 --> 00:25:13,270
of nuance rings true.

446
00:25:13,270 --> 00:25:15,790
We either find ourselves at

447
00:25:15,790 --> 00:25:19,900
a dead end or we seek a
way forward by charting

448
00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:22,540
work that might illumine what

449
00:25:22,540 --> 00:25:27,965
the biblical text leaves
insufficiently nuanced.

450
00:25:27,965 --> 00:25:30,120
This way forward is

451
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:34,115
the project of theological
interpretation.

452
00:25:34,115 --> 00:25:38,530
The most fruitful way of
engaging in the practice of

453
00:25:38,530 --> 00:25:43,760
theological interpretation
is to do it.

454
00:25:44,790 --> 00:25:48,160
Before turning back to 1 John 3,

455
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,370
to practice theological
interpretation with an aim of

456
00:25:51,370 --> 00:25:52,690
making better sense of

457
00:25:52,690 --> 00:25:55,700
the Lord's word
that comes with it,

458
00:25:55,700 --> 00:25:58,935
let me quickly set out
a working definition

459
00:25:58,935 --> 00:26:03,160
of a theological
interpretation of scripture.

460
00:26:03,930 --> 00:26:07,900
If the task of exit Jesus sets

461
00:26:07,900 --> 00:26:12,280
out carefully what the
Holy text plainly says,

462
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,610
then theological
interpretation seeks

463
00:26:15,610 --> 00:26:19,090
to retrieve God's word in it.

464
00:26:19,090 --> 00:26:22,735
To use for Holy ends.

465
00:26:22,735 --> 00:26:25,300
This simple definition excepts

466
00:26:25,300 --> 00:26:27,640
several principles as true about

467
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,470
biblical interpretation

468
00:26:29,470 --> 00:26:33,025
that modern biblical
criticism contests,

469
00:26:33,025 --> 00:26:36,145
sometimes with utter contempt.

470
00:26:36,145 --> 00:26:42,265
First of all, scripture sets
before us a word about God.

471
00:26:42,265 --> 00:26:47,185
Not ancient history,
not modern science.

472
00:26:47,185 --> 00:26:51,730
God. Yes, the biblical
criticisms of

473
00:26:51,730 --> 00:26:54,730
the modern academy have
made it clear that

474
00:26:54,730 --> 00:26:56,470
scripture is a collection of

475
00:26:56,470 --> 00:27:00,459
human productions that reflect
an ancient communities

476
00:27:00,459 --> 00:27:03,580
struggle to understand
its covenant with God

477
00:27:03,580 --> 00:27:06,130
in social and political worlds

478
00:27:06,130 --> 00:27:08,605
very different from our own.

479
00:27:08,605 --> 00:27:13,060
But faithful Christians
approach the same texts with

480
00:27:13,060 --> 00:27:18,820
meekness as indispensable for
life and for faith today.

481
00:27:18,820 --> 00:27:21,100
We do so not because

482
00:27:21,100 --> 00:27:25,375
biblical texts are in
the likeness of God,

483
00:27:25,375 --> 00:27:28,210
but because God's Spirit has

484
00:27:28,210 --> 00:27:31,930
acted providentially
in handpicking

485
00:27:31,930 --> 00:27:34,600
each one to sanctify

486
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:40,630
each one as the special
medium of God's living work.

487
00:27:40,630 --> 00:27:42,895
As Paul might put it,

488
00:27:42,895 --> 00:27:47,725
scripture is the churches
treasure in an earthen vessel.

489
00:27:47,725 --> 00:27:51,940
Cheap tableware breaks easily.

490
00:27:51,940 --> 00:27:56,890
In order to show that
it's extraordinary power,

491
00:27:56,890 --> 00:28:05,260
[FOREIGN] belongs to God,

492
00:28:05,260 --> 00:28:07,705
not to us.

493
00:28:07,705 --> 00:28:11,740
Second principle, the purpose of

494
00:28:11,740 --> 00:28:14,200
theological interpretation is to

495
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,635
retrieve and clarify God's
word from scripture,

496
00:28:17,635 --> 00:28:19,900
which is the power of God for

497
00:28:19,900 --> 00:28:23,110
salvation to everyone
who believes.

498
00:28:23,110 --> 00:28:27,505
If Scripture is a sacred texts
that discloses God's word,

499
00:28:27,505 --> 00:28:30,430
it is in the very nature of

500
00:28:30,430 --> 00:28:34,120
scripture to deliver the
goods about who God is,

501
00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:36,280
what God is doing in the world,

502
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,810
and how we as God's people,
should respond accordingly.

503
00:28:40,810 --> 00:28:43,600
If we believe the
Bible was produced

504
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:45,970
under the spirits direction and

505
00:28:45,970 --> 00:28:48,190
continues to be performed by

506
00:28:48,190 --> 00:28:51,700
the Spirit's inspiration
for Holy ends,

507
00:28:51,700 --> 00:28:54,670
then we must be attentive to

508
00:28:54,670 --> 00:28:57,880
its teaching rightly rendered to

509
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:01,030
enable us to know
God and by knowing

510
00:29:01,030 --> 00:29:05,480
God to enjoy God's
company forever.

511
00:29:06,030 --> 00:29:10,345
Third. Scriptures,
legal address,

512
00:29:10,345 --> 00:29:13,150
is the church, not popular

513
00:29:13,150 --> 00:29:17,230
culture nor even a
Christian University.

514
00:29:17,230 --> 00:29:20,470
This is so because
the Holy Spirit who

515
00:29:20,470 --> 00:29:23,845
makes the Bible
Holy resides there.

516
00:29:23,845 --> 00:29:27,639
This is so because the church
is where the community

517
00:29:27,639 --> 00:29:31,060
of faithful readers
practice, parade,

518
00:29:31,060 --> 00:29:34,270
and proclaim its sacred texts as

519
00:29:34,270 --> 00:29:39,080
formative of a Holy nation,
a royal priesthood,

520
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:43,020
a community of believers
whose life and whose faith

521
00:29:43,020 --> 00:29:48,460
mark them out as the treasured
possession of a Holy God.

522
00:29:48,750 --> 00:29:52,510
But fourth, Stephen
Fowl reminds us that

523
00:29:52,510 --> 00:29:56,950
our Bible practices will
return Spiritual profit only

524
00:29:56,950 --> 00:30:00,250
when the congregation has
been ready to receive

525
00:30:00,250 --> 00:30:02,590
the sacrament of the word by

526
00:30:02,590 --> 00:30:05,920
worship and with pure hearts.

527
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,280
The Bible read
aloud or taught in

528
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,430
worship will fall
on deaf ears or

529
00:30:12,430 --> 00:30:16,180
distracted minds unless
a people have been

530
00:30:16,180 --> 00:30:21,445
spiritually prepared to receive
its heavenly instruction.

531
00:30:21,445 --> 00:30:26,590
The reverent reception
of scripture as

532
00:30:26,590 --> 00:30:31,105
a means of grace requires
the transformation

533
00:30:31,105 --> 00:30:36,040
of our inward affections
so to incline us ever more

534
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:41,830
favorably and eagerly
toward that word of life,

535
00:30:41,830 --> 00:30:44,080
which makes [FOREIGN] with

536
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,930
God and for love for each other.

537
00:30:48,030 --> 00:30:54,655
Fifth, what regulates and
keeps God in clear sight

538
00:30:54,655 --> 00:30:57,685
when practicing and
parading scripture

539
00:30:57,685 --> 00:31:02,035
among God's people
is good theology.

540
00:31:02,035 --> 00:31:07,465
Can't have cannon
without creed folks.

541
00:31:07,465 --> 00:31:10,600
What we believe
and confess about

542
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:14,080
the nouns that declined
God's existence and

543
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:15,760
the verbs that conjugate

544
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:19,075
God's activities
regulate what we

545
00:31:19,075 --> 00:31:24,400
can and cannot take from
scripture to engage the culture,

546
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,260
to change the world.

547
00:31:26,260 --> 00:31:29,860
Had to get that in. What

548
00:31:29,860 --> 00:31:33,250
we believe about God
must cohere with

549
00:31:33,250 --> 00:31:36,340
what the prophets
announced to Israel

550
00:31:36,340 --> 00:31:40,660
and the apostles observed in
Christ from the beginning,

551
00:31:40,660 --> 00:31:45,760
what we might call the
Apostolic rule of faith.

552
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:50,305
If the content and consequence
of our interpretation

553
00:31:50,305 --> 00:31:55,195
of scripture does not agree
with this apostolic rule,

554
00:31:55,195 --> 00:31:58,375
then the Holy Spirit cannot

555
00:31:58,375 --> 00:32:02,410
and will not use
it for Holy ends.

556
00:32:02,410 --> 00:32:06,670
By the way, the test of truth in

557
00:32:06,670 --> 00:32:10,990
interpretation is not the
size of a congregation,

558
00:32:10,990 --> 00:32:17,120
but it's courage to follow
the land wherever he goes.

559
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,240
This gets to a final principle,

560
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:24,010
and it's the one
that Doug mentioned.

561
00:32:24,010 --> 00:32:30,320
Like politics, all
interpretation is local.

562
00:32:30,900 --> 00:32:33,700
The inward dispositions and

563
00:32:33,700 --> 00:32:36,520
inclinations that incline
us toward God's word

564
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:38,590
in scripture are shaped

565
00:32:38,590 --> 00:32:41,215
within particular
places; a family,

566
00:32:41,215 --> 00:32:45,655
a culture, a congregation
set aside for

567
00:32:45,655 --> 00:32:49,000
a practical moment the
notion that an amorphous

568
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:50,680
church and all those tropes

569
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:52,600
we use to speak of such a thing,

570
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:53,650
the body of Christ,

571
00:32:53,650 --> 00:32:55,060
the household, the believers,

572
00:32:55,060 --> 00:32:58,260
the global church and
the like, okay to do so.

573
00:32:58,260 --> 00:33:02,090
But when most of us speak
of going to church,

574
00:33:02,090 --> 00:33:06,490
we have particular congregations
in mind filled with

575
00:33:06,490 --> 00:33:09,100
recognizable faces where we

576
00:33:09,100 --> 00:33:11,965
find God and where God finds us.

