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How to Be Born Again: John Wesley’s Perspective

How to Be Born Again: John Wesley’s Perspective

Last updated on: December 20, 2024 at 11:35 pm by B. J. Oropeza

How to Be Born Again: John Wesley’s Perspective 2024-12-20T23:35:10-07:00 B. J. Oropeza

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John Wesley, the famous eighteenth-century preacher, wrote a sermon on being born again entitled, “The New Birth.”* In this sermon he brings up perceptive insights regarding the new birth. This is what he says in summary:

Wesley on the New Birth

There are two essential doctrines in Christianity, which are justification and the new birth. The former is something God does for us by forgiving human beings of their sin. The latter God does in us by renewing human nature that is fallen. God’s wrath must first be turned away from us before God’s Spirit dwells in our hearts.

It befits us, then, to be thoroughly informed about these doctrines. In this message the new birth will be set at the center of attention with three leading questions focused on the “why,” “how,” and “to what end” about being born again.

Why must we be born again?

This question addresses the doctrine’s foundation, which goes back to the original creation. The triune God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26–27). This has to do not merely with the natural image (immortality, spirituality, will, reasoning, affections), and not merely with the political image (taking dominion over the lower world), but with the moral image. God is love, just, and “spotless purity,” and humans are to love, be righteousness, and holy.

Although created in God’s image, humans were not immutable—they were created with the ability to stand or fall. And they fell from their high state of honor. They rebelled against God and chose to be governed by their own will. They died to God, fled from God’s presence in fear, and became unholy and unhappy. Pride, self-will, and sensual appetites made them resemble the image of the devil and beasts.

The original death from Genesis must “be understood of spiritual death, the loss of the life and image of God.” And “in Adam all died” [Romans 5:12]. Everyone who descended from the original couple “comes into the world spiritually dead, dead to God, wholly dead to sin; entirely voice of the life of God; void of the image of God, of all that righteousness and holiness wherein Adam was created.”

In sum, the “entire corruption of our nature” is why everyone must be born again, reborn of God’s Spirit.

How must we be born again?

In other words, “what is the nature the new birth?” How does the Spirit of God work in the soul? Being born of the Spirit has a close analogy with natural birth:

“Before a child is born into the world he has eyes, but sees not; he has ears, but does not hear. He has a very imperfect use of any sense. He has no knowledge of any of the things of the world… It is then only when a man is born, that we say he begins to live. For as soon as the is born, he begins to see the light, and the various objects with which he is encompassed. His ears are then opened… At the same time, all the other organs of sense begin to be exercised upon their proper objects. He likewise breathes, and lives in a manner wholly different from what he did before.”

“While a man is in a mere natural state, before he is born of God, he has, in a spiritual sense, eyes and sees not; a thick impenetrable veil lies upon them; he has ears, but hears not; he is utterly deaf to what he is most of all concerned to hear. His other spiritual senses are all locked up…he has no knowledge of God….”

“But as soon as he is born of God, there is a total change in all these particulars.” His eyes are opened, he sees the light from God’s glory, and light shines in the darkness of his heart. His ears are opened to hear “the inward voice of God, saying, ‘Be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee;’ ‘go and sin nor more.’”

That person senses inwardly “the graces which the Spirit of God works in his heart.” That person feels peace, joy, spiritual discernment of good and evil, increasing knowledge of God and Jesus daily, and “the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto him” [Rom 5:5].

Hence, a great change takes place “which God works in the soul when he brings it into life; when he raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. It is the change wrought in the whole soul by the almighty Spirit of God when it is ‘created anew in Christ Jesus;’ when it is ‘renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness’… In a word, it is that change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind is turned into the ‘mind which was in Christ Jesus.’ This is the nature of the new birth” (6:69–71).

To what end must we be born again?

First, it is to become holy: “Gospel holiness is no less than the image of God stamped upon the heart: it is no other than the whole mind which was in Christ Jesus; it consists of all heavenly affections and tempers mingled together in one.”

Moreover, without holiness no one will see the Lord. As such, “the new birth is absolutely necessary in order to eternal salvation.”

Also, without being born again, no one can really be happy: “malice, hatred, envy, jealousy, revenge, create a present hell in the breast… all the general sources of sin—pride, self-will, and idolatry—are, in the same proportion as they prevail, general sources of misery.”

Wesley then brings up some follow-up points and ends the sermon by saying, if you have not yet experienced the inward work of being born again, “Let this therefore…be your continual prayer:

Lord, add this to all thy blessings, —let me be born again! Deny whatever thou pleasest, but deny not this; let me be ‘born from above!’… and then let me daily ‘grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!’” Amen!

Concluding Reflection on Wesley’s Sermon

I recently wrote an article on the seven birthmarks of being born again. I emphasized being born in the Spirit as the foremost indication that a person is born again. After that, I suggested other indications as faith, sins washed away, being “in Christ,” justified by faith/trust, righteous living, and exemplifying love. What Wesley has especially reminded me through this sermon is the need to be born again. People should recognize how they were created in God’s image but are now separated from God, spiritual dead due to sin. This helps provide a sense urgency for rebirth. The old creation must become a new creation in Christ.

John Wesley replica.

John Wesley statue located at Azusa Pacific University. My own picture.

Notes

* Sermon 45 in The Works of John Wesley, 3rd ed. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1986), vol. 6:65–77.

The use of bold face and italics, if in quotes, is not in the original. Special thanks to David deSilva for pointing me to this sermon.

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About B. J. Oropeza

B. J. Oropeza, Ph.D., Durham University (England), is Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Azusa Pacific University and Seminary. Among his many publications include Perspectives on Paul: Five Views (Baker Academic), Practicing Intertextuality (Cascade), and editor and/or contributor to the Scripture, Texts, and Tracings volumes (Romans; 1 Corinthians; 2 Cor & Phil; Gal & 1 Thess: Fortress Academic). He participated on Bible translation teams for the NRSV (updated edition), Common English Bible (CEB), and Lexham English Septuagint (LES). He also has commentaries on 1 Corinthians (New Covenant commentary series: Cascade) and 2 Corinthians (longer work—Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity: SBL Press; shorter work—Wesley One-Volume Commentary). His current specialties include Romans, intertextuality, and Perspectives on Paul. He can be followed on X-Twitter (@bjoropeza1) and Instagram (@bjoropeza1). You can read more about the author here.

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