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Citation: Chung, Charlotte. “John Wesley’s Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: The Triune God as the Foundation 
and Telos of Creation.” April 30, 2019, Tyndale University College & Seminary, Toronto, Ontario: MPEG-3, 22:09 min.

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How about while your eyes still close, take a deep breath. I go in and out. That is our respiration. And you are also listening to me, since 
you are giving me some accommodation and you're using your hearing, your ears, everyone can now open your eyes. And these are our natural, 
natural senses. And Wesley, actually, this is part of his gift, I think, is that he uses these natural senses and moves to spiritual senses. 
And that's one of the things we're going to talk today. We begin from the birth of spiritual life and move towards spiritual maturity. So there's 
a lot of movement, so to speak, theologically or in Wesley's taxonomy towards Christian perfection. What does Christian perfection, the Spirit's 
inner witness, the spiritual senses and creation. Your vision, your hearing, your respiration is being perfected both in the natural sense and 
in the spiritual sense. Title of my presentation is John Wesley's Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The triumph god, Father, Son, Holy Spirit as the 
foundation and tell us of creation. Creation is such a huge topic, so we're just going to focus, obviously, because of time constraint on one of 
the divine agents in creation, particularly the only creature made in the image of God. And we're going to tie the spiritual senses, inner witness, 
Christian perfection to the divine image, the image, the beauty of Wesley's theology is in its dynamic formulations and practicability. It is both 
earthly and heavenly in that it is a theology of heaven coming down to earth, transforming earth to new creation. His doctrine of the Holy Spirit 
depicts an active Christian life, both an inward and outward, holiness and love. And this divine activity is grounded in the dynamic life of the 
Father's, Son and Holy Spirit. I've added numbers to your handout so you'll be able to follow me, and I'll mention the numbers. Number one. John 
Wesley's sole sermon that articulates his doctrine of the Trinity is entitled on the Trinity. The purpose of the sermon actually was to defend the 
mystery of the doctrine. In it, he expresses that he prefers the term the three one God, as opposed to the widely and historically known theological 
terms of Trinity and person. He emphasizes that the Spirit of God witnesses with his Spirit that he is a child of God. The spirit of God commences 
God's revelation in a person. The Holy Spirit reveals to God's, people and creation that he is three in one. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that 
matures the believer's knowledge of God. Wesley's dermatology and theology as a whole exudes the language and logic of trinitarian theology. Albert 
Outler comments that Wesley has a persistent concern for a trinitarian doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Number two, the first of the two aspects due to 
time, we'll only deal with two today of the Spirit's divine act in creation is the Spirit's inner witness and its trinitarian character. And tell us 
the nature and activity of the three one God. Underscores the close connection between the Spirit's inner witness and Christian perfection, wesley 
articulates a redemptive trinity. He explains the trinitarian shape of salvation such that salvation was purposed by the Father, purchased by the Son, 
and applied by the Spirit. Wesley's Sotriology is grounded in the biblical narrative of creation, fall and redemption. Though the divine acts of creation, 
fall and redemption are distinct realities, wesley weaves these three divine action in his account of redemption. Salvation is both individual and collective. 
It is both personal and social. A truly mature spirituality engages social reform because reform is the social analog to the personal restoration of the divine 
image. Salvation is just not an inner reality, but a growing reality from the inside out, from one's heart to one's behavior, from the private life towards the 
public life. Number three the relationship of the Spirit's inner witness with Christian perfection is the divine image, the beauty and glory of the three one 
God in creation. Wesley's doctrine of creation highlights the moral law as that which mirrors the heart of God, the divine nature, and the eternal mind. Adam 
and Eve were created in the moral image of God so that holiness, justice and goodness reigned in their hearts as made in the image of God. Adam and Eve were 
also made in the natural image of God, that is, having the ability to choose either to obey or disobey their inner moral law. Scripture narrated in Genesis 
three how Adam and Eve exercise their choice, that is, to disobey God. Number Four to Wesley, the corruption of humanity. His doctrine of sin is the disintegration 
of humanity's communion with God and the spiritual death that accompanied this separation. This spiritual death includes humanity's inability to experience or 
respond to God the divine act of redemption. Doctrine of redemption is the restoration of the divine image in humanity. The Holy Spirit works to shape humanity, 
to reflect the image of God and to participate in the inner life of God. Number Five the very dynamics of Wesley Soteriology implies its trinitarian foundations 
such that the Father, Son and Spirit work in unity in this restoration. This complex and intricate soteriology is actually very simple and very relational. 
Number Six wesley ascribe distinct roles to the Father, Son and Spirit in bringing people to repentance and conviction of sin, God the Father draws the Son 
enlightens and the Spirit convicts. His doctrine of redemption restores humanity to God's intended design through the work of the Son and Spirit in creation. 
