I still think Dr.
Peddler mixed up the papers, but we'll go from there.
You know, I remember I grew up in a standard church and our church amalgamated
with the Wesleyan denomination when I was in early high school.
And I remember my mum, who was very involved in the leadership of the church,
went to a conference and she came back and she was telling me about this doctrine of
Christian perfection that she had learned about.
And me and my arrogant teenager age years
said, well, that's completely stupid, and kind of rolled it off and went on.
So it's quite ironic that here I am some
15 years later defending the doctrine of Christian perfection.
And I think a lot of that comes from the misunderstanding around perfection, which
is why I have entitled this paper Reimaging Perfection.
That's an idea of reshifting and
rethinking our understanding of perfection.
And it's comparing John Wesley and Thomas
Aquinas's understanding of perfection as it relates to the Emago day.
So let's just begin.
Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley have both
engaged in the discussion of the topic of Christian perfection.
However, they each expressed their view of
Christian perfection through two very different contexts aquinas in the realm of
philosophical theology and John Wesley more in the realm of practical theology.
And you see, when we study and compare the
two writings on Christian perfection, we see many similarities.
Despite these two differences, these two perspectives can enrich and further our
understanding and also strengthen the case for Christian perfection.
So a little bit of where we're going here.
Wesley and Aquinas provide complementary
understandings of perfection, with both presenting the goal as the fulfillment of
the Amago Day, which you learned if you're in here for the last paper, and the means
of perfection as necessary, accessible, grace.
This presentation shall begin by outlining perfection as it relates to a magode.
But there's two areas we're going to focus on, which is Aquinas and Wesley's
understanding of the relationship and broken up into two categories.
First is static, potential perfection.
And then the second is dynamic, progressive perfection.
And then finally, we'll conclude by establishing Wesley and Aquinas's means of
perfection which is accessible, necessary grace.
So the first is Amago Day and perfection.
For Wesley, perfection is the restoration of the Amagoday.
Wesley believes that the Emago day has
three components the natural image, the political image and the moral image.
Because of the fall, all three aspects have been affected.
However, the greatest implication of
original sin was on the moral image total corruption.
The moral image consists of righteousness and true holiness.
It's the foundation of our ability to love God.
As Colin emerick indicates, the corruption
of the moral image leaves humanity unable and without desire to love God.
Restoration of the moral image is the foundation of Christian perfection.
Wesley's understanding of perfection is
twofold, and I quote, the ability to love God and others wholeheartedly and the
exclusion of sin in the life of the believer.
These are both attributed to the moral image.
As Lawyer states, the Spirit restores human persons to the image of God and
chiefly to what Wesley sometimes calls the moral image of God.
Therefore, when we explore Wesley's understanding of perfection, we are first
and foremost referring to this moral image, for it bears the weight of our
goal, which is a person's complete and perfect love for God.
For Aquinas, there are three orders of
perfection that pertain to the image of God.
We're only going to focus on the first two today.
The first, the prima parse, is the ad imagineum day.
This is the perfection in form.
Aquinas states that the first order of
amago day is the natural, and I quote, aptitude for understanding and loving God.
The first order of perfection is the
potential, then, to later receive the second order of perfection.
As such, the ad imaginum day cannot be
removed, regardless of how clouded, obscured or disfigured it may be.
Colin Emerick states, not only is the
image of God in human perfect and indefectible, it is also perfectable.
This leads to the second order of amagode aquinas'second order, the sekundas parse,
is the percognitionum et amorum, which is the full realization of perfection within
creatures by creatures actual love for God.
In the context of amagode aquinas states
inasmuch as a man actually or habitually knows and loves God.
Therefore Aquinas's first order of perfection is a static one, while the
second order of perfection is what we call an operation.
This is the second order of perfection is the fulfillment, as much as possible of
the Emago day, which is to actually love God perfectly.
And then herein lies the similarities.
The central unity between Aquinas and
Wesley's christian perfection rests in loving God perfectly.
Perfect love is the fulfillment of the Emago day.
Wesley understands the correlation between Christian perfection and the Emago day
through the pastoral framework and Aquinas through a philosophical framework.
And while their approaches are drastically different, their conclusions are similar.
We shall now examine in more detail the
static potential perfection and dynamic progressive perfection.
Static Potential Perfection while Wesley lacks the prima parse, his pervenient
grace provides the practical framework that lines up with Aquinas.
These similarities in the first order of perfection lead to the same conclusion
that every person possesses the potentiality for perfection.
For Wesley, because of original sin, all
have, and I quote, lost the life and the image of God.
He goes on to even state that humanity now actually bears the image of Satan.
This initially appears to be in a direct contradiction to Aquinas's prima parse.
However, when we examine the broader scope of Wesley's theology, his pervenient grace
is a key piece to unlocking the similarities between Aquinas's ad
imagineum day and Wesley's potential perfection found within the Amago day.
