How does God save us?
By his preventing, convincing, justifying, sanctifying, and glorifying grace.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 49
14For when Gentiles who do not have law by nature do the things of the law, these who do not have law are a law to themselves, 15who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them and their thoughts among one another accusing or else defending. 16in the day when God judges the hidden things of humans according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.
21But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from law, being attested by the law and the prophets. 22This righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, for there is no distinction. 23For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a mercy seat through faith in his blood, in order to demonstrate his righteousness by passing over the sins previously committed. 26This was done in the forbearance of God to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
15But the gift is not as the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one human Jesus Christ abound to the many.
14For sin will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
17So if anyone is in Christ, a new creation: the ancient things have passed by; look, new things have come to be.
21I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not from works, so that no one may boast.
12Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only as in my presence but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time,
11For the grace of God has appeared, saving for all people. 12It trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. 13While we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 14Who gave himself for us, so that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and might cleanse for himself a people special, zealous for good works.
4But when the kindness and the benevolence of God our Savior appeared, 5not by works that we did in righteousness, but according to his own mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by that one's grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
10As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.
10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little, himself will complete, establish, strengthen, and establish you.
9No one born of God practices sin, because his seed remains in him; he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
Question 49 gives the outline for the whole section that follows. The five words of the answer, preventing, convincing, justifying, sanctifying, and glorifying, are the five movements of grace described in ¶102 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline, which calls this "the classic Wesleyan expression" in which "grace works in numerous ways throughout our lives." The questions that follow take one word each. The older word "preventing" (grace that goes before) is kept because Wesley and the Articles of Religion used it.
¶102 says grace "includes the active, empowering presence of God, through the Holy Spirit, enabling believers to trust, love, and serve God." The references show every stage. Preventing grace is the law "written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them" even among people who never heard Moses (Romans 2:15). Convincing grace is grace that "trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly desires" (Titus 2:12). Justifying grace is the subject of Romans 3: all "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and all who believe "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24). Sanctifying grace makes the believer "a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17), breaks the dominion of sin (Romans 6:14), and produces a life in which the one "born of God" no longer practices sin (1 John 3:9). Glorifying grace is the promise that "the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ," will himself "complete, establish, strengthen" his people (1 Peter 5:10).
Two of the references guard the doctrine from two opposite errors. Ephesians 2:8-9 rules out any thought that a person earns a stage of this process: salvation is "the gift of God, not from works, so that no one may boast." Philippians 2:12-13 rules out passivity: the believer is told to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," and the reason given is that "it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
A Methodist learns this answer to read his own life by it. The stirrings of conscience before conversion, the sorrow over sin, the day of pardon, the slow reshaping of habits and affections, and the hope of resurrection are all one grace from one God. Nothing in that sequence is self-generated, and nothing in it is finished until glory (1 Peter 5:10).