John Wesley on Election & predestination
Conditional — grounded in foreseen faith
"We must not think they are because he knows them. No: he knows them because they are. Just as... I now know the sun shines: yet the sun does not shine because I know it, but I know it because he shines."
THE POSITION
Grounded in God's foreknowledge of who will believe, not an eternal decree that causes belief or unbelief. Reworks Romans 8:29-30 as the order salvation follows rather than a causal chain fixed from eternity: God's knowledge of a person's future faith no more causes that faith than a person's knowledge that the sun is shining causes the sun to shine. Argues at length (Free Grace) that unconditional election-and-reprobation makes Christ's universal gospel invitations insincere.
29 For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
3 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 Election & predestination", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/wesley/election (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/wesley/election).