The CatechismGlobal Methodist Church
Question 37 of 77 · Wesleyan Characteristics

Are reason, tradition, or experience sufficient guides for Christian doctrine?

No. Whatever is not revealed in or established by the Holy Scriptures is not to be made an article of faith nor is it to be taught as essential to salvation.

Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 37

Session 7Is Scripture enough?Opens at 1:00, where question 37 begins.
Commentary

Reason, tradition, and experience are real helps in reading Scripture, and none of them can stand on its own as a source of doctrine. Wesley began with the authority of Scripture, and the second section of the catechism, on Wesleyan characteristics, begins there too. Article IV of the Confession of Faith uses the same words as this answer and teaches that the Bible "reveals the Word of God so far as it is necessary for our salvation" and "is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice." Article V of the Articles of Religion teaches the same, and ΒΆ104 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline calls the canonical Scriptures "the primary rule and authority for faith, morals, and service, against which all other authorities must be measured."

The scriptures given for this question show what happens when human reasoning, inherited custom, or religious feeling is trusted apart from God's word. Paul writes of those who "knew God" yet "became futile in their reasonings and their senseless heart was darkened" (Romans 1:21), and warns the Ephesians against walking "in the futility of their mind, being darkened in the mind, being alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:17-18). Israel "rejected his statute and his covenant" and "walked after the vanity and became vain," following the surrounding nations (2 Kings 17:15). Tradition can mislead in the same way: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition" (Colossians 2:8).

God's word outlasts all of these: "The grass withers, the flower withers, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8). Scripture can settle doctrine because God is its author: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). The church may hold many opinions and practices; it may require as an article of faith, or teach as essential to salvation, only what Scripture reveals or establishes.

Wesley called himself a man of one book, and he read that book with the church fathers, with sound reasoning, and with attention to what God was doing in the lives of his people. The Methodist habit is the same. Reason, tradition, and experience serve the reading of Scripture, and they stay in that serving place.