Predestination

The Church of the Nazarene stands firmly in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition, rejecting Calvinist unconditional election and double predestination. The Nazarene Manual affirms that God desires all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4) and that 'no one is condemned without choice.' Salvation is genuinely available to all through the universal prevenient grace that God extends to every human being, restoring the freedom to respond to the gospel.

Prevenient grace — grace that 'goes before' regeneration — is a central Nazarene-Wesleyan concept. Because of the Fall, humans are spiritually incapable of seeking God on their own. But God, in his universal love, extends sufficient grace to all people through Christ's atoning work and the Spirit's convicting work, enabling genuine moral and spiritual responsiveness. This prevents Pelagianism (salvation by natural human effort) while maintaining genuine human freedom.

Election, in Nazarene theology, is corporate and conditional: God elects 'in Christ' the community of the faithful, and individuals participate in this election through their own ongoing faith response. God's foreknowledge encompasses who will freely respond, but foreknowledge does not coerce. Perseverance of the saints is not taught; a genuine believer can, through deliberate sin and willful unbelief, fall away from saving grace.