19/05/2026
FREE GRACE!
The Door Was Open Before I Arrived
By Kelvin Mulenga
John Wesley’s sermon Free Grace, first published in 1739, still feels like a doorway into one of the deepest convictions of Wesleyan theology. Wesley argued that the grace of God is not reserved for a few while the rest of humanity is passed by without hope. Grace, in his understanding, moves toward all.
That thought matters to me.
Because the Church I was looking for could not be a church where grace sounded narrow before it sounded holy. I needed a church that could take sin seriously without making God’s mercy sound reluctant.
The Church of the Nazarene became beautiful to me here.
It speaks of grace as something that comes before us.
Before understanding.
Before repentance.
Before faith is even strong enough to speak.
Let me take you to Scripture.
Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.”
That verse does not sound hesitant.
Grace has appeared.
Not hidden.
Not delayed.
Not locked away.
Appeared.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.”
That word “world” matters. It tells me the movement of God’s love is wider than my fear, wider than my background, wider than the limits people sometimes place around mercy.
Let me take you to the Manual.
Article VII, paragraph 7 of the 2023 Manual of the Church of the Nazarene says “the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people,” enabling “all who will” to turn from sin, believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing, and follow good works pleasing to God. It also says fallen humanity cannot turn and prepare itself by natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God.
That paragraph gives me both humility and hope.
Humility, because I cannot save myself.
Hope, because God has not left me unable to respond.
This is what prevenient grace means.
Grace that goes before.
Grace that comes before the sinner knows how to come.
Grace that awakens, draws, convicts, invites, and enables.
Wesley’s Free Grace helps me understand why this matters. If grace is truly grace, then it begins in God’s love, not in human worthiness. The sinner does not create the first movement. God does.
But Wesley also did not preach grace as if people were stones. Grace calls for response. It opens the door, but it does not make love meaningless by forcing the heart through it.
Revelation 22:17 says, “Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”
That is invitation.
Real invitation.
The water is free.
The thirsty are called to come.
Article VI, paragraph 6 of the Manual says Jesus Christ made “a full atonement for all human sin,” and that this atonement is “sufficient for every individual of Adam’s race.” It also says the atonement is effective for salvation for those who reach moral responsibility when they repent and believe.
That is one of the most beautiful balances I see in the Church of the Nazarene.
Christ died for all.
Grace reaches all.
But repentance and faith matter.
This does not make salvation weak. It makes the invitation serious.
A door can be open and still require entrance.
A gift can be offered and still require receiving.
A Savior can call and still be refused.
Jesus said over Jerusalem, “How often I have longed to gather your children together…but you were not willing” Matthew 23:37.
That verse is painful because it shows love reaching toward people who refused to be gathered.
Not love absent.
Love refused.
The Church of the Nazarene and me meet here because I need a theology that can speak honestly about both things: God’s grace and my response. I do not want a faith that flatters human strength. But I also do not want a faith that makes the human heart irrelevant.
The Nazarene message, as I understand it, says grace comes first, but grace does not cancel response.
It restores response.
Article VIII, paragraph 8 says repentance is required of all who have become sinners against God. It also says the Spirit of God gives to all who will repent the gracious help of penitence of heart and hope of mercy, so they may believe unto pardon and spiritual life.
Even repentance is helped by grace.
That sentence stays with me.
Because if repentance were only my strength, I would despair. But if the Spirit helps the heart to turn, then repentance itself becomes evidence that God has already come near.
Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
God works in the willing.
God works in the acting.
Grace is not passive.
It moves inside the person until response becomes possible.
That is why this doctrine feels so personal to me. It means the first moment of conviction, the first discomfort with sin, the first hunger for prayer, the first desire to turn back, the first longing to be clean, may already be grace moving in the soul.
The door was open before I arrived.
Not because I was worthy.
Not because I understood everything.
Not because I had already become good.
But because grace had gone before me.
That is the beauty I see in the Church of the Nazarene.
It does not tell the sinner, “Climb high enough and maybe God will meet you.”
It says God has already come down in Christ.
It does not tell the backslider, “Find your own way back.”
It says grace is already calling.
It does not tell the weary soul, “Become strong first.”
It says, “Come.”
Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
That is the voice I hear beneath Nazarene theology at its best.
Come.
Not because the Church saves.
Christ saves.
Not because the denomination owns grace.
It does not.
But because this Church has given me language for the grace that found me before I knew how to look.
And if the door was open before I arrived, then the first step was never mine alone.
Grace had already begun the journey.
