I am saddened today when I see the term "grace" appearing in [Methodist] book after book without the author even knowing that the shaper of grace theology was John Wesley. We Methodists are not Calvinist or Pelagian. Calvin believed in predestination and that some of us are beyond the reach of God's grace. Wesley struggled with the concept of a merciful God and predestination while at Oxford, and finally resolved, with James Arminius, that salvation begins with the universal gracious gift of a loving God - prevenient grace. From the moment we repent and accept God's gracious salvation through faith, we grow in grace - perfecting grace. Wesley was repeatedly accused of being Pelagian - from the teaching of Augustine's contemporary Pelagius that human will, not God's grace, initiates salvation through free will to choose right or wrong. The distinction is that for Pelagius, human free will is inherent; for Wesley, it is a gift of God's grace. [Donald W. Haynes, United Methodist Reporter columnist, June 13, 2008.]

Wesley Rejecting Predestination

"To say that Jesus Christ the Righteous was not willing that all men should be saved is to represent him as a mere hypocrite and dissembler. It can't be denied that the gracious words that came out of his mouth are full of invitations to all sinners. To say, then, he did not intend to save all sinners is to represent him as a gross deceiver of the people. You represent him as mocking his helpless creatures by offering what he never intends to give. Him 'in whom there is no guile' you make full of deceit, void of common sincerity! You represent God as worse than the devil." [John Wesley, founder of Methodism, at Bristol, England, in 1740, from his classic sermon rejecting the Calvinist theology of predestination]