577
00:33:11,965 --> 00:33:15,070
Yes, Christian's share

578
00:33:15,070 --> 00:33:17,470
are the same ecumenical
confession of

579
00:33:17,470 --> 00:33:19,840
Trinitarian faith in
the blessed hope of

580
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:23,755
a common experience of God's
salvation, creating grace.

581
00:33:23,755 --> 00:33:27,310
But we do so in different keys.

582
00:33:27,310 --> 00:33:29,290
The tenor of scripture in a

583
00:33:29,290 --> 00:33:33,340
reformed key sounds
more like Paul.

584
00:33:33,340 --> 00:33:38,740
While those of us who sing
God in a Wesleyan key sound

585
00:33:38,740 --> 00:33:41,890
more like 1 John.

586
00:33:41,890 --> 00:33:45,490
While the Pauline voice
sings of salvation

587
00:33:45,490 --> 00:33:49,135
with a lyrical line that
centers on justification,

588
00:33:49,135 --> 00:33:53,440
another joins in this
round but with a

589
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:58,495
lyric about the believer's
full sanctification.

590
00:33:58,495 --> 00:34:03,400
God's spirit distributes
ecclesial traditions

591
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:07,780
as it distributes
different spiritual gifts.

592
00:34:07,780 --> 00:34:10,150
Or sometimes the
body of Christ is

593
00:34:10,150 --> 00:34:12,565
a messy and confusing place.

594
00:34:12,565 --> 00:34:15,700
Each calibration of
the spirits will

595
00:34:15,700 --> 00:34:19,750
is indispensable to the
health of the whole.

596
00:34:19,750 --> 00:34:26,815
Wesleyan's must be Wesleyan's
and decisively so.

597
00:34:26,815 --> 00:34:30,475
But never to divide the church.

598
00:34:30,475 --> 00:34:34,300
But so the church
can become more one,

599
00:34:34,300 --> 00:34:41,840
more holy, more Catholic,
more fully apostolic.

600
00:34:42,540 --> 00:34:45,640
Setting out this
particular definition of

601
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:48,280
theological
interpretation allows me

602
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,860
then to make an
outrageous claim.

603
00:34:50,860 --> 00:34:56,650
Something my colleagues
take for granted.

604
00:34:56,650 --> 00:35:00,900
Now it may

605
00:35:00,900 --> 00:35:04,230
sound that jarring node in
the middle of this lecture,

606
00:35:04,230 --> 00:35:06,330
much like that note sounded in

607
00:35:06,330 --> 00:35:09,604
the middle of Haydn
Surprise Symphony.

608
00:35:09,604 --> 00:35:12,805
To awaken a snoozing audience.

609
00:35:12,805 --> 00:35:15,565
I suspect the more scrupulous

610
00:35:15,565 --> 00:35:18,250
among us may naturally
want to inquire

611
00:35:18,250 --> 00:35:22,795
into the reasons why
the spirit would select

612
00:35:22,795 --> 00:35:28,480
hard texts to
sanctify, like 1 John.

613
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:33,265
A neglected letter composed
by an unknown author with

614
00:35:33,265 --> 00:35:37,510
awkward syntax and ambiguous
word choices composed and

615
00:35:37,510 --> 00:35:41,590
sometimes confusing arguments
that leaves readers

616
00:35:41,590 --> 00:35:44,050
bewildered and
stranded precisely at

617
00:35:44,050 --> 00:35:47,930
the moment the letter makes
its most resounding claims.

618
00:35:48,030 --> 00:35:51,520
Why 1 John?

619
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,880
Why would the spirit
select and sanctify

620
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:59,410
this earthen vessel for
the church to treasure?

621
00:35:59,410 --> 00:36:03,400
Which is so difficult
to understand,

622
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,980
if not also to do.

623
00:36:07,350 --> 00:36:10,855
My bold, even outrageous thesis

624
00:36:10,855 --> 00:36:13,570
is that Wesley's use
of this letter in

625
00:36:13,570 --> 00:36:15,910
his standard sermons will help

626
00:36:15,910 --> 00:36:20,635
the church explain
the spirits choice.

627
00:36:20,635 --> 00:36:23,755
Those Wesleyan tradens.

628
00:36:23,755 --> 00:36:27,040
Those of us who worship
in congregations,

629
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:31,420
who are catechized into John
Wesley's via solicitous,

630
00:36:31,420 --> 00:36:33,220
whose hearts are quickened by

631
00:36:33,220 --> 00:36:35,680
the singing of the
lyrics of Charles,

632
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:37,750
whose ears are there by

633
00:36:37,750 --> 00:36:41,665
predisposed to hear more
keenly than others.

634
00:36:41,665 --> 00:36:44,499
The Word of God found

635
00:36:44,499 --> 00:36:48,130
in this precious
but prickly letter.

636
00:36:48,130 --> 00:36:54,265
It is our sacred vocation
to preach 1 John to

637
00:36:54,265 --> 00:36:58,060
others so that our sisters and

638
00:36:58,060 --> 00:37:04,190
brothers might be illuminated
by the face of Christ.

639
00:37:04,650 --> 00:37:07,750
Now, time has come at long

640
00:37:07,750 --> 00:37:10,940
last for rubber
to meet its road.

641
00:37:10,980 --> 00:37:15,760
The exchange between Father
Brown's comment that

642
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:17,770
1 John's affirmation about

643
00:37:17,770 --> 00:37:22,585
sinless discipleship is
insufficiently nuanced.

644
00:37:22,585 --> 00:37:27,730
My outrageous claim that it
is Wesley who comes alongside

645
00:37:27,730 --> 00:37:31,060
the interpreter to help
make better sense of

646
00:37:31,060 --> 00:37:35,620
this letters inspired
affirmation of seamlessness,

647
00:37:35,620 --> 00:37:38,335
sets out a particular pattern

648
00:37:38,335 --> 00:37:40,540
of theological interpretation

649
00:37:40,540 --> 00:37:42,535
that I want to illustrate

650
00:37:42,535 --> 00:37:46,190
in this final portion
of today's lecture.

651
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,050
I believe this is a pattern of

652
00:37:50,050 --> 00:37:52,795
interpretation that
preachers and teachers

653
00:37:52,795 --> 00:37:55,960
of the Wesleyan
tradition can use when

654
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,695
practicing scripture with
their congregations.

655
00:37:59,695 --> 00:38:02,905
Even if always within the bounds

656
00:38:02,905 --> 00:38:06,565
of the one Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church,

657
00:38:06,565 --> 00:38:10,000
teach Wesley in one hand,

658
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,220
scripture in the other.

659
00:38:12,220 --> 00:38:15,280
Or if you have a Wesley's
study Bible then just use it.

660
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:22,060
1 John's bold

661
00:38:22,060 --> 00:38:26,005
affirmation that faithful
Christians do not sin,

662
00:38:26,005 --> 00:38:28,090
requires, it seems to me,

663
00:38:28,090 --> 00:38:32,095
a more nuanced understanding
of sin itself.

664
00:38:32,095 --> 00:38:39,560
What is it exactly that the
child of God does not do?

665
00:38:39,660 --> 00:38:44,140
Now as a puritanized Armenian,

666
00:38:44,140 --> 00:38:46,960
Wesley hardly agrees with

667
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,975
St. Augustine's
narrative of sin.

668
00:38:49,975 --> 00:38:53,980
Sinful humanity is
unable to know God as

669
00:38:53,980 --> 00:38:57,880
the precondition of experiencing
God's healing grace.

670
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,820
Those who side with Adam against

671
00:39:00,820 --> 00:39:05,935
Christ are by nature utterly
depraved from head to toe,

672
00:39:05,935 --> 00:39:10,975
desperately wicked, entirely
corrupt, Wesley puts it.

673
00:39:10,975 --> 00:39:15,775
Unable and unwilling to live
according to God's likeness.

674
00:39:15,775 --> 00:39:18,670
There is no essential
difference between

675
00:39:18,670 --> 00:39:21,190
Wesley and Calvin on

676
00:39:21,190 --> 00:39:24,520
the desperate situation
facing those outside

677
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:28,765
of Christ and
separated from God.

678
00:39:28,765 --> 00:39:32,545
But I would argue that
Wesley's primary interest

679
00:39:32,545 --> 00:39:35,755
is not with sinful nonbelievers,

680
00:39:35,755 --> 00:39:38,200
but with those who profess faith

681
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,270
in Christ and continue to sin.

682
00:39:41,460 --> 00:39:45,490
The most important
nuances that Wesley

683
00:39:45,490 --> 00:39:48,670
might contribute to 1 John's
expansive treatment of

684
00:39:48,670 --> 00:39:55,480
this topic concern that thin
residue of inbred sin that

685
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,990
lingers on in the
Christian's life and

686
00:39:58,990 --> 00:40:00,970
threatens our relationship with

687
00:40:00,970 --> 00:40:04,255
Christ and our love
for one another.

688
00:40:04,255 --> 00:40:08,500
But this too is the
pastoral concern of 1 John.

689
00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:11,050
Recall that the
letters affirmation of

690
00:40:11,050 --> 00:40:13,090
the believer's
seamlessness follows

691
00:40:13,090 --> 00:40:14,950
from the idea of new birth,

692
00:40:14,950 --> 00:40:17,920
which is abruptly
introduced in Chapter 2,

693
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:21,280
verse 29 and strategically
sandwiched between

694
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:25,210
repeated assurances of
God's coming victory

695
00:40:25,210 --> 00:40:27,895
in 228 and 32.

696
00:40:27,895 --> 00:40:31,825
That is the believer's
practice of not sinning,

697
00:40:31,825 --> 00:40:35,635
is predicated by an experience

698
00:40:35,635 --> 00:40:38,665
of being reborn as God's child,

699
00:40:38,665 --> 00:40:42,145
an experience so transforming

700
00:40:42,145 --> 00:40:46,540
that it testifies to
sins defeat and heralds

701
00:40:46,540 --> 00:40:49,780
it's coming demise so
that our hearts are

702
00:40:49,780 --> 00:40:56,890
assured that one day we will
see Jesus face-to-face.

703
00:40:56,890 --> 00:41:01,000
1 John's grammar is
Wesley's grammar.

704
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:04,480
Early on, Wesley did say
that believers could rid

705
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:08,885
themselves of habitual
sinning by practicing virtue.

