John Wesley considered justification to be a fundamental truth of the Christian life. In his later sermons he listed justification, along with sanctification, as the two general parts of gospel salvation. Yet, many people do not know Wesley’s full views on the subject.

On the PlainSpoken podcast, Jeffrey Rickman & Dr. Mark Olson discuss the doctrine in-depth and Wesley’s contribution to our understanding of the subject.

Here is the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA9jbH59PEQ

Dr. Olson’s recent book, John Wesley’s Doctrine of Justification (Abingdon Press, 2023), forms the basis for the conversation. In this chronological study Wesley’s full views are spelled out over the course of his long life. Olson shows how Wesley formed his beliefs drawing on the entire corpus of Wesley’s works. This includes Wesley’s Trinitarian foundation, his use of covenant theology as a framework, the concept of degrees — responsive unregenerate, sacramental, servant son (evangelical), final — and the specific roles Wesley assigned to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the believer’s full justification in the eternal purposes of God.