As Wesley states in a letter to a Roman Catholic, "I believe he is the proper natural son of God, God of God, very God of very God. ...that he was made man, joining the human nature with the divine in one person; being conceived by the singular operation of the Holy Ghost, and born of the blessed virgin Mary."6 John is more comfortable simply placing a veil over the divinity of Jesus, than he is at giving humanity too much recognition in the birth and life of Jesus. However, Charles has no problem with a lens of
4 Sermon 26, Upon our Lord's Sermon on the Mount VI, John Wesley’s Sermons, an Anthology. Edited by Albert C. Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater. Nashville: Abingdon, 1991. 227.
5 Maddox, Randy L., and John Wesley. Responsible grace: John Wesleys practical theology. Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 1994. 114-5.
6 Letter to a Roman Catholic,
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For Charles, the Son left the divine powers behind, living out the divine love of God the Father, the Son became God incarnate, and putting on the brokenness of humanity in an earthly body, the Son poured out all he had within his human flesh in order to redeem "Adam's helpless race." (HSP 1739, 117-119) Without Jesus there is no hope for the human race. Jesus is God incarnate, rewriting humanity's chapter within the story of God; mending the brokenness of the fallen man, and birthing new life into the creation of humanity. "Christ came to destroy the law and the prophets, to save his people in, not from their sins, to bring them to Heaven without holiness..."7 Wesley believed that sins were not something people did, but instead sins were forms of earthly bondages holding people back in a sleeping state, unable to see their need for God. For Wesley it was important to represent the God of new birth created through Jesus as Christ functions in the balance of all his offices, "I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the savior of the world the messiah so long foretold; that being anointed with the holy ghost, he was a prophet, revealing to us the whole will of God; that he was a priest, who gave himself a sacrifice for sin, and still makes intercession for transgressors; that he is a king, who has all power in heaven and on earth, and will reign until he hath subdued all things to himself."8 Knowing