706
00:41:08,885 --> 00:41:12,810
But his own sense of
spiritual failure,

707
00:41:12,810 --> 00:41:16,625
coupled with his alders gate
experience of new birth,

708
00:41:16,625 --> 00:41:21,265
convinced him that only by
God's supernatural infusion

709
00:41:21,265 --> 00:41:26,485
of grace is human nature
rid of habitual sin.

710
00:41:26,485 --> 00:41:28,990
This seems clear from a pair of

711
00:41:28,990 --> 00:41:32,065
his standard sermons on
sin in the believer's,

712
00:41:32,065 --> 00:41:34,555
and the repentance of believers,

713
00:41:34,555 --> 00:41:37,300
in which he carefully
defines the nature of

714
00:41:37,300 --> 00:41:39,430
sin with which justified

715
00:41:39,430 --> 00:41:41,650
believer's continued
to struggle.

716
00:41:41,650 --> 00:41:44,725
While no longer
guilty before God,

717
00:41:44,725 --> 00:41:48,325
no long under the sway of sin.

718
00:41:48,325 --> 00:41:51,100
Christian still do battle with

719
00:41:51,100 --> 00:41:56,035
those inward tempers,
passions, affections,

720
00:41:56,035 --> 00:42:00,280
thoughts, motives
that tempt us to

721
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:06,610
abandon the heart and mind
of Christ for other gods.

722
00:42:06,610 --> 00:42:10,510
Wesley goes on to say that
in partnership with Christ,

723
00:42:10,510 --> 00:42:12,490
the believer removes
the sin that

724
00:42:12,490 --> 00:42:15,430
remains in us in small steps,

725
00:42:15,430 --> 00:42:18,880
in sips, not gulps during

726
00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:24,490
a long sanctification by
faithfulness in God's direction.

727
00:42:24,490 --> 00:42:26,680
But the residue of sins

728
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:30,520
powerful past remains
deep within us,

729
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:34,270
tempting us to subvert
our spiritual potential.

730
00:42:34,270 --> 00:42:36,490
Sin does not reign,

731
00:42:36,490 --> 00:42:39,260
but it does remain.

732
00:42:39,260 --> 00:42:43,679
He writes, "We do not find
any general state described

733
00:42:43,679 --> 00:42:48,200
in scripture from which a man
cannot draw back to sin."

734
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,650
In his diary, Wesley

735
00:42:50,650 --> 00:42:52,960
notes that it is more
frequent for him to

736
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:54,700
encounter believers who have

737
00:42:54,700 --> 00:42:56,740
lapsed from sanctification into

738
00:42:56,740 --> 00:42:58,720
sin than it is to find

739
00:42:58,720 --> 00:43:01,540
those who have perfected
their holiness.

740
00:43:01,540 --> 00:43:03,940
This then is a nuance that

741
00:43:03,940 --> 00:43:05,830
a Wesleyan reading of one 1 John

742
00:43:05,830 --> 00:43:07,915
adds to its affirmation

743
00:43:07,915 --> 00:43:10,390
that children of God
are unable to say,

744
00:43:10,390 --> 00:43:12,400
"Yes, we can."

745
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,250
Although embraced by divine love

746
00:43:15,250 --> 00:43:17,095
and empowered by divine grace,

747
00:43:17,095 --> 00:43:22,915
less and less so over a
lifetime of Christian devotion.

748
00:43:22,915 --> 00:43:25,585
In my comment about

749
00:43:25,585 --> 00:43:28,870
unwanted inbred sin that
continues to temp the believer,

750
00:43:28,870 --> 00:43:31,300
you may have heard
an illusion to

751
00:43:31,300 --> 00:43:33,010
Wesley's distinction between

752
00:43:33,010 --> 00:43:36,715
intentional and
unintentional sinning.

753
00:43:36,715 --> 00:43:39,970
For example, his account of

754
00:43:39,970 --> 00:43:43,449
Christian perfection does not
include perfect knowledge.

755
00:43:43,449 --> 00:43:47,125
Even mature believers
on the cusp of

756
00:43:47,125 --> 00:43:50,530
entire sanctification
cannot avoid

757
00:43:50,530 --> 00:43:54,385
making mistakes
due to ignorance.

758
00:43:54,385 --> 00:43:58,450
Our theological
education never ends.

759
00:43:58,450 --> 00:44:02,300
By the way, not
even in eternity.

760
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:08,400
Nor are believers ever
free from their mortality,

761
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,459
from weakness or slowness
of understanding,

762
00:44:11,459 --> 00:44:15,225
boldness or confusedness,
or apprehension.

763
00:44:15,225 --> 00:44:17,550
In coherency of thought,

764
00:44:17,550 --> 00:44:19,679
irregular quickness or heaviness

765
00:44:19,679 --> 00:44:22,395
of imaginations these
are Wesley's world.

766
00:44:22,395 --> 00:44:26,680
But our infirmity is not a sin.

767
00:44:27,530 --> 00:44:30,030
Over the years of engaging in

768
00:44:30,030 --> 00:44:32,430
spirited debates over
Christian perfection,

769
00:44:32,430 --> 00:44:34,470
Wesley's understanding
of the problem

770
00:44:34,470 --> 00:44:37,140
of sin in believer's changed.

771
00:44:37,140 --> 00:44:38,850
The different tensions he

772
00:44:38,850 --> 00:44:41,010
considered in his
pastoral and preaching

773
00:44:41,010 --> 00:44:45,105
ministry are resident in
this passage of one John.

774
00:44:45,105 --> 00:44:48,540
That sinning include only
the intentional but not the

775
00:44:48,540 --> 00:44:52,545
unintentional is one John's
affirmation of sinlessness,

776
00:44:52,545 --> 00:44:54,825
exempt of occasional sins,

777
00:44:54,825 --> 00:44:57,630
and concerned only
with habitual sinning.

778
00:44:57,630 --> 00:44:59,490
What about the
distinction Wesley

779
00:44:59,490 --> 00:45:01,830
makes between outward
and inward sin?

780
00:45:01,830 --> 00:45:05,745
Does one John regard only
outward sinning as sinful?

781
00:45:05,745 --> 00:45:08,280
Does new birth make
the child of God

782
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:10,590
unable to sin or
simply create a desire

783
00:45:10,590 --> 00:45:12,780
to form new habits
of not sinning in

784
00:45:12,780 --> 00:45:16,485
the expectation of God's
final victory over sin.

785
00:45:16,485 --> 00:45:18,540
What is the covenant status of

786
00:45:18,540 --> 00:45:20,940
the believer who
continues to sin?

787
00:45:20,940 --> 00:45:23,875
Does he lose his salvation?

788
00:45:23,875 --> 00:45:27,300
If so, is a Wesleyan,

789
00:45:27,300 --> 00:45:30,850
a new kind of Donatist?

790
00:45:31,190 --> 00:45:34,410
In his own struggles
to better understand,

791
00:45:34,410 --> 00:45:38,235
one John's optimistic
affirmation of sinlessness.

792
00:45:38,235 --> 00:45:40,770
Wesley fashions a conception of

793
00:45:40,770 --> 00:45:43,889
Christian perfection
that rejects

794
00:45:43,889 --> 00:45:46,920
the idea that sin
goes missing in

795
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,700
those who are born
again, hardly so.

796
00:45:50,700 --> 00:45:54,240
In fact, sin remains in our
hearts and threatens to

797
00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:58,050
cleave to our words and
works more than ever,

798
00:45:58,050 --> 00:45:59,610
believers must worship in

799
00:45:59,610 --> 00:46:03,180
a congregation that
practices repentance,

800
00:46:03,180 --> 00:46:07,425
lest our perfectionism
lead us to despair.

801
00:46:07,425 --> 00:46:12,465
More than ever, Wesleyan's
must hear one John 19,

802
00:46:12,465 --> 00:46:15,075
a call to seek forgiveness,

803
00:46:15,075 --> 00:46:17,715
to write our
relationship with God.

804
00:46:17,715 --> 00:46:20,970
If we confess our sins,

805
00:46:20,970 --> 00:46:25,905
God who is light
and who is love,

806
00:46:25,905 --> 00:46:29,670
is faithful and just
and will forgive

807
00:46:29,670 --> 00:46:34,510
us our sins and
cleanse us from what?

808
00:46:36,650 --> 00:46:40,170
All unrighteousness.

809
00:46:40,170 --> 00:46:43,695
That's the basis of
Christian perfection.

810
00:46:43,695 --> 00:46:47,535
The perfection of
Christian existence from

811
00:46:47,535 --> 00:46:50,460
all unrighteousness is not

812
00:46:50,460 --> 00:46:53,370
only a matter of our
covenant keeping practices,

813
00:46:53,370 --> 00:46:59,985
but equally so a matter of
God's covenant mending grace.

814
00:46:59,985 --> 00:47:02,310
This leads me to suggest

815
00:47:02,310 --> 00:47:04,440
that one John's bold affirmation

816
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:07,020
that the children
of God do not sin.

817
00:47:07,020 --> 00:47:11,070
Not only requires a thickened
conception of human sin,

818
00:47:11,070 --> 00:47:12,314
it also requires

819
00:47:12,314 --> 00:47:16,185
a more robust confidence
in divine grace.

820
00:47:16,185 --> 00:47:19,395
It is an inadequate definition

821
00:47:19,395 --> 00:47:21,450
of grace that merely forgives

822
00:47:21,450 --> 00:47:27,270
sin and frees us from its
staying power. What then?

823
00:47:27,270 --> 00:47:30,105
It is in response to this,

824
00:47:30,105 --> 00:47:34,830
what then that reading and
singing with the Wesley's

825
00:47:34,830 --> 00:47:40,620
informative of a theological
approach to the sacred text.

826
00:47:40,620 --> 00:47:43,155
Wesley contends that the means

827
00:47:43,155 --> 00:47:45,210
of grace whose source is God

828
00:47:45,210 --> 00:47:46,890
is sufficiently powerful to

829
00:47:46,890 --> 00:47:50,040
transform the believer
to say no more.

830
00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:53,070
That is the very idea
of sinlessness is

831
00:47:53,070 --> 00:47:56,685
conceivable only by grace
through faithfulness.

