John Wesley on Spiritual warfare
Through the usual means of the Christian life: Scripture, prayer, faith and watchfulness, including asking God to deliver the afflicted
"And, First, as a general preservative against all the rage, the power, and subtlety of your great adversary, put on the panoply, 'the whole armour of God,' universal holiness."
THE POSITION
Satan and his angels are always at war with us, and Wesley assigns a great deal to them: he thinks many diseases are caused or made worse by them. The defence is universal holiness as the whole armour of God, the shield of faith, resisting the devil steadfast in the faith, and watching and praying. His Journal records the society praying over a man in fits taken to be demonic, which is prayer to God rather than a rite of exorcism.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
11 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 Spiritual warfare", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/wesley/spiritual-warfare (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/wesley/spiritual-warfare).