Count Zinzendorf

Just for the record: Christians disagree with each other. Sometimes, we disagree in the strongest possible terms. John Wesley and Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) had much in common. John led a movement called Methodism to revitalize the Church of England, just as the Count marshaled Moravians to bring renewal to Lutherans. John first encountered Moravians aboard the Simmonds in route to North America in 1735. While most people on board went into full panic mode in a furious squall, the twenty-seven Moravians calmly sang hymns and sought God’s deliverance. Further contact with the Moravians in Georgia deepened John’s admiration for their genuine piety and discipline. Two years later, a disheartened Wesley was back in England, still wrestling with faith, when he attended a Moravian meeting in which his heart was “strangely warmed.” All this goodwill came crashing down when John tangled with the Count over justification (a one-time act of God that declares sinners righteous by grace through faith in Christ) and sanctification (a continual process of becoming holy by the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit). The Count contended that God gives believers justification and sanctification at the same time, so that believers instantaneously receive not only forgiveness but holiness also. Holiness is the natural by-product of trusting the finished work of Christ. This passivity did not sit well with John, who urged Christian converts to actively participate in their sanctification process. They exchanged letters to justify their positions and agreed to meet at Gray’s Inn Gardens in September 1741 to air their grievances and lessen the tension. John recorded in his journal an account of their conversation. They spoke in Latin since neither was fluent in the other’s language. The Count was convinced from the outset John had gone astray and his erroneous views needed to be challenged. “Why have you left the Church of England?” began the Count. “I wasn’t aware that I had left the Church of England,” replied John. The tone became increasingly combative, and their differences widened. At the end, John offered a conciliatory gesture, “What you have said, God, assisting me, I will thoroughly consider.” They never met in person again, and the movements never aligned. Yet John remained indebted to the Count for his prodigious hymn writing and small group focus for accountability and spiritual growth. One hymn by Zinzendorf included in Wesley’s 1747 hymnbook leads us to pray: