And Can It Be? (iv)

Verse 4

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray--

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

This verse may well be the most beautiful combination of lyrics to illustrate sanctifying grace in all of poetry. To highlight sanctification in Wesleyan theological understanding, the picture of a prisoner in chains illustrates the bondage that sin keeps us in until Christ breaks the bond and sets us free from the power of sin. Whereas justification is oft described as the sinner's being set free from the guilt of sin, sanctification is being set free from sin's power. (There's really much more to the Wesleys' understanding of sanctification: for instance, John liked to use various phrases to describe it and preferred to speak about being made 'perfect in love' which conveys in part that TO which we are saved. But as it pertains to sin, i.e. what we are saved FROM, this is how it is best understood.)

For the Wesleys, prevenient grace is often imaged by the language of light. The passage to which John Wesley most frequently referred in speaking on prevenient grace was John 1.9: The light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. Being in the midst of the prologue of St. John's Gospel, this clearly grounds the Wesleys' belief in prevenient grace upon the Person and work of Christ. So perhaps more accurately, we can say that this verse images the interchange of prevenient and sanctifying grace since even our response of rising, going forth, and following is enabled by the prior work of Christ. This clears the Wesleys from any false accusation of Pelagianism, whereby humans are capable of saving ourselves. From start to end, salvation is all grace.

To return to the picture of the prisoner in chains and its correspondence to sanctification, I recall on several occasions where Dr. Kenneth Collins made the following comment: "Forgiveness of sin without freedom from it is just polish for the chains that keep us bound." This is why salvation is so much more than being acquitted or being declared righteous. The angel told Joseph to name the child Jesus because he shall "save his people from (not in) their sin" (Matthew 1.21). In the theology of atonement, this imagery of a prisoner set free may have the closest affinity with the language of Christus Victor. It is a power-breaking grace that we are faced with. Christ breaks bonds that were impossible for us to break. If you recall in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace (who had become a dragon) was unable to "undragon" himself. He was in bondage because of a bracelet around his wrist. Aslan (the Christ figure of the Chronicles of Narnia) had to peel off the dragon layers so that the bracelet could come off, and once that happened Eustace was able to go forth and follow the right path.

Where darkness, evil and death once reigned, Christ brings light, goodness, and life. He comes to break our chains so that we, like Charles confesses, can rise, go forth, and follow him!