The Grand Nazarene Depositum of Christian Perfection
In John Wesley’s “Plain Account of Christian Perfection” he wrote:
“There is such a thing as perfection; for it is again and again mentioned in scripture.
It is not so early as justification; for justified persons are to “go on unto perfection.”
It is not so late as death; for St. Paul speaks of living men that were perfect.
It is not absolute. Absolute perfection belongs not to man, nor to angels, but to God alone.
It does not make a man infallible: None is infallible, while he remains in the body.
Is it sinless? It is not worth while to contend for a term. It is “salvation from sin.”
It is “perfect love.” This is the essence of it.
It (Christian Perfection/Perfect Love) is improvable. It is so far from lying in an indivisible point, from being incapable of increase, that one perfected in love may grow in grace far swifter than he did before.
It is amissible, capable of being lost; of which we have numerous instances.
It is both preceded and followed by a gradual work.
…Therefore, all our preachers should make a point of preaching perfection to believers, constantly, strongly and explicitly; and all believers should mind this one thing, and continually agonize for it.
What Wesley is talking about is Perfect Love. And to him it means everything. Perfect love is the goal of scriptural christianity. Perfect Love is the thing that will bring us closest to loving God and the world as we have been called to do.
Wesley, the chief person behind “Methodism” believed that “Christian Perfection” was a “Grand Depositum”, a gift, given to Methodist to share with the world.
And as a child of the Methodist Church, the Church of the Nazarene, of whom affirms Christian Perfection heavily in their founding documents, must think about how this history should play into their current future.
I’ve often heard that we need a “revival” of Christian Perfection within the COTN. Whether from my pastors or teachers, I’ve heard testimonies that the importance of Christian Perfection has not been emphasized enough in the lives of the COTN.
I tend to agree with most who are arguing for this. I think it’s not just a valuable “tool” or “part” of our doctrine, I think as Wesley would say, Christian Perfection is the goal of “scriptural Christianity”; thus I’m confident in believing that Christian Perfection will lead me to my truest and most faithful form of relationship with God and the world.
However, often I hear people take the opposing side. “Does Christian Perfection really matter THAT much? Typically, they will even say things like, “I’ve been in the COTN my whole life and it’s never been an important issue, so what should I believe that all of a sudden it’s become important?”
This is what brings me to my current point; if Christian Perfection is the “grand depositum” for Methodists, why should Nazarenes worry about it? Sure we can make it a “part” of our doctrine, but it’s not everything…
Or is it?
It’s important to understand here the historical context of the COTN. We are a Christian, Protestant, Wesleyan, Holiness Revival church. Each part of this doesn’t just stand for “one area” of the COTN, it works together to make up the “whole” of the COTN.
This is why I believe that while we are not Methodists, members of the COTN have too been entrusted with the grand depositum of Perfect Love. We are not stealing it from the Methodists, nor we being a “third-wheel”, as if Methodists had a claim to fame and we just tagged along and stole their identity.
Hardly, especially when it comes to something like Perfect Love.
What are we worried about? That the Church of the Nazarene might take “loving God and the world” too seriously?
I highly doubt that John Wesley, in saying that Christian Perfection was entrusted to the Methodists for the benefit of the whole Christian church, would be disappointed with that very Christian church embracing the message which he so believed to be core and fixing their lives upon it. Therefore in doing this, it has become our grand depositum as well.
