The Final Judgment
As taught in the Methodist / Wesleyan tradition
The accounting for our lives before God, where love and justice are fully realized.
The doctrine of the Final Judgment occupies a unique and vital position within the Methodist tradition, serving as the ultimate "Amen" to the "Way of Salvation" (ordo salutis). While many modern theological frameworks approach the end of time with either existential dread or dismissive abstraction, the Wesleyan perspective views the "Great Assize"—as John Wesley famously termed it—as the final vindication of God's "Holy Love." For the Methodist, the question this subtopic answers is not merely "What happens when the world ends?" but rather, "How does God finally reconcile His infinite holiness with His boundless love in a way that honours human freedom and establishes eternal justice?"
By the end of this lesson
- **Identify** the distinctively Wesleyan relationship between justification by faith and judgment according to works as evidenced in the "Great Assize."
- **Distinguish** between "Initial Justification" (pardon of sin through faith) and "Final Justification" (vindication at the judgment seat evidenced by holiness).
- **Explain** the metaphor of the "Great Assize" and how John Wesley used it to connect divine justice with human moral responsibility.
- **Articulate** the Methodist view of the "Intermediate State" and how it differs from the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory.
- **Trace** the concept of "Holy Love" through the Scripture anchors to show how the Final Judgment reflects God's character.
- **Defend** the necessity of the Final Judgment as a public vindication of God's providence and the restoration of the "image of God."
- **Apply** the doctrine of the Final Judgment to personal holiness and the Methodist mandate for social justice and "works of mercy."
- **Compare** the Wesleyan-Arminian view of "conditional security" with the Calvinist "perseverance of the saints" in the context of the final accounting.
Scripture
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