832
00:47:56,685 --> 00:47:59,400
Otherwise, we would
be inclined to form

833
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:01,860
legalistic conduct codes and

834
00:48:01,860 --> 00:48:04,065
attempt to practice them

835
00:48:04,065 --> 00:48:07,890
as the real mark of
Christian discipleship.

836
00:48:07,890 --> 00:48:10,770
The assertion that
God's children do not

837
00:48:10,770 --> 00:48:13,455
sin is not really about us,

838
00:48:13,455 --> 00:48:18,090
it's really about the triumph
of God's grace over sin.

839
00:48:18,090 --> 00:48:25,080
Easter, people, Easter.
In this regard,

840
00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:29,115
Wesley found little help
from Saint Augustine.

841
00:48:29,115 --> 00:48:32,040
His claim of an
efficacious grace

842
00:48:32,040 --> 00:48:33,600
available only to those who

843
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:35,370
are predestined to receive it,

844
00:48:35,370 --> 00:48:37,840
was incoherent to Wesley,

845
00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:40,670
because it made no
sense of God's light

846
00:48:40,670 --> 00:48:44,185
and love shed abroad for all.

847
00:48:44,185 --> 00:48:48,600
But also unintelligible for
Wesley was the conception of

848
00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:52,605
grace that stopped short
of entire sanctification.

849
00:48:52,605 --> 00:48:55,740
That did not go to
the bottom of sin to

850
00:48:55,740 --> 00:49:00,285
deal with all of its
remains in the believer.

851
00:49:00,285 --> 00:49:07,060
God being God, grace
is greater than sin.

852
00:49:07,220 --> 00:49:10,650
So even while
Wesley zeroed in on

853
00:49:10,650 --> 00:49:13,675
the need for believers
to repent of their sin,

854
00:49:13,675 --> 00:49:14,990
at the same time,

855
00:49:14,990 --> 00:49:17,810
he expanded the
operations of God's grace

856
00:49:17,810 --> 00:49:20,780
to supply resources
to believers who

857
00:49:20,780 --> 00:49:23,780
struggled to overcome
the deep reservoirs of

858
00:49:23,780 --> 00:49:27,445
sinful passions that tempt
them to abandon Christ.

859
00:49:27,445 --> 00:49:29,310
This expansive belief in

860
00:49:29,310 --> 00:49:32,325
the human capacity
to send then is met

861
00:49:32,325 --> 00:49:35,025
head-on by a belief

862
00:49:35,025 --> 00:49:38,895
in that marvelous phrase
from Hebrews 4:16,

863
00:49:38,895 --> 00:49:41,355
so that we may find

864
00:49:41,355 --> 00:49:47,415
a merciful God whose
help is well-timed.

865
00:49:47,415 --> 00:49:50,475
How carious.

866
00:49:50,475 --> 00:49:55,545
I love that text, so
did Wesley wrote.

867
00:49:55,545 --> 00:49:59,940
Wesley helps to add then nuance

868
00:49:59,940 --> 00:50:03,720
to affirmation that it is
the wonder working power

869
00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:06,060
of God's grace that makes

870
00:50:06,060 --> 00:50:07,770
the Christian practice of not

871
00:50:07,770 --> 00:50:11,970
sinning a real but
hard possibility.

872
00:50:11,970 --> 00:50:14,220
For example, he developed

873
00:50:14,220 --> 00:50:17,340
some more robust understanding
of prevenient or

874
00:50:17,340 --> 00:50:19,920
preventing grace that mitigates

875
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:21,855
some of the worst
effects of sin,

876
00:50:21,855 --> 00:50:23,325
lack of knowledge of God,

877
00:50:23,325 --> 00:50:27,690
lack of conscience to
avoid sin, no freewill,

878
00:50:27,690 --> 00:50:30,540
and makes it possible
for the sinner to hear

879
00:50:30,540 --> 00:50:33,420
the gospel with an open-mind and

880
00:50:33,420 --> 00:50:36,600
freely choose to
trust in Christ for

881
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:40,780
our justification are
pardoned from sin skill.

882
00:50:40,820 --> 00:50:45,645
If sin penetrates deeply
into human nature,

883
00:50:45,645 --> 00:50:48,825
then Grace must as well,

884
00:50:48,825 --> 00:50:51,450
to restore one's inward moral,

885
00:50:51,450 --> 00:50:53,760
and spiritual
capacity to love and

886
00:50:53,760 --> 00:50:56,550
obey God in likeness of Christ.

887
00:50:56,550 --> 00:50:58,350
Not only does the doctrine of

888
00:50:58,350 --> 00:51:01,215
justification by faith
or by faithfulness

889
00:51:01,215 --> 00:51:04,830
alone offer an inadequate
and incomplete response

890
00:51:04,830 --> 00:51:07,845
to the devastation of
sin in a person's life,

891
00:51:07,845 --> 00:51:10,620
a more incisive operation to

892
00:51:10,620 --> 00:51:14,430
divine grace is needed
to read one of sin,

893
00:51:14,430 --> 00:51:18,630
then justifying grace by
which sin is merely pardoned.

894
00:51:18,630 --> 00:51:22,860
In a word Paul's courtroom needs

895
00:51:22,860 --> 00:51:26,130
John's maternity ward to provide

896
00:51:26,130 --> 00:51:29,640
a more robust and fully
biblical response

897
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:32,580
to the problem of
sin in the believer.

898
00:51:32,580 --> 00:51:34,770
Wesley more carefully

899
00:51:34,770 --> 00:51:37,260
distinguishes between
justification and

900
00:51:37,260 --> 00:51:38,490
regeneration

901
00:51:38,490 --> 00:51:42,840
as discrete but integral
operations of divine grace.

902
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:45,690
While agreeing the two
occur at the very moment,

903
00:51:45,690 --> 00:51:48,615
the sinner trusts in
Christ for His salvation.

904
00:51:48,615 --> 00:51:51,525
Again, in his sermon,
great privilege,

905
00:51:51,525 --> 00:51:54,030
Wesley contends
that justification

906
00:51:54,030 --> 00:51:57,360
pardons the sinner from
the guilt of past sin,

907
00:51:57,360 --> 00:51:59,820
whilst regeneration occurs when

908
00:51:59,820 --> 00:52:01,830
the same believer
is released from

909
00:52:01,830 --> 00:52:04,215
sins imprisonment to begin

910
00:52:04,215 --> 00:52:09,330
a new life of holiness under
the direction of the spirit.

911
00:52:09,330 --> 00:52:12,945
When one becomes a child of God,

912
00:52:12,945 --> 00:52:16,320
reborn with new capacities

913
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:21,840
needed for a truly participatory
partnership with God.

914
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:25,830
Wesley says, there
is a total change,

915
00:52:25,830 --> 00:52:29,085
in all his particulars.

916
00:52:29,085 --> 00:52:31,650
He sees the light of the world,

917
00:52:31,650 --> 00:52:34,260
he hears the voice of God,

918
00:52:34,260 --> 00:52:37,035
he feels the love of God,

919
00:52:37,035 --> 00:52:40,380
shed abroad in his
heart by God's Spirit,

920
00:52:40,380 --> 00:52:47,950
and now he can properly
be said to live.

921
00:52:48,230 --> 00:52:51,990
New Birth affords the believer

922
00:52:51,990 --> 00:52:56,460
all the resources to truly live.

923
00:52:56,460 --> 00:53:00,105
Understood this way,
our regeneration marks

924
00:53:00,105 --> 00:53:03,195
a gateway into the
body of Christ,

925
00:53:03,195 --> 00:53:06,210
where still other
operations of divine grace

926
00:53:06,210 --> 00:53:10,200
begin the hard work of
our sanctification.

927
00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:14,760
Precisely because regeneration
changes the will,

928
00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:17,880
the believer need
not willfully sin.

929
00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:22,530
Precisely because regeneration
transforms the senses,

930
00:53:22,530 --> 00:53:26,700
it is now possible to resist
evil tempers and thoughts.

931
00:53:26,700 --> 00:53:30,060
Precisely because
regeneration restores

932
00:53:30,060 --> 00:53:31,230
the image of

933
00:53:31,230 --> 00:53:34,350
a loving truth-telling
God within the believer.

934
00:53:34,350 --> 00:53:37,635
The believer is now
assured of God's love,

935
00:53:37,635 --> 00:53:42,330
confident of participating
in God's coming victory.

936
00:53:42,330 --> 00:53:46,890
Precisely because
regeneration purifies

937
00:53:46,890 --> 00:53:48,285
the human spirit,

938
00:53:48,285 --> 00:53:52,215
God's Spirit can bear
witness to our spirit,

939
00:53:52,215 --> 00:53:54,420
which in Wesley's understanding,

940
00:53:54,420 --> 00:53:56,115
paves the path for

941
00:53:56,115 --> 00:53:59,280
a robust cooperation between

942
00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:01,515
God's people and God's Spirit,

943
00:54:01,515 --> 00:54:05,880
who is the broker of
God's sanctifying graces.

944
00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:08,850
Central the Wesley's
conception of

945
00:54:08,850 --> 00:54:12,555
Christian perfection is
this dynamic cooperation

946
00:54:12,555 --> 00:54:15,975
between the divine
and human spirits

947
00:54:15,975 --> 00:54:20,385
that mark out the believers
New Birth as God's child.

948
00:54:20,385 --> 00:54:23,340
New Birth initiates
the believer into

949
00:54:23,340 --> 00:54:27,570
the long sanctification in
the holy ones direction.

950
00:54:27,570 --> 00:54:30,840
New Birth is integral to,

951
00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:35,975
rather than distinct
from sanctification.

952
00:54:35,975 --> 00:54:39,335
According to Professor Pasquale,

953
00:54:39,335 --> 00:54:42,320
Wesley described three integral

954
00:54:42,320 --> 00:54:46,105
movement's marking out
a full sanctification,

955
00:54:46,105 --> 00:54:49,920
the pure and an irresistible
gift of our New Birth,

956
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,710
the process of growth in grace,

957
00:54:52,710 --> 00:54:56,730
and that unpredictable instant
of Christian perfection,

958
00:54:56,730 --> 00:54:58,529
when a believer is entirely

959
00:54:58,529 --> 00:55:03,430
sanctified by God's
grace at God's timing.

