Although John Wesley had spoken about the Holy Spirit prior to 1738, it was not until after Aldersgate that he began to develop a distinct pneumatology. Aldersgate was not Wesley’s conversion-initiation; rather it was largely a pneumatological experience of the “internal witness of the Spirit.”¹ His ‘heart strangely warmed’ marked a theological shift from outward works toward an experiential focus on the Spirit. He continued to develop this focus on the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian experience throughout his life. One can trace the role of the Spirit in the three distinct stages of Wesley’s thinking; early, middle, later.²

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that there is a recognizable development of Wesley’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which began to take form at Aldersgate and continued to be developed throughout his lifetime. This article will begin by briefly looking at the role of the Holy Spirit in each of the three stages of Wesley’s life and at the corresponding sermon corpus. This research will lead to an analysis of the various influences on the development of Wesley’s pneumatology. In addition, there will be an evaluation of the various ways in which the Holy Spirit played a role in his overall theology.

The Early Wesley 1725-1738

As mentioned earlier, there are three distinct stages of Wesley’s theological development. The early Wesley refers to the time between his ordination as a deacon on September 19, 1725 to his Aldersgate experience on May 14, 1738. Many scholars believe that 1725 marked the beginning of John Wesley’s religious awakening and the first of three phases in his theological development.³ He began to think seriously about entering the Church and his parents enthusiastically encouraged him. During this time several major things helped shape Wesley’s religious thought. Wesley came into contact with Bishop Jeremy Taylor’s Rules and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying, Thomas a’ Kempis’s Christian’s Pattern, and William Law’s Christian Perfection and serious Call.⁴ These writings made a profound impact upon Wesley’s spirituality. They put him on the path toward inward holiness.

Another important development was that Wesley became acquainted with ancient Christian literature through the assistance of fellow John Clayton, who was a competent patristics scholar.⁵ Wesley’s love for the Eastern Fathers can be seen throughout his Works, particularly “Macarius the Egyptian” and Ephrem Syrus.⁶ He became convinced that their pattern of holy living was true and authentic Christianity. More importantly for this study, was the ancient Christian’s emphasis on the person and experiential work of the Spirit, which no doubt had an impact on Wesley’s thinking.⁷ These various influences made Wesley’s time at Oxford an important season of religious and theological development and no doubt sowed impressionable seeds, which would later develop into Wesley’s mature pneumatology.

“The Circumcision of the Heart” 1733

On January 1, 1733, at Saint Mary’s Oxford, Wesley preached “The Circumcision of the Heart”, which contains the basic elements of his soteriology. This sermon also says more about the Holy Spirit than any of his other sermons prior this time. However, it appears that he was still working out his understanding of the relationship of the Holy Spirit and his overall theology. He said that, “without the Spirit we can do nothing but add sin to sin,” and “that it is impossible for us even to think a good thought without the supernatural assistance of his Spirit as to create ourselves, or to renew our whole souls in righteousness and true holiness.”⁸ Wesley recognized early on that Spirit played a vital role in overcoming sin and living a holy life. He was also developing his doctrine of Christian assurance. It is important to mention that Wesley sought assurance long before Aldersgate. He said:

This is the next thing which the ‘circumcision of the heart’ implies-even the testimony of their own spirit with the Spirit which witnesses in their hearts, that they are the children of God. Indeed it is the same Spirit who works in them that clear and cheerful confidence that their heart is upright toward God; that good assurance that they now do, through his grace, the things which are acceptable in his sight; that they are now in the path which leadeth to life, and shall, by the mercy of God, endure to the end.⁹

Pentecostalism’s Heritage

Pentecostalism’s formation and development looks to the nineteenth century Holiness Movement for its parentage. Perhaps every generation has looked at the Church they have inherited, compared it with the biblical account of the early Church and pronounced the diagnosis that something fundamental was awry. Certainly, by the late nineteenth century, Evangelicalism was ill at ease with itself and had spawned many agencies seeking to kick start the Church back into life.

