37. Are reason, tradition, or experience sufficient guides for Christian doctrine?
No. Whatever is not revealed in or established by the Holy Scriptures is not to be made an article of faith nor is it to be taught as essential to salvation.
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You may have heard of the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” as a tool for interpretation and discernment along with the assertion that Wesley himself relied not only upon Scripture, but also on Christian tradition, reason, and experience for guidance as he and his movement faced new challenges. This has sometimes been used in Methodist circles to suggest that some of Scripture’s teachings and prohibitions are no longer appropriate in the very different context in which we find ourselves in the twenty-first century. If we listen to science and to the experience of individual people, we will discover a more faithful way forward than the Scriptures on their own, from the limitations of their ancient context, suggest.
Wesley did indeed value the tradition of the church—as do we since, for example, we have embraced the Nicene Creed as a valuable summary of Christian doctrine and have affirmed the “Wesleyan Characteristics” that give particular shape to Methodist faith, practice, and hope. Wesley also subjected his own and other preachers’ doctrines to critical scrutiny and sought a faith that was consonant with reason. And, of course, he deeply valued experience—the experience of the Holy Spirit, of God’s pardon and acceptance, of Christ’s love, of the awakening of ever deeper love for God and neighbor in each Methodist’s heart. His was an experiential religion.
But—and this is a very important but—Wesley always assigned primary authority to Scripture. Where tradition, reason, and experience ran contrary to the Scriptures, it would be tradition, reason, or experience that needed reexamination, not Scripture. Any doctrine or practice that enjoys the support of tradition, reason, experience, or all three, but not the support of the Scriptures, is therefore suspect. A casual reading of any of Wesley’s sermons will reveal the care and the diligence with which he sought to ground Methodist faith and practice in the Scriptures above all else. Scripture remains the primary rule for faith and practice. In Wesley’s words, the Christian “esteems nothing good, but what is here enjoined, either directly or by plain consequence; he accounts nothing evil but what is here forbidden, either in terms, or by undeniable inference. Whatever the Scripture neither forbids nor enjoins, either directly or by plain consequence, he believes to be of an indifferent nature; to be in itself neither good nor evil” (“The Witness of Our Own Spirit,” I.6).
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The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isa. 40:8)
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col. 2:8 ESV)
See also 2 Kings 17:15; Eph. 4:17–18; Rom. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3:16; CoF IV
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This is an excerpt from Christian Faith and Doctrine: An Annotated Catechism for the Global Methodist Church. Seedbed is pleased to partner with The Global Methodist Church to offer this companion resource to A Catechism of Christian Faith and Doctrine for the Global Methodist Church.
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