HOW ARE PEOPLE SAVED? THE MAJOR VIEWS OF SALVATION WITH A FOCUS ON WESLEYAN PERSPECTIVES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

Christopher T. Bounds
2011 Wesley and Methodist Studies  
In Christianity, there are few doctrines more important than salvation. John Wesleys declaration, 'I want to know one thing, the way to heaven expresses the sentiment of many Christians and God seekers.1 Of course, the idea of salvation raises two intimately related questions: (l) what is salvation, and (2) how are people saved? The content of salvation entails a number of related ideas: forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God and humanity, deliverance from the power of sin, renewal in the
more » ... mage of God, perfect love, bodily resurrection, final justification, and entrance into heaven. These ideas express concretely the categories of justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification found in any basic teaching on Christian salvation. However, Wesleys statement fundamentally addresses the second questionthe means or way to salvation. Early in his ministry, more than a decade before his Aldersgate experience, Wesley recognized the end of Christianityholiness of heart and life, but it would take him years before he would come to know fully the means to that end.2 Like Wesley in his early
doi:10.5325/weslmethstud.3.2011.0031 fatcat:iz5tbeg3hrdwtod62bvhu7hmam