In Britain, the Holiness Movement, particularly as mediated through the Keswick Convention, became a significant breeding ground for proto-Pentecostals. The theology surrounding this ecumenical event (its motto was ‘All one in Christ Jesus’) focused on the desire for a victorious Christian life that many of its delegates desired above all else. The answer to this overwhelming desire was to be found in an experience of a life lived in the ‘fullness of the Spirit’. Rejecting the more extreme views of ‘sinless perfection’, the clear expectation was that the believer, once justified by faith, could have a distinct divine experience which would become the gateway into leading a ‘life of overcoming’. This life would then be transformed into service—the work of the Spirit would provide the disciple with power to witness.

For many Evangelicals, convinced of the fact that too often the Church was leading a spiritually substandard life, this was deemed to be the obvious answer. Many early proto-Pentecostals became frequent visitors to the convention in Keswick, returning to their mission halls and prayer meetings having claimed this experience of sanctification by faith. That this was the answer to the problems of the Church was given credibility when the Welsh Revival broke out in 1904. Led by the trio of Holiness revivalists: Seth Joshua, Joseph Jenkins and Evan Roberts, the freewheeling dynamism of the Revival awakened many people’s imaginations to the possibility of a much wider spiritual renewal. The Welsh Revival was to be a significant precursor to Pentecostalism for a number of reasons. Some future Pentecostal leaders were converted in the Revival; others, such as Rev. A. A. Boddy, visited Wales and returned to their home churches having witnessed the radical freedom of the services, believing this to be a hallmark of the Spirit in action. A third reason related to the fact that the post-revival period was marked by small home-groups that delineated themselves as ‘Children of the Revival’. It was amongst these groups that Pentecostalism would break out. They had experienced the freedom of the Revival, were convinced that this was what churches had been missing for years and were not content to return to the formalism of non-conformist churches.

A triple review of books by Robert Menzies and his father William, essay by Grant Hochman.

Robert P. Menzies, The Development Of Early Christian Pneumatology: with special reference to Luke-Acts (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991).

Robert P. Menzies, Empowered for Witness: The Spirit in Luke-Acts. Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series #6 (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 290 pages.

William W. and Robert P. Menzies, Spirit and Power: Foundations of Pentecostal Experience (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 233 pages.

A quiet revolution has been taking place around the world. There are now over 530 million Pentecostal/charismatic Christians (David Barrett, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Jan/01). It was the church growth movement which first brought this explosive growth to the attention of Christian leaders. The focus on what they termed the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” based on Luke and Acts, was the driving force behind it, and secondarily, the emphasis on spiritual gifts as found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (Chs. 12-14). From a mere trickle of scholarly research, the last thirty years has seen a river of literature on this topic (see Charles E. Jones, where one finds over 11,000 entries in The Charismatic Movement, Scarecrow Press, 1994). This change has been underscored by the founding of the Journal of Pentecostal Theology in 1992 and published by the prestigious Sheffield Academic Press, in England.

The 2005 cover from Bloomsbury T&T Clark.

Even though they are relative newcomers, classical Pentecostal scholars have been major contributors to the scholarly dialogue. One individual stands out above the others both in quantity and quality: Dr. Robert Menzies. After publishing a series of articles and book reviews, his first book to be published was his doctoral dissertation: The Development Of Early Christian Pneumatology: with special reference to Luke-Acts, from Sheffield Academic Press, 1991. This work caught the attention of two of the most prominent world-class evangelical scholars on Luke-Acts, James Dunn and Max Turner. Dunn writes “Pentecostal biblical scholarship has become increasingly a factor to be reckoned with, as its contributions have grown in confidence and weight…So far none commands more respect than the Aberdeen thesis of Robert Menzies.” Dunn closes by saying, “this is a work of significant and substantial scholarship whose strengths cannot be done full justice to in a brief review,” (Evangelical Quarterly, 66:2, 1994, pp. 174-6). Max Turner pays tribute to Menzies in his book, Power From On High: The Spirit in Israel’s Restoration and Witness in Luke-Acts. Sheffield Academic Press, 2000. In the preface Turner writes about Menzies, “His rigorous and perceptive case caused me to reconsider the evidence,” (p.11). This in turn, resulted in Turner publishing a series of articles and then his book (listed above). While both Dunn and Turner take issue with certain areas of Menzies work, they pay tribute to his efforts.