47. Can we free ourselves from the misery of this condition?
No. In our own strength, without divine grace, we cannot do good works pleasing and acceptable to God.
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The Christmas Conference of 1784—the convening conference of Methodism in the United States—adopted a book of doctrines and discipline that included twenty-five articles of religion, mostly adapted from the thirty-nine articles of the Church of England. One of these articles summarizes “the condition of man after the fall of Adam” to be “such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.”
Negatively, the article acknowledges that, apart from God’s gracious interventions in our lives, we cannot and do not love and serve God as he deserves (Deut. 6:4) nor our neighbor as ourselves (Lev. 19:18), and thus we cannot attain for ourselves that righteousness that leads to life. By virtue of our natural birth and faculties alone, we are insensible to the things of God, even as before our natural birth we were barely sensible to the things of the world beyond the womb. We need the new birth that the Holy Spirit gives to those who put their trust in—and give their allegiance to—Jesus if we are to conquer our “bent to sinning” and enter into that new life that leads to eternal life.
This is not to say, however, that those who have not yet been born again never do what is good, sometimes even what is remarkably good. Rather, wherever we see good being done, we see what God’s grace enables even in those who have not yet embraced God in Christ. This is the same facet of God’s generous kindness toward human beings—what the eighth “Article of Faith” calls “preventing” grace but is more commonly called “prevenient grace”—that also enables us to become aware of our alienation from God, our need for Christ, and our turning to God in repentance.
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For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. . . . For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:14–15, 18–19, 24 ESV)
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63 ESV)
See also Ps. 51:5; Gal. 5:17; Eph. 2:1–10; CoF VII; question 18
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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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