960
00:55:03,950 --> 00:55:06,000
While New birth is

961
00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:09,180
a supernatural event
that changes our nature,

962
00:55:09,180 --> 00:55:12,765
sanctification envisages
a working arrangements

963
00:55:12,765 --> 00:55:14,730
between God and the
believer who is

964
00:55:14,730 --> 00:55:17,520
sanctified by grace
in proportion to

965
00:55:17,520 --> 00:55:20,925
the amount and quality
of grace received.

966
00:55:20,925 --> 00:55:24,090
The various practices of
Christian discipleship,

967
00:55:24,090 --> 00:55:26,445
works of piety, works of mercy,

968
00:55:26,445 --> 00:55:29,430
when complemented by
the ordinary means of

969
00:55:29,430 --> 00:55:32,985
grace ordained by the
church, occasions,

970
00:55:32,985 --> 00:55:36,990
a profuse outpouring
of God's salvation,

971
00:55:36,990 --> 00:55:39,960
creating grace that transforms

972
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:45,400
the believer into a
conspicuous Saint.

973
00:55:45,890 --> 00:55:48,570
The Christian practice
of loving one

974
00:55:48,570 --> 00:55:50,430
another perfectly and completely

975
00:55:50,430 --> 00:55:54,315
is not a moral state the
believer enters into.

976
00:55:54,315 --> 00:55:58,080
It involves personal
choices, personal habits,

977
00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:01,395
a spirit led activism
that presumes

978
00:56:01,395 --> 00:56:03,510
a person's loyal love for God

979
00:56:03,510 --> 00:56:06,690
and the inward working
of God's grace.

980
00:56:06,690 --> 00:56:08,550
Listen to the words that did,

981
00:56:08,550 --> 00:56:10,230
that Wesley taught,

982
00:56:10,230 --> 00:56:13,410
I might even have some
of you repeat after

983
00:56:13,410 --> 00:56:17,595
me lest they forget the doctrine
of Christian perfection.

984
00:56:17,595 --> 00:56:19,980
Do all the good that you can.

985
00:56:19,980 --> 00:56:23,160
Altogether now, do all
the good that you can to

986
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:27,300
all the people that you can
at all the times you can,

987
00:56:27,300 --> 00:56:29,310
in all the ways you can,

988
00:56:29,310 --> 00:56:31,530
by all means you can,

989
00:56:31,530 --> 00:56:34,900
as long as ever you can.

990
00:56:34,910 --> 00:56:38,970
Wesley understands
grace as participatory,

991
00:56:38,970 --> 00:56:40,785
as cooperative.

992
00:56:40,785 --> 00:56:43,170
Believers are activists with

993
00:56:43,170 --> 00:56:44,940
the decisive role to play in

994
00:56:44,940 --> 00:56:46,980
the outworking of
their salvation.

995
00:56:46,980 --> 00:56:49,380
We appropriate the
outward means of

996
00:56:49,380 --> 00:56:52,575
grace as the ordinary
tools given by God,

997
00:56:52,575 --> 00:56:54,780
instituted by God's church to

998
00:56:54,780 --> 00:56:57,615
hammer out in
cooperation with God,

999
00:56:57,615 --> 00:57:03,610
a manner of life and faith
that brings God happiness.

1000
00:57:03,700 --> 00:57:09,275
Prayer, Bible practices,
worship, sacraments,

1001
00:57:09,275 --> 00:57:14,975
singing, I would say,

1002
00:57:14,975 --> 00:57:17,305
piano and organ music.

1003
00:57:17,305 --> 00:57:20,355
Good works, although
B. T Roberts wouldn't.

1004
00:57:20,355 --> 00:57:22,815
Good works, Christian
fellowship,

1005
00:57:22,815 --> 00:57:26,145
reading edifying books,

1006
00:57:26,145 --> 00:57:31,330
got to give the Holy Ghost
something to work with.

1007
00:57:32,690 --> 00:57:35,880
One John's division
of the world into

1008
00:57:35,880 --> 00:57:38,550
children of the devil
and children of God in

1009
00:57:38,550 --> 00:57:40,320
Verse 8 of Chapter 3

1010
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:43,470
assumes that reborn
believers are given

1011
00:57:43,470 --> 00:57:46,170
a supernatural capacity to

1012
00:57:46,170 --> 00:57:49,725
purify themselves and
to engage in holy acts.

1013
00:57:49,725 --> 00:57:52,680
We also assume such
moral activism

1014
00:57:52,680 --> 00:57:55,695
is not the effect of
spiritual osmosis,

1015
00:57:55,695 --> 00:57:58,335
but rather in
cooperation with God,

1016
00:57:58,335 --> 00:58:01,425
believers do not sin,
but love others,

1017
00:58:01,425 --> 00:58:03,450
which is a moral facility

1018
00:58:03,450 --> 00:58:06,060
cultivated over time
within spirit filled

1019
00:58:06,060 --> 00:58:10,275
congregations by the
persistent practice

1020
00:58:10,275 --> 00:58:13,120
of the means of grace.

1021
00:58:13,810 --> 00:58:16,860
One final probe.

1022
00:58:16,900 --> 00:58:20,855
Learning at the feet of Wesley

1023
00:58:20,855 --> 00:58:25,870
prepares us for a theological
reading of 1 John.

1024
00:58:25,870 --> 00:58:29,220
But I would suggest there
is more to this than

1025
00:58:29,220 --> 00:58:32,160
fuller definitions
of our core beliefs

1026
00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:34,320
about sin and grace.

1027
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:38,970
Because reading Wesley
also exposes what is

1028
00:58:38,970 --> 00:58:43,440
lacking in this holy
texts affirmation

1029
00:58:43,440 --> 00:58:46,605
that God's children do not sin.

1030
00:58:46,605 --> 00:58:48,239
I want to illustrate

1031
00:58:48,239 --> 00:58:50,970
this interpretive prospect by

1032
00:58:50,970 --> 00:58:54,615
using his sermon Marks
of the New Birth.

1033
00:58:54,615 --> 00:58:58,440
In this sermon, Wesley
first suggests that

1034
00:58:58,440 --> 00:59:02,685
the mark of new birth is
not sinlessness at all,

1035
00:59:02,685 --> 00:59:06,870
but rather faith, hope,
and especially love.

1036
00:59:06,870 --> 00:59:09,690
In this sense, our
outward sins are

1037
00:59:09,690 --> 00:59:13,170
replaced by our outward
acts of loving God,

1038
00:59:13,170 --> 00:59:17,265
loving our neighbors,
by acts of kindness.

1039
00:59:17,265 --> 00:59:20,775
But also our inward
sins are replaced by

1040
00:59:20,775 --> 00:59:25,785
inward affections that prompt
us to love and to worship.

1041
00:59:25,785 --> 00:59:29,490
Wesley teaches us a midrash

1042
00:59:29,490 --> 00:59:33,180
that transforms 1
John's affirmation of

1043
00:59:33,180 --> 00:59:36,405
sinlessness into an exhortation

1044
00:59:36,405 --> 00:59:40,995
that the child of God practices,

1045
00:59:40,995 --> 00:59:48,550
not sin, but practices
faith, hope, and love.

1046
00:59:48,860 --> 00:59:51,285
In concluding the sermon,

1047
00:59:51,285 --> 00:59:54,120
Wesley scores his
real point and makes

1048
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:56,970
his deepest probe
into the doctrine of

1049
00:59:56,970 --> 00:59:58,619
new birth and it concerns

1050
00:59:58,619 --> 01:00:03,270
the real nature of
baptismal regeneration.

1051
01:00:03,270 --> 01:00:06,060
Yes, he allows that
grace happens to us

1052
01:00:06,060 --> 01:00:08,925
when we are bathed in
the waters of baptism.

1053
01:00:08,925 --> 01:00:10,950
But he also observes that

1054
01:00:10,950 --> 01:00:14,520
baptized Christians
often grow complacent,

1055
01:00:14,520 --> 01:00:17,580
where the lives of
recent converts

1056
01:00:17,580 --> 01:00:20,910
are often transformed
beyond all measure.

1057
01:00:20,910 --> 01:00:23,580
His own altar escape
renewal confirmed

1058
01:00:23,580 --> 01:00:26,700
a different kind of
baptismal regeneration,

1059
01:00:26,700 --> 01:00:29,250
more decisive and
personal and one

1060
01:00:29,250 --> 01:00:32,310
not taught in his church.

1061
01:00:32,310 --> 01:00:36,195
Wesley understood that the
inward and outward marks

1062
01:00:36,195 --> 01:00:37,860
of the new birth are

1063
01:00:37,860 --> 01:00:44,010
the real effects of the
baptism of the Holy Spirit.

1064
01:00:44,010 --> 01:00:46,650
Christians do not sin.

1065
01:00:46,650 --> 01:00:51,660
Christians faith, hope, and
love because they bath in

1066
01:00:51,660 --> 01:00:57,525
the Holy Spirit as
Paul puts it to Titus.

1067
01:00:57,525 --> 01:01:02,220
Free Methodists are timid about

1068
01:01:02,220 --> 01:01:08,800
preaching about the
baptism of the Holy Ghost.

1069
01:01:09,080 --> 01:01:14,505
I don't think maybe we don't
want to be Pentecostalized.

1070
01:01:14,505 --> 01:01:17,050
I have no idea.

1071
01:01:17,510 --> 01:01:24,780
But I do know that you
cannot understand Wesley at

1072
01:01:24,780 --> 01:01:34,930
this point without a very
serious pneumatology.

1073
01:01:35,720 --> 01:01:38,880
We have to start preaching and

1074
01:01:38,880 --> 01:01:43,270
teaching the baptism
of the Holy Spirit.

1075
01:01:43,370 --> 01:01:45,690
I would encourage
you all to read

1076
01:01:45,690 --> 01:01:48,480
my colleague Jack
Levinson's book,

1077
01:01:48,480 --> 01:01:51,760
Filled by the Spirit.

1078
01:01:51,980 --> 01:01:54,990
Now the dialogue
between Paul and

1079
01:01:54,990 --> 01:01:58,590
John in Wesley's sermons
is quite remarkable.

1080
01:01:58,590 --> 01:02:01,470
I Think I have some of our
graduate students here.

