Small rainbow in gray sky over maple trees.
Small rainbow. Photo credit: the answer is grace.

“He is always ready, always able, always willing to save.” – John Wesley, The Means of Grace

One of the theological concepts often associated with John Wesley is the means of grace. They are a “regular means of connecting with God’s grace.”[1] In his sixteenth sermon, The Means of Grace, Wesley says that they are outward signs, words, or actions through which God issues preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace. Specifically, this happens through prayer, searching the Scriptures, and receiving the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist.[2]These are the three primary ways in which God imputes his grace upon believers. They are vehicles of grace that “help ensure that you stay surrounded by God and others who deeply care about you.”[3] It is important to remember that “the function of the means of grace is to ‘advance inward holiness, to conduce to knowledge and love of God.’ They are ordained ‘not for their own sake, but in order to the renewal of your soul in righteousness and true holiness.’”[4] The means of grace are not an end in and of themselves, but a means to an end – inward holiness.

God works in our lives through these means to draw us closer to Himself. It is important to note that Wesley also states we cannot profit from these at all apart from the Spirit of God. We must engage in all three of these means regularly; we are called to do these in Scripture both individually and corporately. These are the ways in which we interact with the life of God, and it is through the means of grace that God leads us to entire sanctification.[5]

What, then, is grace? In his book, Grace: The Power to Change, Dr. James B. Richards defines grace as “God’s ability working in man, making him able to do what he cannot do in his own ability.”[6] We do not have the ability to change our nature – only God does. This is what the means of grace seek to accomplish. They are tools for us to use to allow God to do a work that only he can do in our lives. 

Sunset with hazy clouds over mountains and evergreen trees in foreground.
Sunset with clouds and evergreen trees. Photo credit: the answer is grace.

Prayer

The first of the three means of grace Wesley mentions is prayer. He says, “We must infer that all who desire the grace of God are to wait for it in the way of prayer.”[7] Believers must wait on the Lord in prayer; Jesus directs his followers to use prayer (Matthew 7:7-11), and he promises that it will be effective for them to receive the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). Prayer is an absolute necessity for believers. If we lack prayer, we cannot adequately listen to the voice of God, understand what He is speaking to us, or obey Him. It is difficult for believers to be obedient to God if they do not know what he is saying to them. We should pray regularly in order to be faithful and obedient to God’s calling on our lives. 

Searching the Scriptures

All who desire the grace of God are to wait for it in searching the Scriptures. God gives, confirms, and increases wisdom through His Word. It is profitable not only for Christians, but also for those who do not yet know Christ. As Paul says in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” When the seed of the Word of God is planted in a non-believer, the other means of grace serve to fertilize it.[8]

We are to search the Scriptures because they testify of Jesus Christ as Lord, that we may believe in Him. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that it is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Studying and meditating on the Scriptures are necessary to live the Christian life, so we need to do it and do it regularly. 

Receiving the Lord’s Supper

All who desire an increase of the grace of God are to wait for it in partaking of the Lord’s Supper (also known as the Eucharist). Jesus gives this as an explicit command during the Last Supper in Matthew 26:26-29.

Wesley notes that receiving the Lord’s Supper is also interpreted to mean worship. This is the way we wait on God’s grace. It is the way we wait for growth – and it should not be rushed. This is also the way we wait for sanctification and full salvation. “Wait” here is not meant to be a passive waiting – sitting on the couch “waiting” for something miraculous to happen. No – it is an active waiting. We wait on God’s grace while actively participating in a lifestyle of worship which includes the Eucharist.

There is no order to adhering to the means of grace. We are simply to pray, search the Scriptures, and receive the Lord’s Supper while waiting on God and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

In his sermon The Means of Grace, Wesley notes in II.5 that a large proportion of Christians abuse the means of grace. Yikes! How might that be true of each of the means of grace? Is it true in your life? What can be done to combat this in your life, or in the lives of others?

To learn more, I encourage you to read John Wesley’s sermon “The Means of Grace” and my blog post, “The Answer is Grace.”

[1] Dr. Chris Lohrstorfer, “The Way of Grace,” Residency Faculty Lecture (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS, October 15, 2012).

[2] John Wesley, “Sermon 16 – The Means of Grace,” The Wesley Center Online, last modified 1999, accessed July 21, 2022, http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-16-the-means-of-grace/.

[3] Dr. Matt Friedeman, “Surrounded,” Wesley Biblical Seminary Compass, June 2022, 18.

[4] Harald Landström, quoting John Wesley, “Sermon 16 – The Means of Grace,” Wesley and Sanctification: A Study in the Doctrine of Salvation, (Wilmore: Francis Asbury Press, 1998), 122.

[5] Dr. Chris Lohrstorfer, “The Way of Grace,” Residency Faculty Lecture (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS, October 15, 2012).

[6] Dr. James B. Richards, Grace: The Power to Change, (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1993), 22.

[7] John Wesley, “Sermon 16 – The Means of Grace,” The Wesley Center Online, last modified 1999, accessed July 21, 2022, http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-16-the-means-of-grace/.

[8] Dr. Chris Lohrstorfer, “The Way of Grace,” Residency Faculty Lecture (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS, October 15, 2012).