Nature of God

Methodist theology affirms the classical Christian understanding of God as one infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly holy, and perfectly loving divine being. The Methodist Articles of Religion (Article I) describe God in classical terms drawn from the Anglican Articles of Religion. Wesley's theology places particular emphasis on God's love as the defining divine attribute — a love that is not limited to the elect but extends to all humanity, grounding the universal offer of salvation.

A distinctive emphasis in Wesleyan theology of God is the category of prevenient grace: God's relational, active presence with every human being, working to restore the image of God and enable response to the Gospel. This reflects a view of God as genuinely interactive and responsive — not the deterministic God of Calvinist thought — while maintaining divine sovereignty. Wesley's theology is sometimes described as a form of theological synergism, though Wesley himself insisted that even the human response to grace is enabled by God's grace.