In the sermon entitled the Scripture Way of Salvation, his emphasis are Christological and pneumatological. The Father forgives the believer for the sake of 
Christ, by which a right relationship with God begins. Simultaneously, this change of relationship with God occurs with a real change of regeneration brought 
by the Holy Spirit. Wesley's So theology is not only relational, but highlights the restoration of the divine human relationship. In the sermon entitled The 
New Birth, he explains that the exchange from the spirit of adoption from the spirit of bondage to the spirit of adoption is synonymous to being born of God.
John 113 to be born again is to be raised from death to life with God. He articulates his trinitarian commitments in saying 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. An important facet to which the spirit of 
adoption and new birth relate to is the inner witness of the Spirit. That's this number seven, the spirit's witness, testifies with the human spirit that the 
person is a child of God. This highly dynamic articulation elaborates the spirit of adoption and new birth such that the inner witness is similar to the newborn's 
cry at natural birth. In the new believer, this is the cry abba Father. Romans 815 the inner witness of the Spirit is the person's experience of God. One of John 
Wesley's legacies to the Church is the experiential emphasis of his theology. This experiential articulation of the Christian life is due to the robust account of 
the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. He emphasizes that the Holy Spirit enables humans to have an encounter with God. He accomplished this by reinterpreting the 
intellectual developments of his time, particularly the concept of imperialism. Wesley's historical context was 18th century England and the Americas, during 
which society proposed this abstract God who was an otherworldly entity mutually exclusive from earthly affairs. He counteracted this cultural understanding 
with the theology of religious imperialism. Number eight such that God's work in humanity included the awakening of a dead spiritual sensorium. The fundamental 
thought of this spiritual sensorium is the perception of God and in Scripture and in creation. It is not a supernatural power, but a God given power to live life 
with God and to love God. Wesley's empiricism explains what he means by the Spirit's inner witness. He uses the language of spiritual senses to describe the work 
of the Holy Spirit in the believer's soul. He understands that humans acquire knowledge from their environment through the senses. Wesley's religious empiricism is 
an analogy between the physical and spiritual senses. It was his way of putting language to the mystery of salvation. Number nine the Spirit creates a new class of 
sense to perceive spiritual realities. This awakening of the believer to God's reality and activity includes the person's consciousness of the work of the Spirit in 
his or her soul. These active and dynamic perspectives of the Christian life develop into Wesley's emphasis that a believer will demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit.
The inner experience will manifest in the person's outward life. Number ten his religious empiricism fullest and most profound expression is spiritual respiration. It 
implies the same level of importance of natural breathing to spiritual life. The very physical act of breathing bears a near relation to spirit once dead to the invisible 
world of God and God himself. The Spirit of God ushers the believer to a consciousness of God. Spiritual respiration is Wesley's depiction of the life of the Spirit in 
a person such that God is continually breathing, as it were, upon his soul, and his soul is breathing unto God. There's a response. Wesley beautifully links a believer's 
spiritual senses to one's communion with God. Further, spiritual respiration highlights that those in Christ are drawn ever more deeply into God's inner life of 
communion and love. Wesley's concept of spiritual respiration captures the dynamic nature of the believer's life with God, a continual action of God upon the soul, 
and the reaction of the soul upon God. Rather than a mystical experience. Wesley clarifies that spiritual respiration restores a believer to the image of God by 
taking away the power of sin. Spiritual respiration is as Christological as it is nomatological. Despite Wesley's strong focus on the activities of the Holy Spirit, 
he maintains the balance between God's Word and God's spirit. The inner witness of the Spirit corresponds to the objective and historical work of Jesus Christ. The 
truth of God's Word and humanity's adoption as God's children through Christ are the contents of the Spirit's witness. Wesley's spiritual respiration is fundamentally 
the life of Christ alive in the believer. Number twelve. It begins as a cry above Father, but develops into living a Christlike life. This journey of growth is in the 
intricate and dynamic relationship of the Spirit's inner witness towards mature holiness. Holiness or sanctification is a critical category in Wesley's theology. 
Humanity's consciousness of the Spirit's inner witness is dynamically connected to one's holiness. Wesley explains we must be holy of heart and holy in life before 
we can be conscious that we are soul, before we can have the testimony of our Spirit that we are inwardly and outwardly holy. Although Wesley implies a person's 
responsibility with regards to holiness, he clearly details how this is fundamentally the nature of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. He says number 13, the 
title Holy applied to the Spirit of God does not only denote that he is holy in his own nature, but that he makes us soul. We are renewed in all holy dispositions 
and again bear the image of our Creator. Christian holiness is to be made holy, god himself fulfilling the Old Testament command you are to be holy to me, for I, 
the Lord, am holy. The Vitacos 2026 814 the second aspect of Wesley's dermatology is the Holy Spirit's work in bringing humanity towards our tell us. Humanity is 
communion with God. The Father's, Son and Holy Ghost is the Orienting vision of life. 15 humanity's, tell us, is to receive God's love poured through the Holy Spirit. 