1081
01:02:01,470 --> 01:02:03,900
This would be a wonderful
research project

1082
01:02:03,900 --> 01:02:05,685
for an enterprising student.

1083
01:02:05,685 --> 01:02:08,595
To read Wesley's sermons and to

1084
01:02:08,595 --> 01:02:12,105
read critically the
dialogue that he poses,

1085
01:02:12,105 --> 01:02:15,045
that he mediates
between Paul and John.

1086
01:02:15,045 --> 01:02:17,790
What I routinely observe against

1087
01:02:17,790 --> 01:02:23,550
all reformation biblical
principles is that Wesley uses

1088
01:02:23,550 --> 01:02:26,250
the obscure texts of

1089
01:02:26,250 --> 01:02:28,800
John's gospel and of
1 John to explain

1090
01:02:28,800 --> 01:02:31,050
the plain texts of

1091
01:02:31,050 --> 01:02:35,145
Paul to plot scripture's
way of salvation.

1092
01:02:35,145 --> 01:02:38,640
But not when it comes
to the Holy Spirit.

1093
01:02:38,640 --> 01:02:42,750
Wesley uses Paul's
theology of the spirit,

1094
01:02:42,750 --> 01:02:45,825
especially his grand innovation,

1095
01:02:45,825 --> 01:02:47,850
that the indwelling spirit is

1096
01:02:47,850 --> 01:02:50,760
witness to our
salvation and agent of

1097
01:02:50,760 --> 01:02:54,840
God's sanctifying grace and
then simply applies it at

1098
01:02:54,840 --> 01:02:56,490
will to fill out

1099
01:02:56,490 --> 01:03:00,495
John's teaching of the
believer's reborn nature.

1100
01:03:00,495 --> 01:03:05,460
One John 3 does not mention
the spirit when affirming

1101
01:03:05,460 --> 01:03:08,130
the Christian practice
of not sinning or when

1102
01:03:08,130 --> 01:03:11,370
exhorting the reborn Christian
toward perfect love.

1103
01:03:11,370 --> 01:03:17,745
But Wesley insinuates the
spirit on to 1 John 3,

1104
01:03:17,745 --> 01:03:21,045
as though it were
there all along.

1105
01:03:21,045 --> 01:03:22,830
It is for Wesley,

1106
01:03:22,830 --> 01:03:25,080
the indwelling
spirit who vocalizes

1107
01:03:25,080 --> 01:03:27,690
the incarnate ones affirmation,

1108
01:03:27,690 --> 01:03:29,175
be of good cheer,

1109
01:03:29,175 --> 01:03:31,395
thy sins are forgiven thee,

1110
01:03:31,395 --> 01:03:34,780
go and sin no more.

1111
01:03:35,150 --> 01:03:38,610
The spirit testifies
to our forgiveness,

1112
01:03:38,610 --> 01:03:42,060
but then rehabilitates
our spiritual senses in

1113
01:03:42,060 --> 01:03:44,880
a spiritual respiration that

1114
01:03:44,880 --> 01:03:47,340
restores and sustains one's life

1115
01:03:47,340 --> 01:03:52,050
with God and enables the
child of God to grow up till

1116
01:03:52,050 --> 01:03:57,705
she comes to the full measure
of the statute of Christ.

1117
01:03:57,705 --> 01:04:01,935
In my estimation, it
is this implied work

1118
01:04:01,935 --> 01:04:05,910
of the spirit within the
baptized believer that

1119
01:04:05,910 --> 01:04:11,790
most adequately nuances 1
John 3's affirmation of

1120
01:04:11,790 --> 01:04:14,730
the reborn believer's
stunning capacity

1121
01:04:14,730 --> 01:04:19,180
to replace sin
with perfect love.

1122
01:04:23,030 --> 01:04:27,645
I'm a Methodist, so
I give altar calls.

1123
01:04:27,645 --> 01:04:30,390
Let me return to Chapter 3,

1124
01:04:30,390 --> 01:04:32,190
Verse 9 one last time into

1125
01:04:32,190 --> 01:04:34,905
this letter's most
inspiring claim,

1126
01:04:34,905 --> 01:04:39,720
that God's children are
not able to sin because

1127
01:04:39,720 --> 01:04:44,480
they have God's DNA within them.

1128
01:04:44,480 --> 01:04:48,005
Now that is a claim
fit for altar calls.

1129
01:04:48,005 --> 01:04:50,810
We are now prepared
to understand

1130
01:04:50,810 --> 01:04:55,470
the Christian's inability
to sin as proleptic of

1131
01:04:55,470 --> 01:04:58,980
the sanctified community's
future participation

1132
01:04:58,980 --> 01:05:01,005
in God's new creation,

1133
01:05:01,005 --> 01:05:05,655
which is devoid of any sin
in every form of death.

1134
01:05:05,655 --> 01:05:07,470
One John locates

1135
01:05:07,470 --> 01:05:11,190
its bold affirmation of
sinlessness alongside

1136
01:05:11,190 --> 01:05:16,500
its confident declaration that
whenever the son appears,

1137
01:05:16,500 --> 01:05:21,620
we will be like him
because we shall see him

1138
01:05:21,620 --> 01:05:28,650
just as he is, magnificent.

1139
01:05:31,270 --> 01:05:35,209
The Christians spirit
directed spirit

1140
01:05:35,209 --> 01:05:39,410
filled practice of
replacing willful sin with

1141
01:05:39,410 --> 01:05:43,145
self-sacrificial
love is motivated

1142
01:05:43,145 --> 01:05:48,330
by our firm assurance in the
coming new creation of God.

1143
01:05:48,330 --> 01:05:51,280
When those of us who are born

1144
01:05:51,280 --> 01:05:54,475
again will no longer
be able to sin,

1145
01:05:54,475 --> 01:05:58,810
then we will join Charles with

1146
01:05:58,810 --> 01:06:04,985
a chorus of saints to sing
the lyrics of his great hymn.

1147
01:06:04,985 --> 01:06:09,965
Come true, finish then
thy new creation,

1148
01:06:09,965 --> 01:06:12,395
pure and spotless.

1149
01:06:12,395 --> 01:06:16,850
Let us be, let us see
thy great salvation,

1150
01:06:16,850 --> 01:06:20,780
perfectly restored
in the changed

1151
01:06:20,780 --> 01:06:25,055
from glory into glory
until in heaven,

1152
01:06:25,055 --> 01:06:27,245
we take our place,

1153
01:06:27,245 --> 01:06:33,050
until we cast our crowns
before the lost in wonder,

1154
01:06:33,050 --> 01:06:36,930
love and praise.

1155
01:06:38,080 --> 01:07:01,700
Amen.

1156
01:07:01,700 --> 01:07:05,540
After that address, the
preacher may wants us to start

1157
01:07:05,540 --> 01:07:07,430
the organ music and even as

1158
01:07:07,430 --> 01:07:10,415
group methods and
began the alter call.

1159
01:07:10,415 --> 01:07:15,260
But I think because of the
greater stimulation as well,

1160
01:07:15,260 --> 01:07:17,390
we will open it up for
just a few questions.

1161
01:07:17,390 --> 01:07:20,360
We have a few minutes. If
there are those who have

1162
01:07:20,360 --> 01:07:22,070
some questions or comments

1163
01:07:22,070 --> 01:07:24,990
for Dr. Wall, please do so now.

1164
01:07:28,870 --> 01:07:31,130
Sorry, that I lingered on.

1165
01:07:31,130 --> 01:07:32,480
I know that a lot of our kids

1166
01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:36,540
had get to their 10:30 classes.

1167
01:07:36,610 --> 01:07:47,270
They're the ones that
usually have them.

1168
01:07:47,270 --> 01:07:48,470
The beginning you
were talking about

1169
01:07:48,470 --> 01:07:50,390
the recent dialogue about

1170
01:07:50,390 --> 01:07:52,640
justification and then
made some references

1171
01:07:52,640 --> 01:07:55,640
to salvation by
faithfulness and so forth.

1172
01:07:55,640 --> 01:07:59,480
I'm wondering the
Wesleyan understanding

1173
01:07:59,480 --> 01:08:01,100
of grace as participatory.

1174
01:08:01,100 --> 01:08:04,100
How well does that play
with some of the ideas

1175
01:08:04,100 --> 01:08:05,240
that had been going around

1176
01:08:05,240 --> 01:08:07,550
more recently about
justification.

1177
01:08:07,550 --> 01:08:14,825
Is one of the primary points

1178
01:08:14,825 --> 01:08:18,635
of discussion in
the ongoing debate

1179
01:08:18,635 --> 01:08:21,710
between Tom Wright
and John Piper.

1180
01:08:21,710 --> 01:08:27,470
One of the things that Wright
argues is that Piper and

1181
01:08:27,470 --> 01:08:33,530
most reformed Protestants
don't capture

1182
01:08:33,530 --> 01:08:36,920
the participatory
Christology that

1183
01:08:36,920 --> 01:08:41,000
is central to Paul's
understanding of justification.

1184
01:08:41,000 --> 01:08:45,425
That justification
is not only work

1185
01:08:45,425 --> 01:08:49,580
out with Christ in
cooperation with Christ,

1186
01:08:49,580 --> 01:08:54,560
but it is worked out in the
manner of one's discipleship.

1187
01:08:54,560 --> 01:08:58,565
It's not just restoring on
the right relationship,

1188
01:08:58,565 --> 01:09:01,175
a legal relationship with God.

1189
01:09:01,175 --> 01:09:07,670
It also infuses, imparts the
grace from Christ mediated

1190
01:09:07,670 --> 01:09:09,110
through the Spirit that

1191
01:09:09,110 --> 01:09:12,020
enables a disciple to

1192
01:09:12,020 --> 01:09:14,450
live in a manner that's
pleasing Christ.

1193
01:09:14,450 --> 01:09:21,080
I think you can tie
in this discussion.

1194
01:09:21,080 --> 01:09:23,150
But I do think I still want to

1195
01:09:23,150 --> 01:09:26,300
argue that the very
nature of grace that

1196
01:09:26,300 --> 01:09:31,250
one finds in the
Wesleyan tradition is

1197
01:09:31,250 --> 01:09:35,810
more accepting of this notion

1198
01:09:35,810 --> 01:09:38,315
of a participatory Christology,

1199
01:09:38,315 --> 01:09:43,490
more relational and covenant
binding relationship

1200
01:09:43,490 --> 01:09:46,190
rather more existential
and more ethical,

1201
01:09:46,190 --> 01:09:48,530
rather than simply a legal or

1202
01:09:48,530 --> 01:09:53,660
forensic way of thinking
about salvation.

