John Wesley on Baptism
Infants included, and effective for regeneration
"By water then, as a means, the water of baptism, we are regenerated or born again... Herein a principle of grace is infused, which will not be wholly taken away, unless we quench the Holy Spirit of God by long-continued wickedness."
THE POSITION
Infants included, and baptism is the ordinary means of a real regeneration — not hedging on that language the way some traditions do — but conditioned on a life lived in keeping with it rather than an unconditional guarantee, the same conditional structure Augustine's baptismal theology has in this map. Mode is treated as indifferent: washing, dipping, or sprinkling are all valid, since neither Scripture's precepts nor the Greek word itself requires immersion.
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
8 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Anglican priest and founder of the Methodist movement. His Standard Sermons and Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament are Methodism's own doctrinal standards. The map's first researched Arminian figure, set against an otherwise Reformed-heavy list — his signature move is prevenient grace: total depravity by nature, but no one actually left in that bare state, because grace merited for everyone reaches everyone first.
Cite this page
"John Wesley on Baptism", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/wesley/baptism (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/wesley/baptism).