You see, Wesley states on his sermon on the image of God that God would, and I
quote, not forsake even the depraved work of his own hands, but provide for him and
offered to him a means of being renewed after the image of him that created him.
Wesley's pervenient grace is this means
while Wesley agreed wholeheartedly with the total depravity of humanity, he cared
very strongly about the ability to know and respond to God.
And this is where Wesley's provenant grace comes in.
You see, Hendrix states that for Wesley, what is lost in original sin, which is the
capacity to know and respond to God, is restored to all men without any action or
response on their part by God's pervenient grace.
It could be understood that this is the restoration of the potential perfection.
Rhodes connects with this in his writing
on pervenient grace, and he states, wesley would affirm the idea of salvific
accomplishments of God's gracious provenance.
You see, Rhodes, he's not arguing that these accomplishments are justification.
No.
Rather, he's arguing that the work of provenant grace within the person awakens
that individual to the need and the desire for God.
The very awakening is an act of God's grace.
For, and I quote, Rhodes says, the desire
of reconciliation with God in Christ is reconciliation itself.
As Wesley states, salvation begins with
the first slight transient conviction of having sinned against God.
Preventing grace, then, is efficacious in
restoring the static component of the amagode.
It reestablishes the potentiality of
perfection, both incapacity and in desirability.
The restoration of potential perfection aligns with Aquinas's prima parse.
Aquinas indicates that the source of all perfection is God.
Furthermore, he states, all things come from and return to God.
Aquinas's first order of perfection is that humanity was not only created with
the capacity to know God, but also created with the desire for perfection in God.
According to Wang, Aquinas believes that
humanity's desire, and I quote, desires perfect happiness which cannot be
found in this life and can only be found in union with God.
Wang says it like this we have a natural
desire for God which cannot naturally be fulfilled.
Furthermore, Wang highlights Aquinas's
argument that we must have the capacity to achieve this state of perfect happiness,
whether it's in this life or the next or this God given.
And A quote, natural desire to know the
first cause of things would remain in vain.
The desire, then, for perfection, and the capacity for perfection is a result of God
creating persons in such a way, humanity being created in the image of God.
Wesley and Aquinas, they take two
different routes, but the implications of their theology are the same.
Wesley believes potential perfection was lost and then restored to everyone.
While Aquinas understands perfection as a part of a person's metaphysical potential,
humanity is perfect in the capacity to know and love God relationally.
However, it is important to note that this perfection, this static perfection, can
still be perfected dynamically, and we're going to get to that in a second.
But first, this static perfection it leads
to similar conclusions between Wesley and Aquinas.
First of all, if all creeple were created with the potential and the desire, even if
it's suppressed for perfection, then this leads to a conclusion.
This is the first story conclusion for
Aquinas, the first order of perfection is common to all men.
Everyone has it.
No one is excused from achieving this innate static perfection.
Similarly, Wesley's perennial grace is
extended to all persons such that no one is excluded.
The implication is clear everyone is
perfect in this potentiality, regardless of their level of depravity.
That's an important note for us who are pastors.
And secondly, given that everyone
possesses the potential for perfection, perfection is a mandate for all people.
Okay. Quinas indicates that to love God and to
love one's neighbor is the sum of all commandments.
These, then, are the commandments from which no one is excluded.
Wesley holds a similar proposition.
He argues that Scripture clearly teaches that perfection is a command from God.
For both Wesley and Aquinas, though this is a command,
it is not mandated for salvation, regardless of their development.
Wesley's understanding of pervenient grace in the Amalgo day, as well as
aquinas'first order of perfection lead to similar conclusions.
Now we're going to move on to dynamic, progressive perfection.
Christian perfection is not just the
potential for perfect love, but the actualization of it.
It is dynamic and not static.
It indicates a way of living, not a status that we achieve.
It is the restoration of the affections living in a way in which we were created
to live as those who are made in God's image.
While this is the sum of dynamic perfection, wesley and Aquinas, they still
see limitations to this dynamic, progressive perfection.
Wesley states in his sermon on perfection that, and I quote, neither can any man,
while he is in a corruptible body, attain atomic perfection.
Ottomic perfection is to always act, judge, and speak what is right.
Wesley states that there is no such perfection in this life as it implies an
entire deliverance, either from ignorance or mistake in things not essential to
salvation, or from the manifold temptations, or from the numberless
infirmities wherewith the corruptible body more or less presses down the soul.
Christian perfection is not atomic perfection.
It is limited in this life.
What Wesley means by infirmities is the
involuntary failings such that, and I quote, saying a thing we believe to be
true, though in fact it proves to be false.
He states that though these are deviations
from the holy and acceptable and perfect will of God, they are not properly sins.
For Wesley, sin is, and again quoting him
here any sinful temper, passion or affection, such as pride, self will, love
of the world, or any kind of degree such as lust, anger, previousness, and any
disposition contrary to the mind of Christ.
For Wesley, sin is most clearly defined as a voluntary transgression of a known law.
Wesley's qualifications for perfection are important as they help us define the
limitations of Christian perfection in this life.