1203
01:09:53,660 --> 01:09:58,130
But I encourage you to
join in and participate

1204
01:09:58,130 --> 01:10:03,665
with Tom Wright and John
Piper in their conversation.

1205
01:10:03,665 --> 01:10:05,450
I think it helps all of us not

1206
01:10:05,450 --> 01:10:07,220
only perform Christians
getting clear

1207
01:10:07,220 --> 01:10:09,140
on what is the pattern of

1208
01:10:09,140 --> 01:10:12,050
salvation that they
heard from John Calvin.

1209
01:10:12,050 --> 01:10:14,730
But actually,

1210
01:10:16,090 --> 01:10:19,205
as much as I love Tom Wright

1211
01:10:19,205 --> 01:10:20,840
and I don't know John Piper,

1212
01:10:20,840 --> 01:10:22,835
so I can't see
anything about him.

1213
01:10:22,835 --> 01:10:26,510
But, if you're reformed
Protestants read

1214
01:10:26,510 --> 01:10:28,910
the institutes just go back to

1215
01:10:28,910 --> 01:10:33,335
John Calvin and start
reading the institutes.

1216
01:10:33,335 --> 01:10:39,150
Among the greatest theological
works ever written.

1217
01:10:42,160 --> 01:10:50,585
Anyway, I try to Wesleyan
sermons as a Linton practice,

1218
01:10:50,585 --> 01:10:53,450
and I encourage you if you
are in the reform tradition,

1219
01:10:53,450 --> 01:10:58,620
maybe read the institutes
has only the practice.

1220
01:10:58,620 --> 01:11:02,590
Rob, how do you fold chapter 2,

1221
01:11:02,590 --> 01:11:06,175
verse 1 into this conversation?

1222
01:11:06,175 --> 01:11:07,900
Don't sin, but if you do.

1223
01:11:07,900 --> 01:11:12,690
Yeah, I think it looks back.

1224
01:11:13,750 --> 01:11:19,295
Well, first of all, I should
say that 1 John 2 verse 1

1225
01:11:19,295 --> 01:11:27,755
presumes that the typical
Christian life is without sin.

1226
01:11:27,755 --> 01:11:30,230
It actually looks at him.

1227
01:11:30,230 --> 01:11:35,840
I don't find the stark
contradiction that many do between

1228
01:11:35,840 --> 01:11:39,095
the opening series of questions

1229
01:11:39,095 --> 01:11:43,100
asked by that
renegade Christian,

1230
01:11:43,100 --> 01:11:46,220
maybe an imagined member of

1231
01:11:46,220 --> 01:11:47,450
the interlocutory

1232
01:11:47,450 --> 01:11:50,030
raises the three
questions in chapter 1,

1233
01:11:50,030 --> 01:11:51,260
maybe a member of

1234
01:11:51,260 --> 01:11:54,380
this rival Christianity led
by the so-called antichrist.

1235
01:11:54,380 --> 01:11:56,615
But that's not clear
from the text at all.

1236
01:11:56,615 --> 01:11:58,265
What is clear though,

1237
01:11:58,265 --> 01:12:04,805
is that the typical character

1238
01:12:04,805 --> 01:12:07,040
of Christian existence
is called for by

1239
01:12:07,040 --> 01:12:11,880
1 John is a life without sin.

1240
01:12:11,980 --> 01:12:15,860
Now, one has to say again

1241
01:12:15,860 --> 01:12:18,830
with Wesleyan that this
life without sin is

1242
01:12:18,830 --> 01:12:20,540
not a matter of

1243
01:12:20,540 --> 01:12:25,265
ours invincible efforts in
producing the simple slide.

1244
01:12:25,265 --> 01:12:28,310
It is the effect
of divine grace.

1245
01:12:28,310 --> 01:12:30,890
I think 2, 1 looks
back actually to

1246
01:12:30,890 --> 01:12:33,950
one and retrieve someone in

1247
01:12:33,950 --> 01:12:36,125
the liturgy of repentance
and confession

1248
01:12:36,125 --> 01:12:38,540
then the congregation as the way

1249
01:12:38,540 --> 01:12:40,580
in which the
Christian deals with

1250
01:12:40,580 --> 01:12:44,045
sin and deals with
spiritual failure.

1251
01:12:44,045 --> 01:12:48,410
They're the promises again
that all wickedness,

1252
01:12:48,410 --> 01:12:52,685
all unrighteousness
will be forgiven.

1253
01:12:52,685 --> 01:12:55,685
That is to say again,

1254
01:12:55,685 --> 01:12:59,690
from God's angle and I think
from the churches angle,

1255
01:12:59,690 --> 01:13:02,270
the normative character of

1256
01:13:02,270 --> 01:13:06,630
Christian existence is
to live without sin.

1257
01:13:06,670 --> 01:13:11,300
But that's because of
grace and not because

1258
01:13:11,300 --> 01:13:16,320
of draw of spiritual condition.

1259
01:13:20,530 --> 01:13:24,350
I find that our peeps don't
know prevenient grace at

1260
01:13:24,350 --> 01:13:27,695
all and then I heard you
say preventing grace.

1261
01:13:27,695 --> 01:13:30,050
Can you talk a little bit about

1262
01:13:30,050 --> 01:13:34,250
what preventing means
in your context?

1263
01:13:34,250 --> 01:13:38,105
Some of the other theologians
might want to chip in here.

1264
01:13:38,105 --> 01:13:42,500
I think that there are at
least two different layers

1265
01:13:42,500 --> 01:13:47,735
of how Wesley understood
prevenient grace.

1266
01:13:47,735 --> 01:13:53,105
One is the grace that
keeps us in the ballgame,

1267
01:13:53,105 --> 01:13:56,210
and that's what I mean by ball.

1268
01:13:56,210 --> 01:14:02,105
It's where salvation is
still a real possibility and

1269
01:14:02,105 --> 01:14:04,580
to prevent us from
doing those things

1270
01:14:04,580 --> 01:14:08,930
where salvation then
becomes a real possibility.

1271
01:14:08,930 --> 01:14:10,910
But prevenient grace is always

1272
01:14:10,910 --> 01:14:12,860
the exercise of
divining grace that

1273
01:14:12,860 --> 01:14:14,840
makes our choice for Christ

1274
01:14:14,840 --> 01:14:21,380
a real choice and
not imagined choice.

1275
01:14:21,380 --> 01:14:25,280
We imagine we have free
will, but really don't.

1276
01:14:25,280 --> 01:14:30,860
You have those two angles
working together, I think.

1277
01:14:30,860 --> 01:14:35,630
At the end of the day, I
think Wesley really does want

1278
01:14:35,630 --> 01:14:38,720
a partnership or a relationship

1279
01:14:38,720 --> 01:14:41,630
with God that is
fully covenantal,

1280
01:14:41,630 --> 01:14:43,430
that is predicated on

1281
01:14:43,430 --> 01:14:47,330
God's initiatives but also
upon our initiatives,

1282
01:14:47,330 --> 01:14:52,670
and it's a genuine
relationship or a friendship.

1283
01:14:52,670 --> 01:14:55,130
Then can you connect it
to baptism because I

1284
01:14:55,130 --> 01:14:57,530
loved what you were doing there,

1285
01:14:57,530 --> 01:15:00,905
but then we can

1286
01:15:00,905 --> 01:15:03,920
get into a whole another study
about baptism, can't we?

1287
01:15:03,920 --> 01:15:09,560
Actually, he might have
some bones to pick.

1288
01:15:09,560 --> 01:15:18,290
Well, I want to elevate
it for those of

1289
01:15:18,290 --> 01:15:22,980
us within Free Methodism
in particular.

1290
01:15:23,590 --> 01:15:27,590
An awareness of the
high purchase of

1291
01:15:27,590 --> 01:15:33,335
the doctrine of the baptism
of the Holy Spirit.

1292
01:15:33,335 --> 01:15:39,230
I think what happens in
our context because we

1293
01:15:39,230 --> 01:15:43,624
operate with a memory

1294
01:15:43,624 --> 01:15:45,230
or with a knowledge of

1295
01:15:45,230 --> 01:15:47,900
the history where that
doctrine has been abused,

1296
01:15:47,900 --> 01:15:49,505
or within our fellowship,

1297
01:15:49,505 --> 01:15:52,625
or neglect it in our fellowship,

1298
01:15:52,625 --> 01:15:57,710
that we simply don't use
it and we don't make

1299
01:15:57,710 --> 01:16:02,795
use of the great ideas
that come with it.

1300
01:16:02,795 --> 01:16:06,200
My idea of baptismal
regeneration,

1301
01:16:06,200 --> 01:16:09,620
to move it beyond believer's
baptism or infant baptism,

1302
01:16:09,620 --> 01:16:15,590
with in the West these are embraced,
these are ordinances of the church

1303
01:16:15,590 --> 01:16:20,165
are sacraments of the church

1304
01:16:20,165 --> 01:16:23,060
by which grace is

1305
01:16:23,060 --> 01:16:26,210
conveyed by God to
those who are baptized,

1306
01:16:26,210 --> 01:16:28,235
and I don't want to
set those aside,

1307
01:16:28,235 --> 01:16:30,155
but I want to add to it.

1308
01:16:30,155 --> 01:16:32,675
The way that the
book of Acts does,

1309
01:16:32,675 --> 01:16:35,074
that there is another baptism,

1310
01:16:35,074 --> 01:16:37,550
not of water but of spirit,

1311
01:16:37,550 --> 01:16:40,040
could very well be as
some interpreters think

1312
01:16:40,040 --> 01:16:44,795
that 1 John 5, where
spirit and water are

1313
01:16:44,795 --> 01:16:47,615
mentioned together
in the same formula,

1314
01:16:47,615 --> 01:16:51,470
that there are really,
instead of birthing

1315
01:16:51,470 --> 01:16:55,970
imagery that there is really
bad imagery going on,

1316
01:16:55,970 --> 01:16:57,770
there's a formula used from

1317
01:16:57,770 --> 01:17:01,100
an ancient baptismal
or ritual that is

1318
01:17:01,100 --> 01:17:03,200
being appropriated
by the author of

1319
01:17:03,200 --> 01:17:06,440
1 John to speak of
different baptisms,

1320
01:17:06,440 --> 01:17:08,240
different means of grace,

1321
01:17:08,240 --> 01:17:12,035
different ways in which
grace comes into our lives.

