One of the most controversial ideas from the early Methodist movement was perhaps also the most defining: Christian perfection. John Wesley spent a good deal of his time defending and explaining the claim that Christians could become "perfect," and he did so because he believed that this hope was a central motivating factor in the life of faith. In a culture where "perfectionism" has become a curse for many people, a call to Christian perfection can be confusing at best and destructive at worst. Should United Methodists continue to speak about Christian perfection, and, if so, how?

I once heard a therapist say that the difference between excellence and perfection is depression. That is, those who seek not merely to perform to the best of their abilities but instead to do everything "right" will inevitably fall short and become depressed about their failure. This kind of debilitating "perfectionism" could not be further removed from what Wesley meant by "Christian perfection." The way Wesley understood it, Christian perfection brings happiness — not just a general pleasant feeling, but true happiness in God. For Wesley, the goal of Christian living was to be filled with love of God and love of neighbor. When we are filled with this love, we cannot help but be happy because we are living as God created us to be and are thus fulfilled in the deepest possible way. Holiness and wholeness are inseparable. Becoming "perfect," for Wesley, involves the process of conforming ourselves more and more in thought and deed to this love so that we may know more fully the joy that it brings.

Wesley also believed we do not have to wait until our deaths to enjoy this fullness of life. Living in expectancy of knowing this intimacy with God, which transforms all our relationships with other people, is a hope that draws us forward in our spiritual growth. The idea of Christian perfection was not just an abstract, "pie in the sky" notion. Wesley's letters and journal entries attest that it had concrete, practical effects for the people who sought it. Because they believed that they could know and be transformed by God's love, they actually opened themselves to that possibility. With that kind of expectancy, they allowed God to work in their lives in a deeper way than they might have otherwise. This expectation also offered them comfort in their trials. They knew that, however hard their struggles with sin might be, they could hope that God would continue to work in them and would bring about a change.

But if the idea of Christian perfection had a comforting and encouraging effect on many, it also had great potential to be misunderstood, as it also does in our time. Wesley continually had to clarify his belief in the face of common understandings of "perfection." In addition to saying what Christian perfection is, he also needed to say what it was not. Four common misunderstandings need to be avoided.

1. Christian perfection does not mean being perfect in knowledge. That is, we will never in this life know everything there is to know. Love does not exclude ignorance, and Christians who seek to know the love of God never can be and should never try to be "know-it-alls."
2. Christian perfection does not eliminate making mistakes. Partly due to the fact that we do not know everything, we can be, and undoubtedly will be, mistaken in many things. In fact, becoming more and more perfect in love ought to allow us to be able to acknowledge our mistakes more readily. Our confidence in God's love frees us from having to rely on our own "perfection" (in the way the therapist described it) for our worth.
3. Christian perfection does not overcome what Wesley called "infirmities"; that is, physical and mental limitations. Knowing God's love does not eliminate physical disabilities, raise IQ, make us more articulate, or prevent us from becoming ill or injured. But if they are not eliminated, then neither do these conditions keep us from experiencing and sharing God's love. Again, our confidence in God's love frees us from the need to meet some "standard" for perfection set by our culture and from feeling less significant because we do not.
4. Christian perfection does not mean being free from temptation. We will always be surrounded by things that can lead us away from God. With God's love, we have the strength to resist those temptations and to follow God's lead, but we should never think that our journey is over. Not only do we need to be alert to the possibilities that we can turn again from God, but we can also continue always to grow in love. Christian perfection is ultimately not a settled achievement, but a process that allows us to grow continually in God's grace.

In his time, Wesley presumed that growth in Christian perfection, that is, becoming perfect in love, would take place as Methodists gathered together in small groups to talk about their growth in faith. There, they could find the kind of mutual accountability that covenant discipleship groups provide today. Growth in holiness then (as now) had personal and social dimensions, and Methodists engaged in both works of piety and works of mercy. All growth is rooted in God's grace, which continually sustains and moves us forward, but grace makes possible and requires our own response. Being in regular dialogue with others helps us test whether we are responding as we should, whether we are making use of the grace that God has given us, whether we are neglecting some dimension that is required for our growth. We are less likely to overlook or avoid some area of our life with God if we are in community with others who can help us reflect on our joys and our struggles.

Wesley also presumed that expecting perfection was key to whether groups of Methodists would thrive. The expectation that God really is leading us to fulfillment was, for him, central to motivating a vital life with God. One of the most helpful things that a renewed appreciation for Christian perfection might provide to the church is this lively anticipation. For Wesley, the "grand secret" of Christian faith is this: to use the grace we have and expect all we want. It may be that we should hold one another accountable not only for what we do, but also for what we hope. Do we really expect God to work in our lives now, today, this hour? Such a question reminds us that we rely ultimately not on our own work, but on God's, and that we can count on God to provide what we need in order to become what God intends us to be.

Properly understood, Wesley's teaching on Christian perfection provides an important corrective to the kind of perfectionism that debilitates so many lives. It also provides a goal for our growth and encourages us toward that goal. When these insights are kept in mind, the call to seek Christian perfection can be, rather than a burden, a gift to the church and to the world.

Sarah Heaner Lancaster is Associate Professor of Theology at Methodist Theological School in Ohio and an elder in the North Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. Her field of study is systematic theology, and she is the author of Women and the Authority of Scripture: A Narrative Approach (Trinity Press International, 2002).