Furthermore, it redirects the emphasis not as being released from the veil of
humanity but fulfilling the design for humanity which is charity.
It is not just refraining from sinful
behavior but the focus is wholehearted love for God.
He states it is comprised of one word love.
This is true also for Aquinas, perfection is love.
He states the perfection of the Christian
life consists radically in charity it is perfect love that binds all other virtues
together into perfection within the believer.
Perfection as it relates to sin, as
Aquinas states in Isoma theologica, is the removal from man's affections all that is
contrary to charity and by removal from man's affections
whatever hinders the man's affections from tending holy to God.
Aquinas, like Wesley, is not arguing that
we can be perfectly free from weakness or infirmities.
Aquinas does not believe this is possible in this life.
As Colin Emmerich argues, Aquinas's Perfectio Sakunda and Wesley's Christian
perfection are basically synonymous expressions.
Both Aquinas and Wesley agree that Christian perfection
in this life is not freedom from fallibility but it is the state of the
heart and the mind while journeying towards ultimate perfection.
The state is a wholehearted love for God that proper or that perfection is properly
aligned affection but not elimination from progression.
Aquinas states that true, perfect love for God is love for God for his own sake.
Not to obtain something from God.
To love God merely to obtain perfection would not be perfect charity.
Furthermore, Wesley describes this
individual as one whose soul is all love, even in the state of Christian perfection.
Though the believer wow free from sin still, and I quote grows in grace, in the
knowledge of Christ, and in the love and in the image of God, and will do so
continually this status of Christian perfection that
it's not static, but it's a dynamic perfect love.
And this leads us to the question well
then, what are the means of the state of obtaining this state of perfect love?
It's accessible, necessary grace
the dynamic state of perfection is a result of grace accessible through faith.
Wesley is clear in all of his teachings
that the state of Christian perfection is only possible because of God's grace.
For Wesley states I believe this
perfection is always wrought in the soul by a simple act of faith.
It's best summed up by Wilkinson in his
reference to quinas grace, perfects and elevates nature.
For Wesley, this grace is also accessible
though Rachean's piece john Wesley and the Theologian of Grace indicates that there
are two primary branches of salvation justification and sanctification.
The former is salvation from sin, whereas
the latter is salvation from the power and root of sin.
His argument is that Wesley's is that for Wesley, God's saving grace
therefore, is both justifying and sanctifying.
This then indicates that from the moment in which a believer is justified.
The believer is then positioned for perfection.
And if the believer is positioned for
perfection upon justification and perfection is received through faith, then
immediate perfection is possible and there's no necessary delay.
Wesley admits in his plain account for Christian perfection that even a new
Christian can achieve a state of perfection.
God's grace through faith can fill the heart.
So all that remains is perfect love.
Aquinas agrees that this perfection is not possible without grace.
This applies to both perfection in love and the ability to abstain from sin.
He argues that loving God fully is the
natural good for which humanity was created.
But because of the corruption of sin,
humanity no longer has the natural desire or the ability such that, and I quote the
only cure for the wounds of nature is grace.
And there is nothing the human can do
without grace to merit the first grace of conversion.
Aquinas indicates in the state of the corrupted nature a person needs the help
of grace, healing his nature to be able to love God.
Additionally, Aquinas also states that humanity needs grace to heal their nature
in order that they may entirely abstain from sin.
It is clear that for Aquinas and I quote
the natural perfection is only possible because of grace.
But Aquinas also believes that this grace is accessible.
He states the following the entire
justification of the ungodly consists as to its origin in the infusion of grace.
For it is by grace that free choice is moved and guilt is remitted.
And he says this now the infusion of grace
takes place in an instant and without succession.
Now, why the context of Aquinas's thought is on justifying grace.
The argument consists and is the same with sanctifying grace.
Colin Emerick supports this and he states in referencing Aquinas's view of grace, he
says this perfection can be the work of an instant or it can occur by degrees.
On one hand, the forgiveness of sins is always instantaneous.
God never half pardons someone.
On the other hand, the removal of the
remains of sin can be instantaneous, but need not be.
God sometimes half heals someone, as in
the case with a blind man whose eyes Jesus touched twice.
The grace that brings perfection is accessible to all believers.
Perfect love is the result of accessible, necessary grace.
Both Aquinas and Wesley agree this dynamic state of perfect love for a believer is a
response to the faith is a response of faith to the grace that has been shown.
And this is the fulfillment of the Amago
day you see when we examine Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley's understanding of
Christian perfection, we see these two complementary understandings in their goal
of perfection the fulfillment of the Emago day.
Similarly, they both argue for static potential perfection, the dynamic,
progressive perfection and the means of perfection as accessible, necessary grace.
By examining Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley's, we not only deepen our
theological understanding in their diverse approaches.
But it encourages us that perfection is actually attainable for all believers.
As Wesley states. Oh.
That both we and all who seek the Lord
Jesus in sincerity may thus be made perfect in one.
That is the end of my paper.