1322
01:17:12,035 --> 01:17:14,645
That's what I was
trying to get at there.

1323
01:17:14,645 --> 01:17:17,930
It's a more expanded
understanding of

1324
01:17:17,930 --> 01:17:21,560
baptismal regeneration that
understands the spirit at

1325
01:17:21,560 --> 01:17:28,700
work within communicates
graces that sanctify us,

1326
01:17:28,700 --> 01:17:33,410
that began at the
point of new birth.

1327
01:17:33,410 --> 01:17:34,460
I don't think that there is

1328
01:17:34,460 --> 01:17:36,590
a subsequent moment in

1329
01:17:36,590 --> 01:17:38,690
which the baptism of
the spirit occurs.

1330
01:17:38,690 --> 01:17:40,730
I think the baptism
of the spirit is

1331
01:17:40,730 --> 01:17:44,030
a gift of our conversion
that is given to us,

1332
01:17:44,030 --> 01:17:47,120
so it's concurrent with

1333
01:17:47,120 --> 01:17:51,005
justification within birth
that comes with all of that.

1334
01:17:51,005 --> 01:17:53,340
One more question.

1335
01:17:56,100 --> 01:17:58,570
I think you mentioned that

1336
01:17:58,570 --> 01:18:02,055
Paul nowhere mentions
the new birth,

1337
01:18:02,055 --> 01:18:04,250
would you say that
he's speaking about

1338
01:18:04,250 --> 01:18:06,230
something different or
about the same thing,

1339
01:18:06,230 --> 01:18:08,285
just using different
words and say Romans 8,

1340
01:18:08,285 --> 01:18:12,905
where he's talking about
the spirit that we adopt in

1341
01:18:12,905 --> 01:18:14,990
when we cry Abba Father and

1342
01:18:14,990 --> 01:18:18,510
the transformation that's
associated with that?

1343
01:18:19,570 --> 01:18:23,345
I should have said in
all fairness that there

1344
01:18:23,345 --> 01:18:26,150
is what seems to
be language that

1345
01:18:26,150 --> 01:18:29,570
could be regeneration
types of language

1346
01:18:29,570 --> 01:18:33,310
used in Roman 6 and
especially that

1347
01:18:33,310 --> 01:18:37,340
most magnificent
theological formulation

1348
01:18:37,340 --> 01:18:41,300
found anywhere in the
Pauline canon in Titus 3:5.

1349
01:18:41,300 --> 01:18:43,430
Because of course,
made think that

1350
01:18:43,430 --> 01:18:45,215
Titus was not written by Paul,

1351
01:18:45,215 --> 01:18:48,365
is judged then as
do real canonical,

1352
01:18:48,365 --> 01:18:50,810
Titus isn't preached or it isn't

1353
01:18:50,810 --> 01:18:53,480
taught and that's very
unfortunate because

1354
01:18:53,480 --> 01:18:55,550
Titus happens to include two of

1355
01:18:55,550 --> 01:18:58,340
the most magnificent
theological formulations

1356
01:18:58,340 --> 01:18:59,975
found in scripture.

1357
01:18:59,975 --> 01:19:03,500
Most especially they agreed
of Bethany texts of Titus

1358
01:19:03,500 --> 01:19:06,530
three verses four through eight

1359
01:19:06,530 --> 01:19:08,930
where it does speak
of this bathing

1360
01:19:08,930 --> 01:19:11,330
in the Holy Spirit
of the results

1361
01:19:11,330 --> 01:19:17,160
being renewal and rebirth.

1362
01:19:17,740 --> 01:19:21,470
Again, it's the only place

1363
01:19:21,470 --> 01:19:23,735
where Paul uses that language,

1364
01:19:23,735 --> 01:19:25,805
but it does show up there.

1365
01:19:25,805 --> 01:19:30,110
It's a very dense and thick
theological formulation.

1366
01:19:30,110 --> 01:19:36,860
But no, it doesn't mean
that Paul would disagree,

1367
01:19:36,860 --> 01:19:38,720
it just means that

1368
01:19:38,720 --> 01:19:43,325
other apostolic traditions
are formulated,

1369
01:19:43,325 --> 01:19:47,690
imagined the pattern of
salvation differently.

1370
01:19:47,690 --> 01:19:51,755
I think John does
imagine a salvation

1371
01:19:51,755 --> 01:19:53,615
differently the
metaphor that I use in

1372
01:19:53,615 --> 01:19:56,910
the maternity ward
instead of the courtroom.

1373
01:19:57,370 --> 01:20:01,385
The two, it seems to me,
are complemented here.

1374
01:20:01,385 --> 01:20:05,070
In the language of adoption,

1375
01:20:05,380 --> 01:20:10,190
the fatherhood have gotten
language of Romans 8,

1376
01:20:10,190 --> 01:20:13,505
where the spirit in
crying, Abba Father,

1377
01:20:13,505 --> 01:20:15,590
bears testimony to
what happens in

1378
01:20:15,590 --> 01:20:19,175
the law court that this
gracious judge has legally

1379
01:20:19,175 --> 01:20:23,450
adopted the children belonging

1380
01:20:23,450 --> 01:20:27,170
to Christ as God's
adopted children.

1381
01:20:27,170 --> 01:20:29,630
Well, it seems to me
that is differently

1382
01:20:29,630 --> 01:20:33,110
framed in 1 John where

1383
01:20:33,110 --> 01:20:34,640
the language of fatherhood

1384
01:20:34,640 --> 01:20:36,290
and the language of
being a child of

1385
01:20:36,290 --> 01:20:39,890
God is more ontologically
constructed,

1386
01:20:39,890 --> 01:20:44,675
that our nature is God's nature,

1387
01:20:44,675 --> 01:20:47,885
and we then love as God

1388
01:20:47,885 --> 01:20:51,170
loves and we are truth
tellers as God is.

1389
01:20:51,170 --> 01:20:56,000
I don't think Paul would
disagree with that.

1390
01:20:56,000 --> 01:20:59,495
But Paul comes, act
that different.

1391
01:20:59,495 --> 01:21:01,520
He imagines a different way.

1392
01:21:01,520 --> 01:21:03,710
Now I think both
need to be preached.

1393
01:21:03,710 --> 01:21:07,040
But what I'm arguing
is that the way in

1394
01:21:07,040 --> 01:21:10,460
which 1 John preaches
that stuff is

1395
01:21:10,460 --> 01:21:16,085
distinctively Western in its
sensibility and I think it's

1396
01:21:16,085 --> 01:21:18,290
no surprise to me
that it is within

1397
01:21:18,290 --> 01:21:22,805
our tradition that one
finds this gigantic,

1398
01:21:22,805 --> 01:21:26,195
robust notion of
entire sanctification,

1399
01:21:26,195 --> 01:21:29,310
our most precious of all dark.

1400
01:21:30,280 --> 01:21:34,730
I think this teaching
of Christian perfection

1401
01:21:34,730 --> 01:21:39,080
of entire sanctification
or a full holiness.

1402
01:21:39,080 --> 01:21:43,985
It's a natural consequence

1403
01:21:43,985 --> 01:21:47,420
of the way in which a
pattern of salvation gets

1404
01:21:47,420 --> 01:21:50,165
worked out in a book like 1 John

1405
01:21:50,165 --> 01:21:53,990
and I don't think Paul
got there because

1406
01:21:53,990 --> 01:21:57,320
he was still back
in the court rather

1407
01:21:57,320 --> 01:22:02,810
than watching God give
birth to God's children.

1408
01:22:02,810 --> 01:22:06,500
I think it does lead us
from different ways,

1409
01:22:06,500 --> 01:22:08,975
but they're not
contradictory ways.

1410
01:22:08,975 --> 01:22:12,020
The simultaneity of
scripture is not

1411
01:22:12,020 --> 01:22:15,635
about the uniformity of all
of its different witnesses,

1412
01:22:15,635 --> 01:22:18,770
it's really about the
complementarity of

1413
01:22:18,770 --> 01:22:21,530
all the different witnesses that

1414
01:22:21,530 --> 01:22:24,785
the Holy Ghost has sanctify
for our formation.

1415
01:22:24,785 --> 01:22:27,470
It's how they work
together as a whole.

1416
01:22:27,470 --> 01:22:35,285
The scripture is more
monotone I guess that's it.

1417
01:22:35,285 --> 01:22:48,380
There's death after all.

1418
01:22:48,380 --> 01:22:52,820
I want to express my appreciation
to you for coming today.

1419
01:22:52,820 --> 01:22:57,560
Dr. Wall, I'm here and if

1420
01:22:57,560 --> 01:22:59,600
you have other questions
you'd like to address to him,

1421
01:22:59,600 --> 01:23:02,215
please come and talk to him.

1422
01:23:02,215 --> 01:23:04,165
For those of you that are in

1423
01:23:04,165 --> 01:23:07,800
the administrative Western
Spirit conference,

1424
01:23:07,800 --> 01:23:10,640
please adjourn and
you can go always to

1425
01:23:10,640 --> 01:23:13,610
the library which is
next door and upstairs

1426
01:23:13,610 --> 01:23:16,370
to the second floor of the
library seminary room. We will

1427
01:23:16,370 --> 01:23:19,640
continue in just a few minutes.

1428
01:23:19,640 --> 01:23:22,010
Please all of you
help yourself there's

1429
01:23:22,010 --> 01:23:25,430
more good things to eat
which are back there.

1430
01:23:25,430 --> 01:23:26,630
We thank again,

1431
01:23:26,630 --> 01:23:29,570
the Wall's family for
being with us and also

1432
01:23:29,570 --> 01:23:32,570
for Dr. Mark Abbott

1433
01:23:32,570 --> 01:23:36,570
for being with us as
well. Thank you, Mark.