John Wesley on Authority of Scripture
Scripture alone is the final, only infallible authority
"I want to know one thing, — the way to heaven... He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri."
THE POSITION
Scripture alone as the final court of appeal for doctrine, stated as a personal resolve rather than a scholastic formula: he wants only "the way to heaven," and since God "hath written it down in a book," resolves to be homo unius libri, a man of one book. As a working Anglican priest he did not treat this as excluding reason, tradition, or experience as real subordinate sources, but the sermons consistently argue from Scripture as final, including against his own tradition's received practice.
18 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 Authority of Scripture", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/wesley/scripture-authority (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/wesley/scripture-authority).