The Wesleyan Church teaches that Christ's death on the cross is the means of human salvation, understood through multiple biblical models. While the church emphasizes penal substitution (Christ bearing the penalty for human sin in our place), it also incorporates the governmental theory of atonement developed by Hugo Grotius and favored by Arminian theologians, where Christ's death demonstrates God's justice and reestablishes the moral government of the universe.

The atonement is universal in its sufficiency and intent: Christ died for all people, not just for the elect. His death removes the barrier of sin and makes salvation available to everyone through faith. Some in the Wesleyan tradition also affirm healing in the atonement—that Christ's stripes provide for physical healing as well as spiritual renewal, though this is not uniformly binding across the denomination. The cross is the ultimate demonstration of God's holy love: justice and mercy meet in Christ's vicarious suffering.