A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley
Editor's Note to Section 1
A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley
Editor’s Note
I’m starting with the Editor’s Note because there are a few points I want to make about this book before we begin.
It is believed that the first version of this, from which John Wesley began teaching his doctrine of Christian perfection, was at or around 1725. The final manuscript found in his possession has the oldest entry dated 1777. The point of that is Wesley was teaching and evolving his thinking on Christian perfection over the course of his entire life. The manuscript for this book wasn’t something he dabbled in, wrote down, turned in to be published, and then he moved on to the next project. Wesley spent his entire adult preaching life contemplating this work, teaching from it, and refining it. What we have now is a book that took over 50 years of a man’s life to try and get as right as he could.
Taking in that point means understanding that the margin notes are as important to this book as the main text. Wesley made notes over the course of those fifty years of teaching from this doctrine of his. He refined it as God led him to do. Those changes are as important to our discussion of this book as the main text is. We get to see how Wesley’s thinking evolved as he presented and interacted with people on this subject. If you are using the same copy I am from Hendrickson Christian Classics, you will have footnotes listed as you read. Make sure you spend as much time on those notes as they appear as you do on the main text.
The Editor’s Note, where we start, was made by Thomas Jackson, who published his edition almost 100 years after Wesley’s last note. That edition is 1872, where they still found great value in this information. Having spent several readings in this book now myself, I concur with that sentiment. John Wesley’s writings on what he called, and used for the title of this book, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, still has value for us today.
Next, I want to talk about the title and the idea of “Christian perfection” as a concept.
Christians are not perfect. The Bible does not teach that Christians are perfect. John Wesley did not believe Christians were perfect. That is not the point of this book, nor my writing about it.
It is one hundred percent a misconception by non-believers willingly perpetuated by those who hate Christians, and reinforced by some Christians who carry the sin of pride openly, that we are somehow perfect or better than everyone else. It was not and is not John Wesley’s point that we are someone “perfect” on this earth. Our goal is perfection as Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit define it, but it is not one we attain like completing a chore or task with a check in a box.
So, what is perfection if it isn’t something we can attain in this life? Why contemplate that at all if it is unachievable? Doesn’t that make for being demoralized, knowing up front we cannot achieve the goal? That, dear reader, is what the book and this writing are all about.
Finally, I will be posting the first three or four posts on this book in the free section. However, the bulk of this book, like the last book we did in the club, will be behind the paywall for subscribers only. If you enjoy this type of content, I encourage you to become a paid subscriber. While the vast majority of what I write is and will remain on the free side, there are a few pieces of content I will exclusively post behind the paywall. The book club is one of those pieces. Videos might also become available for paid subscribers only if I do more of those, too.
A note on the book’s structure. The book is broken into “sections” like chapters. In the beginning, we will cover a lot of sections in one post. Later in the book, we may end up breaking sections into two or more posts. The sections start out very short but get much longer later.
With the Editor’s Note out of the way, let’s get to Section 1.
20Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NASB95)
48“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48 (NASB95)
8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
9and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
11in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
13Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
Philippians 3:8–15 (NASB95)
Section 1
These are the opening words of John Wesley explaining why he decided to expend the energy and financial resources to document this concept of Christian perfection. Note, it was no small thing to “write a book” in 1725. Paper was expensive. Ink was expensive. You had to do what you needed to do while the sun shone to secure food, shelter, and stay alive. That left the dark hours for mundane pastimes like “writing a book”. That also meant spending a candle or lamp oil to provide light to see what one was writing. If you want an idea of what Wesley went through, find a candle, light it, and then try to write a letter to someone by just the light of that one candle. Welcome to the world of John Wesley, writing A Plain Account of Christian Perfection in 1725.
Note that the opening sentence has Wesley explaining he believes he is following God’s leading through the Holy Spirit. “…of the steps by which I was led” p.3. He quotes scripture, explaining it is his obligation to those who pursue serious truth from scripture. John Wesley meant us, the people in the future who would come after him, seeking the same things he believed God was showing him. In that very real sense, John Wesley was writing this book just for you and me, and he knew it. To that end, Wesley quotes Ephesians 4:21, which I have included below in context.
17So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
25Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
26Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27and do not give the devil an opportunity.
28He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
29Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:17–32 (NASB95)
Wesley closes this chapter by telling us that this document we now hold is specifically his writing down what was revealed to him by God concerning Christian perfection. What you look for, you will find. If you are reading this because the idea of Christians being perfect offends you and you’re looking for things to be offended about, you will find them. If, however, you are “the serious part of mankind” p.3 then you will find the truth John Wesley found. Regardless, what follows in the book is what John Wesley found in scripture and why he believed it meant what he decided it meant. My words here will simply be an attempt to clarify his points to a modern reader, elaborate on the things the Holy Spirit draws me to, and put my own attempt to puzzle through the topic on paper. As I write this, I am right there with you, wondering how such a horribly flawed human such as myself can ever come close to the idea of being perfect in this life. Let’s read on together and see what we can figure out.