Social Holiness — Personal Faith, Public Justice

What Scripture says

All quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).

1. Matthew 22:37-40

   Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

   The two commandments cannot be separated. Love of God without love of neighbor is not love of God at all.

2. 1 John 4:20-21

   If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.

   Cannot love an invisible God while hating a visible brother. Wesley's social holiness in seed form.

3. Matthew 25:35-40

   for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in... Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

   Christ identifies Himself with the poor, hungry, naked, sick, imprisoned. To minister to them is to minister to Him.

4. James 1:27

   Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

   Pure religion. Two halves — care for the vulnerable, and personal holiness.

5. Micah 6:8

   He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

   Justice, mercy, humility. The Wesleyan trio.

6. Isaiah 58:6-7

   Isn't this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Isn't it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house?

   God's chosen fast. Wesley and the early Methodists took this literally — releasing slaves, feeding the hungry, sheltering the cast-out.

7. Galatians 6:9-10

   Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don't give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let's do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.

   Do good to all. Especially to fellow believers, but not only.

8. Proverbs 31:8-9

   Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.

   Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Methodist activism is rooted here.

9. Luke 4:18-19

   The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

   Jesus' own mission statement. Methodist mission is downstream of this.

10. Acts 4:32-35

    The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all. For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to each, according as anyone had need.

    The earliest social holiness. Voluntary, Spirit-driven, radical generosity.

Related distinctives