Q: I’ve read that John Wesley said that he was a “hair’s breadth” from Calvinism. What did Wesley mean by, and what was the context of, that statement?

A: The phrase, “a hair’s breadth,” was a common 18th century English idiom that is scattered throughout the writings of John Wesley. While this particular idiom was used in different circumstances, the specific context in question does contain a few dominant threads that make clear what Wesley meant when he declared that he came within a “‘hair’s breadth’ of Calvinism.”

In the Minutes of Some Late Conversations (1745), a part of the query was over how close the truth of the gospel is to Calvinism. John Wesley replied that it comes “within a hair’s breadth.” When pressed further, Wesley believed we come to the “very edge of Calvinism” when we ascribe all good to the free grace of God, deny all natural free will and all power antecedent to grace, as well as excluding all merit from humankind, even when done by the grace of God.

(The article goes on to say that Wesley declared that he did not differ from Calvin on the doctrine of justification.  What was in dispute was the doctrine of Christian Perfection, on the Wesleyan side, and that of predestination, on the Calvinist side.)

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