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It further categorizes sin as being (1) "sin proper" and (2) "involuntary transgression of a divine law, known or unknown" (called infirmities).<ref name="Whidden2005"/><ref name="Olson2022">{{cite web |last1=Olson |first1=Mark K. |title=John Wesley on Sin and Holiness |url=https://wesleyscholar.com/john-wesley-on-sin-and-holiness/ |publisher=Wesley Scholar |access-date=23 May 2024 |language=English |date=4 June 2022}}</ref> Sins proper (or sin, properly so called) are those that are committed freely and willfully (which can cause one to [[Conditional preservation of the saints|fall away]]).<ref name="Brown">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Allan |title=Questions About Entire Sanctification |url=https://www.gbs.edu/questions-about-entire-sanctification/ |publisher=[[God's Bible School and College]] |access-date=3 September 2020 |language=en |date=1 June 2008 |quote=The only way a person can “lose” (“reject” is a better term) his entire sanctification is through willful sin or unbelief (which is also sin).}}</ref><ref name="Whidden2005"/><ref name="Trinklein2016">{{cite web |last1=Trinklein |first1=John |title=Holiness Unto Whom? John Wesley 's Doctrine of Entire Sanctification in Light of The Two Kinds of Righteousness |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=phd |publisher=Concordia Seminary |access-date=30 June 2019 |language=en |date=1 August 2016}}</ref> 'Sin, improperly so called' include those in the "category of benign neglect, fruits of infirmity (forgetfulness, lack of knowledge, etc)".<ref name="Whidden2005"/> In traditional Methodist theology, infirmities are not classified as sins, as explained by Wesley, "Such transgressions you may call sins, if you please: I do not, for the reasons above-mentioned."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wesley|first=John|title=The Works of John Wesley., Third Edition., vol. 11|publisher=London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room|year=1872|pages=396}}</ref> John Wesley explains the matter like this:<ref name=":0"/>
<blockquote>Nothing is sin, strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God. Therefore, every voluntary breach of the law of love is sin; and nothing else, if we speak properly. To strain the matter farther is only to make way for Calvinism. There may be ten thousand wandering thoughts, and forgetful intervals, without any breach of love, though not without transgressing the Adamic law. But Calvinists would fain confound these together. Let love fill your heart, and it is enough!<ref name=":0">Wesley, J. (1872). The Works of John Wesley (Third Edition, Vol. 12, p. 394). London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room.</ref></blockquote>If a person [[backsliding|backslides]] through sin proper but later returns to God, he or she must [[repentance in Christianity|repent]] and be [[Christian perfection#Wesleyan theology|entirely sanctified]] again, according to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.<ref name="Brown2008">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Allan P. |title=Questions About Entire Sanctification |url=https://www.gbs.edu/questions-about-entire-sanctification/ |website=God's Bible School & College |access-date=17 June 2019 |language=en |date=1 June 2008 |quote=Does an entirely sanctified person who rebels against God but later comes back to Him need to be entirely sanctified again? We do know that a person can rebel against God and later turn back in repentance and then be “re-saved.” Answer: Yes. To come back to God is the action of a backslider having his re in need of continual cleansing. The verb “cleanses us” is a present indica-relationship with God restored. After the restoration, one must walk in the light and obey Romans 12:1 and offer himself a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice to God. This can be done only by a person in right relationship with God.}}</ref> With regard to the penalty of sin, Methodist theology teaches:<ref name="WHAC2017"/>
{{quotation|We believe that sin is the willful transgression of the known law of God, and that such sin condemns a soul to eternal punishment unless pardoned by God through repentance, confession, restitution, and believing in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. This includes all men "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. (Prov. 28:13, John 6:47; Acts 16:31; Rom. 6:23, I John 1:9; I John 3:4).<ref name="WHAC2017">{{cite book |title=Declaration of Principles: Manual of the Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches |date=2017 |publisher=[[Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches]] |page=10}}</ref>}}
=== Original
Wesleyan-Arminian theology holds to the orthodox Christian doctrine of original sin. The [[Church of the Nazarene]] explains it as such:<blockquote>"We believe that original sin, or depravity, is that corruption of the nature of all the offspring of Adam by reason of which everyone is very far gone from original righteousness or the pure state of our first parents at the time of their creation, is averse to God, is without spiritual life, and inclined to evil, and that continually. We further believe that original sin continues to exist with the new life of the regenerate, until the heart is fully cleansed by the baptism with the Holy Spirit."<ref name="nazarene.org"/></blockquote>This original sin remains after salvation and may only be removed by [[entire sanctification]] (the second work of grace or [[baptism with the Holy Spirit]]).<blockquote>"We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect. It is wrought by the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service. Entire sanctification is provided by the blood of Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by grace through faith, preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness."<ref name="nazarene.org"/></blockquote>Holiness adherents are known by their emphasis "on the belief that entire sanctification takes place instantaneously in a crisis experience."<ref>F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 783.</ref>
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