Those who are maturing in Christ are filled with Christ by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christian life is to be in Christ and Christ in us. This mutual 
indwelling between the believer and God in Christ is a life of constant communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the tell us of the Christian journey 
of creation itself in Wesley God himself, our ultimate end. The indwelling of the Spirit in the believer ushers the believer to participate in God's inner life. The 
depth of Wesley's Dermatology articulates a mature Christian known by many as Christian perfection. Outlaw comments wesley's dermatology allows for the paradox of 
instant exhortation and the process of Christian maturation. Wesley's Christian perfection can be easily misunderstood without the knowledge of Wesley's 
trinitarian logic and tell us when understood properly. Number 16 christian perfection is God's love in us and is being perfected by the Holy Spirit to enjoy 
God who is holy love. More importantly, Christian perfection is rooted in the God of perfect love, in the very nature of God and directed towards human communion 
with God. It is the renewal of the heart in the full likeness of God that created humanity. Wesley's nomatology underscores the restoration of humanity towards God's 
intended design such that humanity reflects God's image. Number 17 the work of the Holy Spirit is always dynamic. It begins from the faith of a servant maturing 
towards the faith of a child. God's gift of faith is the bridge of the natural world and the invisible world of God. Because it is God's gift. Faith is also the 
modality of humanity's response to God. It is God who gives humans the ability to respond to him. Wesley explains Faith is the evidence of things not seen, 
particularly of the existence of that unseen thing, my own soul. This is your spiritual vision. Faith as the enabling work of the Holy Spirit is the very means by 
which the invisible world of God becomes visible to the eyes of faith. It is also not bound the present, but gives us a view of things to come ordinarily whenever 
we see anything that is in the present moment but with our spiritual sight, we have a sense of the future while we are in the present. Within the category of faith, 
Wesley articulates the journey from the fate of a servant to the faith of a child. He exhorts babes in Christ to press on to the fate of a child. In a sermon 
entitled on the Discoveries of Faith, he explains this progression from faith to faith. He instructs that those with the faith of a child become spiritual 
parents and experience the presence of the Trinity. Christian perfection also includes a sense of one's future with God that is, a future time in new creation. 
It can also be interpreted that a spiritual parent has a more developed spiritual senses. He or she is maturing into Christlikenness such that Christ is revealed 
in his heart through the outpouring of God's love by the Holy Spirit. Number 18 not only do spiritual parents understands the three one God better, the character of 
a spiritual parent also exudes the trinitarian nature of God. Number 19 christian perfection and its correlation in terms of faith that is fullness of faith is the 
fuller experience of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This fuller experience is not a mystical experience, but growing in the likeness of God, in Christ likeness. 
Since humanity is made in the image of God, the restoration of this image is the restoration of the moral image of God in humanity, that is, God's holiness and love. 
The fuller experience is growing in holiness and love that demonstrates itself through outer works to share in the communion of the three one God is to bring God's 
holiness and happiness to others. This orientation to others mirrors the very life of God. Number 20 the inner witness of the Spirit matures into spirit filled, 
living alive in the Spirit. The life of Christ is alive in the believer. Number 21 the faith of a child is to share the life of the Son of God by the Spirit of God. 
This is a life of loving and obeying God the Father. The mature spiritual senses enable a believer to have a growing appreciation and understanding of the Spirit's 
transformation in oneself, in others, and in creation. The relation of faith and spiritual senses is that they build on each other. To exercise one's faith is to 
develop one's spiritual senses and vice versa. In conclusion, the richness and depth of Wesley's dermatology result from his trinitarian commitments. God is the 
beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. Number 22. This study would betray Wesley if we headed to metaphysics or mysticism or misguided focus on religious 
experience. God is not an idea, nor is God an emotion. He is life himself. He gives life to others. Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection and its trinitarian 
underpinnings are much needed in our churches. The thrust of the inner witness and Christian perfection is to create spiritual parents. As leaders in the churches 
entrusted to us, we must not be content with having thousands of babes in Christ because God himself is moving people towards Christlikeness. Towards Christlike 
faith. Wesley's legacy of spiritual sensorium and the faith of a child can equip us today such that both are the activities of the Spirit. At the same time, once 
activated, spiritual sensorium and God given faith must be exercised to grow, develop and mature. In other words, spiritual sensorium in faith require perfecting.
From a baby's cry abba father to becoming spiritual parents in Christ. This is the heart of John Wesley's pneumatology. As spiritual parents, every breath we take 
is an invitation to holiness. How is the respiration of our congregation each time we see a glimpse of God in scripture or in creation, that is God the Father drawing 
us to Himself in Christ by His Spirit. What is upon us to do when we see someone at our church who is exercising their faith? When we hear the voice of God, we are 
being moved by the Spirit from the faith of a servant to the faith of a child to childlike faith. It's the end of my presentation.

Thank you so much. 


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