This article aims to explore the relationship between John Wesley’s eschatology and sanctification. It begins with the recognition that eschatology is at the heart of Wesley’s doctrine of entire sanctification or Christian perfection. Although he did not systematically develop his eschatology, John Wesley dealt with the eschatological themes such as death, resurrection, final judgement, and the kingdom of heaven and hell. His eschatological thought was much influenced through German pietist Johann Abrecht Bengel’s works, “Gnomon Novi Testamenti” and “Erklärte Offenbarung.” However, John Wesley declared that he had no opinion about Bengel’s chronological speculations on the Christ’s millennial kingdom, which would begin in 1836. In fact, John Wesley showed so little sympathy and had so little patience with eschatological fervor, which was generated among his Methodists. He tended to identify it with enthusiasm. The reason was that these eschatological enthusiasts stimulated opposition to entire sanctification or Christian perfection. Wesley’s concern for protecting and promulgating this doctrine of perfection may provide a key for understanding his reservations about eschatological fervor. John Wesley insists that it is possible in this life to be brought to entire sanctification and Christian perfection, which is equivalent to a perfection of love for God and neighbor. This doctrine is distinctive from notions of sanctification in other Christian traditions in that it expects the finite equivalent of eschatological fulfillment (i.e. entire sanctification or Christian perfection) as something which can happen in history rather than beyond it. By differing with those who taught that Christian perfection occurs only after death, at the point of death and by holding out for the possibilities of divine grace to perfect us in love in this life, John Wesley was making room for an eschatological hope that could become more than a hope, but rather a gracious reality in the here and now. Moreover, John Wesley, as a sacramentalist, had emphasis on the importance of the sacrament of the Lord’ Supper, which is able to sustain the believers in growth and grace and to lead them through a lifetime of the pursuit of entire sanctification or Christian perfection. “Hymns on the Lord’s Supper” published under the names of both John and Charles Wesley show Wesley’s ‘already’ and ‘not yet’ eschatological thinking.

• 이성덕(배재대학교) | Lee, Sung Duk