Wesley's most distinctive and contested doctrine. Christian perfection is not freedom from all error or infirmity, but a heart cleansed from sin and filled with the love of God.
Sermon 40 of 44 · 1741 · Philippians 3:12
Christian Perfection
A passage from the sermon
Christian perfection does not imply (as some men seem to have imagined) an exemption either from ignorance, or mistake, or infirmities, or temptations. Indeed, it is only another term for holiness. They are two names for the same thing.
Thus, every one that is perfect is holy; and every one that is holy is, in the Scripture sense, perfect. What I mean is this: one in whom is 'the mind which was in Christ,' and who so 'walketh as he also walked'; a man 'that hath clean hands and a pure heart,' or that is 'cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit'; one in whom is 'no occasion of stumbling,' and who, accordingly, 'does not commit sin.' To be a perfect Christian is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
The full sermon is in the public domain and freely available from CCEL and other archives.