Matt O'Reilly, PhD

Is holiness a missing element in evangelical theology? That’s what Gordon T. Smith says in the opening chapter of his recent book, Called to Be Saints: An Invitation to Christian Maturity. Smith points to an observation made by Richard Lovelace in the late 1970s “that evangelical theology and spirituality were marked by a ‘sanctification gap'” (14). Lovelace traced this to evangelicalism’s emphasis on revivalism where the focus was on conversion leaving Christian maturity and

During my recent trip to Wilmore, Kentucky, I had the opportunity to film another episode for Seedbed‘s growing Seven Minute Seminary series. This one explores the relationship between future bodily resurrection, Christian identity, and holiness. These three themes were at the heart of my PhD research, and I’m grateful to Seedbed for making some of that available more broadly. If you receive this via an email subscription, click here to watch the video. And be sure to check o

I recently posted a few reflections on John Wesley’s instruction that Methodist preachers ought to preach the doctrine of holiness (or Christian perfection) “constantly, strongly, and explicitly.” Following Wesley’s advice, my January sermons were focused on the topic of Becoming Holy. Take a listen, if interested, and let me know what you think. If you are a preacher, how do you work the call to holiness into your sermons? How much homiletic time do you give to the topic? Wh

What did John Wesley expect his preachers to preach about? What should be the heart of their message? Near the end of his short book, A Plain Account of  Christian Perfection, the father of the Methodist movement said this: Therefore, all our preachers should make a point of preaching perfection to believers constantly, strongly, and explicitly; and all believers should mind this one thing, and continually agonize for it (Seedbed, 2014, p. 109). Wesley’s desire was to be “a m

Is sin essential to human experience? What if it’s not? What if Jesus died so we could stop sinning? What if full human life is a fully holy life? What if becoming human means becoming holy? #TheGospel #Sin #Holiness #WesleyandWesleyanism #PaulineLetters #video

Upon the recommendation of a very good friend, I began reading through Joseph Pieper’s The Four Cardinal Virtues. Not surprisingly, the book is divided into sections of chapters dealing with each of the four virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. I found the opening pages to be quite thought provoking and offer here four reflections that came to mind as I worked through the first chapter: We don’t speak this way anymore. Until, I think, fairly recently, the la

http://www.podbean.com/media/player/audio/postId/5338718/url/http%253A%252F%252Fstmarkumc.podbean.com%252Fe%252Ffully-focused-on-the-finish-phil-312-43-101914-rev-matt-oreilly%252F/initByJs/1/auto/1 When I read the letters of Paul, I often wonder whether he was a fan of athletic games – foot racing, at least. On several occasions Paul draws on the language of the races to illumine the nature of the Christian life. For instance, “Do you not know that in a race the runners all

http://www.podbean.com/media/player/audio/postId/5320402/url/http%253A%252F%252Fstmarkumc.podbean.com%252Fe%252Fchristlike-in-real-life-phil-219-30-10514-rev-matt-oreilly%252F/initByJs/1/auto/1 How would you like to be part of a group of people who were always concerned with your best interests? A group of people who were consistently and genuinely looking out for your well-being? They would be loyal to you. They would encourage you. They would build you up. That would be gre

I’m excited to announce that I’ve just begun a new appointment to St. Mark United Methodist Church in Mobile, Alabama. It’s a great church, and I’m honored to be the pastor. Yesterday was my first Sunday in the pulpit. I had a great time and am grateful for a very warm welcome. The church will be podcasting my sermons each week. You can easily subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, put the feed in your reader, or check out the player widget in the column to your right. Sermons w

Whether using a shamrock to illustrate the Trinity or running the snakes out of Ireland, St. Patrick is known for many legendary and even fanciful acts. But as Philip Freeman observes in his biography St. Patrick of Ireland, “The true story of Patrick is far more compelling than the medieval legends” (xvii). Patrick left us two documents – one letter and a short autobiography – that shed a great deal of light on his life and his passion for the gospel, missions, and the peopl

