John Wesley — "It is not the being of sin, but the love of sin, that condemns us."
It is not the being of sin, but the love of sin, that condemns us.
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More from John Wesley
"I have often wished, that all the books in the world were burnt, except the Bible."
"I am as much a High-Churchman as ever I was."
"I have learned to suffer in silence, and not to make my complaints known to any but God."
"I do not believe that there is any woman in the world who has an equal share of both understanding and grace with my sister Martha."
"The Methodists are a people who profess to pursue a Christian life by Scriptural rules and methods."
About John Wesley (1703-1791)
English Anglican cleric and founder of Methodism, whose open-air preaching and class-meeting structure created the largest 18th-century evangelical revival. Closely associated with Charles Wesley (his hymn-writing brother) and George Whitefield (early co-revivalist, later doctrinal opponent). For an intellectual contrast, see George Whitefield, Calvinist evangelical revivalist — Whitefield's predestinarian Calvinism vs Wesley's free-grace Arminian theology split the early Methodist movement permanently in the 1739-41 break. The founding evangelical Calvinist-Arminian schism — the two parallel evangelical traditions American Christianity descends from.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Having sinful impulses or tendencies isn't what condemns a person — everyone struggles with flawed desires. What condemns is actively loving, cherishing, and choosing to nurture sin. Someone who battles temptation and stumbles is fundamentally different from someone who treasures their vices. Condemnation follows the heart's orientation toward sin, not the mere fact of human weakness or the unavoidable presence of sinful urges in a fallen person.
Relevance to John Wesley
Wesley's theological project centered on sanctification — the belief Christians could progressively eliminate sin's hold, ultimately achieving 'entire sanctification' or perfect love. He founded Oxford's Holy Club, practicing rigorous spiritual discipline daily. His Arminian theology rejected Calvinist predestination, insisting humans have genuine agency over their hearts' attachments. This quote captures that framework precisely: condemnation isn't predetermined fate but flows from a person's freely chosen, ongoing orientation toward and love of sin.
The era
Wesley lived through 18th-century Britain when Calvinist predestination dominated much Protestant thought — many believed salvation and damnation were divinely fixed before birth. The established Church of England had grown ritualistic and spiritually cold amid early industrialization's social upheaval. Wesley's quote directly challenged fatalism: no one is condemned by mere human weakness but by freely chosen attachment to sin. This was radical when moral accountability versus divine election was theology's fiercest battleground.
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