How a man may obtain and retain the favour of his Maker? how a sinner may be reconciled to his God, and be saved from his sins? have appeared to him questions of the highest importance, and he has attempted their discussion in the following pages. He has not pretended to examine systems of religion in detail, but merely the plans of what may be called initiatory salvation. On the awfully important subject of the Question in the text, he lays the result of his own researches and convictions before his Readers. It is true that they will all be found to issue in what is commonly called Orthodoxy. But he begs leave to say that they have not arrived at this issue by any sinuous ways. The conclusion is the spontaneous natural result of the principles laid down, and the reasonings founded upon them. With a heart full of charity for all mankind, and with respect and reverence for the good and pious of every denomination, he dismisses the whole, with the fullest conviction that the doctrine of justification by faith, through the atoning sacrifice of that Eternal Word which was manifest in the flesh, is the only way by which a fallen soul can regain the favour, and be restored to the image, of its Maker; and be at last brought, through the sanctification of the Divine Spirit, to the ineffable glory of God.
Millbrook, Dec. 25, 1815
Adam Clarke (1762 - 1832)
Was a British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar. He is chiefly remembered for writing a commentary on the Bible which took him 40 years to complete and which was a primary Methodist theological resource for two centuries. Contained in 6 volumes, consisting of nearly 1,000 pages each, it was considered the most comprehensive commentary on the Bible ever prepared by one man.As a theologian, Clarke reinforced the teachings of Methodist founder John Wesley. He taught that the Bible provides a complete interpretation of God's nature and will. He considered Scripture itself a miracle of God's grace that "takes away the veil of darkness and ignorance." With such an understanding, Clarke was first and foremost a Biblical theologian, often uneasy with purely systematic approaches to theology.
Clarke is chiefly remembered for writing a commentary on the Bible which took him forty years to complete and which was a primary Methodist theological resource for two centuries.
As a theologian, Clarke reinforced the teachings of Methodist founder John Wesley. He taught that the Bible provides a complete interpretation of God's nature and will. He considered Scripture itself a miracle of God's grace that "takes away the veil of darkness and ignorance." With such an understanding, Clarke was first and foremost a Biblical theologian, often uneasy with purely systematic approaches to theology.
Clarke followed Wesley in opposing a Calvinistic scheme of salvation, preferring instead the Wesleyan-Arminian positions regarding predestination, prevenient grace, the offer of justification from God to all persons, entire sanctification, and assurance of salvation. Perhaps his most controversial position regarded the eternal Sonship of Jesus. Clarke did not believe it Biblically faithful to affirm this doctrine, maintaining that prior to the Incarnation, Jesus was "unoriginated." Otherwise, according to Clarke, he would be subordinate to God and therefore not fully divine. This was important to Clarke because he felt that Jesus' divinity was crucial to understanding the atonement.
Clarke's view was opposed by many Methodists, notably Richard Watson. Watson and his allies argued that Clarke's position jeopardized the integrity of the doctrine of the trinity. Clarke's view was rejected by Methodism in favor of the traditional, orthodox perspective.
... Show more