This is John Wesley. And this vision of Christianity is why I am, and will remain, a Methodist. “Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment.’ It is not only `the first and great’ command, but all the commandments in one. `Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,’ they are all comprised in this one word, love. In this is perfection, and glory, and happiness: The royal law of heaven and earth is t

I’ve often heard that John Wesley’s emphasis on Entire Sanctification (or Christian Perfection) was not only the result of his reading of scripture (it was!) but of his reading of the early Church fathers also. I’ve not had opportunity to research that claim in detail, but I was reminded of it yesterday when I was reading Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians and discovered a quote that sounded like it was straight of a sermon by John Wesley. Here’s what the second century Bis

Seedbed has just announced a new partnership with First Fruits Publishing to release a number of classic Wesleyan-holiness works and other resources in electronic format for free. Did you catch that? Free books! The First Fruits collection can be found here. The collection includes the second edition of Kenneth J. Collins’ now well-known Wesley Bibliography and a number of works by Henry Clay Morrison, Robert Coleman, and Howard Snyder. One of Seedbed’s goals is to cultivate

John Wesley’s conviction that the Methodist movement existed primarily to proclaim the doctrine of Christian perfection (or entire sanctification) is well-known. Here is Wesley in his own words: “This doctrine (full sanctification) is the grand depositum which God has lodged with the people called Methodists; and for the sake of propagating this chiefly He appeared to have raised us up.” For Wesley, the recovery of this good news is the distinctive contribution of the Methodi

It has sometimes been suggested that “Methodist beliefs” is an oxymoron. Fortunately, an increasing number of voices are working to dispel this false notion. Aside from the simple sociological reality that a group with no common and definitive beliefs is no group at all, United Methodism falls within the broad stream of Protestant orthodoxy, as even a quick look at our Articles of Religion will easily demonstrate. Key United Methodist Beliefs is a new book from William J. Abr

I finally got around to downloading and listening to the Chamberlain Holiness Lectures delivered last fall by Rev. Dr. Calvin T. Samuel at Wesley Biblical Seminary. I’ll say first that I wish had not waited so long. Anyone interested in what the Bible has to say about holiness needs to listen to these talks – multiple times. Samuel is Director of the Wesley Study Centre in Durham, England, and his work in these lectures is winsome, wise, relevant, and scholarly. These talks h

I was struck by this quote from James D.G. Dunn on holiness in the Bible: I still want to maintain that wherever the concept of ‘holiness’ appears in the biblical material, underlying it is the sense of the mysterious otherness and aweful power of the divine, of God, and that the holiness of people, places and things is essentially derivative from that primary source of holiness, ‘holy’ as related to the divine, to God (169). This is from Dunn’s chapter entitled “Jesus and Ho

I’m grateful to Craig Adams for his thoughtful interaction with my previous post on finding our Wesleyan voice. Craig made some good points to which I’d like to add a few further comments. Out of Step I’m glad Craig agreed that entire sanctification is the right place to begin an effort to reclaim a Wesleyan voice. But in his view the challenge is the reality that this is out of step with where most Methodists are theologically. I agree completely, and I think Craig’s observa

Grace that transforms I recall reading John Wesley’s A Plain Account of Christian Perfection for the first time. I remember that I was blown away by Wesley’s vision of magnanimity of God’s grace. For the first time, I got a glimpse of the power of grace to transform in ways deeper than I’ve ever imagined. Wesley helped me to see that grace is not merely about forgiveness; it is about holiness. It is about the work of God to reproduce his own character within his people in ord

The doctrine of Christian perfection needs to be recaptured and restated today. And a recent, if unexpected restatement of some core elements of Wesley’s thought can be found in Francis Chan’s Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The suggestion that Chan has given us a contemporary account of Christian perfection may come as a surprise to many, not least Chan himself. Nevertheless, Chan’s book reflects a number of elements central to Wesley’s own thought. A few quotes